U.S. swine flu cases may have hit 1 million mark, officials say
Health officials estimate that as many as 1 million Americans now have the new swine flu. Lyn Finelli, a flu surveillance official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, voiced the estimate at a vaccine advisory meeting last week in Atlanta. The estimate is based on mathematical modeling. Nearly 28,000 U.S. cases have been reported to the CDC, accounting for roughly half the world's cases. The U.S. count includes 3,065 hospitalizations and 127 deaths. An estimated 15 million to 60 million Americans catch seasonal flu each year.
- Associated Press
New York may get graphic on smoking at retail sites
The New York Health Department is proposing city tobacco retailers post signs with graphic images such as cancer-ravaged throats and black lungs in an effort to discourage smoking, officials say. The signs, which would be the first of their kind in the country, would include health risk warnings and information on how to quit, said Sarah Perl, assistant commissioner of the city's Bureau of Tobacco Control. The city Board of Health will hold hearings and vote in September on the proposal. Officials expect opposition from many of the city's 12,000 tobacco retailers and the cigarette industry.
- Newsday
Healthy Mediterranean diet gets its boost from wine
It's been nearly 30 years since researchers first recognized the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet, with its high consumption of vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, cereals, seafood and olive oil, along with a moderate amount of alcohol and relatively little meat or dairy. But apparently they've never tried to figure out which of those components deserves the credit. Now researchers from the University of Athens Medical School in Greece and the Harvard School of Public Health have examined the relative contribution of each of these foods and determined that moderate alcohol consumption seems to play the biggest role in reducing mortality. Alcohol alone accounted for 24 percent of the total benefit, the researchers found. Most of that came in the form of wine consumed with meals.
- Los Angeles Times
