A father-of-two has died of suspected swine flu just ten days after his wedding.
Martin Clorley, 37, fell ill with flu symptoms two days after he married Nicola
Bartley, 39, on December 16.
He died in hospital on Boxing Day and the results of a post-mortem are expected to show that he was a victim of swine flu.
Health chiefs today closed a hospital to visitors in an effort to contain an outbreak of swine flu.
As 22 people battled the virus in intensive care across Merseyside and Cheshire, bosses banned friends and relatives from visiting wards at Arrowe Park Hospital.
A hospital spokesman said the drastic steps had been taken to 'reduce the risk of visitors with cold and flu symptoms spreading infections to patients and staff'.
Researchers analysed asthma sufferer's sputum and found that up to two thirds of the samplescontained a common garden mould, aspergillus fumigatus, which is usually found in soil and compost heaps
Many asthmatics have a mould growing in their lungs that could explain why they suffer such devastating breathing problems. The good news is that thesolution could be as simple as giving these patients anti-fungal antibiotics.
Asthma is a common condition where breathing tubes go into a spasm, making it difficult to breathe— around 5.4 million Britons have it. As many as a fifth of those with severe asthma suffer from permanent narrowing of the breathing tubes within the lungs.
Asthma attacks are often triggered by allergens, including pet hairs, pollen and mould. Now, a new study led by University of Leicester scientists at Glenfield Hospital has shown that mould might play another, significant role.
The researchers analysed patients’sputum— matter expelled from the respiratory tract such as phlegm— and found that up to two thirds of the samplescontained a common garden mould, aspergillus fumigatus, which is usually found in soil and compost heaps, though can also grow in homes.
They also found that peopleallergic to this mould had more permanently narrowed airways. The theory is that the mould produces chemicals which trigger inflammation in the tiny tubes of the lungs; this leads to gradual scarring and damage to the breathing tubes.
Asthma is usuallycontrolled with inhaled bronchodilators— these relax the muscle covering the airways in the lungs— and courses of inhaled steroids which damp down the inflammation. But the new research suggests antibiotics that tackle fungal infections could also prove useful.
‘Treating individuals in whom the mould is detected with anti-fungals may prevent fixed narrowing of the airways,’ says Professor AndyWardlaw, who led the study.
‘This is very exciting for people with asthma and could potentially help people with other chronic lung conditions, including cystic fibrosis, where similar processes are going on.’
Leanne Metcalf, Director of Research for Asthma UK, says:‘We are encouraged by the results of this unique study demonstrating that this specific type of mould, found in the lungs of people with severe asthma, is linked to asthma symptoms and reduced lung function.
‘These findings are a step in the right direction in establishing if people with severe asthma should be routinely tested for thepresence of fungal spores in their lungs and if anti-fungal agents could be helpful as a treatment.’
Some patients are already convinced that anti-fungals can help. Lili Yeadon, 63, a part-time research assistant from Loughborough, had severe asthma for six years— attacks left her coughing, short of breath andunable to walk far. She was referred to Professor Wardlaw, who diagnosed allergic bronchial pulmonary aspergillosis— where the mould grows in the lungs.
As part of a clinical trial, she was given anti-fungal treatment. Lili says:‘I don’t have any symptoms at the moment— no coughing, I can breathe much more easily, and I can walk a lot faster. It’s simply incredible.’
As well as being a trigger for asthma, mould can also cause health problems for peoplewithout allergies.
The most common problems are sinusitis, bronchitis and otherrespiratory conditions such as pneumonia.
Asthma attacks are often triggered by allergens, including pet hairs, pollen and mould. Now, a new study has shown that mould might play another, significant role
‘Mould is an opportunistic fungus, and grows aggressively in the body, stopping the organs working properly— so it can be lethal,’ says Malcolm Richardson, professor of medical mycology (the study of mould) at the University of Manchester.
If you have a mouldy carpet, for example, mould spores are released into the atmosphere, that you can then inhale.
Normally, the immune system detects the spores and helps you to get rid of them by coughing or sneezing.
But some people with poorer immune systems are unable to reject the spores, so they germinate in their lung tissue, causing inflammation.
Symptoms of a mould problem include coughing, constanttiredness, eye and throat irritation, headaches, skin irritation or nausea.
Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are being prescribed singinglessons to try and improve their symptoms.
COPD is a collection of lung diseases including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. It affects around 900,000 people in the UK— although it’s thought a further two million people have yet to be diagnosed. Smoking is the biggest risk factor.
One of the main symptoms is breathlessness while performing everyday activities such as climbing stairs or even getting dressed.
Previous research has shown that singing can combat this by helping patients control their breathing and posture.
Many patients also said the classes alleviated feelings of depression and anxiety, which is common sufferers with COPD.
In a new trial at the Royal Brompton Hospital, London, one group of patients will undergo twice-weekly vocal coaching for eight weeks. Another group will take part in a once-weekly film club.
At the end of the trial the relative health and level of physical activity managed by the two groups will be compared.
This festive season Amanda Davis-Baird cracked open the champagne weeks before anyone else. And there were many more hugs than usual for her two small boys. But Amanda has a lot to be extremely thankful for.
A year ago, she wasn’t sure she’d even see summer, let alone Christmas. The young mother-of-two had received the shocking news that she had pancreatic cancer— one of the most aggressive types of the disease.
‘I was the last person you’d imagine beingdiagnosed with cancer,’ says Amanda, 40, of Glen Parva, Leicestershire.‘I was then 39, and at 5ft 9in a healthy 9 st. I never smoked, only had the odd glass of wine and exercised every day.’
Counting the years: Looks can be deceiving - take this test
No matter how young you feel, your face will give you away— that’s according to a recent survey which found the average woman looked four years older than her actual age.
But what about your body? How old— or young— is it compared with your years?
And what are the implications for your health?
To help you find out, we asked leading experts to help us put together this unique test.
Start by writing down your current age and then add or subtract the years suggested according to your answers.
Keep a running total and the final score will reveal your true age— then discover what you can do to reverse it.
Boys are on a faster track to puberty reaching the milestone an average year earlier than their fathers' generation, a study has found.
A study in Bulgaria found boys today start to develop at 12 years old, while those in the 1970s began changing when they were aged 13.
The findings suggest that trends towards earlier puberty aren't limited to girls, who have already been shown to be developing sexually at increasingly younger ages.
When Janet Holmessuddenly started feeling dizzy, sweaty and had headaches, she just put it down to flu. The former mayor of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, also had a terrible pain just below her shoulder blades.
But because she’d just been walking with her husband on a bitter December morning— it was minus 3c— she assumed this was down to the cold.‘So I took two aspirins and went to bed with a hot water bottle to try to warm up.’
But when she got up the next morning, Janet felt a crushing pain in her chest which went through to her back.
Your head is full of important organs and structures, so problems around it can be worrying.
Luckily, most are harmless and will go away by themselves, but some can indicate serious conditions.
Three years ago, at the age of 61, former Pan's People dancer Babs Powell awoke with an unusual feeling of stiffness in her hips and strange flu-like symptoms.
For a woman who only six years before had sailed around the world and was just about to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, this was not an ailment she anticipated.
A teenager has realised her dream of becoming a model - just three years after a horrific car crash left her with a broken back.
Marita Davies, 19, was in a wheelchair for a year and had to learn to walk after she suffered terrible injuries as a passenger in car driven by a drunk driver.
The vehicle crashed into a lamp-post, which crushed her leg and broke her back on New Year's Eve in 2007.
Scientists found pregnant women who lived near major roads had a far higher risk of giving birth to a preterm baby compared to those residing in quieter areas
Women living near busy major roads are more likely to give birth prematurely, a study has found.
Study author Dr Takashi Yorifuji said air pollution and the noise from the traffic could be to blame although it was too early to make definite links.
The team from the Okayama Graduate School of Medicine studied more than 14,000 babies born between 1997 and 2008 in Shizuoka, about 94 miles west of Tokyo.
They obtained detailed records on each pregnancy and how close to major roads the mothers lived.
They found 15 per cent of women living within 650ft a major road gavebirth before 37 weeks, compared to 10 per cent of those living furtheraway. A normal pregnancy is 40 weeks.
Other factors have been tied to preterm birth as well, such as age,job, and smoking. But even after accounting for those, the researchteam found a 50 per cent increase in preterm births among women livingnext to highly trafficked thoroughfares.
These women also had a higher risk of delivering before 32 and 28weeks. Very premature births carry an especially heavy public healthburden.
'Air pollution is considered to be a potentially important risk factor of preterm births,' Dr Yorifuji said.
'We found a higher risk in housewives than outside workers, and housewives would probably spend more time at home during their pregnancy, and reflect more accurate exposure,' he added.
Women living close to busy roads also had about double the risk of both high blood pressure and early rupture of the membranes surrounding the foetus, both potential causes of prematurity.
The findings seem to support previous studies linking air pollution to high blood pressure and inflammation, which could lead to premature rupture of the membranes.
'Everybody always worries that it's not really living by busy roadways, but that it's other things that makes these mothers different,' said Beate Ritz of the University of California, Los Angeles, who reviewed the study, published in the journal Epidemiology.
'But after all the adjustments, the effect was still there,' she said.
So what should a pregnant woman do if she lives near a motorway?
Dr Yorifuji recommended that a pregnant woman who can't avoid living near a major road might want to reduce the time she is active outside, along with cutting out smoking and improving her diet.
A diet rich in oily fish could hold the key to preventing blindness among thousands of the elderly, research has found.
The omega-3 group of fatty acids, found in oily fish such as salmon, mackerel and fresh tuna, may help protect against the most common form of sight loss among older people, it suggests.
Scientists studying the diets of adults over the age of 65 found those who regularly ate seafood were far less likely to develop age-related macular degeneration, which is caused by the death of cells in the retina.
