نوشته شده توسط: علیداود پارسا
13 February 2013Last updated at 13:23
By James Gallagher
Professor John Watson: "The risk remains very low"
Health officials in the UK believe they have the strongest evidence yet that a new respiratory illness similar to the deadly Sars virus can spread from person to person.
Cases of the infection may come from contact with animals. However, if the virus can spread between people it poses a much more serious threat.
One man in the UK is thought to have caught the infection from his father.
However, officials say the threat to the whole population remains very low.
There have been 11 confirmed cases of the infection around the world. It causes pneumonia and sometimes kidney failure - five patients have died.
Confirmed novel coronavirus infection in a person without travel history to the Middle East suggests that person-to-person transmission has occurred, and that it occurred in the UK.”
End Quote Prof John Watson Health Protection Agency
This is the third case identified in the UK. The first was a patient flown in from Qatar for treatment. The second was linked to travel to the Middle East and Pakistan.
The virus is then thought to have spread from the second patient to his son. There have been suggestions of person to person transmission in earlier cases in the Middle East, but this was not confirmed.
Susceptible
The third UK case is being treated in intensive care at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
The patient is known to have an underlying health condition which left them with a weakened immune system. This may have made them susceptible to the infection.
There have been no signs of the virus spreading to staff at the hospital.
Prof John Watson, head of the respiratory diseases department at the Health Protection Agency (HPA), said: "Confirmed novel coronavirus infection in a person without travel history to the Middle East suggests that person-to-person transmission has occurred, and that it occurred in the UK.
Saudi Arabia: Five cases, three deaths
Jordan: Two cases, two deaths
UK: Three cases, including one flown from Qatar
Germany: One cases, flown from Qatar
Total: 11 cases, five deaths
Source: Health Protection Agency/World Health Organization
"Although this case provides strong evidence for person to person transmission, the risk of infection in most circumstances is still considered to be very low."
The exact source of the new virus and how it spreads is still unknown. The leading theory is that it comes from animals, the new Sars-like virus does appear to be
However, if the infection needs to jump from an animal to a person with each infection the threat would be much lower.
The World Health Organization reported cases from within the same family in Saudi Arabia in November 2012.
It was impossible to tell whether each patient caught the infection separately - or if it had spread between them.
A WHO spokesperson said: "We know that in some of those cases there was close physical contact between family members caring for one another, so we can"t rule out human-to-human transmission."
The two cases in the UK, with only one case linked to foreign travel, provide the strongest evidence that the infection can spread between people. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said it was "overwhelmingly likely" human-to-human transmission had occurred.
However, if the virus could readily and easily spread between people then far more cases than the 11 detected so far would have been detected.
New strain
Continue reading the main story
The emergence of any new virus that poses a threat to human health is a cause for concern.
If the pathogen can spread from person to person, it becomes a significant issue. But the indications are the dangers to the general population are very low.
The very small number of cases strongly suggests if it does pass between people, it is not very contagious.
It appears infected animals - possibly bats - are the source of most of the cases so far.
Coronaviruses cannot survive outside the body for more than 24 hours and are killed by most detergents.
You will see it described as a "Sars-like virus" in headlines. But a key difference is that it does not pass easily from person to person.
Furthermore, it is also from the same family of viruses that produce the common cold.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses ranging from the common cold to the Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus, which spread through droplets of body fluids produced by sneezing and coughing.
It is thought these cases do not represent a "tip of the iceberg" with far more people being infected with mild or no symptoms, but the infection is still being analysed.
In 2003 an outbreak of Sars killed about 800 people after the virus spread to more than 30 countries around the world.
The new coronavirus was first identified in September 2012 in a patient in Saudi Arabia who has since died.
No travel restrictions are in place.
Prof John Oxford, a virology expert at Queen Mary, University of London, said: "This doesn"t raise too many alarm bells.
"In a family things can spread far more easily than they would spread outside, people share towels and toothbrushes etc.
"If it was somebody who was not related or a nurse or a doctor - that would be a lot more serious."
Prof Ian Jones, from the University of Reading, said: "There is really close contact involved here, it is not "true" human transmission in the general public.
"Although it is severe, it"s not doing anything worse than some other respiratory infections, it"s just a new one."
Prof Wendy Barclay, from Imperial College London, said it was wise to keep a close eye on the virus.
"We"re an incremental step closer to worrying, but it isn"t a worry where we need to say there is a pandemic coming," she said.
نوشته شده توسط: علیداود پارسا
مصرف قرص کلسیم ممکن است امکان ایجاد حمله قلبی را زیاد کند-با احتیاط مصرف شود
تحقیقات تازه دانشمندان نشان می دهد که احتمال ابتلا به حمله قلبی در افرادی که از قرص های کلسیم استفاده می کنند، بیشتر از معمول است.
قرص های کلسیم را معمولا سالمندان برای تقویت استخوانها و پیشگیری از شکستگی، مصرف می کنند. در گزارشی که در مجله قلب منتشر شده، نوشته شده که افراد باید با احتیاط از قرص کلسیم استفاده کنند. کارشناسان و متخصصان معتقدند بهتر است به جای استفاده از قرص های کلسیم از رژیم غذایی که کلسیم آن زیاد است، استفاده شود. محققان مرکز تحقیقات سرطان آلمان در هایدلبرگ 23 هزار و 980 نفر را برای بیش از 10 سال تحت نظر داشتند. دست اندرکاران میزان ابتلا به حمله قلبی را در افرادی که از قرص کلسیم استفاده می کردند با افرادی که از این قرص ها استفاده نمی کردند مقایسه کردند. در میان 15 هزار و 959 نفری که هیچ قرص مکمل غذایی مصرف نمی کردند، 851 نفر دچار حمله قلبی شدند. این میزان در میان افرادی که از قرص کلسیم استفاده می کردند 86 درصد بیشتر بود. به این ترتیب محققان نتیجه گرفتند که میزان حمله قلبی در افرادی که قرص کلسیم می خورند ممکن است افزایش قابل توجهی بیابد بنابراین، این افراد باید با احتیاط این قرص ها را مصرف کنند. دکتر کری راکستون از سرویس اطلاعات مکمل های غذایی می گوید: پوکی استخوان در زنان یک مشکل جدی به حساب می آید بنابراین، توصیه به کاهش استفاده از قرص های کلسیم در زنان، آن هم فقط بر اساس نتایج یک تحقیق ناقص، کاری غیر مسئولانه است، به ویژه اینکه ارتباط بین کلسیم، ویتامین دی و سلامت و استحکام استخوان ها از سوی اداره نظارت بر مواد غذایی اتحادیه اروپا تایید شده است. بنیاد قلب بریتانیا در این باره می گوید بیمارانی که برایشان قرص کلسیم تجویز شده باید همچنان به خوردن این قرص ها ادامه بدهند اما اگر در این باره نگرانی دارند، باید با پزشکانشان صحبت کنند. ناتاشا استوارت، پرستار ارشد بنیاد قلب بریتانیا گفت: این تحقیق نشان می دهد که احتمال حمله قلبی در افرادی که قرص کلسیم مصرف می کنند ممکن است بالا برود. اگرچه این بدان معنی نیست که استفاده از این قرصها موجب ایجاد حمله قلبی می شوند. به گفته خانم استوارت، برای روشن شدن رابطه سلامت قلب و استفاده از قرص های کلسیم به تحقیقات بیشتری نیاز است. یان رید و مارک بولاند، محققین دانشگاه اوکلند نیوزیلند می گویند شواهد مبنی بر اینکه استفاده از قرص های کلسیم بی زیان نیست، قوی و قویتر می شود و مردم باید تلاش کنند میزان کلسیم مورد نیازشان را از رژیم غذایی روزانه تامین کنند. لبنیات و شیر منبع کلسیم هستند. مواد غذایی لبنی جایگزین و غنی سازی شده مانند شیر سویا و سبزیجات سبز و برگدار هم منابع خوب تامین کلسیم هستند. "با احتیاط مصرف شود"
"بی ضرر نیست"
people who take calcium supplements could be increasing their risk of having a heart attack, according to researchers in Germany.
Calcium is often taken by older people to strengthen bones and prevent fractures.
But the study, published in the journal Heart, said the supplements "should be taken with caution".
Experts say promoting a balanced diet including calcium would be a better strategy.
The researchers at the German Cancer Research Centre, in Heidelberg, followed 23,980 people for more than a decade.
They compared the number of heart attacks in people who were taking calcium supplements with those who did not.
"Taken with caution"
There were 851 heart attacks among the 15,959 people who did not take any supplements at all. However, people taking calcium supplements were 86% more likely to have had a heart attack during the study.
The researchers said that heart attacks "might be substantially increased by taking calcium supplements" and that they "should be taken with caution".
Dr Carrie Ruxton, from The Health Supplements Information Service which is funded supplement manufacturers, said: "Osteoporosis is a real issue for women and it is irresponsible for scientists to advise that women cut out calcium supplements on the basis of one flawed survey, particularly when the link between calcium, vitamin D and bone health is endorsed by the European Food Safety Authority."
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) said patients prescribed the supplements should keep taking their medication, but should also speak to their doctor if they were concerned.
"Not safe"
Natasha Stewart, a senior cardiac nurse with the BHF, said: "This research indicates that there may be an increased risk of having a heart attack for people who take calcium supplements.
"However, this does not mean that these supplements cause heart attacks.
"Further research is needed to shed light on the relationship between calcium supplements and heart health. We need to determine whether the potential risks of the supplements outweigh the benefits calcium can give sufferers of conditions such as osteoporosis."
Ian Reid and Mark Bolland, researchers at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, said: "The evidence is also becoming steadily stronger that it is not safe, nor is it particularly effective.
"Therefore, the administration of this micro nutrient should not be encouraged; rather people should be advised to obtain their calcium intake from an appropriately balanced diet.
"We should return to seeing calcium as an important component of a balanced diet and not as a low cost panacea to the universal problem of postmenopausal bone loss."
A spokeswoman for the UK"s Department of Health said it would consider the study carefully once the complete article had been published.
"The majority of people do not need to take a calcium supplement," she said.
"A healthy balanced diet will provide all the nutrients, including calcium, that they need. Good sources of calcium include milk and dairy foods, fortified dairy food alternatives, e.g. soya drink, and green leafy vegetables."
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