Month: March 2014

By Alphonso Toweh and Saliou Samb MONROVIA/CONAKRY (Reuters) – West African nations scrambled on Tuesday to contain an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus suspected to have killed at least 59 people in Guinea, with symptoms of the disease reported in neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia as well. The spread of Ebola, one of the most lethal infectious diseases known, has spooked nations with weak health care systems. In Guinea’s southeast, home to all the confirmed cases, residents are avoiding large gatherings and prices in some markets have spiked as transporters avoid the area. Health authorities in Liberia said they had now recorded eight suspected cases of Ebola, mainly in people who crossed the border from Guinea.

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Women who have their breasts removed because of cancer may benefit from receiving radiation if they still have traces of cancer in their lymph nodes, suggests a new analysis. Radiation reduced the risk of death and of cancer returning among women who had cancer cells detected in the cluster of nodes under the arms after a mastectomy. “It has been clear for some time that women in whom the disease has not spread to the lymph nodes in the armpits will not benefit from radiotherapy,” Sarah Darby told Reuters Health. “It’s been unclear what the benefit is for women with one, two or three positive lymph nodes,” she said.

By Angela Moon NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks ended higher on Tuesday, rebounding from a two-day decline as the hard-hit biotechnology sector regained its momentum and a strong read on consumer confidence increased optimism about the economy. Trading was choppy throughout the day with the Nasdaq at one point turning lower, led by a sharp reversal in biotech shares. .So-called momentum stocks were still down for the day but off their lows, including Netflix , down 2.1 percent at $370.84. Netflix has declined for 14 of the past 15 sessions, falling almost 19 percent over that stretch Biotech shares also reversed earlier losses, including Regeneron Pharma , ending 0.8 percent higher at $308.87, and Gilead Sciences Inc , up 1.3 percent at $73.03.

By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Black and Latina breast cancer patients were more than twice as likely as white women to have lingering medical debt and to skip treatments because of costs, according to a new U.S. study. “Although we were able to control for factors such as overall household income in this study, it is likely that other disparities and challenges faced by minority populations persist in our society even today, contributing to the differences observed,” author Dr. Reshma Jagsi told Reuters Health by email. That group included nine percent of the white women participating in the survey, compared to 10 percent of the Spanish-speaking Latinas, 17 percent of the English-speaking Latinas and 15 percent of the black women, according to the results in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. About 35 percent of the women reported spending $2,000 or more out-of-pocket on cancer treatments, and 17 percent spent more than $5,000.

Although the research wasn’t specifically looking at people who were trying to lose weight, it “indicates that single-serving packages may help overweight individuals,” author Hollie A. Raynor told Reuters Health by email. Some were overweight and some were healthy weight, and some were watching their food intake while others were not. Half the participants received a box of 20 single-serving packs of pretzels, each just under one ounce. The rest received two standard-size bags of pretzels, each ten ounces.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Seemingly divided, the Supreme Court struggled Tuesday with the question of whether companies have religious rights, a case challenging President Barack Obama's health overhaul and its guarantee of birth control in employees' preventive care plans.