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Bush’s
Lyme disease cured
WASHINGTON, DC
— The release of President George W Bush’s
latest physical exam several weeks ago revealed that
he contracted and was successfully treated for Lyme
disease in August 2006. President Bush developed erythema
migrans, a bull’s-eye rash characteristic of the
bacterial infection. He is now perfectly healthy and
“fit for duty,” the presidential medical team
concluded.
Dim
OR lit by cell phones
VILLA MERCEDES,
ARGENTINA — When a power outage at an Argentinean
hospital dragged on for over an hour during his brother
Leonardo’s appendix operation and the anesthesia
began to wear off, Ricardo Molina decided to improvise.
He gathered cell phones from patients in the waiting
room and used their screens to light the way for surgeons.
The hospital admits their backup generator failed to
kick in, but disputes Ricardo’s account —
they claim the room was without power for 20 minutes
at the most.
Vaccine
a giant step for MS
MONTREAL —
A new MS vaccine is safe and effective at reducing the
number of immune system cells attacking the nerve fibre
sheath, according to a study by Montreal researchers
published in August's Archives of Neurology.
This marks the first instance of a DNA vaccine treating
an autoimmune disease.
Fifty-year-old
pencil removed from woman’s brain
BERLIN —
A German woman recently had a pencil surgically removed
from her brain after living with it for over 50 years.
Margret Wegner fell while carrying the pencil when she
was four. “The pencil went right through my skin
— and disappeared into my head,” she told
the newspaper Bild. It was so deeply embedded
that doctors at the time thought it too risky to operate.
The pencil caused Ms Wegner severe headaches and nosebleeds
for most of her life, but now that surgeons have removed
all but a 2cm segment, she is free of pain.
Indian
doc goes bananas to recover stolen necklace
CALCUTTA —
Calcutta police asked for a physician’s advice
to help them recover a necklace a thief stole —
and subsequently swallowed. X-rays confirmed the necklace’s
location but the doctor’s suggestion to force the
thief to eat 50 bananas as a laxative didn’t do
the trick. A meal of rice, chicken and bread coaxed
the jewelry out. Police asked the thief to wash it.
Surgery
fires stoke fears
CHICAGO —
The American Society of Anaesthesiologists plans
to issue guidelines this fall to douse public concern
over “surgery fires,” which are typically
sparked by electrical surgical tools and fed by the
oxygen that collects under the surgical drapes. There
up to 100 surgery fires every year in the US, killing
one or two patients annually. One potential solution
is to use less than 100% oxygen during surgery, or to
implement a suction device to remove excess oxygen from
the operating table.
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