Health News

😘🤔🙂 Imogen Selvester (pictured before and after her cancer diagnosis, right and left), from Tamworth, Staffordshire, was rushed to hospital on June 6 after her mother noticed she had turned 'yellow'. It followed months of NHS waits and missed opportunities to catch the 12-year-old's cancer early. Back in February, Imogen went to the GP complaining of itchy skin, night sweats and fatigue. Her mother, Natalie, also noticed unusual lumps on her neck. Their family doctor initially said Imogen had a viral infection and told the family to come back in three weeks if the symptoms hadn't improved. But Imogen caught Covid in that time, and doctors then thought her symptoms might've been the result of the pandemic-causing virus. A scan showing her tumours, pictured inset.

😘🤔🙂 Matt Ford, who lives in Los Angeles, said he caught the virus after 'skin-to-skin contact' with another patient. He has spoken out to warn people the disease 'sucks' and to take it seriously.Revealing his diagnosis, Ford said he received a call from a friend about two weeks ago to say they had tested positive and he should also get checked. The actor and writer, who describes himself as a 'proud openly gay man', revealed he then noticed spots in and around his 'underwear zone' that indicated he had caught the virus. These then spread across his body.

😘🤔🙂 Woke terms are increasingly being used in the NHS, with health experts worried the de-sexing of language is leading to a dangerous over-complication of health communication. Health Secretary Sajid Javid recently promised to reverse gender neutral language in the NHS, following a string of MailOnline revelations - including one yesterday that revealed midwives were being told sex was 'assigned' at birth. Here, we detail some of the ways the woke language storm has engulfed the health service.

😘🤔🙂 Mandatory coverings for patients and visitors were dropped for all hospitals in England on June 10, with trusts drafting their own policies since then. Most stopped asking people to wear them in most parts of the hospital except for in 'high risk' areas including emergency and cancer departments. But at least four major hospital trusts have now issued a messaging blitz urging people to mask-up in all areas of their buildings amid a spike in infections. Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust (left) in Nottinghamshire and Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust (top right) changed their messaging to encourage more mask use. And Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (bottom right) and North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust also reinstated the old guidance.

😘🤔🙂 A study at Heinrich Heine University in Germany found hormone levels in the second half of women's monthly cycles corresponded to more generous behaviour towards those close to them - thought to be a way to attract reciprocal kindness post-ovulation, when we might have conceived. Gabrielle Lichterman, author of 28 Days: What Your Cycle Reveals About Your Moods, Health & Potential, and Hormonology app founder, has championed this way of living for more than two decades. Here, she and other hormone experts explain, day-by-day, why timing is all. We have based this on a 28-day (pictured) cycle - yours may be slightly longer or shorter.

😘🤔🙂 Forty-year-old Williams was seen sporting black 'stickers' on her face at Wimbledon on Tuesday (pictured left), which had many questioning if they were symbolic or a ploy to put her opponent off. It turns out the small strips on her right cheek were medical tape designed to keep her sinuses clear and help her breathe properly. The tennis ace suffers from recurrent sinusitis which, as well as blocking the airways, can lead to headaches, pressure and pain in the face. It has become a ubiquitous piece of kit for top level athletes nursing injuries across nearly every sport - from Cristiano Ronaldo (top right) to Tiger Woods (bottom right).

😘🤔🙂 Midwives have hit back at a statement on 'inclusivity' by their royal college that referenced sex being 'assigned' to babies at birth. Some midwives said the idea of assigning sex was 'nonsense'. The wording came from the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) in an 'inclusivity' statement. Their document said: 'We recognise maternity and gynaecological services will be accessed by women, gender diverse individuals and people whose gender identity does not align with the sex they were assigned at birth.' But some midwives hit back at the colleges, arguing that they merely 'observe' the reality of a baby's sex at birth - as opposed to deciding it themselves. Jo Gould, a midwife in Sussex, said she was 'ashamed' of her representative body and that the statement was 'nonsense' and 'offensive'. 'When the RCM start using the language of gender ideology and not biological fact, how can the public have faith in you?,' she said. 'It is offensive to your members, who do not "assign sex at birth". 'I am a member and I am ashamed to be represented by the RCM when I read this absolute nonsense.'

😘🤔🙂 Over-65s outnumber under-15s in England and Wales for the first time ever, according to the new census that reveals the changing face of Britain (shown top right). The population has swelled by 3.5million in the past decade to a record level of nearly 60million, with the East of England seeing the biggest growth, the Office for National Statistics revealed yesterday (shown left and bottom right). There are more older people than ever, with 11.1million now over 65 - one in six - equating to around two million more pensioners compared with 2011. There has also been a huge rise in the number of people aged 90 or over. There are now more than half a million over-90s, up a quarter in a decade. It means there are now more pensioners than children for the first time in recorded history, with 10.4million under- 15s. For comparison, there were 9.2million over-65s and 9.9million under-15s a decade ago.

😘🤔🙂 Members of the British Medical Association (BMA), who met in Brighton today, asked their union to formally 'organise opposition' to the deal, including 'industrial action if necessary'. Family doctors urged medics to 'channel our inner Mick Lynch' (left), the rail union leader behind last week's disruptive rail strikes which brought the nation to a standstill. While GPs would be unlikely to stop providing urgent care, they could refuse to carry out other routine work or cut their hours. It comes just a day after doctors voted for the BMA to lobby ministers for a huge 30 per cent pay hike in compensation for 'millions' of lost earnings since 2008. Doctors yesterday claimed they were prepared to join 'picket lines' to achieve their demands and admitted that industrial action was 'likely'. The union's chair of general practice committee in England, Dr Farah Jameel (right), told members at the BMA's annual meeting that last year's ballot was a 'glorified survey' and therefore could not form the basis of industrial action.

😘🤔🙂 CVS - America's biggest pharmacy - claimed it still had enough of the pills that can prevent a pregnancy in stock, but wanted to ensure 'equitable access'. It affects the Plan B drugs, which are sold for $49.99 for one pill, and the Aftera brand, retailed at $39.99 each. Rite Aid - which has more than 2,500 pharmacies across northern states - said 'increased demand' forced it to cap sales of Plan B and Option 2.

😘🤔🙂 Researchers at Brigham Young University found that while female put on 11.9lbs every 10 years on average, men put on just 5.7lbs.Scientists said less time spent playing sports or in the gym among women could be behind the more rapid weight gain. They also blame pregnancy, pointing to a Dutch study that found women gained about 3.3 lbs to 4.4 lbs after having each child.

😘🤔🙂 The Channel 5 presenter, 57, who is ill with the virus himself, criticised the Government for playing down concerns about rising numbers. An outbreak on the set of the Jeremy Vine show has seen several crew, including his pregnant co-host Storm Huntley, forced off work with Covid in recent days. In a video posted on Twitter, Vine said: '100 per cent of our presenters have got it. That means there must be a lot of it about. 'Why isn't the Government mentioning it? Why isn't it saying anyone vulnerable, you know, stay indoors?' Nearly 4million extremely vulnerable people were told they were no longer advised to shield from April 1, as part of the 'living with Covid' plan. Showing his positive lateral flow test to the camera, Vine added: 'That's a big red line there, there is a lot of it around.

😘🤔🙂 Dr MEGAN ROSSI: It's a problem that affects millions of us which can be really debilitating - and it's one of the most common reasons people see their GP. I am talking about constipation, a subject that we don't discuss nearly enough, even though it can have a major impact on our health and quality of life. Every day in England, more than 200 people are admitted to hospital to be treated for constipation. Even in milder cases it can cause bloating, make acid reflux worse and contribute to low mood.

😘🤔🙂 Using 'male' crash-test dummies to determine how men and women would fare in car accidents has been blamed for the dismal injury record for women on the roads. Although men are more likely than women to be in a car crash, when women are involved in an accident on the road they are almost twice as likely to become trapped in a vehicle, according to a study of more than 70,000 people in the UK, published in the journal BMJ Open last month. Alarmingly, previous studies in the U.S. have revealed that women are also 47 per cent more likely to be seriously injured than men, 71 per cent more likely to be moderately injured and 17 per cent more likely to die.

😘🤔🙂 These four youngsters are alive today largely thanks to ground-breaking technology - the 'heart in a box', or the organ care system - which allowed them to undergo life-saving heart transplants. Elle Elliott, 14 (left) lives in Derby. Her mum Sam, 38, a care assistant says: Elle was 12 weeks old when she was diagnosed with severe mitral valve stenosis, a narrowing of one of the heart's main valves, blocking blood flow into the heart'. Aaron Hunter, ten (second left) lives with mum Stephanie, 28, a carer, in Bo'ness, near Falkirk. She says: 'After Aaron had his seven-hour heart transplant operation in 2018, I remember looking into the intensive care unit and seeing his skin was pink for the first time in his life. He looked amazing'. Freya Heddington, 14 (second from right) lives in Bristol with parents Jason, 52, a physiotherapist, and Katie, 57, a veterinary nurse, and her sister Olivia, 18. Jason says: 'When we got the call telling us a heart had been found for Freya, we were surprised - she had spent just eight weeks on the transplant list. If it hadn't been for this new technology she could have been waiting much longer and may have ended up too poorly to survive surgery'. Anna Hadley, 16 (right) lives in Worcester with her parents Andy, 50, who works for a manufacturing company, and Amanda, 42, a nursery assistant, and her sister Molly, 21. Andy says: 'The school rang us in January 2018 to say Anna had collapsed in her PE lesson. Tests showed her heart was enlarged on the left side, and she was diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy. It caused her to black out because of a lack of blood going to the brain. We were referred to Great Ormond Street Hospital and told that she had only a two-year life expectancy without a transplant. It was our bleakest time. Her donor heart arrived by helicopter. Now, she's back playing hockey and has a part-time job. We're so grateful to the donor's family'.

😘🤔🙂 Sir John was speaking at a hearing of the Infected Blood Inquiry, which is looking into the infection of up to 30,000 people with HIV or hepatitis C from contaminated blood. Thousands died after contaminated blood products were imported from the US, often from prisoners, sex workers and drug addicts who were paid to give their blood in the incident which has been called the biggest treatment disaster in the history of the NHS. Sir John was asked during a hearing about correspondence within government when it became apparent that compensation for victims would be required.

😘🤔🙂 WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT: Tracy Marriott (pictured left before and right, after surgery), from Eastbourne, East Sussex, flew to Istanbul to have a cut-price tummy tuck and boob job which she hoped would improve her self-confidence. The stay-at-home mother-of-three, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, paid about a third of the price it would have cost in Britain. Her dress size went down two sizes, from 18 to 14, and her 36DD breasts were increased to a 36FF following the procedures - but they were far from a success (scars shown inset). She woke up 'in a lot of pain' and was 'having trouble breathing', leaving her bed-bound in the foreign hospital for five days. 'I felt like I was dying and I wouldn't make it back home,' she said. 'My mum video called me whilst I was in the hospital and she said she could barely recognise me, I looked so unwell.'

😘🤔🙂 Another COVID-19 vaccine dose could be on the way, with FDA advisors set to meet this week to discuss the merits of Omicron-specific boosters. Both Pfizer and Moderna have revealed data showing that their jabs tailored to the highly infectious strain of the virus. Americans are not as fearful of the pandemic now as they have been before though, with less than a third expressing fears of being infected. The nation's Covid situation remains steady at around 100,000 cases and 300 deaths per day - where it has remained over the last two weeks.

😘🤔🙂 Eddie O'Brien, 74, from Warrington, was diagnosed with the illness in 2019. His daughter Rebecca, 30, says he transforms before her eyes when he listens to his favourite tunes. Eddie, pictured right, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's after he began forgetting names and getting lost on his way home. As soon as he hears music, his feet start tapping and he is up dancing.

😘🤔🙂 Severely overweight patients are being offered a pioneering operation on the NHS that could help them lose up to six stone in six months - slashing their risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes. The procedure involves the walls of the stomach being stitched together, shrinking it in size by about three-quarters. Afterwards, when the patient eats, their body will signal much faster than it would normally that the stomach is full. But patients are warned that should they over-indulge, the stitches will break and cause the stomach to spring back to its original size. Because the success of the procedure also relies on a patient's willpower, surgeons claim that it is more successful than other more invasive methods. Patients who underwent the operation, called endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty, lost 50 per cent of their body weight on average, and trial results found that after two years, eight in ten patients had managed to keep off the weight. (Pictured: Hillary Liles, a 38-year-old therapist from North Carolina, who had the op. Left, today; and right, before her surgery, when she eventually hit 18 stone.)

😘🤔🙂 BARONESS GREY-THOMPSON (left): It is a photo that should shame travel industry bosses. A disabled woman left abandoned in an empty plane cabin. The bleak image (right), which surfaced this month on Twitter, has since been shared thousands of times and published by most national news websites. I know the woman in the picture well: Victoria Brignell, a well-respected producer at BBC Radio 4 and friend of mine. Victoria, who is paralysed from the neck down and a wheelchair user, had arrived back at Gatwick on a British Airways flight after a holiday in Malta. The specialist staff booked to lift her safely from the plane seat and carry her to her wheelchair at the door failed to appear. The result was an hour and a half spent stuck in her seat. (Inset: BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner, paralysed since 2004, who has been trapped on a plane four times.)

😘🤔🙂 DR ELLIE (inset): Roughly 15 per cent of women suffer from severe menopause symptoms, lasting four years on average. For this group, the impact on the quality of their lives - on physical and mental health, on relationships and on work - can be profound. A survey carried out by the Fawcett Society, which involved 4,000 menopausal women, found one in ten had felt forced to give up their jobs due to symptoms. This is dreadful. But it's equally important to look at these issues in perspective. Most women do not experience these sorts of life-wrecking difficulties. And as well-meaning as it may be, the focus on the negative experiences is leading to a widespread misconception that the menopause is always hellish and something to be feared, when in most cases it is not. The risk is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Research suggests that women who have negative attitudes toward the menopause - and female ageing in general - suffer worse symptoms. (Pictured main: Carolyn Harris, an MP speaking out on the menopause, flanked by celebrities Mariella Frostrup, left, and Penny Lancaster and, right, Davina McCall.)

😘🤔🙂 From preferring slapstick comedy to wearing scruffy clothes, research suggests there are many changes that could hint at the early stages of Alzheimer's before the characteristic forgetfullness sets in. And now they've uncovered another. Researchers from the University of Southern California (USC), in Los Angeles , found elderly people who were more willing to give away money to a person they do not know are more at risk of the disease.

😘🤔🙂 Before Roe v Wade was ruled on in 1973, many women turned to dangerous illegal abortions to get the procedure done. One expert warns that women will still get an abortion if they need, but those who can't do so legally will turn to unsafe means. These unsafe means killed around 200 American every year before Roe, an expert warns (right). Abortion is set to become functionally illegal in more than half of U.S. states after a conservative majority overturned Roe by a 6-3 vote (left).

😘🤔🙂 Data from the Office for National Statistics shows 1.3million people in England were infected in the week to June 18, up by a fifth compared to seven days earlier. Cases are also on the rise in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where positive tests jumped by up to 40 per cent in a week.

😘🤔🙂 A call went out to British parents on Wednesday to check their polio jabs were up to date after the virus was detected in sewage samples and it emerged as few as a third of teens are vaccinated in some parts of England. But some parents said they tried up to 30 times to get through to their GP receptionist and access their child's medical records and were told to call back the next day or get in touch with schools instead. There was further confusion as it emerged parents have to get permission from a GP to allow them to access their family medical records on the NHS app, meaning the only way for some people to find out their family's vaccination status was to call their local doctor's surgery directly.

😘🤔🙂 The family of five-year-old Florence Bark, from from Northamptonshire are hoping the generosity of strangers can help fund her pioneering cancer treatment overseas that isn't available on the NHS. Like many five-year-olds Florence Bark loves princesses and enjoys dressing up as her favorites, and she also told MailOnline she is also a big fan of 'doggies' and other animals. But the Bark family's world was shattered last month after Florence was diagnosed with a rare form of the blood cancer leukaemia, called acute myeloid leukaemia, last month. The family, from Corby in Northamptonshire, are now waiting for a stem cell transplant but because Florence has a rare gene mutation, found in only 10 per cent of cases, this treatment is predicted to fail. If it does fails Florence's only chance will be for a pioneering procedure called CAR-T therapy that teaches her own immune system to fight off the disease. But the NHS won't pay for it forcing her family to turn to crowdfunding in preparation of getting her the treatment privately in either Singapore or the US. This is the same treatment that cured Oscar Saxelby-Lee, the British boy who won the nation's heart after his leukaemia battle went viral in 2018. Strangers raised half a million pounds for Oscar's treatment, and the Barks hope they can also count on the public's generosity. They said they will do everything in their power to help save their 'beautiful princess'.

😘🤔🙂 A smoke shop worker told DailyMail.com today that he was facing a surge in customers since the FDA ban. Adman Masuk, 25, who works in a shop off Union Square in New York City, said: 'We've had customers rushing in all day. 'They're buying in bulk, coming in and getting about 20 or 40 boxes or so.' Others said they would not be taking the products off shelves until they heard from the Food and Drug Administration. And customers today revealed they were rushing out to buy the e-cigarettes. The FDA today banned the products from sale, with commissioner Robert Califf saying they had played a 'significant part' in the rise of vaping among youngsters.

😘🤔🙂 Polio, which scientists believe has been circulating since ancient Egypt (bottom right picture), spread like other common bugs and viruses for millennia. But as hygiene standards improved in richer nations from the 1800s, outbreaks took off. Vaccines against polio, which were rolled out from the 1950s, drove the virus to the brink of extinction in many parts of the world (shown in map). But health chiefs have struggled to stamp it out completely. Pictured: top right shows man who has lived in 'iron lung' chamber for 70 years after contracting polio in 1952.

😘🤔🙂 Parents of unvaccinated children are to be contacted by the NHS as part of a targeted vaccine drive in London amid fears the disease could take off in the UK for the first time in decades. Children are routinely vaccinated against polio but the capital has some of the poorest coverage in England, with just 35 per cent of Yea 9s boosted in Hillingdon, West London, which has the worst uptake in the country. Latest figures also show just a third of pupils in Brent had been fully vaccinated against polio by the time they entered secondary school in the 2020/2021 academic year. In total, uptake among Year 9s was below 50 per cent in six London boroughs and a quarter of children in the capital had not had their pre-school polio shot. London has always lagged behind the rest of the country when it comes to vaccine coverage but rates dropped further during the pandemic, linked to a lull in appointments and a rise in vaccine hesitancy.

😘🤔🙂 Scientists in Brazil have unveiled a 10-second balance test could determine your risk of dying early (top left). MailOnline has revealed some of the subtle signs you could be at risk of an early death. Elderly people who walk slowly are at much more risk of being sent to an early grave (second picture), while those who struggle to sit and stand without support are also at risk (third picture), along with those who cannot seamlessly walk up four flights of stairs (fourth picture). Being unable to give a firm handshake could also be a sign of impending death (fifth picture), as can struggling to do 40 push ups, according to scientists.

😘🤔🙂 An ex ballerina and university student looking for a way to slim down her legs claims just one type of exercise transformed her body for the better - and it doesn't involve stepping foot inside a gym. Arianna, who lives in Italy, trialed Australian personal trainer Rachael Attard's Lean Legs Program after growing tired of traditional home workouts and picking up weights in the gym. Rachael's program breaks down the female body into three separate categories and subscribes a diet and exercise routine depending on which type you are: Ectomorph, mesomorph or endomorph.  

😘🤔🙂 Children under the age of five received their first doses of COVID-19 vaccines after the shot's controversial approval last week. The U.S. is now the only country in the world that vaccinated children as young as six months old, and President Biden exclaimed 'we're the only country in the world doing this right now' on Tuesday. The HHS says that it has distributed 2.7 million shots to pharmacies around the country already, and expects to send out ten million as part of this batch. Children face limited risk from the virus, according to official data, as severe infection and deaths caused by the virus are rare.

😘🤔🙂 Scientists believe the UK's latest surge has mainly been fuelled by Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5, which are even more transmissible than the strain that caused pandemic highs in April. At the same time, analysts claim to have spotted the emergence of 'probably the most fatal variant yet'. Experts have already dismissed the threat of Delta plus, however.