This site is intended for health professionals only


Better sanitation linked to Alzheimer’s, new £5 blood test for heart attacks and CPS decides against prosecution in abortion case

Modern cities and improved hygiene are generally celebrated. But scientists now believe they could be to blame for rising levels of Alzheimer’s in Britain and the developing world.

Researchers have linked the ‘hygiene hypothesis’- the idea that lack of exposure to germs, viruses and parasites harms the immune system - to rising rates of dementia in richer nations.

Cambridge University researchers compared dementia cases in 192 countries and found it was more common in those with better sanitation and less disease.

The Daily Mail’s front page reports that thousands of women’s lives could be saved every year by a £5 blood test which could signal heart attacks.

Scottish researchers have developed the test, which spots small increases in the protein troponin which is released when a heart is damaged. It is hoped the test could be used in casualty departments by Christmas.

Currently, half of all heart attacks in women go undetected and victims miss out on treatment and diagnosis which could prevent a second - and normally fatal - cardiac arrest.

Over at the Telegraph we find the news that health secretary Jeremy Hunt has stepped in to clarify why two doctors accused of allegedly arranging abortions based on the sex of an unborn baby will not face prosecution.

He has written to Attorney General Dominic Grieve, following the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)’s decision not to prosecute.

The CPS said that although it believed there was enough evidence to justify a prosecution, it would not be in the public interest. It added that the GMC was already involved.


          

Visit Pulse Reference for details on 140 symptoms, including easily searchable symptoms and categories, offering you a free platform to check symptoms and receive potential diagnoses during consultations.