The fact about 12 health myths

In a 2002 German revise, researchers found that the burning process produces a novel type of cancer-fighting antioxidant in bread that is eight times more plentiful in the crust than in the crumb. Breads simply labeled "wheat" are frequently made with a combination of enriched white flour and whole-wheat flour and have less fiber.

If You are Go Out With Wet Hair, You'll Catch a Cold:

The truth is: You will suffer cold but will be just fine healthwise, says Jim Sears, a board-certified pediatrician in San Clemente, California, and a cohost of the daytime-TV show The Doctors. Half the group stayed in a temperate room while the rest took a bath and stood dripping wet in a entry for half an hour, then got undressed but wore wet socks for a few more hours. The wet group did not catch any more colds than the dry. Sears's conclusion: "Feeling cold doesn't affect your immune system."

If You Cross Your Eyes, They will Stay That Way:

The truth is: "There's no harm in charitable eye crossing," says W. Walker Motley, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. But if you notice your child doing this a lot, he might have other vision problems.

You Should supply a Cold and Starve a Fever:

The truth is: In both cases, eat and drink, then drink some more. "Staying hydrated is the most significant thing to do, because you lose a lot of fluids when you're ill," says Sears, who adds that there's no need for special beverages containing electrolytes (like Gatorade) except you are severely dehydrated from vomiting or diarrhea.

chewing gum Stays in Your Stomach for Seven Years:

The truth is: Your Little Leaguer's wad of Big League Chew won't (literally) stick about until high school graduation. "As with most nonfood objects that kids swallow, fluids carry gum through the intestinal tract, and within days it passes," says David Pollack, a older physician in the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Care Network. And even although gum isn't easily broken down in the digestive system, it probably won't cause a stomachache, either.

An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away:

The truth is: A handful of blueberries a day will keep the doctor away more efficiently. Blueberries are a nutritional jackpot, rich in antioxidants and fiber, and they are also easy to toss into cereal and yogurt. That said, eating a mixture of fruits and vegetables is important to prevent many chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes, down the road.

You Lose 75 Percent of Your Body Heat throughout Your Head:

The truth is: "This proverb was probably based on an infant's head size, which is a much greater percentage of the total body than an adult head," says Pollack. That's why it is important to make sure an infant's head residue covered in cold weather. But for an adult, the figure is additional like 10 percent. And keep in mind that heat escapes from any uncovered area (feet, arms, hands), so putting on a hat is no more important than slipping on gloves.

To Get Rid of Hiccups, Have Someone Startle You:

The truth is: Mainly home remedies, like holding your breath or drinking from a glass of water backward, haven't been medically proven to be effective, says Pollack. However, you can try this trick dating back to 1971, when it was available in The New England Journal of Medicine: Swallow one teaspoon of white granulated sugar. According to the study, this method resulted in the cessation of hiccups in 19 out of 20 afflicted patients. Sweet.

Eating Fish Makes You Smart:

The truth is: For kids up to age three or four, this is certainly the case. Fish, especially oily ones, such as salmon, are filled with omega-3 fatty acids, including DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). "DHA is particularly beneficial in the first two years of life for brain development, cognition, and visual acuity," says Beverly Hills pediatrician Scott W. Cohen, the author of Eat, Sleep, Poop: A Common Sense Guide to Your Baby's First Year ($16, amazon.com). And a 2008 study in Clinical Pediatrics showed an increase in vocabulary and comprehension for four-year-olds who be given daily DHA supplements. Omega-3 options for the fish-phobic? Try avocados, walnuts, and canola oil.

You Shouldn't Swim for an Hour once Eating:
 
The truth is: Splash away. "After you eat, more blood flows to the digestive system and away from the muscles," says Cohen. "The thinking was that if you exercised persistently right after eating, that lack of blood would cause you to cramp up and drown." But that won't happen. Sears concurs: "You might have less energy to swim energetically, but it shouldn't slow down your ability to tread water or play."

Every Child must Needs a Daily Multivitamin:
 
The truth is: Children who are only breast-fed during their first year should be given a vitamin D supplement. After that, a multivitamin won't injure anyone, but many experts say that even if your child is in a picky phase, there's no need to sneak Fred, Wilma, and company into his applesauce. "Even mainly fussy eaters grow normally," Cohen says. "Your kids will finally get what they need, even if it seems as if they're subsisting on air and sunlight."

Warm Milk Will Help You go down Asleep:

The truth is: Milk contains small amounts of tryptophan (the same amino acid in turkey), "but you would have to drink gallons to get any soporific result," says Michael Breus, a clinical psychologist in Scottsdale, Arizona, who specializes in sleep disorders. "What is efficient is a routine to help kids wind down," he says. And if a glass of warm milk is part of the process, it can have a placebo effect, in spite of of science.

Casual Sex Can be Lead to Long-Term Relationships

People who "hook up" for casual sex can have as rewarding a long-term relationship as those who take it slowly and establish a meaningful connection before they have sex, says a new study. University of Iowa researchers analyzed relationship surveys and found that average relationship quality was higher for people who took it slowly than for those who became sexually involved in "hook-ups," casual dating, or "friends with benefits" relationships.
However, having sex early on wasn't the reason for this disparity, according to UI sociologist Anthony Paik. When he factored out people who weren't interest in getting serious, he establish that those who became sexually involved as friends or acquaintances and were open to a serious relationship were just as happy as those who dated but delayed having sex.
The study analyzed a review of 642 heterosexual adults in Chicago. To calculate the quality of the relationships, people answered questions about how much they loved their partner, their level of approval with confidence in the relationship, the future of the relationship, and how their lives would be different if the relationship ended.
"We didn't see much proof that relationships were lower quality because they started off as hook-ups," Paik, an follower professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said in a UI news release.
"The study suggests that pleasing relationships are possible for those who delay sex. But it's also possible for true love to appear if things start off with a more 'Sex and the City' approach, when people spot each other across the room, become sexually concerned and then build a relationship," he added.
The study is published in the August issue of the magazine Social Science Research.

Indication of Heart Attack, Stroke Risk From Fat-Filled Artery

A quantity of factors put patients with irregular fatty deposits in an artery at high risk for heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular death, a new study shows. Patients in different stages of this condition atherothrombosis  are at enlarged risk for heart attack and stroke stemming from cheap blood flow from the artery blockage, but some are at better risk than others. In an analysis of more than 45,000 patients, the researchers found that patients with abnormal fatty deposits in an artery were at highest risk if they had a prior history of heart attack or other emergencies linked to an artery blockage.
Reduction of the arteries in various locations also greatly increased the risk for patients with atherothrombosis, as did diabetes for all the patients even those with only the risk factors for atherothrombosis.
Perceptive that these factors boost the risk can help physicians take preventive action, according to the researchers, who are from the VA Boston Healthcare System, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.
The researchers analyzed data from 45,227 patients enrolled in an worldwide study known as Reduction of Atherothrombosis for Continued Health (REACH) between 2003 and 2004. They collected detailed information from the patients when they enrolled and conducted follow-ups one, two, three and four years later.
They establish that 81.3 percent of the patients had hypertension, 70.4 percent had high cholesterol levels in the blood, and 15.9 percent had polyvascular disease. In adding, 48.4 percent of the patients had "ischemic events" prior heart attacks, unstable angina or other problems related to the artery blockage, with 28.1 percent of those patients having had such an event within the previous year.
During the follow-up period, 2,315 patients suffered cardiovascular death, 1,228 had a heart attack, 1,898 had a stroke, and 40 had a heart attack and a stroke on the similar day.
The researchers establish that patients with atherothrombosis with a previous history of heart attacks and other events related to a blood vessel blockage had the highest rate of following cardiac emergencies linked to blood flow problems. Patients with stable heart, cerebrovascular or peripheral route disease had a lower risk, while the risk was lowest amongst those with risk factors for atherothrombosis but without established disease.
The results show that "there is a entire spectrum of [emergencies relating to artery blockage and blood flow] in patients with risk factors or with recognized cardiovascular disease easily ascertainable clinical characteristics are the famous factors associated with a high risk of future ischemic events," they fulfilled.

Potential effects of Asthma-Like Symptoms Spotted in Mice

Results may lead to new treatments for people with severe forms of the airway disorder, researchers say, a possible inherited basis for severe asthma has been recognized by researchers, and although the findings are based on a study in mice, the discovery may someday help people.
Asthma rates have been growing in recent years. In inclined people, the illness can be triggered by a number of environmental factors, including cigarette smoke, allergens and air pollution, senior researcher Marsha Wills-Karp, director of the division of immunobiology at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, noted in a hospital news release.
In their revise, the researchers found that an inflammation-causing protein called interleukin-17 (IL-17A) is the major cause of severe asthma-like symptoms in pests. The animals used in the study had been bred to have a genetic similarity to humans with severe susceptibility to asthma.
The finding "suggests that at some point it may be possible to treat or prevent strict forms of asthma by inhibiting pathways that drive the production of IL-17A," Wills-Karp said in the news release.
Scientists naturally caution, however, that many discoveries in animal models do not translate into therapies for humans.

8 cancer symbols highlighted

There are eight signs, symptoms or test consequences that could improve early diagnosis of some cancers, British doctors said,
The researchers focused on changes that gave a one in 20 or higher chance of rotating out to be cancer.
The symptoms contain:

• Coughing up blood.

• Rectal blood.

• Breast lump or mass.

• Difficulty swallowing.

• Post-menopausal bleeding.

• Abnormal prostate tests.

• Anemia.

• Blood in urine.

In certain age and sex groups, the eight symptoms or findings point to the require for urgent examination by family doctors, Dr. Mark Shapley and colleagues from Keele University (halfway between Manchester and Birmingham) said in Friday's online issue of the British Journal of General Practice.
The conclusion was based on an study of 25 studies from the U.K., U.S., Netherlands, Belgium, Australia, Denmark and Germany.
The age of the patient is significant, said Dr. Kevin Barraclough, a GP from Stroud.
"Iron deficiency anemia in a 21-year old female is really unlikely to be due to colorectal cancer, whereas in a 60-year old male, cancer is likely," Barraclough wrote in a journal editorial accompanying the study.
The red flags support the importance of encouraging patients to discuss worrying symptoms early with their GP, said Prof. Amanda Howe, honorary secretary of the Royal College of General Practitioners, which publishes the magazine.

Throat cancer rates rise in men

Throat cancer cases have soared by 50 per cent in men in the last 25 years due to fatness and bad diet, researchers have found. Back in the eighties approximately 2,600 men were diagnosed with oesophageal cancer every year but now the figure is more than 5,100.
The most theatrical rise was among men in their 50s, as rates increased by 67 per cent over the same period.
Rates in women also rose, but simply by eight per cent, from 5.1 to 5.5 per 100,000 people. “But we think the obesity outbreak may be a big reason behind the augment. We know that being overweight considerably increases the risk of adenocarcinoma – the main type of oesophageal cancer that’s on the up. Our shifting diets are also likely to be influencing the rise with people eating less fruit and vegetables."
In 1983, 9.6 in every 100,000 men were diagnosed with oesophageal cancer but now 14.4 in every 100,000 men are diagnosed with the disease – an enlarge of 50 per cent. Oesophageal cancer is the ninth most familiar cancer in the UK. In 2007, around 8,000 people were diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, counting 5,226 men.
The risk of rising the disease increases with age and affects very few people under 40. Oesophageal cancer is one of the most complicated cancers to detect and treat, with only eight per cent of people with the disease ongoing at least five years. Dr Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, said: “These new figures are principally concerning as oesophageal cancer is a very difficult cancer to treat.
"Oesophageal cancer rates have risen considerably in the UK compared with many other Western countries so we need to determine the underlying causes.
"To struggle the poor survival rate for oesophageal cancer, Cancer Research UK is funding research to find new ways to identify the disease earlier and improve treatment so that more people beat the disease.”

Food Better Than Supplements for Cancer Prevention: Texas Expert

Nutritional supplements are popular among Americans but people need to educate themselves and use concern when using these products to try to decrease their risk of cancer, says a University of Texas expert.
"Researchers are still hesitant about whether or not minerals, herbs and other plants taken in pill, capsule, tablet or liquid form in fact prevent cancer," Sally Scroggs, health education manager at the Cancer Prevention Center at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Medical Center, said in a news discharge from the center.
Vitamins E and C, for example, were found not to prevent cancer in the large-scale Women's Health Study and the Physicians' Health revision II. Result from other studies suggest that some supplements may actually increase cancer risk by disturbing the balance of nutrients in the body.
"If you eat lots of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and beans, you must get the nutrients, including fiber, vitamins and minerals, your body needs to lower your chances of getting diseases like cancer," Scroggs said. "Taking a pill can't restore a healthy diet."
She recommended eating plenty of foods loaded with cancer-fighting nutrients such as beta-carotene, selenium, lycopene, resveratrol and vitamins A, C and E.
This includes women who are pregnant or breast-feeding; people at risk for vitamin D deficiency or osteoporosis; and people at risk for B-12 deficiency, including those aged 50 and older and vegans who devour no animal products.
Scroggs finished that if you're considering taking supplements, consult with a doctor or registered dietician first.

Black Rice May Be low-priced source of Antioxidants

Aug. 26, Thursday, Healthnfitness news -- Blueberries and blackberries have high levels of antioxidants, which help the body contract with potentially dangerous cellular oxidation, but scientists say they have also found a cheaper source of antioxidants for customers: black rice.
"Just a serving of black rice bran contains more health promoting anthocyanin antioxidants than are found in a spoonful of blueberries, but with less sugar and more fiber and vitamin E antioxidants," learn co-author Zhimin Xu said in a news release from the American Chemical Society.
"If berries are used to boost health, why not black rice and black rice bran?" recommended Xu, associate professor at the food science department at Louisiana State University Agricultural Center in Baton Rouge. "Black rice bran would be a exclusive and economical material to increase consumption of health-promoting antioxidants."
The study authors noted that black rice bran could be used to boost the health reimbursement of breakfast cereals, cakes, cookies and other foods. It could also be extra to beverages, and may serve as food coloring, allowing food manufacturers to avoid artificial colorants, the team said in the news release. The scientists explained that pigments in black rice bran extracts range from pink to black.
In the study, the researchers experienced black rice bran grown in the Southern United States. Even though brown rice is the most frequent rice variety produced worldwide, Xu said the study results suggest that black rice bran may be healthier than brown rice bran in terms of antioxidants.
In Asia, black rice is most frequently used for food decoration, such as in noodles or sushi. One range of black rice is known as "Forbidden Rice" because in Ancient China, it was only permitted to be eaten by upper class and no one else, according to background information in the news release.
The study results were planned to be released Thursday at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston.

Record Heat Requires Exercise safety measures

Expert offers tips for safe workouts on burning days.

Autumn may be coming up in the wings, but the continuing summer heat and humidity means that you need to be careful when exercising outdoors. "It's great to get exterior and exercise before the cold weather sets in, but this year's record heat makes it all the more significant to take precautions so you don't make a healthy movement bad for your health," Kara Smith, a individual trainer and special projects coordinator at Loyola Center for Fitness, said in a Loyola University news release.

She presented some advice for staying safe while exercising outdoors in hot, humid conditions:

• Avoid exercising outside during the hottest times of the day, which are usually between 10 a.m. and 4 pm.
• Wear sweatproof and waterproof sunscreen.
• Drink water before, during and after you exercise. Weigh physically before you go outdoors to exercise and again as soon as you return home. The weight you've lost is water weight so you want to drink that amount in ounces of water to replenish your body.
• If you work out during the daytime, wear sunglasses to protect your eyes.
• You should wear lightweight clothing that is light-colored and is made of resources that pull moisture away from your body.

Alcohol drinking Increases Risk of Developing Subtype of Breast Cancer

A report that has been published in the magazine of the National Cancer Institute on 23rd August establishes that overriding alcohol on a normal basis tends to elevate the risk of increasing lobular and hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. However, it does not seem to be associated with invasive ductal carcinoma risk.
This is the leading study to scrutinize possibilities of a link between alcohol intake and subtypes of breast cancer risk, as written by the authors of the study.
A few studies before had tried to examine the probabilities that there could be a link between alcohol intake and hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.
But, a common of those did not examine breast cancer in relation to histology, or if tumor formed in milk ducts or milk producing lobules, the writers explained.
Christopher I. Li, MD, Ph.D, along with a squad at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center conducted an experimental, but observational, study in the Women’s Health scheme study. It was carried out between 1993 and 1998 and as well built-in 87,724 postmenopausal women between the age group of 50 and 79.
The research has been able to show a strong connection between lobular carcinoma and alcohol consumption, and also strongly connected alcohol intake with hormone-receptor positive breast cancer.

Antibiotics Now suggested Before C-Sections

Pregnant women about to feel a cesarean delivery should be given antibiotics right before the procedure to help prevent infections, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists now Advise.
Infection is the most common problem of cesarean deliverance and occurs in 10 percent to 40 percent of women who have the procedure, compared with 1 percent to 3 percent of women who deliver vaginally, according to the college.
Typically, antibiotics were only given after a cesarean delivery because it was believed that if they were given prior to birth, they would make their way into the baby's blood and hold up with newborn lab tests or lead to antibiotic-resistant infections in the newborn.
"Based on the hottest data, prophylactic antibiotics given to pregnant women facing a cesarean significantly reduce maternal infection and do not come out to harm newborns," Dr. William H. Barth, Jr., chair of the ACOG's Committee on Obstetric Practice, said in a college news release.
"We're recommending that all women who undergo cesarean get a preventive course of antibiotics previous to the surgery starts. Ideally, this should happen within 60 minutes of surgery”.
Women who require an emergency cesarean should be given antibiotics as soon as probable, according to the new recommendation.
Still, the proposal would not apply to pregnant women who are already taking antibiotics for another condition, Barth noted.

Nutrition Improving in School Vending machinery

Good news to every parent and students identical. The council passed the “Healthy, Hunger-free Kids Act,” a revamp of the 1966 Child Nutrition Act. If accepted, federal child nutrition programs will be given an increase of $4.5 billion funding over 10 years. though, Slow Food USA, a movement linking its members the pleasure of food with a promise to the community and the setting, passed an urgent caution about the said nutrition act. The new bill review states that the budget for food stamp will be cut to be able to fund programs for better meals, regulation on school vending machines and for Farm to School projects, a clear case of inconsistency.
However, if not for the food stamp budget decrease, “Healthy Hunger-free Kids Act,” is a creditable bill as it will allot resources to raise the nutrition standards in school lunch rooms and vending machines by changing the usual meals to “healthy and nutritious food.” It will also offer programs that will encourage students to let go of the high-sugar and salty junk foods being accessible by vending machines.
Speaking of vending machines, childhood obesity and nutrition have emerges as key issues in Obama’s administration. That is why it is keen on improving nutrition value of vending machine contented in school to fight childhood obesity. Still First Lady Michelle Obama has initiated crusade to fight obesity including a program titled “Let’s Move” by teaching kids to engage in sports, be active and eat healthy. Her campaign was triggered by the shocking childhood obesity rate in the United States showing an obesity rate of 15.8% at the end of 2006 compare with 8.3% in 1994 among children ages 8-14.
With this repair in the nutrition system spearheaded by the First Lady, a number of vending machine companies followed suit and previously introduced healthy and nutritious food to create healthy vending machines in the schools. Fresh Healthy Vending is a nationwide franchise and just one of the latest innovators in the vending machine industry. They provide a wide selection of products that are natural and organic and cater to low carb and high fiber foods and even added state of the art features like colorful graphics, credit card reader and energy efficient LCD lighing making it more engaging to students.
Vending machines has actually gone a long way from gum ball dispensing, to coffee, to sodas, chips and chocolates. They have been the mirror of our fast paced life being too convenient and accessible. To date, vending machines still carry the connotation of giving unhealthful and non-nutritious content. However, many of the vending machine suppliers have already recognized the changes that should be made, by providing healthy food and improving its nutritional content. And let’s face it, we cannot let go of these machines, so we might as well be sure that we get healthy and nutritious food from them.

Study Suggests connection Between Diet Sodas, Preterm Delivery

Could drinking one or more naturally sweetened, carbonated diet sodas a day boost a woman's odds of premature delivery? A new study from Denmark suggests such a connection.
The researchers looked at the soft drink habits of almost 60,000 Danish women enrolled in a national study there from 1996 to 2002. The investigators establish a link between the intake of diet sparkling drinks and, to a lesser extent, diet noncarbonated drinks and delivering a baby early.
The study is published online and in the September print issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In the report, the researchers conclude: "Daily intake of naturally sweetened soft drinks may increase the risk of preterm delivery."
The researchers define preterm as delivering before 37 weeks' development. They categorized the women into groups depending on beverage drinking habits: those who never drank soft drinks or those who drank less than one per week, one to six per week, one each day, two or three per day, or four or more daily.
In all, 4.6 percent of the women delivered early, and one-third of those deliveries were medically induced. The team establishes no association between the early delivery and the intake of carbonated drinks sweetened with sugar.
However, compared with those who never drank the beverages, women who downed four or more diet sparkling drinks a day were 78 percent more likely to deliver early than women who never drank the beverages. And those who had four or more diet, noncarbonated drinks daily were 29 percent more likely to transport early.
Persons who had one or more carbonated diet drinks a day were 38 percent more likely to deliver early. Why the diet drinks, particularly, were linked with early delivery is not known, but the researchers wonder that the link may be driven by high blood pressure disorders in pregnancy. They note that other studies have found a link between soft drinks and high blood pressure in non-pregnant women.
The drink industry took exception to the findings. But extra experts said pregnant women may want to take heed of the study results. In a statement, Shelley McGuire of the American Society of Nutrition, said the findings "may be really important in terms of preventing premature births, especially those that are medically induced by a woman's health care provider."
She suggests pregnant women focus on water, juices and milk.
In a declaration, Dr. Alan R. Fleischman, medical director of the March of Dimes, said that "pregnant women should eat smart and make sure that most of their food choices are healthy ones. Artificially sweetened drinks don't make most lists of healthy foods. As the authors point out, extra research is needed to understand the impact of these beverages on pregnancy and fetal expansion. Until that is clear, it is practical for pregnant women to drink these beverages in moderation. They also should discuss with their doctors their risk of preterm birth and the signs and symptoms of preterm work. "

Dark Chocolates May helps to prevent Heart Failure Risk

There are very few people in the world who don’t like chocolates, many parents stops their children for eating too much as this can spoil their teeth and this can’t be called a bad thing on behalf of parents but a latest study has shown how much sentimental is the small dark chocolate’s piece is for the heart.
A new Harvard study has recommended that eating a small portion of good quality dark chocolate for at least 2-3 times a month may help to beat the heart failure risk in women. So ladies this is good news for you as this is a established facts that majority of ladies are fans of chocolates.
While discussing about the results of this study senior study author Dr. Murray Mittleman said that “At least for women, burning up of chocolate seems to be linked with a decreased risk of heart failure, but the defensive effect was only seen with relatively small amounts of consumption, less than one serving a day”.
Linda Van Horn, immediate past chair of the American Heart Association’s Nutrition Committee and professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, said that people must not misconstrue the results of this study and in a press release this statement came from her side “This is not an ‘eat all you want’ take-home message, rather it’s that eating a little dark chocolate can be healthy, as long as other adverse behaviors do not occur, such as weight gain or extreme intake of non-nutrient dense ‘empty’ calories”.
Thus we can say that people have got the freedom of eating chocolates but in firm limits.

Over 1,300 swine flu cases last week, protection advised

India persistent to report an increase in swine flu cases, with 79 deaths and over 1,300 new patients in the last week, officials said Monday, emphasising precautions including vaccinations to prevent the sickness.

According to health ministry officials, a total of 1,335 cases of swine flu infection were reported for the period of last week, all of them being indigenous cases of infection.

'Till date, samples from 163,289 persons have been experienced for Influenza A H1N1 in government laboratories and a few private laboratories across the country and 38,730 (23.7 percent) of them have been found positive,' an official declaration from the health ministry said.

The government is temporarily emphasising on preventive measures stressing specifically on the vaccinations. 'The highest number of sufferers is of pregnant women and those suffering from other ailments,' a health ministry official told IANS.

The highest number of deaths (40) was reported from Maharashtra. The state has been reporting the largest number of infections of swine flu for more than a month with the number touching 411 this week. The second leading number of cases were reported from Karnataka which had 291 cases and eight deaths, followed by Delhi which had 257 new cases and five deaths.

The second highest death payment, however, was from Gujarat which reported only 42 cases but 12 deaths in a week. The number of cases stay behind to be high in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu as well with 103 and 72 cases from the two states.

Kerala, which reported the maximum number of cases in the opening of this season of swine flu in the country has, however, stabilised with only nine cases being reported last week. The health ministry official said, Preventative measure is needed and the ministry is doing its best to make the people conscious about the methods to avoid swine flu'.

'We have two local vaccines. In adding to that, ads focusing on target group of the pregnant women and old or ailing persons are also being aired. So far, swine flu has claimed 2,024 lives in India since its outbreak in May last year.