Health Highlights: June 21, 2012

June 21, 2012 RSS Feed Print

This is the first FDA-approved test that detects evidence of the virus itself and the test can be performed using equipment and supplies that many public health laboratories already use to diagnose influenza. Test kits will be available for distribution in early July.

Dengue viruses are transmitted by mosquitoes. Thousands of U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands develop dengue every year, and dengue is a leading cause of fever in American travelers returning from Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America.

Severe dengue infections can lead to hemorrhage, shock and death. There are no vaccines to prevent dengue or medicines specifically approved to treat the disease, but early medical care can greatly reduce the risk of death, the CDC said.

-----

Mother of World's First Test Tube Baby Dies

The British woman who in July of 1978 gave birth to the world's first "test tube" baby has died, BBC News reported Wednesday.

Lesley Brown, who died June 6 in Bristol, England, at age 64, made history after daughter Louise was conceived and born with the help of in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment. She later delivered a second daughter, Natalie, also conceived via IVF.

Talking about her experience in 2008, Brown said that she had been willing to try anything to become a mother.

"I'm just so grateful that I'm a mum at all because without IVF I never would have been and I wouldn't have my grandchildren," she said.

The procedure -- the first IVF treatment to lead to healthy delivery -- was conducted by reproductive medicine pioneers Dr. Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards, the BBC said.

Speaking on behalf the team at the Boum Hall Clinic, where Steptoe and Edwards practiced after Louise Brown's birth, chief executive Mike Macamee said that, "Lesley was a devoted mum and grandmother, and through her bravery and determination many millions of women have been given the chance to become mothers."

------