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Mesothelioma: A Killer
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Thai suspected bird flu case fans human link fear
Last Updated: 2004-09-27 9:49:37 -0400 (Reuters Health)
By Vissuta Pothong
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand, rattled by fears a girl passed bird flu to her mother, said Monday it has no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the deadly H5N1 virus in the country.
The World Health Organization said there was only a "very remote possibility" that the greatest fear of experts - the virus mutating, acquiring the capability to spread between people and setting off a pandemic -- would be realized.
Nevertheless, officials of the WHO, the Health Ministry and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention met for three hours to discuss the case and were briefed by Thai health officials just back from the area where the girl died.
Dr. Kumara Rai, the acting head of the WHO in Thailand, declined to give details of the meeting, saying he did not want to "create unnecessary panic."
Such details were expected to emerge Tuesday, once senior Thai officials had been briefed on the meeting, he said.
Beforehand, Rai told Reuters the great fear of human-to-human transmission of a virus that has killed 20 Vietnamese and 9 Thais this year was still a long way from reality.
"It is still very remote," he said.
However, the Thai government said it had instituted emergency procedures in the area where the girl died and was conducting special tests on samples from her and her mother to determine the cause of death.
"There is no evidence of transmission from human to human at the moment," said Dr. Charal Trinvuthipong, head of the ministry's Department of Disease Control.
It would take about another week before special tests on the mother, whose body was injected with formalin to preserve it, could determine her cause of death, he told Reuters.
Tests were also being carried out on the girl, from whom samples were taken before her cremation, he said.
AUNT TESTS POSITIVE
Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan told reporters the girl's aunt, with whom the 11 year old lived while her mother was away working, had contracted bird flu from diseased chickens but had recovered.
The girl, who died on September 12, helped her aunt dispose of the carcasses, she said.
"Three lab results have confirmed this patient has H5N1," Sudarat said of the aunt. "She had direct contact with the disease while disposing of chicken carcasses with her niece."
The mother spent two nights in the village visiting her ailing child, Sudarat said.
The mother died after returning to work following the cremation of her daughter, fueling suspicions the girl had passed it on to her.
"It was a preliminary suspicion," said Rai of the WHO.
All known victims of the H5N1 virus have caught it from direct contact with diseased fowl.
Health Ministry spokeswoman Nitaya Mahaphol said ministry officials had been "instructed to go on 100 percent alert."
"We are recruiting health volunteers in every village in Kamphaeng Phet to keep a close eye on people down with colds or flu," she said, referring to the province where the mother and daughter died.
"There are over 1,000 villages in Kamphaeng Phet. These private volunteers will report any suspicious case to the ministry and their samples would be sent for screening tests."
(Additional reporting by Nopporn Wong-Anan and Vithoon Amorn)
Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Playing "boy" games helps girls, and vice versa
Last Updated: 2004-09-24 16:33:14 -0400 (Reuters Health)
By Alison McCook
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Ten-year olds who spend more time engaging in activities typically associated with their gender tend to have more stereotypical academic interests, skills and characteristics two years later, new research reports.
For instance, girls who logged many hours on "girl" activities like reading, knitting, dancing or playing with dolls tended to get better grades in English, show more signs of sensitivity, and were more likely to have low self-esteem, which is more common in girls, the Pennsylvania-based researchers noted.
However, girls who spent more time on sports -- a traditionally masculine pursuit -- tended to become more interested in math two years later, regardless of their interest in math at age 10.
Likewise, boys who spent more time playing music -- a traditionally feminine activity -- got relatively good grades in math 2 years later.
These findings show that what children spend time on at age 10 can have a strong influence on their later years, lead author Dr. Susan M. McHale of Penn State University in University Park told Reuters Health.
"The patterns that are established in elementary school seem to really matter," she said.
McHale added that adopting many traditional gender roles and interests can "foreclose possibilities" for kids. Therefore, parents may want to encourage their children to pursue activities not typically associated with their sex to expand their horizons.
McHale and her colleagues interviewed 200 first-born 10-year old girls and boys and their families, and then contacted the children by phone seven times to ask them how much time they spent on different activities that day.
Two years later, the researchers re-contacted the children and asked them about their grades, interests and other characteristics.
The findings appear in the journal Developmental Psychology.
Although predilections largely predicted skills, characteristics and interests 2 years later, McHale said, for boys, the relationship was somewhat more complex.
For instance, she noted that boys who spent more time with other boys tended to become more sensitive over time. In contrast, girls who spent more time with girls tended to become less sensitive.
McHale explained that when boys play together, they often play games in large groups, which involves teamwork and following complex rules. Girls, however, tend to play in smaller groups, and largely spend their time talking, she noted.
These findings suggest that girls "may not have to practice the skills that boys have to practice" when playing sports, causing girls to lose some of their sensitivity over time, she said.
McHale suggested that parents may want to encourage their daughters to spend time with boys, and teach them about being sensitive to others.
SOURCE: Developmental Psychology, September 2004.
Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
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