Superbugs: Rare genetic fusion to blame for spread

Mumbai: British scientists conducting a study on superbugs in London have discovered that a highly rare genetic fusion is to blame for the superbug NDM1. This fusion has given NDM1 the power to easily jump between various species of bacteria at a superfast speed, consequently making it drug resistant.

The scientists, who first reported the NDM1 last year, have now found that NDM1, by jumping between bacteria strains, can make several human diseases resistant to almost all known antibiotics.

Is India well equipped to battle cancer?

Mumbai: Cricketer Yuvraj Singh's battle against cancer has put the spotlight once again on the disease that claims 20,000 lives a day worldwide. The question is whether India is well equipped to battle the world's biggest killer.

Diagnosed with germ cell cancer, cricketer Yuvraj Singh is currently undergoing chemotherapy in the United States. While it is a shocking news for his fans, but a cancer diagnosis in the 30s is not rare anymore. In fact, eight per cent of all cancers in India strike people under 35.

Superbugs 'rampant' in India: German news report

New Delhi: Two years after the NDM 1 superbug was first detected in the country, a new report suggests between 100- 200 million Indians might be carrying two deadly forms of superbug, ha-MRSA and ca-MRSA - said to be resistant to all available antibiotics, except for one that has never been tried, because of its potentially fatal side effects.

Published in the German news magazine 'Der Spiegel', the report claims India is responsible for the killer bacteria's spread in England.

Malaria kills 45 times more in India than current estimates

London: Malaria kills over 1.2 million people every year worldwide, twice as many deaths as thought earlier, while deaths from the mosquito-borne disease in India could be more than 45 times higher than what is currently estimated, a new study has claimed.

Researchers at the University of Washington's Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation who collected data on malaria deaths from 1980 to 2010 found that 1.2 million people died of the disease in 2010 worldwide.

Yoga to control high blood pressure

Yoga expert Shalini Vadehra is back with some asanas to help control high blood pressure.

Leprosy cases on the rise in urban India

New Delhi: India has achieved a huge milestone in eradicating polio but when it comes to leprosy, the chilling fact is that cases are on the rise. In fact, India accounts for 55 per cent of the world's leprosy cases.

India officially eliminated leprosy six years ago, but reports now suggest that the cases of leprosy are going up, especially in urban areas.

Delhi at 100: Creating a healthy new city

87-year-old Brahm Dutt Saigal, a resident of New Delhi, never took a leave in his entire career. He exercised regularly and went on long walks. Nowadays, the working population seems to be too busy or too stressed to take care of its health.

Govt downplaying the tuberculosis threat?

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has labelled a hospital's claims of a fatal tuberculosis strain as premature. The question is whether the government is downplaying the disease.

1,000 Indians die of tuberculosis every day and 20 per cent of the total TB deaths in the world take place in the country. The picture seems to be getting darker with reports that show 12 cases of the killer, totally drug resistant TB. But the government has been downplaying the danger.

India becomes polio-free, but threat remains

Howrah: India has completed one entire year without registering a single polio case in any part of the country. Bringing down the number from 2 lakh a year to zero is a commendable achievement and an example before other countries to follow. But there is hardly any room for complacency.

Two-and-a-half-year-old Ruksaar from Shahpara village in Howrah district is the last registered case of polio in India, and the credit goes to government health workers and the UNICEF. Her father Abdul Shah, who missed out on timely vaccination for Ruksaar, is now one of the strongest advocates of polio immunisation in his village.

Bumper crop from new maize gene?

London: The discovery by British scientists of a new 'provisioning' gene in maize plants that regulates the transfer of nutrients from the plant to the seed could lead to increased crop yields and improve food security.

Scientists from Oxford University and the University of Warwick, in collaboration with the industry have identified the gene, called Meg1. They report their findings, which they believe could help to increase global food production, in this week's Current Biology.