A U.S. health task force said in a May 2017 statement that screening for thyroid cancer is no longer recommended for adults who have “no signs or symptoms.” [1]
The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force said in the news release that there is no evidence that screenings improve survival and can lead to over-diagnosis and other possible complications.
Task Force member Karina W. Davison, Ph.D., M.A.Sc., said:
“While there is very little evidence of the benefits of screening for thyroid cancer, there is considerable evidence of the serious harms of treatment, such as damage to the nerves that control speaking and breathing.
What limited evidence is available does not suggest that screening enables people to live longer, healthier lives.”
The Task Force said that over-diagnosis “leads to an increase in new diagnoses of thyroid cancer without affecting the number of people who die from thyroid cancer.”
Thyroid cancer is fairly rare in the U.S., according to the Task Force, which estimates there will be 56,300 news cases of the disease in 2017, accounting for 3.8% of all cancers.
The incidence of thyroid cancer has risen about 4.5% per year over the last decade, faster than any other cancer. However, the mortality rate has not risen and remains at about .05 deaths 100,000 people in 2013. [2]
Thyroid patients usually have a good prognosis, with a 5-year survival rate of 98.1%.
Seth Landefeld, M.D., a member of the Task Force, said:
“Over diagnosis occurs because screening for thyroid cancer often identifies small or slow growing tumors that might never affect a person during their lifetime. People who are treated for these small tumors are exposed to serious risks from surgery or radiation, but do not receive any real benefit.” [1]
The Task Force said it had concluded with “moderate certainty” that the risks of screening outweigh the benefits in asymptomatic people and gave the practice a “D” recommendation, indicating that it discourages both palpation and ultrasonography in these individuals. [2]
Chagas disease, or “kissing bug disease,” could have a higher mortality rate than previously thought. Why? Because it often goes unreported, and more than half of the U.S. is reporting new cases. [1] [2]
Source: Good Housekeeping
Chagas is largely asymptomatic, so most people don’t know they have it. Chagas, which is transmitted by the so-called “kissing bug,” can cause heart and intestinal problems, but too often the damage isn’t realized until it’s too late, or doctors don’t associate symptoms with the disease. [1]
Dr. Ester Cerdeira Sabino, a co-leader in the study, explained:
“Most people who get infected, carry on with their lives … unaware they were bitten. A lot of mortality data doesn’t account for Chagas, so you underestimate the effect of the disease. What the parasite does to the body takes a long time; [it] slowly goes into the heart and destroys it.”
Chagas disease is 1 of 5 parasitic infections the U.S. Centers for Disease Control is currently targeting for public health action. [2]
Kissing Bugs and Their Deadly Parasites
The scientific name for kissing bugs is Triatomine bugs, but they’re also sometimes called assassin bugs and vampire bugs. The blood-sucking insects usually bite humans when they’re asleep, either on the eyes or the lips. People can also accidentally scratch or rub the bugs’ feces into their eyes or mouth, or accidentally consume contaminated food. [1] [2]
After feeding on a person, parasites in the kissing bug’s feces can enter the body through breaks in the skin. [2]
When people do show symptoms, it is during the acute phase, the first few weeks after infection. An infected person might experience mild symptoms, such as fever, aches, and fatigue. The most noticeable sign of infection is called Romaña’s sign – when the eyelids near the point of infection start to swell.
During the chronic phase, cardiac or intestinal complications can develop.
Controlling the Kissing Bug Population
There are antiparasitic drugs on the market that can treat Chagas, but considering how rarely the disease goes detected, the best offense is a good defense. The most effective way to do this is by controlling the kissing bug population.
Kissing bugs like to hang out under porches, in dog houses, and under piles of rocks and wood. To prevent infestation, seal cracks and gaps, remove wood or rock piles near your home, and don’t let pets sleep outdoors. Roach hotels and other bait-like traps don’t work against kissing bugs.
Your chances of being bitten by a Triatomine bug are relatively low, but if you suspect you have been bitten, don’t ignore it – talk to your doctor immediately. [3]
In a May, 2017 study published in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, infection with Chagas was found to increase risk of death by 2 to 3 times from all causes.
Dr. Ligia Capuani, an infectious disease researcher at Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Sao Paulo, in Brazil, who led the research, said:
“In every age category, people who had Chagas died more than people who didn’t have Chagas. So if you’re infected early in life, you should be treated.” [1]
Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.
The potentially deadly, drug-resistant “superbug,” carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), is more widespread in U.S. hospitals than previously thought, an earlier-released study has found. [1]
Researchers looked for cases of infections caused by CRE in a sample of 4 U.S. hospitals – 3 in the Boston area and 1 in California – and identified numerous varieties of the bacterium. [2]
Each year, CRE bacteria sicken about 9,300 people and claim the lives of 600 people in the United States, according to the CDC. Those numbers are climbing. CRE bacteria, in particular, have been called “nightmare bacteria” by CDC Director Tom Frieden because they often continue to thrive even in the face of “last-resort” antibiotics – drugs reserved for the toughest infections. [1]
In the study, the researchers also found that CRE has a plethora of genetic traits that make it resistant to antibiotics, and these traits can be easily transferred between the many CRE species.
The study documented the identical gene in different species. William Hanage, associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard Chan School and senior author of the study, says that “the extent to which this has happened is really quite surprising,” He added that the team “found 2 cases of high-level resistance we could not explain.”
He compared it to dark matter:
“We know it’s there because we can see its effects, but what’s actually making it happen at the moment is unknown. If I were to criticize my own work, I would say it is a shame that we weren’t able to get more hospitals and more samples from elsewhere within the health care systems.”
Based on the findings, the researchers believe that CRE is more common than previously thought, and that it may be transmitted from person to person without causing symptoms.
Source: CBC News
In fact, Dr. Alex Kallen, a medical officer in the CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, said “the most common source of transmission with CRE is asymptomatic.” For that reason, the team writes in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, there needs to be increased surveillance of CRE. [2]
A healthy person might be able to carry CRE (it resides in the gastrointestinal tract) without developing an infection. However, if the bacterium is transferred to someone with a compromised immune system, it can be deadly. [1] [2]
Hanage said:
“We often talk about the rising tide of antibiotic resistance in apocalyptic terms. But we should always remember that the people who are most at risk of these things would be at risk for any infection, because they are often among the frailer people in the health care system. [2]
While the typical focus has been on treating sick patients with CRE-related infections, our new findings suggest that CRE is spreading beyond the obvious cases of disease. We need to look harder for this unobserved transmission within our communities and health care facilities if we want to stamp it out. [1]
The best way to stop CRE making people sick is to prevent transmission in the first place. If it is right that we are missing a lot of transmission, then only focusing on cases of disease is like playing whack-a-mole; we can be sure the bacteria will pop up again somewhere else.”
On a related front, it has come to light that a Nevada woman in her 70’s died months ago from a CRE infection that none of the 26 antibiotics available in the United States would touch. Dr. James Johnson, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Minnesota, said of the case:
“I think this is the harbinger of future badness to come.” [3]
Johnson added that it’s hard to believe nobody else in the country is carrying the same strain. He said that when people ask him “How close are we to the edge of the cliff?,” he tells them: “We’re already falling off the cliff.”
Last fall, a Reuters investigation revealed that thousands of U.S. deaths due to superbugs go unreported each year, because in many cases it is not indicated on death certificates.
Mike is the co-founder, editor, and researcher behind Natural Society. Studying the work of top natural health activists, and writing special reports for top 10 alternative health websites, Mike has written hundreds of articles and pages on how to obtain optimum wellness through natural health.
