Doctors Telling Patients To Hit The Gym, Not The Pharmacy
Instead of treating chronic problems with medication, health care providers are increasingly prescribing exercise for their patients. In other public health news, pregnant women who traveled to Zika-infected areas are facing tough decisions at home, a new study finds that it might be discharged patients who are spreading "superbug" infections, and an oncologist talks about the choice she had to make after she discovered she was predisposed to breast and ovarian cancer.
The Associated Press:
More Doctors Prescribing Exercise Instead Of Medication
When Dr. Michelle Johnson scribbles out prescriptions, the next stop for many of her patients is the gym, not the pharmacy. Doctors treating chronic health problems increasingly are prescribing exercise for their patients - and encouraging them to think of physical activity as their new medication. (Ngowi, 3/14)
The New York Times:
Women Who Brought Zika Fears Home With Them
The Zika virus is not yet known to be circulating in the continental United States. But already, fear of the infection has come home for many pregnant women and their families who journeyed abroad before the risks were known. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that nine pregnant women were known to have become infected while traveling. Yet many more are coping with the possibility of exposure, reaching out to their doctors for blood tests and ultrasounds, obsessing on news coverage and trying to manage their worry. (Beil, 3/14)
NBC News:
Patients Carry Superbugs On Their Hands, Study Finds
Hospitals may be cracking down on handwashing for doctors, nurses and other staffers, but they're missing a big source of superbug spread, a new study finds: Patients. Researchers at the University of Michigan found close to a quarter of the patients they tested had some sort of drug-resistant germ on their hands when they were discharged from the hospital to a post-acute care facility such as a nursing home, rehabilitation center or hospice. (Fox, 3/14)
NPR:
Bad Luck Or Bad Genes? Dealing With BRCA And 'A Cancer In The Family'
Oncologist Theodora Ross discusses the hereditary nature of cancer and her own predisposition to breast and ovarian cancer, which led her to have a double mastectomy and to have her ovaries removed. (3/14)
