Most US women face stroke risk

The name may sound scary but meningitis can be dealt with easily. Take precautionary measures and don't panic. It's usually caused by either bacteria, viruses or similar infectious agents. Symptoms: Fever, severe headache, pain in the neck, vomiting, seizures, tiredness Treatment: Depends on the organism causing the infection, your age and the extent of infection. Patients do get better within three days but seeing the doctor is essential.

Pregnant women infected with HIV are more liekly to spread the virus to their children if they are carrying twins,according to a report in the journal AIDS.Laurent Mandelbrot of the University of Paris,and associates investigated mother-to-child spread of HIV in twins,compared with single twins,compared with single infants,born to HIV-infected mothers in the French Perinatal HIV Cohort.Before the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy,an effective combination of anti-HIV drugs,the mother-to-child HIV transmission rate in twin pregnancies was two to three times that in singleton pregnancies.

Sexually active teenage girls infected around the time of birth with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are more likely to have cervical infections and abnormal Pap test results,new research shows.Extensive research has examined the reproductive health outcomes among teenagers who acquire HIV infection through sex,senior investigator Dr.Susan B.Brogly of Harvard School of Public Health in Boston said.In contrast,this is the largest cohort study,and the first to publish on rates of genital infections,cervical lesions,and pregnancy among girls who had been living with HIV since birth,she said.Their results will be published in the June issue of the American Journal of Public Health .

Cigarette smoking appears to be a risk factor for tuberculosis infection, according to findings from a review of the literature and pooled analysis of studies,Kirk R.Smith,of the University of California ,Berkeley, and colleagues searched eight databases for relevant articles on the topic and identified 24 that met their inclusion criteria. Taken together, the data point to a marked increased the relative risk of TB infection and disease among current and former smokers compared with nonsmokers. There did not appear to be an increased relative risk for death from TB in association with smoking in people with active tuberculosis, the researchers note.