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A vaccine to fight cancers affecting women will be available in five to six months, and those in the age group of nine to 16 years will be eligible for inoculation, Union Minister Prataprao Jadhav said on Tuesday.Addressing a press conference in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, the Union Minister of State for Health, Family Welfare and Ayush (Independent Charge) said that research on a vaccine is nearly complete and trials are underway."The number of cancer patients has increased in the country, and the Central government has initiated steps to address this issue. Women above 30 will undergo screening at hospitals, and daycare cancer centres will be established for early detection of the disease," Jadhav said.He said the government has also waived off customs duty for medicines used in cancer tr...

Swimming in some lakes with still water can lead to infection with Legionella -- a bacterium that can cause pneumonia -- said a team of researchers on Tuesday calling out on people who engage in open water swimming to be aware of the risk.   Also referred to as legionnaires` disease, infection with legionella causes severe lung inflammation that is characterised by fever, chills, malaise, chest pain, cough, fatigue, respiratory symptoms, and sometimes diarrhoea. "Legionella infection represents a public health hazard owing to its ability to spread through exposure to natural water bodies and human-made water reservoirs," said Dr. Ashley Bryson, an internal medicine resident at the University of Manitoba. In an article, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the experts e...

Exposure to pollution from car brake wear can prove to be more harmful to the lungs than diesel exhaust, according to a study.  The study, led by researchers from the University of Southampton in the UK, emphasised that focusing on particulate matter (PM) exhaust emissions alone may be inadequate to mitigate the health effects of vehicle-derived pollution. Airborne PM2.5 is known to reach the alveolar regions of the lungs and is associated with more than 4 million premature deaths per year worldwide. While road traffic -- diesel exhaust emissions -- is a major source of PM in urban environments, non-exhaust emissions, especially from brake wear, represent an increasing component of traffic-related PM, about which there is a paucity of information. The researchers argued that car brake w...