Health related information and news from around the world.

Productive cough, shortness of breath, and fever are symptoms of tuberculosis and pneumonia caused by certain common types of bacteria; these symptoms may also be caused by PCP, certain viruses, Kaposi’s sarcoma in the lung, and several other unusual conditions.     Viral pneumonias-The viruses that most commonly cause pneumonias in people with HIV infection are cytomegalovirus and the influenza virus. The pneumonias they cause are quite different. Influenza is a common infection in everyone and is neither more common nor more severe in people with HIV infection. Typical symptoms are fever, cough, production of thick sputum, and achiness. These symptoms in a person with HIV infection may be confused with the symptoms of other, more serious infections. Influenza can be prevented or made less severe by a vaccine that is available during each year’s influenza season. People with HIV infection should get influenza vaccine.     Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is common during the later stages of HIV infection, usually when the CD4 count is less than 100. CMV can infect not only the lungs, but virtually all parts of the body. A test of respiratory secretions will show CMV in the respiratory system, but it is difficult to know whether CMV is causing the pneumonia, because when CMV is present, other microbes like Pneumocystis carinii are usually present as well. There are some drugs that can be used to treat CMV pneumonia, although proof that they work in most cases is not well established.     Miscellaneous infections-Other causes of lung problems in people with HIV infection are less common than those above. Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare (MAI), though it usually infects other parts of the body, sometimes infects the lungs. Kaposi’s sarcoma may be found in the lungs, where it causes cough and shortness of breath. People with Kaposi’s sarcoma in the lungs will probably have changes on a chest x-ray or on special scans of the lungs, and Kaposi’s sarcoma also on the skin. Occasionally, people with HIV infection will have a pneumonia called lipoid interstitial pneumonia, which has no known cause, except perhaps HIV itself. Diagnosis of lipoid interstitial pneumonia requires a biopsy of the lungs using a bronchoscope. It seems to respond well to treatment with corticosteroids.*109\191\2*

Americans today are living longer. Life expectancy in the United States has nearly doubled since the early 1900s – from 47 years to 76 years. By the year 2025, Americans should be routinely living to the ripe age of 80, according to the World Health Organization. The bulge on census charts known as the postwar baby boom generation is rapidly reaching middle age. In fact, baby boomers have been turning 50 at the rate of one every 7.5 seconds since January 1,1996. The Census Bureau projects that one in nine baby boomers (9 million of the 78 million people born between 1946 and 1964) will survive into their late 90s, and one in 26 (about 3 million) will reach 100.Now that we are living longer, can we also expect to remain healthy and active longer? The likelihood is very good. But first we will have to jump a few hurdles. One of the highest is a group of diseases commonly referred to as arthritis. Each year, people make more than 315 million physician visits because of arthritis and are hospitalized for it more than 8 million times. Arthritis costs the nation 65 billion dollars annually in medical costs and lost productivity.*4/306/5*

Sarcomas are cancers that arise from the muscle of the wall of the uterus. They can be ‘pure’ – these cancers arise from muscle cells only, and are labeled ‘leiomyosarcomas’. In contrast, especially in older women, mixed sarcomas are common and have a combination of glandular cancers, just as in endometrial cancer, and cancers of the uterine muscle wall. These are called ‘mixed mesodermal tumours’.There are no known predisposing factors involved in the development of cancer in the muscle of the uterus (uterine sarcomas).The most common type of uterine sarcoma (leiomyosarcomas) usually arises in fibroids. Fibroids that are benign tumours (do not contain cancerous cells) arise from the muscle of the wall of the uterus and are extremely common, being present in up to 50% of women between the ages of 40 and 50. They may enlarge the uterus and cause pain but are still benign. The estimated risk of fibroids turning malignant into cancer is estimated between one in eight hundred and one in one thousand.Uterine sarcomas are more aggressive than cancers that arise in the lining of the uterus and are more likely to spread by the blood stream so that secondary cancers in the lung are the most common presentation of recurrent or advanced disease.There is a more rare form of uterine sarcoma called an ‘endometrial stromal sarcoma’, which arises from the tissue in between the glands of the lining of the uterus itself- the so-called ‘stroma’. These are usually low-grade cancers and are often removed by hysterectomy and are sensitive to hormonal treatment.If a uterine sarcoma is not treated, then it can spread by the blood stream to lungs, liver and bone.*3/144/5*