he eight unexplained symptoms most closely linked to cancer have been highlighted by researchers.

The Keele University team also points to the age at which patients should be most concerned by the symptoms, which include blood in urine and anaemia.

The other symptoms are: rectal blood, coughing up blood, breast lump or mass, difficulty swallowing, post-menopausal bleeding and abnormal prostate tests.

Cancer Research UK said unusual changes in a person's health should be checked.


The researchers were looking for symptoms which gave a one in 20 or higher chance of turning out to be cancer.

Although this still represents a relatively low chance of anyone with the symptom having the disease, any suspicion of cancer can mean that the patient is sent for tests more quickly, in order to catch the disease as early as possible.

The figure for each symptom was calculated by combining the results of 25 previous studies.

They found that, if the patient was below the age of 55, there were only two signs which reached the 'one-in-20' threshold.

These were a rectal prostate examination which gave abnormal results, and a breast lump.

After 55, but only in men, there was evidence that difficulty swallowing could be a sign of oesophageal cancer, while blood in the urine was highlighted as a particular concern for men and women aged over 60.
'Not the only signs'

Dr Mark Shapley, who led the research, said: "GPs should audit their management and reflect upon these cases as part of their appraisal to improve quality of care.

"There should be more open public debate on the level of risk that triggers a recommendation for referral by a GP."

Professor Amanda Howe, honorary secretary of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: "It's useful to see these well-known 'red flag' symptoms and signs validated in primary care research, and reinforces the importance of encouraging patients to discuss worrying symptoms early with their GP."

However, a spokesman for Cancer Research UK said that these were by no means the only potential warning signs for cancer.

"The particular symptoms this study has highlighted are already thought of as important potential signs of cancer, but there are more than 200 different types of cancer, which cause many different symptoms.

"So if you notice an unusual or persistent change in your body it's important to get it checked out. When cancer is diagnosed at an early stage, treatment is often more likely to be successful."

With 54 people testing positive for dengue, the city witnessed the emergence of the highest number of fresh cases of the disease on Wednesday.

So far, 550 persons have been affected by dengue while one has succumbed to it. And with the threat of an epidemic looming large over the city and the Commonwealth Games slated to happen in October, the month when dengue would be at its peak, the civic agencies are finally starting to take some concrete steps towards preventing the situation from getting out of hand.

For one, the authorities are emphasising on public participation and exhorting the public to learn more about the disease. "This is the only way to protect oneself from the disease. People have to proactively engage in the campaign and learn about precautions that will keep their families safe," said Dr VK Monga, chairperson of the Health Committee, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).


Meanwhile, the government has constituted a Special Task Force, to be headed by Dr Monga. "In a high-level meeting, we decided to intensify our campaign, increase manpower and conduct day-to-day monitoring of the situation on the ground," he added.

According to statistics released by the MCD, only three cases were reported in the corresponding period of 2009. On the other hand, the number of cases had stood at 60 and 17 in 2008 and 2007 respectively. "An average of 30 persons are testing positive everyday. While dengue cases are expected at this time of the year, the incidence is more than that of previous years," said Dr NK Yadav, Municipal Health Officer, MCD.

Most of the cases are being reported from Civil Lines, Shahdra (north) and Central Zone, he added.

Dr Bir Singh, Professor of Community Medicine, AIIMS, said: "There is an urgent need for the public to learn how to prevent dengue and protect themselves."

DENGUE WATCH
Number of Deaths on today - None

Total no. of deaths so far
1 confirmed
3 suspected

Number of dengue cases
550, 54 Fresh cases reported on Monday

Precautions
* Use mosquito repellant cream on exposed parts of the body.
* Dengue-causing mosquitos bite during the day. So, wear full-sleeve shirts and trousers.
* Keep water covered to prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs.

Symptoms
Fever, bad headaches, muscle and joint pain, skin rash, pain behind eyes and overall weakness. While doctors recommend Paracetamol for reducing fever, they say that aspirin should be avoided to reduce the risk of bleeding.

A strategy to tackle the increasing trend of HIV positivity among migrants is being put in place, particularly in the States that reported high levels of out-migration.

Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said this at a meeting of the consultative committee on Health and Family Welfare to discuss the HIV/AIDS prevention programme here on Wednesday.

Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa and Rajasthan, where out-migration was high, needed to be watched carefully.

A significant number of people belonging to the high risk groups, including truckers and migrants, were reached through targeted interventions.

This method had proved successful in bringing down the prevalence of HIV in the southern States, Mr. Azad pointed out.

Declining trend

The HIV epidemic has seen some stabilisation with adult prevalence now estimated at 0.31 per cent, compared to 0.36 per cent in 2006. The six high-risk States had shown a declining trend.

Mr. Azad said a total of 143.8 lakh clients, including 61.2 lakh expecting mothers, were counselled at the Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres across the country in 2009-10.

For people with HIV-AIDS, 64 new anti retroviral therapy (ART) centres were established in the last one year and 89,000 patients were receiving free ART treatment.

Health experts have warned that China is at risk of losing at least two million lives each year to smoking-related diseases.

The use of tobacco by Chinese men, 53 percent of whom are smokers, has already peaked, reports China Daily.

Each year, some one million people die from tobacco-related diseases in China, which is home to about 300 million smokers.

"The crucial time has come for China to implement tougher tobacco control measures, which will be good for both national health and wealth," said Judith Mackay, a Hong Kong-based tobacco control expert.

The number of Chinese men who smoke has decreased three percent over the past decade, while many other countries have reported a 15 percent drop in tobacco use, said Yang Gonghuang of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

An increasing smoking rate among Chinese women, which now stands at 3 percent, is also of deep concern, she said.

"The overall impact of the deadly habit on health will become apparent in 20 years, when the nation will see a sharp rise in smoking-related diseases, including cancer, heart disease, strokes and emphysema, which will result in more deaths," warned Yang.

In China, the rate of cancer, particularly lung cancer, is constantly increasing. (ANI)

While the country gears up to face yet another swine flu outbreak, a research paper published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research has knocked the bottom out of the hitherto held notion that swine flu was a human-to-human infection since Indian pigs were free from the deadly influenza A H1N1 virus.

For the first time, a team of researchers headed by Dr K Nagarajan of the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai, has detected in pigs a virus sharing close homology with that of the one that caused the 2009 swine flu pandemic.

The study titled Influenza A H1N1 virus in Indian pigs & its genetic relatedness with pandemic human influenza A 2009 H1N1, published in the August issue of the journal, said: "It is not known since when this virus has been circulating among Indian pigs."

The report concludes with a scary remark: "Dual infection in pigs may result in a new reassortment with high transmissibility and case fatality in human beings. To avert such a situation, intensive surveillance of humans, pigs and poultry for influenza virus infections is needed."

The team investigated disease outbreaks with clinical history suggestive for swine influenza reported by owners of pig farms in Uttar Pradesh. After collecting blood samples and nasal and ocular swabs from the pigs, the team conducted the research at the National CSF Referral Laboratory in Izatnagar in Uttar Pradesh and found that there was a close genetic relationship between the virus found in the pigs and the one that caused swine flu last year.

However, Dr Nagarajan is not sure if the pigs were infected by humans or by any other means. In the case of pig farms in Uttar Pradesh, no humans picked up the infection last year though many of them had been working closely with the infected animals.

But that should not be a reason for complacency, he warns, since there had been cases in countries like US and Mexico where the humans had been infected by ailing pigs.