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Health Check: 22/02/2010

22/02/2010

BBC World Service - Health Check, 22/02/2010

Severe dengue outbreak in South America. Mindfulness. Hot weather advice.

An outbreak of severe dengue on the tripla frontera borders of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. Health advice in the hot weather, and Mindfulness techniques to improve mental health.

Doctors and medical unions in the area where Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil meet - are calling for an epidemic of “severe dengue” to be declared a national health emergency.  Severe dengue used to be known as dengue hemorrhagic fever. It occurs when people who have already had dengue fever are bitten by a mosquito carrying a different form of the virus.  Claudia Hammond talks to Valeria Perasso in Buenos Aires whose been covering the story for the BBC. 

After the European heat waves of 2003 and 2006 there were calls for health authorities to give the public better advice about keeping cool at home.  And with concerns about climate change now the topic is getting a lot more attention. Claudia talks to environmental epidemiologist Shakoor Hajat of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to find out just how accurate that advice is

Mindfulness is a form of mental training based on ancient eastern and Buddhist practices. It teaches people to train their attention to stop their mind wandering. Research has found that an eight-week course can halve the rate of recurrent episodes of depression as well as for chronic fatigue and anxiety.  People have practised mindfulness for centuries, but it’s only now that it’s demanding the attention of the people actually studying the brain – the neuroscientists and psychologists. Neuropsychologist Dr Rick Hanson explains why science is getting interested now.

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