GOOD NEWS

Cholera antidote

Researchers in Bangladesh have found a easy way to treat severe cholera in children with a single dose of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin, reports The Lancet. The current World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations suggest a three-day, 12-dose course of antibiotic treatment with either tetracycline or erythromycin. Debasish Saha, from the Centre for Health and Population Research, Dhaka, and colleagues found that treatment with ciprofloxacin was successful within 48 hours in 60 per cent of cases, compared with 55 per cent in children who were treated with erythromycin.

Oestrogen punch

Taking oral contraceptives that contain oestrogen may decrease a woman’s risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), reports New Scientist. A study conducted by ?lvaro Alonso from the Harvard School of Public Health and colleagues found that women who used birth control pills had a 40 per cent lower risk of being diagnosed with MS for several years afterwards. The scientists say that oestrogens influence immune responses and so may affect autoimmune diseases like MS.

BAD NEWS

Tobacco-sperm link

Chewing tobacco may lead to loss of fertility, says a new study published in the Fertility and Sterility. The study conducted by Ashok Agarwal from the Center for Advanced Research in Human Reproduction, Infertility, and Sexual Function at the Cleveland Clinic’s Glickman Urological Institute notes a possible link between tobacco chewing and sperm problems. He found that men in the ‘severe’ tobacco chewing group had the fewest, worst quality sperms. The more tobacco the men chewed, the poorer their sperms were.

Antibiotic hazard

Individuals taking antibiotics to cure acne for more than six weeks are more than twice as likely to develop an upper respiratory tract infection within one year when compared to those with acne who are not treated with antibiotics. Long-term antiobitic treatment for patients with acne is standard, but David J. Margolis, from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, writes in the Archives of Dermatology that he studied individuals with acne between 1987 and 2002 and arrived at the conclusion.