A US aid program aimed at helping foreign countries battle the AIDS epidemic saved 740,000 lives from 2004-2008, according to a US study published Tuesday.

The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, was started by former president George W. Bush in 2003 with a five-year, $15 billion investment in global AIDS in 15 countries.

The analysis by scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine in California examined health and survival information for 1.5 million adults in 27 African countries.

Till now, doctors in the private sector were free to treat TB patients, and weren't required to keep a record. India has finally declared tuberculosis (TB) a notifiable disease. The announcement signifies that with immediate effect, all private doctors, caregivers and clinics treating a patient suffering from TB will have to report every single case of the air-borne disease to the government.

The notification was sent to all states on May 7. Till now, doctors in the private sector were free to treat TB patients, and weren't required to keep a record.

It is not in the interest of food companies to advertise what their products contain, but it is in our interest to know

Junk food is junk by its very definition. But how bad is it and what is it that companies do not tell people about this food? This is what the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) laboratory checked. The results were both predictable and alarming. Equally predictable was the response of big food companies and their spokespersons — denials and dismissals. But they are missing the point.

A recent death of a person in Edathala due to hepatitis E has sparked off health concerns in the district that had seen a grave situation last year too because of outbreak of hepatitis in various parts of the district leading to an epidemic-like situation.

An emergency meeting has been called by the District Collector at his camp office on Tuesday to review the situation and take necessary action.

In the last three months, one person died and 12 others were diagnosed with the A (H1N1) virus in the State, according to a release from the Department of Health and Family Welfare here on Monday.

The infection was found to have affected people in Chennai, Coimbatore and Tiruppur. The only death reported is that of a 72-year-old farmer who had succumbed to the infection due to old age and delay in seeking treatment.

“Scientific facts do not support fears of threat to Asiatic lion population in Gir”

The Gujarat government on Monday strongly opposed any move to shift the Asiatic lions from the Gir forest to Kuno Palpur in Madhya Pradesh. It contended that the lions would not be safe there.

With seven swine flu cases reported in the city, the civic body is making efforts to ensure that sufficient arrangements are in place for an aggravated situation.

The BMC has directed all laboratories and hospitals, both private and public, to submit daily reports of suspected swine flu samples they receive for conducting tests.

The swine flu epidemic has been very serious in Pune this year, when compared to anywhere in the state or even in the country.

Doctors feel that it is partly to do with the erratic weather, besides factors including many not having developed immunity to the virus, like a few did, after it first broke out in 2009. Another factor could also be that the virus itself has developed immunity to temperature, which allows itself to sustain in higher temperatures unlike the claim that it can only survive in a cooler environment.

IMPHAL: Hepatitis B positive has taken the scale of an epidemic in the tribal villages of Tamenglong district. At least one teenaged girl has died and 17 others have been shifted to the hospital.

The disease was reported from Marangching and some other villages around Noney. The prevalence of the disease was noticed by a team of 10 doctors who had conducted a medical check up. The official reports said that a 18-year old girl, Abisha Gangmei, daughter of Phamnamsom Gangmei of Marangching village had died of this disease on March 18.