The World Health Organization says it is very concerned for the health of tens of thousands of people who fled their homes following post-election violence in Kenya at the end of December. WHO reports people displaced by ethnic clashes in the Rift Valley lack critical health care. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from WHO headquarters in Geneva. More than 800 people have been killed and many more injured since ethnic riots broke out in Kenya following the disputed presidential election…

WASHINGTON — A popular snack food sold nationwide is being recalled because of concerns about contamination. All lots and sizes of Veggie Booty Snack Food are being recalled, the company said, following a report of 51 cases of salmonella poisoning that may be associated with the product. Georgine Hertzwig of Robert’s American Gourmet in Sea Cliff, N.Y., said the company acted after the Food and Drug Administration contacted them about the illnesses in 17 states. Salmonella can cause serious and…

Associated Press GENEVA — The World Health Organization recommended Friday that passengers on long flights exercise their legs and resist taking sleeping pills to reduce the risk of potentially fatal blood clots. Although the danger of developing deep vein thrombosis — normally in the form of a blood clot in the calves — is small, it increases if people are immobile for long periods in cramped conditions, the U.N. agency said in a report. Some people are also predisposed to…

St. David’s Community Health Foundation handed out grants totaling $1.3 million to nonprofits that provide mental health services for Central Texas residents. The foundation is the philanthropic arm of the St. David’s HealthCare Partnership. The grants went to: Any Baby Can, Austin Child Guidance Center, Austin Recovery, Breakthrough, Capital Area Mental Health Center, Communities in Schools, Family Crisis Center, FamilyConnections, the Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center and the Interagency Support Center of East Williamson County. Also receiving grants: Leander Independent School District,…

No time for a lunchtime lap at the fitness center? Mayo Clinic researchers say employees can squeeze a workout into the workday if only they’d connect a treadmill to their computers. It’s not a joke. A study published last month shows that workers could drop nearly 50 pounds a year by spending a few hours a day on a treadmill while doing office work. “A lot of assumptions were that people would not be able to type on a treadmill…

By EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News eramshaw@dallasnews.com AUSTIN – Federal authorities are investigating two cases from last year in which Texas A&M; researchers were infected with biological weapons agents – including the university’s failure to report the exposures when they happened. New documents obtained by The Sunshine Project, an Austin-based bioweapons watchdog group, show three researchers tested positive for exposure to the weapons agent Q fever in April 2006, two months after another researcher fell ill following contact…

Salvia divinorum is a bright, leafy green plant from Mexico that when chewed or smoked causes intense hallucinations comparable to LSD or “magic mushrooms.” And it’s legal in California. The drug is available all over the Bay Area, mostly in smoke shops and herbal stores. It’s also sold over the Internet. For $15 to $50 a hit, users get a high that sends them into a dream-like state for anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or two. Unlike…

White children account for most of the new cases of diabetes in children, says a new study, but the disease is found in all ethnic groups, and rates of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes are on the rise. In Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association, Dana Dabelea of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center reports on the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study, the first study designed to estimate the national incidence of diabetes by race,…

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Tuesday, June 26, 2007 Austin doctor Lisa Savage was thrilled when a human papillomavirus vaccine became available last summer. But since then, Savage, like many other doctors, has found she can’t afford to offer it to her patients. “We were vaccinating people left and right, and all of the sudden, I’m looking at my business situation and going, ‘Aah, I can’t do this forever,’ ” said Savage, a gynecologist. “We made the very difficult decision not to stock…

The Associated Press Monday, February 5, 2007; 8:39 PM CHICAGO — New government figures show a surprising increase in youth suicides after a decade of decline, and some mental health experts think a drop in use of antidepressant drugs may be to blame. The suicide rate climbed 18 percent from 2003 to 2004 for Americans under age 20, from 1,737 deaths to 1,985. Most suicides occurred in older teens, according to the data _ the most current to date from…