Mental Health in the News

"Exposure to sunlight may help impede the spread of chickenpox," BBC News has reported. The broadcaster reported that the UV rays in sunlight could in theory influence the patterns of chickenpox cases seen worldwide, particularly as equatorial countries tended to have lower rates of chicken pox, which is a viral infection.

"Dozens of hospital wards closed over fears of norovirus outbreak," The Daily Telegraph has reported today. The paper said that health officials have issued a warning about the serious threat posed by the winter diarrhoea and vomiting bug, norovirus, after wards had to be closed at eight UK hospitals. Reports of closed wards have also hit the headlines of many local newspapers.

"Noisy Christmas toys risk damaging toddlers' hearing," says The Daily Telegraph. The paper warned that certain popular Christmas toys "can be as loud as a chainsaw and risk permanently damaging toddlers' hearing".

Penicillin doses may need to be increased as youngsters are getting heavier, The Daily Telegraph has reported. The newspaper said that dosing guidelines for penicillin and related antibiotics have not changed for almost 50 years, and are mostly based on children's ages rather than their weight.

"Finding hairs in your food can be disgusting, and it seems that blood-sucking insects feel just the same," the Daily Mail has claimed. The newspaper has somewhat misrepresented research that offers clues as to why humans have only fine hair on most of their bodies. While a stray curly hair in your food might turn your stomach, bedbugs were not quizzed over their disgust at human hair in this study.