Your Health this Week

Though the flu season is fast fading, make a note to jab the kids next year. The CDC has released its final numbers from the 2003–2004 flu season, which shows that kids who received a flu shot were half as likely to contract the virus. Shockingly successful for a vaccine that ended up protecting against only one-quarter of the active strains during that year…and EONS better than having to take Tamiflu and risk the urge to jump out a window.

For the scary scary scary news of the week, HIV seems to be at its most transmissible in early stages of infection, before any symptoms appear. And even before some screening tests can detect it. So, um, use a condom.

While I refuse to comment on people seeking plastic surgery, I will say this: if you are going to let a complete stranger slice up your face or body, why not do some homework first and make sure the knife-wielding M.D. has a good reputation. A mere 28 percent of people who had cosmetic surgery in 2005 checked their surgeon’s credentials.

In the, ew, gross, brush your teeth news, moms with gum disease are more likely to deliver their babies prematurely. There’s a weeny bit of the correlation-causation problem here, as gynecologists have no idea why the link exists. Safe bet is to keep up the oral hygiene no matter what.

You heard it here people, dumb white kids who watch a lot of R-rated movies and have access to unsupervised TV are more likely to smoke compared to teens who watch less of the grown-up stuff. Black teens, however, showed no such Hollywood dupery. Why? Maybe because most big name actors are white and therefore easier for white kids to identify with.

Kids suffering from severe stress show signs of brain damage in memory areas of the brain. Strung out children are also more likely to get a fever with their illness. Just one more thing for parents to feel bad about – not providing a suitable soothing environment for their offspring. Failure failure failure.

Young men aren’t as skilled at condom application as they might wish – a deficiency that increases their likelihood of having a sexually transmitted infection by a factor of two, according to a study at a clinic in Kentucky. Youthful vigor aside, it’s just one more reason not to have sex with newbies.

And because everyone still thinks it’s a good idea to keep smoking while pregnant, put this in your pipe: babies born to smoking mothers are at a higher risk of developing heart disease later in life. Fetal programming is a terrifying thing.

In the oh-so-shocking department, two-thirds of people in the U.S. seeking weight loss surgery have a history of mental disorders – most often depression or binge eating. Hopefully some thoughtful clinicians will attempt to treat the underlying disease – which ever one it really is. This is especially concerning given the number of stomach-reducing surgeries tripled in U.S. teenagers from 2000 to 2003.