Following the outbreak of hand-foot-mouth disease in parts of China, Bahrain authorities say they will provide health advisories to its 11 athletes participating in the Beijing Olympics.

"We will be advising the athletes on good hygiene practice, in addition to precautionary measures like drinking bottled water and not eating outside," Dr.Adel Al Sayyad, head of the Communicable Disease Control Section, told AHN

Twenty-two children are dead and more than 3,500 more are ill in Eastern China due to a virus that has been spreading since March.

The New York Times reported that the intestinal virus, enterovirus 71, or EV-71, is found in children under 6, and mostly in those under 2. It causes fever, mouth ulcers, and blisters on the hands, feet and buttocks. The virus can lead to further complications including lung complications, brain swelling and paralysis in severe cases

Factory workers who are exposed to baby milk powder for a long time are at a greater risk of respiratory problems, including wheezing and breathlessness, a study has found. Since mothers and babies have lesser exposure they are relatively safer.

A team of researchers from University of Birmingham says the risk could also apply to nannies and bakers. The team looked at 170 Thai factory workers who made the powder and are exposed to milk powder during their working life

The problem of overweight individuals and the health concerns that follow is something that is as big a threat as the climate change problem, according to the chairman of the International Obesity Task force.

At an annual meeting held in Boston, Professor Philip James of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said that the obesity problem was in need of a global commitment, and that international collaboration was needed to fight off the threat

With Tajikistan facing the harshest winter in three decades amid severe shortages of water and gas supplies, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has rushed in emergency supplies to meet immediate critical needs.

"Our immediate concern right now is to urgently provide life-saving measures and assistance to children and women," said Ruth Leano, UNICEF's Deputy Representative, in Tajikistan