Health Report
ABC Australia
Covering the health stories that make a difference. Dr Norman Swan and Dr Preeya Alexander dissect the latest and breaking news in the medical world.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 21, 2022 • 29min
The changing demographic of blood groups; diet to ease MS; relationship of mental health and dementia
What we know about the diversity of blood group types in Australia has just been updated—it reflects patterns in immigration. And we discuss the potential benefits of modifying diet to treat multiple sclerosis. And whether mental health issues may raise the risk of cognitive decline.
Mar 14, 2022 • 29min
Japanese Encephalitis vectors; climate change and effect on health; archival heart transplant; and data behind decreased heart attacks
Japanese Encephalitis (JEV) is common in Asia but now causing concern in Australia. The rise of JEV in Australia happened when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the IPCC) were reporting on climate change—a key aspect of which was the effect of climate on health. There's unique archival audio from the 1980s of the surgeon who performed a heart transplant operation on Baby Fae - using a baboon heart. And the records of 80 million people have been assessed to see why there are now less deaths from heart attack.
Mar 7, 2022 • 29min
Out of pocket health costs; faecal microbiome transplants; stomas
Australia is lucky to have free healthcare services—but there can be big gaps in who receives it; reports on two people with bipolar disorder finding benefit from a faecal microbiota transplant; and how stomas help the intestine heal.
Feb 28, 2022 • 29min
COVID didn't come from a lab; can you trust blood pressure monitors; your preference for more—or perhaps less—health care; studying concussion and head knocks
Two recent scientific publications show that the pandemic originated in the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market, in Wuhan, China. The publications are not yet peer reviewed but seem to put paid to the theory that the virus escaped from a Wuhan virology lab.
Feb 21, 2022 • 29min
Developments in heart transplants; Achilles tendon rupture intel; and cardiomyopathy in meth users
An Achilles tendon rupture is sometimes heard as a loud 'snap'—so then what? And how the cardiologists are developing new devices for heart transplants; And the complexity of treating cardiomyopathy in methamphetamine users.
Feb 14, 2022 • 29min
Living younger for longer; tingles as intervention for anxiety; finding pancreatic cancer early
Feb 7, 2022 • 38min
Tech and physical activity; Insomnia and depression; Retinal age; and early intervention as treatment for BPD
Jan 31, 2022 • 39min
What happens after omicron; action on blood pressure; coronary artery disease; BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations
Jan 24, 2022 • 29min
What COVID-normal might mean; hearing loss and screening kids; depression and inflammation; genes and the heart
Brendan Crabb on how we best understand and get to a COVID-normal life. Also, there's reason to consider screening kids at primary school age for hearing loss problems. Inflammation and how it may affect your risk of depression; And, congenital heart disease and genes not necessarily specific to the heart.
Jan 17, 2022 • 29min
Navigating the pandemic: Dr Anthony Fauci
From the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, one expert came to the fore as a trusted voice, not just in his home country of the United States, but around the globe: Dr Anthony S Fauci, the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
