Health News

UK campaigners Fertility Network UK say the invention of IVF is less of an achievement because not enough people have full access to the treatment which helps infertile people to conceive. The first ever IVF baby, Louise Brown, who turns 40 next week (pictured left) would not have been born with today's NHS because, even though her mother Lesley (pictured left, with baby Louise) was infertile, her father, John, already had another child – the family made national headlines when Louise was born in 1978 (inset).

Ridhima Ajmani (pictured left), nicknamed Cherry, weighed just 0.8lbs (375g) when she was born around four months ago in Hyderabad, around 440 miles (708km) east of Mumbai, local reports state. But she has now 'miraculously' overcome her medical death sentence, and is now strong and healthy, her family claims. Babies born weighing less than 1.1lbs (500g) have less than a 50 per cent chance of survival, figures state. (pictured right with her mother Nikita and father Saurabh)

EXCLUSIVE: Qualified British nurse and first aid trainer Emma Hammett says playing Tiddlywinks with food in real life, as people do in the chocolate advert, could be a potentially fatal choking hazard. She says 85 per cent of choking deaths are because of food and people should avoid throwing food into their own or other people's mouths.

Sabrina Smith, 11 (left and right, with her family), from Danbury, Connecticut, was seven years old when she developed an unknown strep infection. Soon later, in December 2013, she started exhibiting strange behavior. She developed a vocal tic, would obsessively scrub her hands against the wall and floor, and wouldn't allow her parents to touch her clothing in fear of 'contamination'. Finally, in February 2014, Smith was diagnosed with PANDAS, an autoimmune disorders that creates severe behavioral changes after a strep infection. A doctor whose son has the disorder told Daily Mail Online that the immune  system generates a faulty response after the body is infected. In addition to attack the viral cells, antibodies also attack healthy cells in the brain. Sabrina has been on a regimen of antibiotics to help control her symptoms, although sometimes she will be set off by something completely random. Now, Anita is opening up to Daily Mail Online about the struggle to pin down a diagnosis, how she is still careful not to set her daughter off, and how imperative early diagnosis is to receive proper treatment.

WARNING: GRAHPIC CONTENT Charlotte Murphy, 21 (left), from Essex, Vermont, said she was driving with her boss on July 2 when they pulled over on the side of the road because she needed to use the bathroom. Her legs accidentally brushed up against wild parsnip. Coming into contact with the plant releases a sap onto the skin, which when exposed to the sun, causes severe burns anywhere from to 24 to 48 hours later. One week later, yellow, pus-filled blisters formed on her legs (inset), sending her to a burn specialist. Murphy is expected to make a full recovery, although she will have some scars on her legs and will have to monitor her time in the sun.

Trials on mice showed red light emitted by the gadget halted the growth of their tumours - and green light shrunk their masses. Scientists at Waseda University in Tokyo developed the device. Two sticky sheets made of poly(dimethylsiloxane) encase the implant, which is yet to be named. Polydopamines, proteins in found in the feet of mussels, are then coated along the sheets to help them stick inside the body. Patients take a drug that leaves tumours vulnerable to the effects of light, such as photofrin. The light is then switched on to tackle the tumours.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT. Tanya Czernozukow, 43, from Breaston in Derbyshire (main) had to have her right leg amputated when a cut she sustained while shaving turned into a gangrenous leg ulcer which wouldn't heal (bottom leftt). Mrs Czernozukow tried various treatments for her wounded leg (bottom right), including putting live maggots on the ulcer, but nothing helped to clear up the infection.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT Photographer Paula Galvão, from Natal, Brazil, captures the special first moments of a baby's life, including a mother meeting her newborn for the first time.

Jessica Buchanan (left with her sons Jack and Aiden, pictured centre and husband Angus, pictured centre right), a mother-of-three from Sydney, has spoken out about the harrowing experience of losing her son Jack (right) to a common virus when he was just 11 days old. She said while her son put up the fight of his life, and doctors did all they could to save him, he 'grew his wings and left us'. The mother-of-three says although sharing her story is difficult, she hopes it may help others.

In early 2017 Cynthia Zamora, 57 (left), from San Diego, California, learned she had stage IV tongue cancer. Doctors told her that to remove the tumor, they'd have to remove the majority of her tongue. However, Dr Joseph Califano (right), a head and neck cancer specialist at University of California San Diego Health, told her that a team of specialists would be able to create a new tongue with her using skin from her leg. In April 2017, Zamora (pictured) underwent a 12-hour procedure during which a six-by-eight centimeter patch of skin and fat was cut from her left thigh, made into a tongue shape, and connected to the base of her original tongue via a vein and artery in her neck. Following that was an arduous process of physical therapy, chemotherapy and radiation as well as relearning how to speak and eat again. Zamora's feeding tube wasn't removed until early 2018 but, two months, ago she was able to taste again and her first meal was KFC. Despite her taste buds being more limited, Zamora says she feels lucky to be alive and that she hopes her story can inspire others.

Tamara Owsley-Savard, 32, from Topeka, Kansas (left and right, at the hospital), was playing hide-and=seek with her children over Memorial Day weekend when she said she was bitten by a spider. Days later, her arm began to turn red and swell to 'two to three times its size' and she was rushed to the University of Kansas Hospital. Doctors told Owsley-Savard she had contracted necrotizing fasciitis, a rare bacterial infection that spreads quickly in the body and can cause the loss of limbs or death. She has been at the University of Kansas Hospital for more than 40 days and has lost most of the tissue inside her left arm as well as her left pectoral muscle (inset) after surgeons had to remove the dead tissue inside her body. She has a 15th surgery scheduled for next week.

Jo Ann Simon, 64, from Bethel, Connecticut has opened up about what it was like to watch her husband Tom suffer through his battle with Lyme disease and ALS. The coupe was visiting Rhode Island in July 2011 when Tom was bitten by a tick. Months later, he started to experience a lisp and have trouble moving his hands. Tom was diagnosed in June 2012 with Lyme disease, a tick-borne illness, and one month later with ALS, a neurodegenerative disease. For some, they lead long lives after the terminal diagnosis.For others, it's a rapid and cruel degeneration. Jo Ann watched Tom become confined to a wheelchair, drink only liquids because he was unable to chew, and lose the ability to speak and have to communicate with a text-to-talk app. In May 2014, at age 55, he lost his fight to the neurodegenerative disease. Now Jo Ann has opened up to Daily Mail Online about what it was like to watch Tom's disease rob him of all his motor skills and how long it took her to accept that his diagnosis was a fatal one.

Fiona Elias, from Edgware, north London (pictured centre left with her daughters, mother and grandmother), says multiple sclerosis makes her 'struggle to function' and is trying to raise £50,000 for a pioneering stem cell at a hospital in Moscow. She says MS attacks leave her so weak it is difficult to look after her daughters Nava, 2, and Orli, 6 (both pictured right).

EXCLUSIVE: British first aid expert and qualified nurse Emma Hammett reveals her guide to common insect bites and stings, explaining how to tell different insects' marks apart and relieve them. She tells how wasp and bee stings (top left) or itchy chigger bites (bottom left) are often not cause for concern unless someone is allergic, but mosquito bites (bottom right) or flea bites (top right) could develop into something more serious.

New York health officials are investigating a spike in cancer incidence in three Long Island counties. The State Department of Health found statistically significant rates of leukemia, bladder, lung and thyroid cancers in Centereach, Farmingville and Selden in just four years. Using data from the New York State Cancer Registry, which tracks cancer prevalence in the state, an average of 18,000 cases of cancer per year were found on Long Island between 2011 and 2015. That means cases on Long Island made up more than 16 percent of all the cases diagnosed in New York each year.

Billy-Joe Humphries (right) is recovering after receiving emergency treatment after going for a dip in Warleigh Weir (left), a popular swim spot near Bath. Doctors confirmed he caught Weil's disease, which can be spread through rat urine and lead to life-threatening organ failure. The bug is thought to have killed at least four people in Britain since 2009, including a former Olympian, and left many more with life-changing issues. Mr Humphries has taken to Facebook to give other youngsters a heads up about the little-known danger of Weil's, with the school summer holidays fast approaching.

Dr Rhona Eskander, a dentist in London, warns that using fashionable activated charcoal and fluoride-free toothpastes could actually do more damage than good to people's teeth. She tells MailOnline how one of her patients wore away the enamel on her teeth when trying to scrub off stains (pictured top), and she needed veneers to repair the damage (bottom).

Simon F Haeder (left) teaches health policy in the Department of Political Sciences at West Virginia University. He tried to prepare as much as possible for his wife's second pregnancy with their son Lukas (bottom right) to pre-empt all the costs and confusion that all Americans face. But, he says, the nonsensical charges unraveled so fast he couldn't keep up. Among other things (pictured on their bill, top right) they were charged $7,000 for one minute use of a room, $150 for every time a nurse took a glance at their baby, and $26,755 for tests. They could not use a tax-favored flexible spending account because pregnancy is not deemed a 'major life event'. Here he explains their ordeal in detail, and how it corresponds with others'.

If you and your family find yourselves sitting down to the same meals week in, week out, it might be that you're in a food rut. And according to celebrity nutritionist and best-selling food author, Mandy Sacher (left and right), while this may be boring, it also leads to your children actively disliking their favourite foods. Here, speaking to FEMAIL, Mandy reveals how you can get your family out of a food rut, and her simple tricks to help your fussy eaters enjoy everything (inset, stock image).

Soft cheeses, raw eggs, sashimi and alcohol are some of the obvious foods most expectant mothers already know to avoid. But it seems there are many more foods pregnant women should be cautious of, including raw sprouts, canned vegetables and even a glass of wine. Speaking to Australia's MyDomaine, nutritionist Juliana Shalek revealed the surprising foods you should think twice if you're pregnant.

John Goodden, a consultant neurologist from Leeds, is the latest medical professional to be nominated for our NHS Health Heroes award. This is his incredible story. Ben Harcourt-Sharpe will never forget a school trip to the seaside when he was seven. As the other children played on the sand, Ben, who has diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy which causes constant tightness and stiffness in the muscles, sat with a teaching assistant on a sweltering bus because staff couldn’t get his wheelchair down to the beach. The day he met Mr Goodden, who has a special interest in a complex surgical procedure proven to help children with cerebral palsy, Ben says his life ‘changed for ever’ (Ben is pictured with his mother Joanne, father Rob and sister Eleanor)

EXCLUSIVE: Rare genetic diseases that receive little scientific funding have robbed Megan (bottom left), twins Luis and Kian (right), Jackson (top left) and Kaileb, from different parts of England, of normal upbringings. Three are unlikely to survive for much longer, one is slowly being robbed of his vision and another relies on round-the-clock care from her parents. MailOnline is today revealing their daily battles, and the despair of their heartbroken parents, who fear their lives could be cut short at any moment, as part of an annual fundraising campaign. Jeans for Genes Day hopes to fund charity work and provide grants to organisations hoping to transform the lives of children battling genetic disorders.

Four-month-old Killy Schultz had a fever after coming home from daycare in June. When his fever didn't break and he began developing a rash, his parents, from Chesterfield, Virginia, rushed him to the hospital. After running several tests, doctors at St Mary's Hospital in Richmond, Virginia, told them that Killy had contracted meningitis, an infection that affects the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord (right). Killy was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit and, just 24 hours after his first symptoms appeared, he passed away. Doctors told Killy's parents that the baby likely contracted the infection from an asymptomatic carrier who hadn't received the meningitis vaccine. Now they hope to turn their tragedy into a message of awareness about the importance of vaccinations.

Amber, 29, from Los Angeles, (pictured left) developed keloid scars on both her earlobes after having piercings which healed badly. Dr Sandra Lee, aka Dr Pimple Popper, cut off the growths in her new show (pictured right), and says it has to be done delicately because keloids (inset), which are formed of overgrown scar tissue, can grow back out of damaged skin.

WARNING, GRAPHIC CONTENT: Sylvain Pharand (pictured left before his battle, inset during, and right after, fitted with his facial prosthetic), from Montreal, was told he had just six months to live when doctors told him a cyst in his left nostril was sinus and lymph node cancer. However, after a gruelling decade-long battle that involved around 125 sessions of radiotherapy, the father beat his cancer. But the 55-year-old, who once had a gaping hole in his face, has been left without a nose, left eye and cheek because of his traumatic ordeal. He was fitted with a facial prosthetic two years ago, but the heavy piece held on with glue regularly falls-off, causing him to feel ostracised in public.

A 35-year-old mother has died a week after giving birth to her third child due to a pregnancy-related infection. Lindsay Crosby, of Simsbury, Connecticut, had her first son, Nolan, on June 24. Eight days later, on July 2, she fell ill and was taken by ambulance to hospital, where she was diagnosed with group A Steptococcus and sepsis. On the afternoon of July 4, Lindsay passed away surrounded by her husband Evan, newborn Nolan, and daughters Finlay, five, and Sigrid, three (pictured together).

In a domestic setting, sources of CO include gas heaters (with and without flues), gas stoves, wood or charcoal heaters, tobacco smoke, and infiltration of car exhaust from attached garages. Emissions in enclosed and unventilated domestic spaces can, and do, cause fatalities and hospitalizations. Christine Cowie, an air quality researcher at the University of Sydney, breaks down the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning and how to reduce those risks in your kitchen.

Alex Childress, 17, who is gardening for his summer job in Fredericksburg, Virginia, saw a weed on Tuesday that looked like it should be pulled out. Unbeknownst to him, it was giant hogweed (file image, bottom right), an incredibly toxic plant that can cause blindness, burns and blistering with just one touch. When he arrived home and got in the shower, 'the skin on his face was basically peeling away and peeling off' (pictured, top right). His mother, a nurse, exclaimed at the sight of his waxy and peeling skin, and took him straight to the hospital where he became the first person ever diagnosed with a hogweed burn at Virginia Commonwealth University medical center (pictured, left, recovering days later).

For six years, Kristen Devanna (right), 27, from Long Island, New York, suffered cracked skin, constantly feeling cold and fatigue so severe she needed to sleep within an hour of waking up (pictured inset battling fatigue). She was finally diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease in 2013. Despite seeing countless doctors, the literature teacher was unable to find a treatment that managed her condition, with medication and dietary changes being ineffective. She therefore took it upon herself to slowly rebuild her strength by working out in the gym regularly (pictured left after a session) and, as a result, has more energy than she has had in years.

Anna (right), from New York, suffers from Harlequin ichthyosis, which causes her red skin to shed every day, as well as putting the youngster at risk of life-threatening infections and respiratory failure. Mother-of-three Jennie (pictured in inset with her daughter as a newborn), 33, applies lotion to Anna's skin at least every six hours and has given up work as a farmer to care for her full time. Being in water makes Anna (left) more comfortable and less likely to scratch herself.

EXCLUSIVE: Samantha Dewhurst, 25, from Manchester, explained how she first noticed her forehead area getting larger about 18 months ago, due to her hairline moving backwards (left, before the treatment). She attributes this hair loss to wearing a helmet while horse riding (top), explaining how scraping her locks back into a helmet leads to 'massive pressure on the hairline'. She said she is delighted with the results a month after the treatment (bottom), which she explained would help boost her confidence.

Garrett Michael Matthias (pictured) was diagnosed with an incredibly rare form of cancer, Stage 4 Alveolar Fusion Negative Rhabdomyosarcoma (ARMS), in September last year. It had spread so far from his skull, hitting his cranial nerve and inner ear, that doctors told his parents Emilie and Ryan (pictured, inset, with Garrett and their daughter Delphina) there was no hope of saving him. Devastated, the couple started preparing for the end, which included asking him a series of questions so they would remember him in his own words. He died on June 6. Now, those words have been printed in the obituaries of their local funeral home in Van Meter, Iowa, ahead of his funeral on Saturday - and within days have become an internet sensation.

Garth Suthurst's (pictured left with his partner Sorrel Lewis, 36) heart stopped beating for more than 20 minutes on June 1. The 39-year-old fitness fanatic (inset), who is from Manchester but lives in Marbella, defied the odds after being just an eight per cent chance of survival. Although his family were elated when the father-of-one opened his eyes, their joy quickly turned to heartbreak when he was unable to recognise any of them. After a 35 day stint in hospital (right), Mr Suthurst has been allowed to return to home, with doctors saying he only survived due to him being so fit.

Olympic gold medalist Kikkan Randall has revealed that she's been diagnosed with breast cancer. The 35-year-old cross-country skier, known for her pink-highlighted hair, took to social media on Tuesday (right) to reveal the news. She has begun her first round of chemotherapy on Monday at the Providence Cancer Center in Anchorage, Alaska, and will receive chemotherapy every three weeks. Randall says the prognosis is good because it was 'caught early'. Randall has competed in five Olympic Winter Games, delivering the first gold medal for the US in cross-country skiing at at the Pyeongchang Games in February (inset) with her teammate Jessica Diggins. She is also the most-decorated American cross-country skier in history, winning 14 individual World Cup Races.

Charlotte Jenkins, 16, from Stockport in Greater Manchester battled against a rare form of acute myeloid leukaemia to be able to sit her GCSEs and go to her end of school prom where her classmates voted her prom queen (right). After months of gruelling chemotherapy (pictured left), Charlotte lost her hair (pictured inset) and was left disabled but she is now in remission from the disease.

Julie Morawaka, 55, a bank manager from Great Wakering in Essex, had her bladder, womb and part of her vagina removed after what she thought was a urine infection turned out to be bladder cancer. She was taken into hospital (pictured left) and kept in intensive care for two days after a 12 hour operation, then sent home on Christmas Eve. The op has left her with a catheter and she says her sex life as become difficult since (pictured right, Julie with partner Mike).

Last week, Kylie Jenner posted a photo to Instagam (pictured), which revealed in the comments that she had her lip fillers removed. She has not revealed what fillers she used or what she used to dissolve them but Dr David Rapaport, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City, told Daily Mail Online that the process can be done via a one-time injection. The majority of fillers used in the lips are made of hyaluronic acid (HA) and the reverse injection contains an enzyme called hyaluronidase, which naturally dissolved HA.

Liana Purser was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer just one week after hearing her baby's heartbeat for the first time. As a fit and healthy young woman with no risk factors or genetic history of the disease, the 29-year-old's world was turned upside down as she faced the reality of undergoing chemotherapy while pregnant. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Ms Purser, from Victoria, shared her experience of battling cancer while preparing to become a mother.

Jeniffer Dreyer Brown, from Laguna Niguel, California posted a Facebook video (left) in which she explained that she was left embarrassed and in tears after she was denied a manicure at a nail salon on Friday due to her scars from lupus. Lupus is an autoimmune disorder that causes the body's immune system to attack your own tissues and organs. Exposure to sunlight may trigger skin lesions in those who have lupus, the same condition Brown experienced when she visited the salon. The manicurists refused to serve Brown, citing her blistered skin as the reason. An attorney for Happy Nails (inset) said the employees likely did not know that lupus is not contagious.

Vicki Riley is issuing the warning after her 13-year-old son, Jack, (pictured together right) was knocked off his bike and nearly died in the arms of an off-duty policewoman near his home. The teenager was riding with friends when he was involved in the accident earlier this month, in which he landed head first and was knocked unconscious. Jack (a picture of his skull after his surgery inset), of Hemsworth in West Yorkshire, sustained an incredibly serious skull fracture as a result of not wearing his helmet. He was taken to hospital by helicopter and rushed into theatre for surgery, where doctors spent five hours fixing the break. Now recovering at home, Ms Riley has released a horrific scan (left) showing the extent of his injuries, to shock other parents into action.

Hailey Dawson, an 8-year-old from Las Vegas (top right, with her parents and brother), was born with Poland Syndrome, a rare disorder in which people are born with missing or underdeveloped muscles on one side of the body. She does not have a right pectoral muscle, which led to the underdevelopment of her right hand, which is missing three fingers (bottom right). That hasn't slowed her down, however, and her mother contacted the engineering team at UNLV to create a robotic hand - which she's using to throw out pitches at every Major League ballpark across the country

Holly Wright (left), four, from Northallerton, North Yorkshire, has uncombable hair syndrome, which is thought to affect only 100 people worldwide and counts Albert Einstein as a sufferer. The youngster's thick, wiry frizz resembles the tresses of Boris Johnson (right).