WebMD 2012 Year In Health

2012 Year in Health:  WebMD's Top Health Stories Of The Year.  WebMD.

Among the stories mentioned  are (1) Health reform law upheld by Supreme Court;  (2) Diet drugs approved by the FDA to address the obesity crisis;  (3) Dreaded diseases including West Nile, hantavirus, plague, and flesh-eating bacteria;  (4) The PSA for prostate cancer was ruled not needed by the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force; (5) Fungal meningitis outbreak from steroid injections  (6) Sitting found to be a health risk;  (7)  Excedrin, Bufferin, NoDoz, Gas-X recalled for production and potential mixing with prescription painkillers;   (8)  Designer drugs such as bath salts;  (9) Children facing adult health problems because of obesity;  (9) Tainted food and issues with energy drinks.

Mutating West Nile Virus?

Doctors Fear West Nile Virus has Mutated Into More Damaging Form by Brian Vastag (The Washington Post).  November 10, 2012.

The 2012 epidemic of West Nile Virus has been notable for scope and severity.  Some clinicians have noted increasingly serious brain damage impacting the speech, language, and thinking centers of the brain.  The severity of some cases has lead some to believe that the disease has mutated into a more serious form.  Others, such as the CDC, think that the severity may be just an outgrowth of number of cases.  Some virologists and others disagree pointing to genetic changes in the virus foundmosquitos and birds in the Houston area.  Since West Nile is composed of error-prone RNA instead of DNA it is more prone to evolve rapidly.