Daily Rounds: EEE Threat High; Doctors' Health; State Fair Flu; Fitness In Juice?

EEE risk called worst in decades (The Boston Globe) - "This year’s infestation of mosquitoes infected with Eastern equine encephalitis is the most intense that Massachusetts has experienced in three decades, a top health official said Tuesday as the state ­announced a second round of aerial spraying. Barely two weeks after blanketing 21 Southeastern communities with pesticide, officials said that planes will again take to the skies over six of the cities and towns to prevent human-­biting mosquitoes from spreading the often-fatal virus to residents. No human cases have been reported yet, but health specialists are concerned about the threat to the public."

Is your doctor healthier than you? (The Atlantic) - "The good news first: doctors are good at avoiding risky behavior. Compared to everyone else, they almost never smoke, they rarely drink, and they lack many of the obesity-related chronic illnesses that are threatening to overwhelm the country's health-care system. Those data come from the Physicians' Health Study II (PHS-II), a 10-year clinical trial involving over 14,000 middle-aged male doctors that concluded in 2006. The bad news, though, is that those same doctors suffer from problems that are harder to detect at a glance. They often have high blood pressure and cholesterol. Many suffer from depression."

 CDC issues new swine flu warning (Yahoo news) - "What could be another major outbreak of swine flu has put a damper on some popular summer activities. Victims have been exposed to pigs with a new variant of the virus. Its existence has caused me to reconsider the summer and fall county fairs I enjoy so much. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a warning about exposure to pigs at agricultural fairs, according to Medical News Today. The agency advises those who visit fairs to take precautions around pigs."

Looking for fitness in a glass of juice? (The New York Times) - "Many of the Olympians competing in London are juiced — though not in the colloquial sense that someone is doping. Instead, the juice these athletes are imbibing is literal, with beetroot juice and tart cherry juice two of the most popular choices. Growing numbers of elite athletes are turning to these natural beverages to provide what they hope will be a legal performance benefit. Recent studies, however, raise questions about whether the athletes are necessarily receiving the benefits that they think they are and what that means for the rest of us who’d love to find fitness in a glass."