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June 15th, 2010
12:01 AM ET
Critic details flaws of cell phone safety study
By Danielle Dellorto Critics are speaking out against the the controversial Interphone cell-phone safety study released last month. U.S. researcher Lloyd Morgan presented a report in Seoul, South Korea this week, challenging Internphone’s findings at the Bioelectromagnetics Society’s annual meeting. Morgan’s presentation is based on his re-evaluation of the Interphone study. He says it emphasizes several design flaws. “The Interphone study is giving people false hope. Most people only hear the headline, Cell phones don’t cause cancer’ yet the devil is in the details,” Morgan, Senior Research Fellow at the Environment Health Trust, said. ““When I read study papers, I look for what they are not saying – and this study isn’t saying a lot.” 
December 29th, 2009
02:39 AM ET
How we found Patient ZeroIt was late April. I remember it being a somewhat quiet news day when I received the call. It was an editor on our international news desk alerting us that about 100 people had gotten very ill in Mexico City with severe flu-like symptoms. They had no clue what was causing it at the time. The only thing health officials were telling us was that the patients had contracted a highly contagious virus that hadn’t been seen in humans before. The hunt was on: Dr. Sanjay Gupta and I hopped on the next flight out to Mexico City to track down the mystery virus that was getting so many people so sick. Within 24 hours of arriving, the dense city of about 8 million people had figuratively turned into a ghost town. The mayor was urging people to stay inside; the hospitals were overcrowded; schools, public transportation, and restaurants closed their doors. At one point, I remember walking down the unusually empty streets of Mexico City in awe. It was an eerie feeling, but also a defining moment for me as a journalist. I realized that people, not just in Mexico City, were scared of this unknown killer virus. What was it? Would they be infected? What should they do? We didn't know it at the time, but H1N1 influenza was about to become a global epidemic and the world was already looking to us for answers. A few days into our reporting on the ground, I received a phone call from CNN's senior executive producer for AC 360, David Doss. He had flagged a local health alert from the state of Veracruz, Mexico - there were unconfirmed reports that a little boy in the village of La Gloria was rumored to be “patient zero,” the earliest documented case of swine flu in the world. Twenty minutes later, our crew was in the car, embarking on a three hour drive into the mountains of Veracruz to find the answer, the source of this outbreak. We had the wireless going on my laptop, phones to both ears, endlessly contacting our sources to confirm this story. We got it: Health officials confirmed to us that five-year-old Edgar Hernandez was in fact patient zero. The catch? His village was in a very remote location with no phones, no electricity, no address to pop into our car’s navigation system. We knew finding patient zero would be a little like finding a needle in a haystack. But as diehard journalists, this was the type of assignment we craved! I couldn’t wait to get there and to shuffle through that haystack. I knew in my gut we’d find him. We walked around the village, visited their clinics, spoke to the locals. We met one man pulling his donkey up the dusty mountain road and asked him if he knew the Hernandez family. Turns out that man was patient zero’s uncle. He quickly walked us to the Hernandez’s home and we met Edgar, known as patient zero. He was no longer sick; he had survived the swine flu virus. He credits “ice cream” for curing him. Being only 5 years old, Edgar couldn’t possibly realize the significance of being the first patient of what would be declared a global pandemic just two months later. But his mother certainly did. She feared Edgar could possibly be blamed for spreading it (which he did not) and she feared that their family would get sick again. She told us she didn’t understand what this virus was. But that is why we were there - to find the source of this illness in order to understand it better. At this point, the CDC and the World Health Organization still didn’t know how the virus was spreading. But by discovering the earliest patients of an outbreak like this, health officials could begin to gather clues as to exactly what happened and, more importantly, how to treat and stop it from spreading. As a journalist, there have been a few defining moments which I’ve felt I had a front row seat to something really big, to a small piece of history. Finding patient zero was one of the moments. Follow Danielle on Twitter @DanielleCNN for more behind-the-scenes information and exclusive photos from the field.
September 18th, 2009
06:00 AM ET
Soldier: "Do they realize we're still over here?"By Danielle Dellorto I remember shuffling through moondust up to my knees in Helmand Province when a U.S. Army combat medic turned to me and said, “If I ask you something, do you promise you’ll be honest?” I nodded yes. “Do people back home still think about us? Do they realize we’re still over here?” 
U.S. Army medic chopper in Afghanistan.
 I’ll never forget that moment. Truth is, while most of America might know that 62,000 U.S. military personnel are in theater, they apparently aren’t happy about it. A recent CNN/Opinion Research poll found support of the war in Afghanistan has hit a new low. Only 39 percent favor U.S. military action in Afghanistan. But does supporting the overall mission go hand-in-hand with supporting the troops? Dr. Sanjay Gupta and I recently embedded with U.S. Army combat medics in Afghanistan. I slept where they slept, ate what they ate, and followed them day in and day out. Their job is to rescue and triage injured soldiers at a moment’s notice. They are always ready. They even slept with their shoes on. 
CNN team and rescue medic in Afghanistan.
It didn’t take long for me to realize that these soldiers were no different from the factory worker in middle America. Both work tirelessly in their jobs, both want to succeed, both want to provide for their families. And despite the echoes of mortar fire over their shoulders, extreme heat and no communication with loved ones – I never heard the soldiers complain. I watched the medics save countless lives: sons and daughters, husbands and wives from all around the world. Why? It’s their job. So as I looked in the eyes of that U.S. soldier – the one who feared America might have forgotten about him – I realized my job is to not only report on the medical military operations but also to highlight the courageous stories of those risking their own lives to save others in Afghanistan. I am back home now…and I still think about them.
September 4th, 2009
12:17 PM ET
Gupta team responds to call for blood donationsWhile on assignment in Afghanistan, CNN producer Danielle Dellorto and photojournalist Scottie McWhinnie respond to a call for blood donations at a military trauma hospital.
June 3rd, 2009
12:40 PM ET
Inside Dr. Gupta’s other worldBy Danielle Dellorto I wasn’t sure what to expect as I waited outside the employee parking lot of Grady Memorial Hospital Monday morning. My assignment for the day? Produce a story on Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s life outside of CNN - his life as a trauma neurosurgeon. For the past three years I’ve been producing stories for him – but this time he was my story. 
Dr. Sanjay Gupta (right) at work in the O.R.
He greeted our crew a little before 5 a.m. with a familiar smile and diet soda in hand. Wasting no time with chit-chat, he scurried into the hospital, quickly changed into scrubs, then was off to his “home away from home,” O.R. 14. He had three cases scheduled by the time we arrived – a brain surgery and two spinal fusions. First up – clipping a ruptured brain aneurysm. Watch the video from inside his operating room by clicking here. My heart raced as I stood on pins and needles watching a critical part of the operation, during which the patient had an interoperative brain bleed. “I always like to tell people we spend 99 percent of our preparation on the 1 percent of things that happen.” Sanjay’s team didn’t flinch. They knew she’d be losing a liter of blood in just seconds and to prevent disaster, they raced to stop the bleed. Mission accomplished. It was a scary 90 seconds for a bystander like myself watching it all go down, so what really struck me was how calm and focused his team was the entire time. “When you have an aneurysm rupture like that and you are losing a liter of blood over several seconds, it makes any TV live shot you've ever done look not that scary. I know if I don’t get that thing stopped within a couple of minutes, the patient won’t survive,” he explained. No doubt their neuro team is a well-oiled machine. It was especially fascinating to watch Dr. Gupta interact with his residents. “Many of my residents have never done cases like this so I get to show them for the first time how to do these procedures, which is pretty interesting for me and for them,” Gupta said. Between critical moments in the O.R. they chatted like comrades. Everything from rock concerts, to their love lives to real estate – joking around like old friends. One thing that is “very important” during surgery: the music. I watched as they took turns flipping through the iPod. Dr. Gupta gave me his ultimate play list for brain surgery: open with Gypsy Kings or Rise by Eddie Vedder and close the surgery with Coldplay’s Viva La Vida or Mr. Brightside. Solid picks, doc! The morning flew by fast. By 10 a.m., Dr. Gupta and his team had already saved one life. By 10 p.m., that tally was up to three. Overall, it was incredibly exciting to not only see a whole other side of Sanjay on the job, but also see inside the human brain! Want to see more in the weeks to come? Follow Sanjay on Twitter. He posts cool pictures each week from the operating room! Editor's Note: Medical news is a popular but sensitive subject rooted in science. We receive many comments on this blog each day; not all are posted. Our hope is that much will be learned from the sharing of useful information and personal experiences based on the medical and health topics of the blog. We encourage you to focus your comments on those medical and health topics and we appreciate your input. Thank you for your participation.
March 27th, 2009
11:33 AM ET
The secret is out – women lose their hair too!By Danielle Dellorto I was on the phone with my friend the other night having ordinary “girl talk” when I heard an exaggerated gasp on the other end of the line. “Are you OK?” I immediately asked, worried something awful had happened. “I’m fine,” she said. “I was just looking in the mirror and realized my hair is getting so thin! I’m going to be bald before you know it.” The truth is, my thirtysomething friend is not going to end up bald like her shiny-headed husband, but she is joining over 50 percent of women who’ll experience hair loss before age 50. That number may seem high but doctors say “female-pattern balding” occurs all the time - but women just don’t like to talk about. “It can be embarrassing for some women so they’ll just style their hair differently try to hide it,” says Dr. Paradi Mirmirani, a dermatologist in Vallejo, California and spokesperson for the American Academy of Dermatology. Hair loss patterns in women are different from those you’d see in men. Most women experience thinning on the top of the head, or around the crown. Rarely do women experience receding hair lines or develop patches of total baldness, according to dermatologists. It’s normal to lose about 100 strands of hair a day. If you notice your hair loss increasing, it’s important to talk to your doctor because while often hereditary, it can also be a sign of a serious medical condition, or a side effect from a prescription drug. (find a dermatologist in your area) I was surprised to learn not all 'hair loss' is created equal. Turns out, women can experience three different types: Thinning: This is the most common form of hair loss and it's hereditary. “You can pretty much look at either your mom or dad and determine if you’re at high risk,” says Mirmirani. The normal growth cycle for hair is every two to six years. But as we age, the growth cycle shortens and the new strands of hair grow in fewer, and thinner. There is no prevention for hereditary hair thinning, but there are treatment options. For those experiencing hereditary thinning, an over-the-counter topical medication containing 2 percent to 5 percent of the drug minoxidil will slow down the thinning process and help to re-grow new, stronger hair follicles. “This is a great treatment option but a women need to keep using it because if they stop, the same thinning pattern will develop all over again, “ notes Mirmirani. Shedding: Shedding occurs for a number of reasons, most often in women post-pregnancy. When pregnant, elevated hormone levels in the body cause your hair follicles to take a nap essentially and not shed the normal 100 hairs a day. “This is why you’ll often hear women talk about how great their hair looked during those nine months,” Mirmirani added. “Post-pregnancy, your hair’s natural growth cycle plays catch up and sheds a lot of hair at once, but in reality it’s the same amount you would have naturally lost if you never got pregnant.” Over 290 medications can also cause hair shedding, according to the AAD. Most common medications to impact hair loss are amphetamines, beta blockers, antidepressants and blood thinners. Lack of a properly balanced diet, including getting enough iron, will also cause hair to shed. An over- or under-active thyroid is also a common factor. “The good thing for a person experiencing hair shedding to know is that it’s absolutely not permanent–the hair will grow back the same as it was before.” Experts say about six months after eliminating the reason for the increased shedding (example, after pregnancy, or once your thyroid is regulated), your hair will go back to normal. Breakage: If you’re like me, it’s not uncommon to frequently use an extra hot flat-iron on your luscious locks. But do you ever wonder where all the hair on your bathroom floor came from afterwards? Frequent use of flat-irons and hot rollers can cause damage and hair loss. “The root or hair follicle isn’t being impacted, but the actual hair strands are damaged and will break off from the root with frequent use.” Note to self: cut back on the flat-iron! How about you? Have you noticed your hair thinning out as you age? Is hair loss really a “taboo” topic for women? Are there any treatments or shampoos that worked for you? Share your story below! Editor's Note: Medical news is a popular but sensitive subject rooted in science. We receive many comments on this blog each day; not all are posted. Our hope is that much will be learned from the sharing of useful information and personal experiences based on the medical and health topics of the blog. We encourage you to focus your comments on those medical and health topics and we appreciate your input. Thank you for your participation.
February 2nd, 2009
12:43 PM ET
Phelps faces risks from firing upBy Danielle Dellorto “What was he thinking?” That seems to be the common reaction when fans hear the news that Olympic superstar Michael Phelps got caught smoking pot. What’s interesting is, as I dug deeper, I realized people weren’t too concerned that his behavior may harm his health, but more appalled that his getting caught could cost him millions of dollars in endorsement money. This got me thinking that a lot people look at marijuana as having very limited impact on our health. One friend made his case to me with absolute certainty in his tone, “In the big scheme of things, smoking pot is not going to hurt me.” He added, “At least I don’t smoke cigarettes.” But is that really true? Are cigarettes worse for your health than marijuana? An overwhelming amount of research says not so fast. Smoking one marijuana cigarette sends the same amount of tar into the lungs as four tobacco cigarettes. Turns out pot contains about 400 chemicals and 50 percent more carcinogens than a tobacco cigarette. Carcinogens cause damage to the DNA in our cells, increasing your risk for lung infections, heart disease and even cancer. Pot is becoming as addictive as tobacco too. What’s being sold today is not your parents’ generation of marijuana. A study released last summer compared pot being smoked today with what was smoked back before 1992 and concluded it is 175 percent more potent, resulting in more frequent use and increasing it's addictive properties. The short-term health effects probably won’t surprise you: impaired judgment, forgetfulness, difficulty focusing. But the long-term effects are physical. Marijuana smoking causes asthma, chest colds, lung infections and increased heart rate. Experts believe marijuana causes more damage to the respiratory system than cigarettes because pot smokers hold the smoke in their lungs longer than a person inhaling tobacco. People may not realize their chronic chest cold could be the result of smoking pot and quite frankly for some people it may not even matter. But for a professional athlete, a swimmer no less, who relies on the strength of his lungs to win gold medals — the health ramifications just don’t seem worth it. So here are my questions for you: Why is it so common for people to believe smoking pot doesn’t impact your health? Were you surprised by what you read? And don’t forget to sound off on Phelps. I want to know what YOU think he was thinking! Editor's Note: Medical news is a popular but sensitive subject rooted in science. We receive many comments on this blog each day; not all are posted. Our hope is that much will be learned from the sharing of useful information and personal experiences based on the medical and health topics of the blog. We encourage you to focus your comments on those medical and health topics and we appreciate your input. Thank you for your participation.
September 18th, 2008
03:15 PM ET
Political attitudes predicted by physiological traits?By Danielle Dellorto The differences between Democrats and Republicans may form well before you’re able to vote. In fact, you may actually be born with your conservative and liberal views. Political science researchers at Rice University in Texas studied 46 adults with strong political beliefs. They split them up in two groups, based on their leanings, and tested their physiological reactions to threatening and non-threatening images. How hard they blinked, their anxiety level, among other physical responses were charted as images of bloody faces and bunny rabbits came across the screen. Perhaps not surprising, the groups’ reactions were divided. “The responses between the two groups were substantially different,” notes study author James Alford, a professor of political science at Rice. “There was very little overlap between them.” The participants with traditional conservative views - supportive of the Iraq war, death penalty, immigration reform and The Patriot Act - had strong physical reactions to the threatening images of spiders and calm reactions to the non-threatening images of bunnies and happy children. Those with more liberal views - low support of Iraq war and higher support of gay marriage, gun control and abortion rights - showed no differences in reaction when viewing the threatening and non-threatening images. They appeared to physically react to the same to an image of a bowl of fruit and one of an open war wound. Fascinated by the clear differences in the results, Rice University researchers believe this study, while small, is proof that our political views, in part, are genetically instilled in us. “We estimate your biological makeup has a 30 to 40 percent role in how you will vote,” says Alford. “The other portion is how and where you were raised as well as environmental factors” But Alford notes that just because the reaction to threatening images may not be instant for some people, it doesn’t mean we all won’t come to the same conclusion eventually. "This sheds a small window into part of what motivates political differences in humans are biological differences in humans,” he says. “Biological reasons don’t drive everything, but do deserve equal place at the table." So what do you think? Do your genetics play a role in which way you vote? Editor's Note: Medical news is a popular but sensitive subject rooted in science. We receive many comments on this blog each day; not all are posted. Our hope is that much will be learned from the sharing of useful information and personal experiences based on the medical and health topics of the blog. We encourage you to focus your comments on those medical and health topics and we appreciate your input. Thank you for your participation.
April 14th, 2008
10:28 AM ET
Health care in New OrleansBy Danielle Dellorto Nearly three years after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, the city continues to push forward toward rebuilding. One area that's still struggling is the city's health-care system. Many hospitals have closed, leaving the remaining institutions to pick up the overflow of patients. Now, the CEOs of five of the largest health-care institutions in New Orleans are joining forces -pleading to Congress for financial aid. Pre-Katrina the hospitals profited $12 million a year; today they tell CNN they're in the red-projecting an annual loss of more than $135 million. So what does this mean for the people of New Orleans? Patients are subject to long ER wait times, hospital beds are nearly maxed out and a shortage of doctors and nurses is limiting patient access to specialists. CNN has been in New Orleans investigating this story. We visited one inner-city hospital whose ER beds were nearly full by 8 a.m. We talked to a 71-year-old man who had been sitting in the waiting room for more than 14 hours. And according to hospital executives, his situation is more the norm than the exception. New Orleans residents are concerned. A 2007 survey (See study) reveals that nearly 9 in 10 feel there are not enough hospitals or medical centers to take care of them. Now we want to hear from you. Do you think access to health care in New Orleans is worse than in your hometown? Programming note: Watch Dr. Sanjay Gupta's investigation of the state of health care in New Orleans on Anderson Cooper 360 on April 29. Editor's Note: Medical news is a popular but sensitive subject rooted in science. We receive many comments on this blog each day; not all are posted. Our hope is that much will be learned from the sharing of useful information and personal experiences based on the medical and health topics of the blog. We encourage you to focus your comments on those medical and health topics and we appreciate your input. Thank you for your participation. |
  About this blog
Get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest stories from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and the CNN Medical Unit producers. They'll share news and views on health and medical trends - info that will help you take better care of yourself and the people you love. Recent Comments
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