Over 500 twins in one Indian village: report

NEW DELHI, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Doctors are studying a unique village in the southern Indian state of Kerela that has over 500 twins in just 2,000 households, the local Hindi daily Danik Bhaskar said Thursday.

While twin births in the village has been observed for at least three generations, the number of twins born in village Kodinhi is increasing every year, said the report.

Dr. Krishan Sribhuj, who has been studying the village for the last two years, said while number of registered twins stood at 500,the actual number of twins exceeded 600.

The doctor has ruled out environmental causes or pollution as a factor, saying all twins are healthy and without any disorders.

He suspected that the phenomenon is related with the feeding habits of the villagers, who have 45 twins for every 1,000 people, six times higher than average.

In 2008 alone, 30 twins were born in the village.

Report: over 500 twins in one Indian village

NEW DELHI, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Doctors are studying a unique village in the
southern Indian state of Kerela that has over 500 twins in just 2,000
households, the local Hindi daily Danik Bhaskar said Thursday.

While twin births in the village has been observed for at least three
generations, the number of twins born in village Kodinhi is increasing every
year, said the report.

Dr. Krishan Sribhuj, who has been studying the village for the last two
years, said while number of registered twins stood at 500,the actual number of
twins exceeded 600.

The doctor has ruled out environmental causes or pollution as a factor,
saying all twins are healthy and without any disorders.

He suspected that the phenomenon is related with the feeding habits of the
villagers, who have 45 twins for every 1,000 people, six times higher than
average.

In 2008 alone, 30 twins were born in the village.

Confirmed A/H1N1 flu cases in U.S. rise to 642

WASHINGTON, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The number of confirmed human A/H1N1 cases has risen to 642 in 41 U.S. states, with two deaths, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday.

Spanish Health Ministry confirms 16 new cases of A/H1N1 flu

Special Report: World Tackles A/H1N1 Flu 

MADRID, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Spanish Health Ministry on Tuesday confirmed 16 new cases of influenza A/H1N1, bringing the total to 73.

The number of probable cases has lowered to 56 from 63, the Ministry said, adding that all the confirmed cases except five had traveled to Mexico.

Currently, the regions of Catalonia has 21 confirmed cases, Andalucia and Valencia 19 each, Castilla-La Mancha five, Madrid four, while Aragon, Extremadura, Galicia, Murica and Basque each has one.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the confirmed cases have risen to 1,490 in 21 countries and the number of the deaths to 30, with 29 in Mexico with one in the United States.

Cambodian gov't alerts public over upcoming peak of dengue fever

PHNOM PENH, May 3 (Xinhua) -- The Cambodian government has reminded the
public to caution against the upcoming peak of dengue fever, which has killed
two people nationwide so far this year, national media said on Sunday.

The rainy season started earlier this year, which fueled the spread of the
epidemic and brought the number of infected cases to 871 during the first four
months, almost two times the number in the same period of last year, according
to the Chinese-language newspaper the Jian Hua Daily on Sunday.

Usually, children aged from one to nine years were the most fragile group
to the illness, Minister of Health Mam Bun Heng was quoted as saying in the
report. He added that some 71 percent of the contaminated cases went to
children.

"People should frequently clean their water-saving tanks, kill mosquito
eggs in their tanks with pesticide and sleep in anti-mosquito nets," said the
minister.

According to official figures, in 2007, a rampant year for the disease in
the kingdom, 407 children died of it, out of a total of 39,851 infected cases of
minors.

Hotels earmarked for flu quarantine in New Zealand

Special Report:
World Tackles A/H1N1
Flu


WELLINGTON, May 3 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand health authorities have
earmarked funds for three hotels as quarantine and treatment facilities to
handle growing cases of influenza A/H1N1.

The hotels, near the Auckland International Airport, were rolled into the
action plan to combat the virus after officials had trouble finding locations to
quarantine international visitors, the New Zealand Herald online reported on
Sunday.

Last week, a number of hotels refused to receive visitors who needed to be
quarantined after showing symptoms at the airport. A spokeswoman for the
Auckland Regional Public Health Service said the three hotels came forward after
reading of the refusal.

The number of confirmed infection cases of the new flu virus in New Zealand
has grown to four. Another 12 people are considered "probable" and 388 others
are in isolation.