Source: WENN

From EurWeb

*TMZ caught Rihanna coming out of a medical building in Beverly Hills today amid rampant rumors that she is with child.

Speculation has surrounded the undisclosed “illness” that has caused her to cancel shows this week on her Diamonds World Tour, leaving blogs and social media to conclude that she must be knocked up.

Read more at Eurweb.com

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At this point, everyone knows someone who’s is or has suffered from a bad case of the flu. Boston has declared a health emergency because 700 cases have been reported and 18 people have died. More than 40 other states are also seeing widespread flu infections. Politicians have been all over Twitter telling people to get vaccinated. And the CDC is expected to issue an update today for what is already being called “one of the worst flu seasons in years.” And we’re only at the start of it.

Last year was a light year for flu cases, so this year’s spike has got everyone scrambling (and coughing, and sneezing…).  There are different strains of the flu and, reports TIME, we’re lucky that the vaccines that are available this year match the prevalent strain that’s making everyone sick. The best advice is get vaccinated.

According to Reuters, Sanofi is the largest vaccine provider in the US and they’re already working on next year’s batch (the vaccine is different from year to year). So if you haven’t been vaccinated and would still like to be, it’s not too late, but you might have to do some searching.

For children, there are some shortages as well, but, on top of that, there are also shortages of Tamiflu, the medicine given to children who are already sick. “In the meantime, pharmacists can make a substitute by dissolving Tamiflu capsules in a sweet liquid, according to a spokeswoman for Roche’s Genentech unit, which makes Tamiflu,” the article says. Even with the shortage, Reuters says that Roche, the makers of Tamiflu, will see a business boost as a result of the high demand.

Also, be aware that if you want to make a trip to the hospital, they’re also overwhelmed by the number of patients. Those with loved ones admitted for other reasons may also find visitor restrictions as hospitals take steps to protect patients whose immune systems are weakened.

Even if you take measures to keep from getting sick, you still have to be around other people at work. The workplace can be a virtual petrie dish of germs and sickness. The CDC says, besides the vaccine, lots of hand washing and avoidance are the way to go to protect yourself. “[S]o  if you work in an office, embrace your social anxiety issues and shut the door,” writes Bloomberg Businessweek. If you’re lucky enough to have a job where you can telecommute from home, that’s also an option.

Source: Black Voices.com

From BlackVoices.com

The average time most doctors spend with their patients during each visit is just 20 minutes, according to 2009 estimates by the National Center for Health Statistics. And a survey last year by health care consultant group Press Ganey determined that before patients even get in to see a doctor, they’ve waited an average of 23 minutes.

But while health care professionals have offered advice on how to minimize waits and how to make the most of your one-on-one time with a doctor, few have ever addressed a hurdle that many black patients may face — racial bias.

In a study published in a March issue of the American Journal of Public Health, researchers found that two-thirds of doctors harbored “unconscious” racial biases toward patients. When those biases were present, researchers found that doctors tended to dominate conversations with African-American patients, pay less attention to their personal and psychosocial needs and make patients feel less involved in making decisions about their health.

“It’s been really extensively shown that minorities don’t receive the same quality of health care as whites in the United States,” said Lisa A. Cooper, M.D., M.P.H., a professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and lead author of the study. “I’ve been interested in the extent to which that is accounted for by the fact that a lot of minorities see physicians who are different from them culturally and racially, and that there might be some problems with cultural misunderstandings or miscommunication.”

Get the rest of the story and learn what you can do to fight this mistreatment  at Black Voices.com. 

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A few months back, Aretha Franklin cancelled all of her concerts through May 2011 and was said to be recovering from a mystery illness.

Read what her family says here.