The Health Department has issued a statement regarding prevention from the highly contagious stomach flu that has spread in the New York City. Due to the flu, emergency room visits have increased nearly 20 % over the last two weeks, to about 400 people a day, with people complaining of vomiting and diarrhea.

A study, reported at the American Heart Association meeting in New Orleans said that the number of people over 65 years who were hospitalized for heart failure had more than doubled over the last 25 years. The report is the first to document the increase in the disease across the country and estimates that this will cost the United States $34.8 billion this year for direct and indirect treatment costs and the incidence would keep increasing unless prevention measures are adopted quickly.