Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:
Singer Susan Boyle has Asperger’s Syndrome
Scottish singer Susan Boyle has revealed that she’s been diagnosed with a mild form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome, which affects social and communication skills.
Boyle, 52, had learning disabilities as a child and was told that this was the result of oxygen deprivation at birth. But a year ago, she went to see a specialist and learned that she had an above average IQ, Boyle said in an interview with the U.K. newspaper The Observer, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“I was told I had brain damage. It was the wrong diagnosis when I was a kid,” she told the Observer. “I always knew it was an unfair label. Now I have a clearer understanding of what’s wrong and I feel relieved and a bit more relaxed about myself.”
Boyle rose to fame in 2009 when her audition for “Britain’s Got Talent” TV show went viral, the Times reported.
The Asperger’s diagnosis “will not make any difference to my life. It’s just a condition that I have to live with and work through,” Boyle said. “I think people will treat me better because they will have a much greater understanding of who I am and why I do the things I do.”
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Princeton Students Begin Getting Meningitis Shots
Nearly 2,000 Princeton University students received shots against bacterial meningitis on Monday, which was the first day of a free vaccination program meant to stop an outbreak of type B meningitis at the school.
The initial round of voluntary vaccinations will continue through Thursday, and a booster will be given in February. The vaccine is being offered to nearly 6,000 students, the Associated Press reported.
Since March, seven students and one prospective student who visited the campus became ill with potentially fatal type B meningococcal disease. No one has died.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that students get the shots, the AP reported. The vaccine is called Bexsero, which is approved in Europe and Australia but not in the United States. However, the CDC has approved the vaccine for use at Princeton.
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Group Urges Filming Halt After Another Porn Actor Tests Positive for HIV
A porn film advocacy group has called for another moratorium on filming after an actor became the third to positive for HIV this year.
The Free Speech Coalition said filming should be stopped while all the actor’s possible partners are tested. The group did not release the name or any other details about the actor, who came up positive at one of the coalition’s testing centers, the Associated Press reported.
The request for a moratorium isn’t binding, but industry members generally comply.
In August, an adult film actress who used the name Cameron Bay tested positive for HIV. Her on-screen partners tested negative but boyfriend and fellow performer Rod Daily announced he had also tested positive for HIV, AP reported.
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