WEDNESDAY, Jan. 7 (HealthDay News) -- The teen birth rate in the United States increased in 26 of the 50 states in 2006, representing almost every region of the country, according to a new government report.

Back in December 2007, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the teen birth rate for the entire nation had increased for the first time in 15 years in 2006 -- from 40.5 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 in 2005 to 41.9 in 2006. Those statistics were based on 99 percent of all birth certificates in the United States for 2006, the agency said.

The latest report, released Wednesday by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, includes state-by-state teen birth rate statistics based on all birth certificates issued in 2006.

The report revealed that teen birth rates were highest in the South and Southwest, with the highest rate recorded in Mississippi (68.4), followed by New Mexico (64.1) and Texas (63.1).

Teen birth rates for 2006 were lowest in the Northeast, with the lowest rates in New Hampshire (18.7), Vermont (20.8), and Massachusetts (21.3), according to the report, Births: Final Data for 2006.

The only states reporting a decrease in teen birth rates between 2005 and 2006 were North Dakota, Rhode Island and New York, the report said.

The birth rate for teens 15 to 19 years old increased 3 percent in 2006, interrupting the 14-year period of continuous decline from 1991 through 2005. Only the rate for the youngest teens declined in 2006, to 0.6 per 1,000 females aged 10 to 14 years. The rates for teens 15 to 17 and 18 to 19 years old rose 3 to 4 percent each. These increases followed declines of 45 percent and 26 percent, respectively, in the rates between 1991 and 2005, according to the report.

Between 2005 and 2006, birth rates increased 3 percent to 5 percent each for non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, and American Indian or Alaska Native teens and 2 percent for Hispanic teens. The rate for Asian or Pacific Islander teens was unchanged, the report said.

More information

For more on teen pregnancy visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

TUESDAY, Jan. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Children who are traumatized by sexual, physical or psychological abuse are more likely to develop chronic fatigue syndrome as adults, new research suggests.

The study also states that the increased risk for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) might be based in biology. The reason: There appears to be a connection between the nervous system and endocrine system abnormalities, called neuroendocrine dysfunction, in people with CFS who suffered childhood trauma, the researchers said.

"About 60 percent of the people who have CFS have been badly abused as children," said lead researcher Dr. William C. Reeves, chief of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Chronic Viral Diseases Branch. "They also have a diminished salivary cortisol response to stress."

The same researchers found similar results in an earlier study of patients in Kansas, Reeves noted. "CFS does involve a diminished response to stress," he said.

An estimated 4 million people in the United States are thought to struggle with CFS, costing the nation some $9 billion annually, and each patient's family $20,000 a year in lost revenue, Reeves said.

The condition, which is more common in women 40 to 59 years old, is marked by a cluster of debilitating symptoms, including unexplained fatigue, problems sleeping, problems with memory and concentration, and pain.

The illness was first recognized in the late 1980s and initially dubbed the "yuppie flu," causing it to suffer from a credibility problem.

"CFS is quite common," Reeves said. "It is a real illness. If you have the symptoms of CFS, see a provider. It's not all in your head -- it's not a crock."

For the study, published in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, Reeves's team collected data on 113 people with CFS and 124 people without the condition. The participants were asked whether they had experienced such childhood trauma as sexual, physical or emotional abuse or emotional and physical neglect.

The researchers also screened the participants for depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. They were also tested for saliva levels of the hormone cortisol; low cortisol levels can indicate reduced function of the body's neuroendocrine stress response system.

The researchers found that people who had experienced a childhood trauma were six times more likely to develop chronic fatigue syndrome, compared with non-traumatized individuals.

Among people with CFS who'd suffered childhood trauma, cortisol levels were lower. That was not the case among those with CFS who had not had a childhood trauma. The researchers said this finding indicates that stress early in life might cause a biological susceptibility to CFS.

Reeves's group hopes to extend the findings to new treatments for the condition.

Dr. Anthony L. Komaroff, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an expert on CFS, doesn't think childhood trauma causes CFS but, rather, might contribute to its development.

"Since a substantial fraction of people with CFS report no childhood abuse, and since none of the control subjects [in the new study] with childhood abuse had CFS, childhood abuse is not the cause of CFS," Komaroff said. "However, childhood abuse may alter brain chemistry in such a way that people are subsequently more vulnerable to developing CFS."

More information

To learn more about chronic fatigue syndrome, visit the CFIDS Association of America  .

FRIDAY, Dec. 12 (HealthDay News) -- Peanut and other food allergies are on the rise, with more and more children being diagnosed with potentially life-threatening allergies, and schools are responding by providing nut-free areas.

But, at least one expert wonders if schools are going too far, even creating hysteria over potential nut exposures. What's worse, schools may be perpetuating the problem by limiting exposure to nuts in non-allergic children.

"There's a disproportionate response that may be making things worse. First, by feeding the concern -- if a whole school is declared nut-free, how can you say to children that nuts aren't dangerous? And, second by contributing to sensitization," said Dr. Nicholas Christakis, the author of an editorial in the Dec. 12 issue of the British Medical Journal.

Christakis, an attending physician at Mt. Auburn Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School, Boston, pointed to a recent Israeli study. It found that children exposed to peanuts at a young age appeared to have fewer peanut allergies than those who had a later exposure.

Christakis stressed that he's not saying schools shouldn't make allowances for children with severe allergies. "No one is arguing against reasonable accommodations," he said.

But, some schools take those accommodations too far, Christakis believes. For example, he cited the school district where his children attend school. Recently, that district evacuated a bus full of 10-year-olds because a peanut was found on the floor of the bus.

Such a reaction, he said, makes it appear as if the threat from a peanut is much greater than it actually is. Among the 3.3 million Americans who are allergic to nuts, the overall likelihood of a serious reaction is low. Serious allergic reactions to food cause about 2,000 hospitalizations a year, and 150 deaths.

In comparison, noted Christakis, 50 people die from bee stings, 100 from lightning strikes and a whopping 45,000 from motor vehicle accidents. Another 10,000 people suffer traumatic brain injuries due to sports participation and 2,000 people drown every year, said Christakis. Yet, he said, no one has called for an end to athletics.

Other experts weighed in on the issue.

"This editorial really shows how emotional the issue really is, and it always goes back to education and getting people to understand perspective," said Anne Munoz-Furlong, founder and CEO of the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. "Until there's a cure, we need to do everything we can to keep these kids safe."

Dr. Jennifer Appleyard, chief of allergy and immunology at St. John Hospital in Detroit, said she'd like to see schools focus more on emergency planning for kids with severe allergies, because it's impossible to make anyone's environment completely nut-free. "Having a nut-free table, or even a nut-free school, gives you a false sense of security. It's like living in a very safe neighborhood -- robberies happen even in the safest neighborhoods," Appleyard said.

"Schools need to have policies in place for treatment. Teachers, aides, etc. should be trained in using an Epi-Pen [against anaphylactic reactions], and school officials need to make sure everyone knows what to do in an emergency," she said, adding, "that any emergency plan in place should be practiced, like fire drills are."

More information

Learn more about nut and peanut allergies from the Nemours Foundation's KidsHealth  .

MONDAY, Nov. 10 (HealthDay News) -- The number of U.S. children allergic to foods such as peanuts, milk and fish is rising rapidly.

At the same time, researchers are working on new approaches to treating these allergies, according to two reports to be presented Monday at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology's annual meeting, in Seattle.

An estimated 3 million children under 18 had a food allergy in 2007, an 18 percent increase since 1997, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"The problem is even more than numbers," said Dr. Sami L. Bahna, a professor of pediatrics and medicine and chief of allergy and immunology at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. "The severity of food allergies is going up."

There has been an increase in severe rashes; severe attacks of airway obstruction, called anaphylaxis; and intestinal problems, Bahna said.

What's more, the method of exposure that results in an allergic reaction is also changing, Bahna said. "People used to react by eating the food, but there are many people now that react by touching or smelling the food," he said.

Food allergies aren't the only allergies on the rise, Bahna said. "All the allergies are increasing -- asthma, hay fever, eczema," he said.

Several factors are contributing to the increase in allergies, the expert said. The first is the so-called "hygiene hypothesis," which holds that people in industrialized countries are living in increasingly sterile environments. As a result, their immune systems don't have to fight as many infections, so those systems can become hyperactive.

"When there is some degree of unhygienic conditions, the immune system from infancy adapts and develops to fight infection," Bahna said. "Cleanliness, antibiotics, whether they are needed or not, and vaccinations are allowing the immune system to develop as if 'I don't need you,' " he said.

Other reasons include the increased use of antacids among children, which prevents stomach acid from doing its job, and the increased use of multivitamins, which is associated with an increase in allergies, Bahna said.

Also, eating more highly allergenic foods such as fish, peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs and soy, as well as the increasing rates of childhood obesity, contribute to the rise in allergies, Bahna said. And, eating out hikes the risk for food allergies because you don't have total control over what you're eating. The ingredients in processed foods can also trigger allergic reactions, according to Bahna.

Allergic reactions can be severe -- even deadly. Current treatment is limited to avoidance of problematic foods and treating the symptoms of the reaction, Bahna said. But new treatments may be on the way.

Dr. Robert A. Wood, director of pediatric allergy and immunology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, was scheduled to discuss potential new treatments for food allergies at the meeting on Monday. These include anti-IgE antibodies, a Chinese herbal remedy and immunotherapy.

Anti-IgE therapy disrupts the sequence of events that causes an allergic reaction. The treatment appears to work in about 75 percent of patients. Its drawbacks are that it must be given continuously and it does not work in the patient who is too allergic. There are also concerns about its safety and cost, Wood said.

A first clinical trial of the Chinese herbal formula FAHF-2 is also underway, Wood said. In experiments with mice, scientists found that peanut allergy was significantly reduced using this remedy.

The most promising approach appears to be immunotherapy, which is something Wood is involved in developing. In this treatment, tolerance is increased by giving patients increasing amounts of an allergen over time.

"This is sort of the allergy-shot model," he said, adding that several small studies have been promising. "We are cautiously optimistic that we are on the right path," he said.

Another presentation scheduled for the meeting looked at adults allergic to red meat. Researchers discovered that an IgE antibody to the carbohydrate galactose-a-1,3-galactose, which was found in patients who develop an allergy to beef, pork or lamb, seemed to explain the reaction.

Another study to be presented found that schools in one district in Greenville, S.C., had different action plans to deal with allergic reactions to food. The researchers found that fewer than 50 percent of the children with food allergies were on an action plan, however.

More information

To learn more about food allergies, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.