Health Highlights: March 27, 2009

Mar. 28 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Transit Users More Likely to Meet Exercise Guidelines: Study

Transit users are three times more likely to achieve fitness guidelines than those who don't use transit, say Canadian researchers who interviewed 18,326 people in Atlanta, Ga., who kept diaries of their modes of travel over two consecutive days.

The study used the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada's suggested daily minimum of 30 minutes of moderate physical activity a day, five days a week, CBC News reported.

The more people in the study used their cars, they less likely they were to meet the minimum activity guideline, said the University of British Columbia study.

"The idea of needing to go to the gym to get your daily dose of exercise is a misperception," associate professor Lawrence Frank, who teaches community and regional planning, said in a news release, CBC News reported.

"These short walks throughout our day are historically how we have gotten our activity," he noted. "Unfortunately, we've engineered this activity out of our daily lives."

The study was published in the Journal of Public Health Policy.

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VA Says 10 Patients Test Positive for Hepatitis

Ten people have tested positive for hepatitis after they were exposed to contaminated colonoscopy equipment, the U.S. Veterans Affairs department said Friday.

The 10 are among thousands of patients told to get blood tests after having colonoscopies at VA facilities in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Miami and Augusta, Ga. The equipment at those facilities wasn't properly sterilized between procedures, the Associated Press reported.

Four patients have tested positive for hepatitis B, and six have tested positive for hepatitis C, which can cause permanent liver damage and is potentially life-threatening.

The patients will receive treatment from the VA even though it hasn't been confirmed that their infections were the result of the unclean colonoscopy equipment, said VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts, the AP reported.