Donald Trump diagnosed with vein condition that causes leg swelling
Reading a letter from Mr Trump's physician, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said an ultrasound on the president's legs "revealed chronic venous insufficiency … a common condition, particularly in individuals over the age of 70".
The president turned 79 last month.
Ms Leavitt said the tests showed 'no evidence of deep vein thrombosis or arterial disease'.
People often are advised to lose weight, walk for exercise and elevate their legs periodically, and some may need to wear compression stockings.
Severe cases over time can lead to complications, including lower leg sores called ulcers.
The White House said bruising on Mr Trump's hand that has been covered up by makeup is "consistent" with irritation from his "frequent hand shaking and the use of aspirin".
Ms Leavitt said "the president remains in excellent health".
She promised to make the doctor's letter public.
AP/Reuters
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

News.com.au
24 minutes ago
- News.com.au
‘Crisis': Expert reveals secrets to how to get a flawless sleep
A new report has revealed the extent of Australia's silent sleep epidemic, with one expert offering simple fixes for the nation's most common sleeping difficulties. The Great Aussie Wake-Up, commissioned by Holiday Inn Express, found that 91 per cent of Australians struggle to fall or stay asleep in a typical week, and 93 per cent regularly wake up too early. Sleep expert Olivia Arezzolo said the research showed the issue had progressed from a problem to a crisis. But she said three core controllable elements could be implemented to form the foundation for good sleep. 'When you look at the biomechanics of the circadian rhythm, there are key factors which control it,' she said. 'Light is one, eating is another, and temperature is another.
Before adding the nice-to-haves, you need to get the essentials right first.' In terms of food, Ms Arezzolo stressed the importance of having breakfast and warned against all too common late night snacking. 'I think a really big factor which is often overlooked, is there's this massive growth in intermittent fasting,' she said. 'It's one of the biggest trends of 2025 and this is meaning that a lot of Gen Z, but also just overall Aussies, are skipping breakfast. 
 'The stat from the Holiday Inn research was that 76 per cent of Aussies are losing part of their morning routine and one in four are not eating breakfast. 'Breakfast is absolutely critical for circadian rhythm alignment. I'm sure you've heard that term with reference to light and temperature, but eating is also a regulator of the circadian rhythm.
 'It essentially anchors the body clock. So in order to fall asleep with ease in the evening, we need to be having breakfast within the first hour of being awake.' Ms Arezzolo said you ideally want three hours in between your last meal of the day and bedtime. For coffee it was a minimum of eight hours. 'I have a 2pm absolute latest cut-off time (for coffee), but ideally, you want nothing after 12 o'clock, especially if you're struggling to sleep.' For light Ms Arezzolo recommended getting 20 minutes of light within 30 minutes of waking and staying away from blue light producing screens close to bedtime. 'Like eating, light is a factor controlling the circadian rhythm. 
 'Essentially, if you're exposed to blue light in the evening, then you have the suppression of melatonin, which is your key sleep hormone to fall and stay asleep. 'This is akin to having a coffee before bed. As soon as you have that blue light enter your eyes, you have the biological signals to remain alert and awake.' 
 Another key finding of the report was an overreliance on the snooze button with more than half (52 per cent) of Australians hitting snooze every morning. Gen Z were among the worst offenders, with a massive 70 per cent regularly hitting the button – and one in ten tapping snooze at least 120 times a month. 'When you're hitting the snooze button regularly, every time the alarm goes off, you get a spike in your stress hormone cortisol,' Ms Arezzolo said. 'Too much cortisol leads to chronic states of anxiety, burnout, having that 'wired but tired feeling', being unable to sleep, and particularly 3am wakings. 'You're essentially setting your nervous system up to be on overdrive from the moment you wake up simply by pressing the snooze button, not just once, but multiple times. So that one is definitely alarming. Pardon the pun.' Ms Arezzolo said in the course of her regular life, people are constantly asking her to fix their sleep however they tend to focus on alternative aids rather than focusing on the essentials. 'I'm like, 'okay, but tell me about your mornings and tell me about your evenings. What are you doing just before you're waking up and just before you're going to sleep? What are you doing just when you're waking up? Do you have the foundations right'? 
And nine times out of 10, they don't. 'You can't overlook these and then just pick and choose which sleep strategies you want to employ because you prefer that. It doesn't work like that.
It's biology. 'Circadian rhythm is controlled by light, temperature and eating. So you have to get these things right.'

News.com.au
4 hours ago
- News.com.au
The black plague is still killing people in 2025
President Donald Trump was swept into office promising to Make America Healthy Again. Now his controversial Health Secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, must contend with the return of the Black Death. The plague that killed millions in Medieval Europe and Asia has claimed a life in Arizona. It's the first fatality for the condition in that state for more than 18 years. And it's a stark reminder that the bacteria behind the deadly disease is deeply entrenched in the US heartland. It involved the plague's most deadly incarnation. 'The recent death is concerning, as it involves the airborne pneumonic form of the disease, the only form that spreads easily from person to person,' says Western Sydney University microbiology expert Thomas Jeffries. 'But there's no evidence of further spread of the disease within the US at this stage.' Only 14 people have died of plague in the US in the past 25 years. But pneumonic plague is the most severe of the plague's three forms. All are caused by Yersinia pestis bacteria. Bubonic plague presents with flu-like symptoms and swollen lymph nodes in the groin, armpit and neck. Septicaemic plague puts the body into shock and is characterised by blackening of the fingers, toes, and nose. Both are usually caused by bites from fleas carrying the bacteria, and fatality rates vary between 30 and 60 per cent. Pneumonic plague is caused when tiny airborne droplets carry the bacteria into the lungs. There, it reproduces rapidly while attacking its host's immune system. If left untreated, the fatality rate can be as high as 100 per cent. But modern medicine has advanced considerably since medieval times. 'Plague can evoke a very emotional reaction, as many people associate plague with the Black Death, which ravaged Europe and killed millions in the 1300s,' infectious disease expert Dr Shirin Mazumder told US media. 'Although plague-related fatalities can occur, they are very uncommon, and we have highly effective antibiotic therapy to treat plague if diagnosed early.' Historic potential The 2020 COVID pandemic was caused when the SARS-CoV-2 virus mutated enough to find humans to be hospitable hosts. Similar mutations have emerged among Yersinia pestis strains over the centuries. 'This disease is one of the most important in history,' argues Jeffries. 'The Plague of Justinian (541–750CE) killed tens of millions of people in the western Mediterranean, heavily impacting the expansion of the Byzantine Empire. 'The medieval Black Death (1346–53) was also seismic, killing tens of millions of people and up to half of Europe's population. 'The third and most recent plague pandemic spanned the years 1855 until roughly 1960, peaking in the early 1900s. It was responsible for 12 million deaths, primarily in India, and even reached Australia.' However, the discovery that the cause was a flea-inhabiting bacterium has resulted in the disease being largely suppressed. 'As Y. pestis is not found in Australian animals, there is little risk here,' Jeffries states. 'Plague has not been reported in Australia in more than a century.' However, sporadic outbreaks persist in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Peru, India, Central Asia, and the US, as the disease is entrenched in local rodent populations. And a fresh outbreak of plague would be a severe test of Health Secretary Kennedy's MAHA agenda. Kennedy has a long history of supporting unsubstantiated health conspiracies. He has argued that COVID-19 discriminated between ethnic groups. He has linked tap water to transgender children. He has claimed 'miasma' (a medieval term for pollutants and bad smells) is just as deadly as viruses and bacteria. 'Miasma theory emphasises preventing disease by fortifying the immune system through nutrition and reducing exposures to environmental toxins and stresses,' Kennedy wrote in his book, The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health. Since taking office in February, the former environmental lawyer has cut thousands of jobs in his Department of Health and Human Services and shut down several advisory bodies and health programs at the Centres for Disease Control (CDC). Known unknowns 'The only means to fight a plague is honesty,' Kennedy, 71, stated in The Real Anthony Fauci. But few details about the Arizona plague fatality have yet been released. 'Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the deceased. We are keeping them in our thoughts during this difficult time,' a Coconino County Board of Supervisors spokeswoman told media. 'Out of respect for the family, no additional information about the death will be released'. The incubation period of pneumonic plague, once it settles in the lungs, can be as little as one day. An intense course of common modern antibiotics is an effective treatment - if administered quickly. Was the patient suffering from untreated bubonic or septicaemic plague, where the bacteria spread to the lungs? Or was it contracted from infectious droplets coughed up by an animal or a person? And was it caught in the countryside, or an urban environment? 'Plague infects an average of seven people a year in the west of the country (United States), due to being endemic in groundhog and prairie dog populations there,' writes Jeffries. 'The last major outbreak was 100 years ago.' Prairie dogs are easy targets for the fleas that carry Yersinia pestis. But they tend to die quickly once infected. As such, a sudden spate of Prairie dog deaths can be an early warning sign of an outbreak of the bacteria. 'The source of the exposure is still under investigation; however, the death is not related to a recent report of a prairie dog die-off,' the Coconino County's health service has told US media. But other animals regularly handled by humans can get infected. Especially cats. They can contract the bacteria by eating infected rodents or being bitten by fleas. The CDC warns that this can then be transmitted to owners when the cat sneezes.


SBS Australia
9 hours ago
- SBS Australia
Vibha wanted to honour her mother's wish to die voluntarily at home. She found help online
Disclaimer: The opinions in this podcast are general and non-binding. For specific advice, please consult your General Practitioner or health expert. LISTEN TO SBS Hindi 17/07/2025 19:51 Hindi LISTEN TO SBS Hindi 14/07/2025 19:09 Hindi