My microblog on Sina Weibo has slowly started to take off, thanks in part to a new feature: a bilingual health word of the day. I try to write it both in Chinese and English and hopefully choose a word that is topical — such as radiation (辐射 fú shè), or hay fever (花粉过敏 huāfěnguòmǐn). You can read the first week’s words below. As usual, I invite everyone to follow my Sina Weibo microblog: I think Sina Weibo is far more useful and interesting than Twitter, even if Twitter were available here. OK, here we go:

沙尘暴 shāchénbào = sandstorm. 例如 Example: 北京在春天有很多沙尘暴。Beijing has many sandstorms during the spring season. Read more (english):http://t.cn/hBwCLm

心脏病 xīnzàngbìng = heart disease. Example 例如：exercising 150 minutes each week can help prevent heart disease. 每周锻炼150分钟可以帮助预防心脏病。

糖尿病 tángniàobìng = diabetes. 例如 Example: many Chinese people have diabetes but they do not know it. 很多中国人有糖尿病但是还不知道。

花粉过敏 huāfěnguòmǐn = hay fever。例如 example：my nose is running and I am sneezing; is it hayfever season already? 流鼻涕和打喷嚏；是不是花粉过敏季节已经来了？

吃素的人 chīsùderén = Vegetarian. 例如 Example：吃了很多肉可能是对我和环境不健康，也许我应该成为一个吃素的人。Eating a lot of meat might be unhealthy for me and the environment; maybe I should become a vegetarian. Read more (english): http://t.cn/h1EkRS

病毒 bìngdú = Virus。例如 Example：”普通感冒是由病毒，而不是细菌引起的。所以你不需要静脉注射抗生素。The common cold is caused by a virus, not a bacteria. So you do not need intravenous antibiotics.”

高钠血症 gāo nà xuè zhèng = hypernatremia (too much salt in blood). Example: “If you eat too much table salt, you can develop hypernatremia, and you could die.”

辐射 fú shè = Radiation. Example: “The nuclear radiation in Japan is headed east, over the Pacific.”