Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA articles from August 2002

Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA archives from August 2002

Study finds no link to oral contraceptive use for women 35 and over.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Women who took oral contraceptives at some point in their lives are no more likely to develop breast cancer between the ages of 35 and 64 than are other women the same age, according to findings from...

FDA grants citizen's petition seeking unapproved drug classificaion for 'nicotine water'.(Brief Article)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a response to a Citizen's Petition submitted to the agency regarding the regulation of a product called "Nicotine Water." Based on several factors,...

National Institutes of Health green lights additional research into new breast imaging system.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Cancer in premenopausal women tends to be more difficult to spot because their breast tissue is denser, often fooling traditional mammography into a false-negative reading. Ironically, the cancers also...

OPEC backs U.N. efforts to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa's worst-hit countries.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) have signed an agreement in Geneva paving the way for a series of joint initiatives to...

Award will boost HIV/AIDS research in China.(Brief Article)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has awarded a Comprehensive International Program for Research on AIDS (CIPRA) grant to China's Center for Disease Control and...

Cocaine use linked to poor adherence to antiretroviral therapy in HIV patients.(Brief Article)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers from the Montefiore Medical Center in New York City measured adherence to antiretroviral drug regimens in 85 HIV-infected current and former cocaine users. The study's lead...

Stricter donor guidelines may mean dramatically reduced blood supply.(Brief Article)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- New U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) blood donor guidelines that focus on European travel and residence will affect the New York/New Jersey metropolitan community blood supply. The...

Importance of early environmental exposure pinpointed.(breast cancer)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Where a woman lives at birth and puberty may have an impact on her risk of developing breast cancer later, findings from a novel study conducted by geographers and epidemiologists at the University at...

Vaccination delays onset of prion brain disease in mice.
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Immunization with a nontoxic genetically engineered prion, a protein that causes a group of fatal brain diseases, including mad cow disease, delayed the onset of brain disease in mice, according to a...

VA to reform healthcare procurement process.(Veterans Affairs)(Brief Article)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi announced more than 60 reforms to the department's nearly $6 billion-a-year contracting operations that will improve efficiency and extend VA's buying...

Symptoms of depressed HIV patients not just psychological.(Brief Article)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new study suggests that physicians could be making a lethal mistake if they fail to give the same credibility and treatment to depressed patients with HIV that they give to nondepressed patients with...

Clemson researchers identify gene.(mental retardation)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Clemson University and Greenwood Genetic Center researchers have found a link between a single gene and mental retardation. Dr. Anand K. Srivastava and his colleagues report their findings in the June...

Similar pathways may be involved in hereditary and sporadic ovarian cancers.(Brief Article)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- New research suggests that BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations lead to hereditary ovarian cancers through different pathways, but that these pathways may be similar to ones at work in sporadic ovarian...

A strong primary care system is good for a nation's health.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has demonstrated that the stronger a country's network of primary care providers, the lower the health care costs and the...

Bush's security plan forces public health into background, GAO says.(Brief Article)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. government's duty to protect the public from disease could take a back seat to terrorism preparation and response under President Bush's proposed Homeland Security Department, government...

Europe achieves historic milestone as region is declared polio free.(Brief Article)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The historic decision to certify the World Health Organization European Region polio-free was announced at a meeting of the European Regional Commission for Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication...

Health care priorities and research agenda suggested for Latino children.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Although they are the largest racial/ethnic minority group of children in the United States, Latino children face many obstacles to health care, according to an article in the July 3, 2002, issue of the...

Teen cocaine use up, other health behaviors more responsible, CDC says.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention )(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- More teenagers are using cocaine and regularly smoking and drinking, but an increasing number are also wearing seat belts and refusing to ride with a driver who's been drinking, according to a survey...

European agency reaffirms safety of diet pill sibutramine.(Brief Article)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The European agency that evaluates prescription drugs has reaffirmed that the popular diet drug Reductil is safe and effective enough for obese people to take. A committee of the European Agency for...

When it comes to ticks, once bitten isn't always twice shy.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Many Americans who are most vulnerable to tick-borne illness - especially Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever - aren't taking preventive measures to avoid being bitten, according to a new report. In 1999...

Experts see dangerous trend in use of Viagra with 'party pills'.(Statistical Data Included)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Dr. Jeffrey Klausner realized he had to do something when he walked through one of San Francisco's sex clubs and heard pill wrappers crunching beneath his feet. "I picked one up, and it was a...

Nonoxynol-9 ineffective in preventing HIV infection.(Brief Article)
August 4, 2002... 2002 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Spermicides containing nonoxynol-9 do not protect against HIV infection and may even increase the risk of HIV infection in women using these products frequently, according to a World Health Organization...

HIV infections in U.S. newborns decline 80% since 1991.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report an estimated 80% decline in the number of infants born with HIV infection in the United States during the last decade....

Many young Americans get annual sunburns.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The annual sunburn is still a tradition for many Americans, with nearly 60% of young adults reporting at least one sunburn in the past year, according to a new study Sun damage is the leading...

New low-cost technologies offer practical solutions for developing world.(Brief Article)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- New study data from several African countries reveal progress in identifying practical solutions for improving HIV testing, prevention and treatment in highly affected countries. The study...

Number of U.S. AIDS cases remain stable after recent declines.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- U.S. AIDS cases and HIV infections appear roughly stable overall; however, the overall stability may be masking increases in HIV infections among some populations of heterosexuals as well as gay and...

Teen anxiety, chances of harmful smoking and eating behavior higher than expected.(Brief Article)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Is it any surprise that teenagers are anxious and moody? Perhaps not, but their rates of anxiety appear unexpectedly high, and their anxiety makes them more prone to overeat and smoke, a University of...

Majority of HIV-infected mothers and at-risk newborns receive ZDV treatment in groundbreaking Thailand prevention program.(Brief Article)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In the first year of Thailand's national program to prevent perinatal HIV transmission, more than two-thirds of HIV-infected expectant mothers who had prenatal care also received short-course...

Young HIV carriers unaware of virus.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A study of young gay and bisexual men in major U.S. cities found that more than three-quarters of those infected with HIV were unaware they had the AIDS virus. The finding, presented during the...

Low hemoglobin means high risk for mobility problems in elderly women.(Brief Article)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The amount of oxygen-carrying hemoglobin circulating in the blood of older women could have an impact on the risk for mobility problems, Johns Hopkins physicians have found. Hemoglobin levels of...

CDC: Heat leading cause of child deaths in parked cars in 2000-2001.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Dozens of children are killed each year when they are left unsupervised in or near family vehicles, whether they're left in a parked car on a hot day or backed over in the driveway, the U.S. government...

CDC: Shortage of two vaccines is over.(Brief Article)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Shortages of two childhood vaccines - one to protect against measles, mumps and rubella, and a second to fight diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough - are over in the U.S., the government has...

Transmission of drug-resistant HIV on the rise.(Brief Article)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A rising number of San Franciscans are being infected with HIV that is already resistant to some classes of antiretroviral drugs, report researchers from the Gladstone Institute of Virology and...

Infection does not alter HIV progression or treatment.(Brief Article)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Resolving conflicting reports about the effect of hepatitis C virus infection on the progression of HIV disease, a Johns Hopkins study of nearly 2000 HIV patients shows that hepatitis C does not...

Chickenpox vaccination now required for preschool, kindergarten enrollment in some states.(Brief Article)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Many Tennessee parents will need to add having their children vaccinated against chickenpox to their fall "things-to-do" list. Effective July 1, under legislation passed earlier this year all children...

Nasal spray flu vaccine developed at U-M needs no additional clinical trials, says FDA.(University of Michigan, FluMist)(Brief Article)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked for additional information, but no additional clinical trials, as it considers approval of FluMist, an influenza vaccine delivered as a nasal spray. ...

Detection of bioterrorism viruses brought closer to local sites.(Brief Article)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In the July 2002 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers outline new methods for safely and accurately identifying a suspected bioterrorism agent and detail what physicians should know about the...

New website provides research information for Gulf War veterans.(www.gulflink.osd.mil/medsearch)(Brief Article)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Gulf War veterans and their families now have easy access to Gulf War-related medical research information on an Internet site called "Medsearch" at www.gulflink.osd.mil/medsearch. The U.S....

CDC launches new injury research agenda.(Brief Article)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released its new research agenda forecasting the direction for injury research at CDC from 2002 to 2007. Injury is the leading cause of death in...

Foundation creates international fellowships to honor William Foege.(Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation)(Brief Article)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced the establishment of the William H. Foege Fellowships in Global Health to honor the career and achievements of one of the world's leading figures in public...

U.S. issues report on children.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Fewer babies are dying. Fewer teenage girls are having babies. Smoking is dropping among 8th and 10th graders. There's encouraging news in a report, released July 12, 2002, that brings together...

FDA hears breast implant concerns.(Brief Article)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Two years after the U.S. government allowed continued use of saline-filled breast implants, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel heard concerns in July 2002 about patients' further surgery and a...

Macaque resists SIV challenge by blocking viral replication postentry.(Rhesus monkey and Simian immunodeficiency virus)(Brief Article)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - A rhesus macaque resisted two intravaginal and one intrarectal challenge with SIV, yet failed to seroconvert, a result attributed to cellular...

Across the U.S., volunteers undergo vaccine trials in case of attack.(interest in smallpox vaccination triggered by bioterrorism fear)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 11, 2002... 2002 AUG 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- With the jab of a needle, volunteers are being injected with a smallpox vaccine as part of U.S. government-sponsored experiments that come amid heightened fear of biological terrorism. About 330...

CDC issues mortality stats for 2000.(pertussis statistics)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2002... 2002 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Medical care providers should consider pertussis as a cause of new cough illness in people of all ages, according to a report issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the July...

Panel calls for greater attention to cancer patients' pain, depression, and fatigue.(Brief Article)
August 18, 2002... 2002 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Health care professionals, caregivers, and patients all have an important role in symptom management throughout the course of cancer. Evidence suggests that pain is often undertreated, despite the...

FDA approves new indication for implantable cardioverter defibrillators.(Guidant Corp.)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2002... 2002 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new indication for Guidant Corp.'s implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) that expands the target population to include patients with...

Obesity, diabetes epidemics could intensify heart disease prevalence.(Brief Article)
August 18, 2002... 2002 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- It's already the leading killer in America, but heart disease may become even more prevalent due to a growing epidemic of obesity and diabetes, experts predicted at a meeting at the National Institutes...

Benefits of exercise lead to further activity in elderly.(Brief Article)
August 18, 2002... 2002 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The benefits of regular exercise are powerful motivators for the elderly to continue a physical activity regimen, according to a new study. "It is possible that perceiving benefits in fitness...

Teens tuning in to booze-branded 'alcopop' ads despite industry's self-enforced ad standards.(Brief Article)
August 18, 2002... 2002 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- America's children are getting surprisingly high exposure to ads for a burgeoning category of liquor-branded malt beverages known as "alcopops," according to new polling data released July 16, 2002, by...

Los Alamos researchers recommend AIDS vaccine strategies.(Department of Energy National Laboratory)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2002... 2002 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Los Alamos National Laboratory are using their extensive genetic understanding of the HIV-1 virus - the most common form of the virus that causes...

White House warns tests often inaccurate.(anthrax field tests)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2002... 2002 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The White House is warning that anthrax field tests - widely used since last fall's attacks - give fast but often incorrect results, prompting authorities to shut down buildings prematurely and hand...

CDC unveils brand new labs, one of which could play an antiterrorism role.(Brief Article)
August 18, 2002... 2002 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- After complaining for years that its facilities are Third World-quality, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) unveiled two gleaming new laboratories July 19, 2002, including one...

FDA warns of chemical in plastic.(DEHP)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2002... 2002 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Sick baby boys may be at highest risk from a chemical used to soften such plastic medical devices as blood bags and i.v. tubes, the government said in advising hospitals to consider using devices made...

E. coli concerns prompt major meat recall.(ConAgra Beef Co.)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2002... 2002 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The possible presence of toxic E. coli bacteria has prompted the recall of 19 million pounds of hamburger, the second largest beef recall on record. The expanded recall was announced July 19, 2002,...

Program tracks stroke treatment.(Paul Coverdell National Stroke Registry)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2002... 2002 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Only about 2 of every 100 stroke victims in the U.S. are treated with the clot-busting drug TPA that might not only save their lives but keep them from being disabled. Many simply don't get to the...

Control is possible in African American patients with difficult-to-control BP.(blood pressure)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2002... 2002 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers have been able to set and achieve lower blood pressure goals in a study group of African Americans whose hypertension is difficult to control, according to a study published in the July 22,...

Report: CDC off on infection deaths.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)(hospital deaths)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2002... 2002 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- About 103,000 deaths were linked to hospital infections in 2000 - a figure 14% higher than government estimates - and nearly 75% of the deaths were preventable, the Chicago Tribune reported. The...

Texas officials deal with surge in cases.(whooping cough)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2002... 2002 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Texas health officials are continuing to battle a surge in whooping cough cases that has not abated since a record year in 2001. This year, 378 cases of whooping cough, including the deaths of...

FDA announces the destruction of unsafe medical devices.(A and A Medical/Rocket USA/LifeQuest Medical)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2002... 2002 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in July that products manufactured by A&A Medical, Inc./Rocket USA/LifeQuest Medical, Inc. of Alpharetta, Georgia, were destroyed on July 11, 2002,...

Tobacco lozenge faces ban.(Ariva)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2002... 2002 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The attorneys general of 42 states want the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate sales of a tobacco lozenge made by a Virginia cigarette company. Ariva, manufactured by Star...

Worksite program for blue-collar workers yields notable success.(smoking cessation program)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2002... 2002 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Blue-collar workers are more likely to quit smoking when workplace smoking cessation programs are combined with other occupational health and safety messages rather than when singled out, according to...

Cases in Puerto Rico indicate vaccine safe and effective, CDC reports.(tetanus)(Brief Article)
August 18, 2002... 2002 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Between February and May 2002, the Puerto Rico Department of Health (PRDOH) received reports of three tetanus cases, two of which were fatal, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and...

Asian women die or are hospitalized after taking Chinese diet pills.(Brief Article)
August 18, 2002... 2002 AUG 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A popular brand of diet pills from China has been linked to six deaths in three Asian countries, highlighting social pressures on Asian women to have model-like figures and the need to regulate the...

CDC issues mortality stats for 2000.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)(pertussis deaths)(Brief Article)
August 25, 2002... 2002 AUG 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Medical care providers should consider pertussis as a cause of new cough illness in people of all ages, according to a report issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the July...

Panel calls for greater attention to cancer patients' pain, depression, and fatigue.(symptom managemet conference)
August 25, 2002... 2002 AUG 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Health care professionals, caregivers, and patients all have an important role in symptom management throughout the course of cancer. Evidence suggests that pain is often undertreated, despite the...

FDA approves new indication for implantable cardioverter defibrillators.(electrical testing no longer required)(Brief Article)
August 25, 2002... 2002 AUG 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new indication for Guidant Corp.'s implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) that expands the target population to include patients with...

Obesity, diabetes epidemics could intensify heart disease prevalence.
August 25, 2002... 2002 AUG 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- It's already the leading killer in America, but heart disease may become even more prevalent due to a growing epidemic of obesity and diabetes, experts predicted at a meeting at the National Institutes...

Benefits of exercise lead to further activity in elderly.
August 25, 2002... 2002 AUG 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The benefits of regular exercise are powerful motivators for the elderly to continue a physical activity regimen, according to a new study. "It is possible that perceiving benefits in fitness...

Teens tuning in to booze-branded 'alcopop' ads despite industry's self-enforced ad standards.(malt beverages)
August 25, 2002... 2002 AUG 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- America's children are getting surprisingly high exposure to ads for a burgeoning category of liquor-branded malt beverages known as "alcopops," according to new polling data released July 16, 2002, by...

Los Alamos researchers recommend AIDS vaccine strategies.
August 25, 2002... 2002 AUG 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Los Alamos National Laboratory are using their extensive genetic understanding of the HIV-1 virus - the most common form of the virus that causes...

White House warns tests often inaccurate.(field tests for anthrax)
August 25, 2002... 2002 AUG 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The White House is warning that anthrax field tests - widely used since last fall's attacks - give fast but often incorrect results, prompting authorities to shut down buildings prematurely and hand...

CDC unveils brand new labs, one of which could play an antiterrorism role.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
August 25, 2002... 2002 AUG 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- After complaining for years that its facilities are Third World-quality, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) unveiled two gleaming new laboratories July 19, 2002, including one...

FDA warns of chemical in plastic.(exposure to DEHP )
August 25, 2002... 2002 AUG 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Sick baby boys may be at highest risk from a chemical used to soften such plastic medical devices as blood bags and i.v. tubes, the government said in advising hospitals to consider using devices made...

E. coli concerns prompt major meat recall.(ConAgra Beef Co. hamburger)
August 25, 2002... 2002 AUG 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The possible presence of toxic E. coli bacteria has prompted the recall of 19 million pounds of hamburger, the second largest beef recall on record. The expanded recall was announced July 19, 2002,...

Program tracks stroke treatment.(Paul Coverdell National Stroke Registry)
August 25, 2002... 2002 AUG 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Only about 2 of every 100 stroke victims in the U.S. are treated with the clot-busting drug TPA that might not only save their lives but keep them from being disabled. Many simply don't get to the...

Control is possible in African American patients with difficult-to-control BP.(blood pressure)
August 25, 2002... 2002 AUG 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers have been able to set and achieve lower blood pressure goals in a study group of African Americans whose hypertension is difficult to control, according to a study published in the July 22,...

Report: CDC off on infection deaths.(government estimates on fatal hospital infections too low)
August 25, 2002... 2002 AUG 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- About 103,000 deaths were linked to hospital infections in 2000 - a figure 14% higher than government estimates - and nearly 75% of the deaths were preventable, the Chicago Tribune reported. The...

Texas officials deal with surge in cases.
August 25, 2002... 2002 AUG 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Texas health officials are continuing to battle a surge in whooping cough cases that has not abated since a record year in 2001. This year, 378 cases of whooping cough, including the deaths of...

Food and Drug Administration announces the destruction of unsafe medical devices.(Brief Article)
August 25, 2002... 2002 AUG 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in July that products manufactured by A&A Medical, Inc./Rocket USA/LifeQuest Medical, Inc. of Alpharetta, Georgia, were destroyed on July 11, 2002,...

Tobacco lozenge faces ban.
August 25, 2002... 2002 AUG 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The attorneys general of 42 states want the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate sales of a tobacco lozenge made by a Virginia cigarette company. Ariva, manufactured by Star...

Worksite program for blue-collar workers yields notable success.
August 25, 2002... 2002 AUG 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Blue-collar workers are more likely to quit smoking when workplace smoking cessation programs are combined with other occupational health and safety messages rather than when singled out, according to...

Cases in Puerto Rico indicate vaccine safe and effective, Centers for Disease Control reports.(Brief Article)
August 25, 2002... 2002 AUG 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Between February and May 2002, the Puerto Rico Department of Health (PRDOH) received reports of three tetanus cases, two of which were fatal, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and...

Asian women die or are hospitalized after taking Chinese diet pills.
August 25, 2002... 2002 AUG 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A popular brand of diet pills from China has been linked to six deaths in three Asian countries, highlighting social pressures on Asian women to have model-like figures and the need to regulate the...