Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA articles from December 2002

Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA archives from December 2002

Routine use of bleach to disinfect syringes may lower odds for hepatitis C.
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Epidemiologists from several medical centers have teamed up with investigators at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to study syringe bleach disinfection...

CDC releases new hand-hygiene guidelines.(U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released new guidelines that advise the use of alcohol-based handrubs to protect patients in health care settings. The new hand hygiene...

New research explores cost-effectiveness of inner-city intervention programs.(childhood asthma)
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Using social workers to educate inner-city children on controlling their asthma is a cost-effective way to reduce the number of days children exhibit asthma symptoms, researchers report. ...

Novelty contacts risky, says FDA alert.(contact lenses)
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Novelty contact lenses, a new teen sensation, allow wearers to highlight their eyes with American flags, eight balls, NFL logos, cat's eyes and more. However, clinicians and physicians at the Casey...

FDA issues warnings in the long-acting guaifenesin market.
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has sent warning letters to all manufacturers and distributors of long-acting, single ingredient, guaifenesin, stating that their products must be withdrawn...

FDA issues final guidance to blood industry.
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued guidance designed to protect the safety of the blood supply against West Nile virus (WNV). This guidance for industry provides recommendations...

Pharmaceutical company reports 39 cancer drug deaths in Japan.
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Side effects from the cancer-fighting drug gefitinib have now caused 39 deaths in Japan, a spokeswoman for the Anglo-Swedish manufacturer, AstraZeneca Plc, said October 27, 2002. The drug has...

Study finds joint problems increasingly widespread.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention )
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Arthritis and other chronic joint problems are far more widespread than estimated just 5 years ago, affecting 1 in 3 U.S. adults, or 69.9 million people in all, the U.S. government reported in the first...

HHS awards University of Wisconsin $55.8 million for research.(National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awards childhood asthma contract)(Health and Human Services)
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson has announced that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has awarded a 6-year, $55.8 million contract to the...

Radiofrequency ablation successfully treats bone pain.
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An international clinical study led by Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, showed that radio-frequency (RF) ablation significantly reduces pain and enhances quality of life for patients whose cancer...

USC consortium receives $15 million NCI grant to determine causes.(University of Southern California)(National Cancer Institute)(colorectal cancer studies)
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded $15 million to the University of Southern California as part of a $50 million renewal grant for the Cooperative Family Registries for Colorectal Cancer...

Attack on food supply subject of NDSU conference.(North Dakota State University)
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- New procedures to detect and contain the deliberate spread of a livestock or crop disease are needed for the United States to deal with the threat of bioterrorism, a White House expert says. "Rapid...

Group finds new food poisoning culprits.
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Bad tomatoes? Nasty butter? Disgusting chili? Experts who convened for a recent infectious disease conference have added some unusual suspects to the long list of foods that can make people sick. ...

Many women quit hormone therapy.
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Women have quit hormone therapy in droves since a major study in July 2002 declared the pills riskier for their hearts and breasts than once thought. Seeking to ease confusion over just who should...

Hospital confirms bacterial infection among critical care patients.(Allegheny General Hospital)
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Allegheny General Hospital (AGH) officials confirmed an investigation aimed at determining the source of an increased incidence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa among a small group...

FDA public service announcements promoted through direct-to-patient newsletter.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Health Resource, the healthcare subsidiary of Catalina Marketing Corporation (POS), will deliver U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) public service announcements (PSAs) to retail pharmacy customers...

Connecticut hospitals evaluate readiness.
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Connecticut Department of Public Health is trying to gauge how many of its facilities are capable of handling an attack with a contagious agent such as smallpox. The decision comes as a federal...

Hopkins to train Chinese researchers in genetics.(Johns Hopkins School of Medicine)
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Funded by a 5-year, $2 million grant from the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Johns Hopkins School of Medicine will establish and conduct an international...

Officials look to limit lawsuits extending from vaccine.(smallpox vaccine)
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Bush administration is preparing to ask a lame-duck Congress to address one of the stickiest issues in the smallpox vaccine debate: how to compensate people who are injured or killed by the vaccine...

Device to detect bacteria-contaminated platelets cleared for marketing.
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted clearance to Pall Corp. (PLL) to market the Pall BDS, a new system to detect bacterial contamination of platelets. Bacterial contamination of...

FDA raps Red Cross for blood-safety lapses.
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Salt Lake City's Red Cross officials insisted October 23, 2002, their blood supplies are safe despite allegations they've taken blood from hundreds of questionable donors - even people who acknowledged...

New theories implicating inflammation, autoimmunity to be investigated.
December 1, 2002... 2002 DEC 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A study centering on two emerging theories on the causes of diabetes in adults will be conducted by researchers at the University at Buffalo over the next 3 years, funded by a $1.6 million grant from...

Federal agencies team up with business to ease burden of diabetes at work.(Department of Health and Human Services web site)
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. government and private industry have teamed up to offer a new approach to dealing with the burgeoning diabetes epidemic that threatens the nation's health as well as its productivity. ...

Overall U.S. rate rises for first time since 1990.(syphilis)
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Despite continued declines among African Americans and women of all races, overall rates of primary and secondary syphilis have increased slightly in the U.S. for the first time in more than a decade,...

Growth hormone has marginal benefits, many adverse effects in elderly.
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Growth hormone supplementation, with or without hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or testosterone, increases lean body mass and decreases fat in older women and men, but also increases the risk of...

CDC: One in three adults has arthritis.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, Arthritis Foundation )
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Arthritis Foundation has called for a new sense of urgency and resolve to address the pain, limitations and disability of arthritis based on alarming new numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease...

Researchers to study Florida's public health role in control and prevention.
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Florida's public health officials are worried. Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) remain one of the most preventable yet highly prevalent types of disease in Florida, but the state-run STD...

Low-fat diet and exercise are keys to maintaining weight loss.(National Institutes of Health)
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - Three years after completing a very-low-calorie diet, women who maintained a high activity level and limited the amount of dietary fat regained the...

Infection of two Easterners creates stir.(bubonic plague)
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- When a pair of tourists in New York fell ill with bubonic plague - a naturally occurring though rare disease - reaction in the East was swift and scared. Fox News Channel ran an on-screen headline...

FDA approves new female sterilization device.(Conceptus Inc.'s Essure System)
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a small metallic implant that is placed into the fallopian tubes of women who wish to be permanently sterilized. Unlike other currently available...

Transmission of ChimeriVax-DEN2 virus by vector mosquitoes is unlikely.(Acambis Inc.)
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Study results indicate that the live virus contained in the ChimeriVax-DEN2 vaccine (Acambis, Inc.) has limited ability to infect and replicate in Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus mosquitoes. "The...

FDA approves rapid HIV test.(OraSure Technologies Inc.'s OraQuick )
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy G. Thompson has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new rapid HIV diagnostic test kit that provides...

Allowing pharmacists to give shots would improve New York's immunization rates.
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- It might not seem like it if you've recently spent your lunch hour waiting in line for a flu shot, but New York State has one of nation's lowest immunization rates for flu and pneumonia, a factor that...

CDC: C-Sections are on the rise.(cesarean section)
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A government effort to reduce the rate of cesarean births appears headed for failure, federal officials reported November 7, 2002. A California study found that the percentage of mothers who had had...

FDA approves levofloxacin for hospital-acquired infection.(Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc.)
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Levaquin (levofloxacin) tablets/injection and Levaquin (levofloxacin in 5% dextrose) Injection 750 mg for the treatment of nosocomial pneumonia....

Health, law enforcement learn bioterrorism cooperation.
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A North Carolina bioterrorism training session that emphasizes cooperation between medical and law enforcement agencies will become a model for other states to follow, officials said November 4, 2002....

Surveillance reflects growing preparedness efforts.(bioterrorism preparedness)
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Public health officials have developed an odd interest lately in the mundane and arcane. Epidemiologists are tracking orange juice sales at the local Safeway and poring over school attendance data....

Study calls for more testing of drugs in children.
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- About 3750 serious injuries, birth defects and deaths in children under the age of 2 reported to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration were associated with medications over a more than 3-year period,...

HHS awards $85 million to eliminate health disparities.(Department of Health and Human Services; racial and ethnic minorities)
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson has announced the awarding of $85 million to support the elimination of health disparities among racial and ethnic minority...

Feds seek public input on vaccine for children.( Food and Drug Administration, smallpox vaccinations)
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. government is seeking public input before it decides whether to let a few dozen toddlers and preschoolers be vaccinated against smallpox, a study to test the best children's vaccine dose but...

FDA approves nicotine lozenge.(Food and Drug Administration, GlaxoSmithKline's Commit product)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Smokers trying to quit will soon be able to try a nicotine-containing lozenge to help reduce their cigarette cravings. The Food and Drug Administration approved GlaxoSmithKline's Commit lozenge for...

High relapse rate seen after "successful" drug-resistant TB treatment.(tuberculosis)
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - The long-term success of treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis infection may be lower than previously believed, researchers warn. G. B. Migliori and...

Government labs urge more work on nonlethal weapons, chemicals.
December 8, 2002... 2002 DEC 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Development of nonlethal weapons such as bad smelling chemicals to control crowds or psychological methods to calm them, energy beams to stop vehicles and underwater barrier systems should be given a...

Centers for Disease Control and Preventionreports not enough seniors getting flu shots.(Brief Article)
December 15, 2002... 2002 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Fewer than two-thirds of the nation's senior citizens are getting vaccinated against flu and pneumonia - well short of the government's goal of 90% by 2010, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and...

Vaccine proves protective in preliminary studies.
December 15, 2002... 2002 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A group of researchers from the Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have designed a vaccine that might be used to protect against the pernicious consequences of severe sepsis, an acute and often deadly...

Targeted vaccinations could be effective intervention against deliberate attack.
December 15, 2002... 2002 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Targeted vaccination of the close contacts of infected individuals following a smallpox outbreak could rival the effectiveness of mass vaccination, given a sufficiently high level of immunity within...

West Nile Virus program updated in public forum.
December 15, 2002... 2002 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Boston Biomedica, Inc., (BBII) announced that the company's senior vice president of R&D, Mark M. Manak, presented data on BBI's West Nile Virus program at a workshop on the "Development of Donor...

Strain of staphylococcus infection is resistant to vancomycin.
December 15, 2002... 2002 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A Detroit woman's bout with a virulent new strain of Staphylococcus aureus is one of the first of its kind, worrying doctors and public health officials. The 40-year-old Detroit-area woman, whose...

Food and Drug Administration gives at-home defibrillator green light.
December 15, 2002... 2002 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- U.S. health officials have approved sale of the first defibrillator specifically for at-home use, a machine that promises to help people jump-start the heart of a collapsed loved one before paramedics...

Food and Drug Administration issues warning about painkiller.(Brief Article)
December 15, 2002... 2002 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- People who develop a rash upon taking a new painkiller called Bextra should immediately stop the drug because it has been linked to some rare but life-threatening skin diseases, U.S. health officials...

CDC describes HIV testing among pregnant women.(Brief Article)
December 15, 2002... 2002 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) review of studies on prenatal HIV testing in the U.S. and Canada found that high rates of testing can be achieved under several different...

New York cases test health system.(bubonic plague )
December 15, 2002... 2002 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Two cases of plague at a New York City hospital turned out not to be bioterrorism, but they provided an opportunity to test how the city health system would handle an intentional attack. The good...

Musgrave: Wyoming a leader in bioterror preparation.
December 15, 2002... 2002 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Wyoming is a national leader in many of its bioterrorism preparedness programs, according to State Epidemiologist Dr. Karl Musgrave. Musgrave met in November with the state's Bioterrorism Advisory...

Specialists discuss spending gap on health research.(Brief Article)
December 15, 2002... 2002 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- More than 700 public health specialists gathered in Tanzania to discuss how to get more of the US$70 billion spent annually on health research directed toward diseases that ail the developing world....

Congress to protect workers who give vaccine.
December 15, 2002... 2002 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. is set to give special legal protection for health care workers who will be delivering smallpox vaccines, clearing one of the stickiest issues in the smallpox debate. Under a new...

Targeted vaccination best, but data still lacking.
December 15, 2002... 2002 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Targeted vaccination of people potentially exposed to smallpox during a bioterrorist episode, together with an appropriately low level of vaccination before an attack, provides the best protection...

Food and Drug Administration renews interim agreement with tissue processing company.(Brief Article)
December 15, 2002... 2002 DEC 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- CryoLife, Inc., (CRY), announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has renewed its September 5, 2002, interim agreement with the company. The renewal allows CryoLife, a pioneer in...

Syringe exchange proves effective.(University of California research)
December 22, 2002... 2002 DEC 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Drug users with access to controversial syringe-exchange programs are up to six times less likely to put themselves at risk of HIV infection, according to a new University of California Davis. ...

COPD predictor of early death in U.S.(chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
December 22, 2002... 2002 DEC 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A long-term study of people with chronic lung disease shows that they are at higher risk for early death. Results of the study (abstract #138) presented at CHEST 2002, the 68th annual meeting of the...

Physicians prescribing antibiotics more appropriately for children.
December 22, 2002... 2002 DEC 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Physicians are gradually improving their antibiotic prescription patterns for children with respiratory tract infections, but the use of inappropriate antibiotics is still common, according to research...

Study focuses on after-school hours.(recreation program hopes to reduce obesity in children)
December 22, 2002... 2002 DEC 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Whether after-school hours filled with study, exercise and nutritious snacks can help turn around unprecedented obesity rates in children is the focus of a new study at the Medical College of Georgia....

Has drug regulation abandoned its public health mission?(study on pharmaceutical industry influence on European drug regulatory agencies)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2002... 2002 DEC 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Over the past 20 years, the pharmaceutical industry has skillfully managed to achieve an unhealthy influence over drug regulatory agencies, which may be threatening the public health needs of the...

Anthrax drugs takers report problems.(Ciprofloxacin and doxycycline)
December 22, 2002... 2002 DEC 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Less than half of the people who were prescribed a 60-day course of antibiotics for anthrax during last year's attacks completed the treatment, and a majority complained of side effects, federal...

HIV prevention efforts have curbed the U.S. AIDS epidemic.
December 22, 2002... 2002 DEC 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- If not for HIV prevention efforts, it is likely that the number of additional individuals infected with HIV in the United States would be equivalent to the population of a moderate-sized to large city,...

PAHO promotes new strategies in the fight against diabetes.(Pan American Health Organization)
December 22, 2002... 2002 DEC 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The prevalence of diabetes is expected to double over the next 25 years, affecting millions of people who face grave health risks from this disease, including blindness, according to the Pan American...

Wyeth stops making two vaccines.(Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories Div.)
December 22, 2002... 2002 DEC 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Wyeth has ended production of its pneumonia and influenza shots, increasing the country's vulnerability to vaccine shortages. The pharmaceutical company wants to focus on new immunization...

VA doubles Gulf War research funding.(Department of Venterans Affairs)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2002... 2002 DEC 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) plans to make available up to $20 million for research into Gulf War illnesses during fiscal year 2004, a figure twice the amount spent by VA in any previous...

Prevalence of class 3 obesity in the United States climbs.(1990 - 2000)
December 29, 2002... 2002 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - A rapid increase in the prevalence of extremely obese people is alarming, according to a report in JAMA - Journal of the American Medical...

Majority of U.S. adults have some health problems.
December 29, 2002... 2002 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The total package of good physical and mental health is elusive for most American adults, according to new research. Two-thirds of U.S. adults participating in a 1995 survey reported some degree...

ACOG advises screening all pregnant women.(American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists)
December 29, 2002... 2002 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has issued new recommendations calling for universal screening of pregnant women for group B streptococci (GBS), a leading cause of...

TaqMan real-time PCR assay is sensitive, reliable for quantitating HCV RNA.(polymerase chain reaction)
December 29, 2002... 2002 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) researchers have developed what they say is a highly reproducible, sensitive, and reliable assay for hepatitis C virus RNA quantitation using the TaqMan PCR...

Tumor necrosis factor plays multiple roles in toluene diisocyanate asthma.
December 29, 2002... 2002 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- "Nearly 9 million workers are exposed to chemical agents associated with occupational asthma, with isocyanates representing the chemical class most responsible. Isocyanate-induced asthma has been...

Suit seeks relief from reimbursement ruling.(Amgen Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 29, 2002... 2002 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Amgen (AMGN) announced that it has filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of...

CDC data show resistance to Cipro.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
December 29, 2002... 2002 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Research by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that a common bacteria blamed for food poisoning has a growing resistance to a drug used to combat the bug. The reason,...

Contract with FDA designed to track antimicrobial resistance nationwide.(Food and Drug Administration)
December 29, 2002... 2002 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Focus Technologies, Inc., announced that the company has been awarded a 5-year, $2.1 million optioned contract with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has selected Focus Technologies to...

FDA clears childbirth infection test.
December 29, 2002... 2002 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Hospitals will soon be able to offer women in premature labor or who missed prenatal care a crucial test that may help protect hundreds of babies from a potentially deadly childbirth infection. ...

Auditors say pathogen tracking fraught with problems.
December 29, 2002... 2002 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Enforcement of a federal law meant to track the movement of dangerous pathogens among U.S. laboratories is fraught with problems, posing an "urgent and potentially serious public health threat,"...

Study links cancer rates, prevention efforts.(lack of funding for stop-smoking programs)
December 29, 2002... 2002 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Many states with the highest lung cancer rates are squandering tobacco settlement money intended for disease prevention on unrelated programs, according to a study of health and fiscal data released by...

Low investment in immunization and vaccines threatens global health.(State of the World's Vaccines and Immunization Report)
December 29, 2002... 2002 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The State of the World's Vaccines and Immunization report warns that if urgent and strategic action is not taken to close the gaps in funding, research and global immunization coverage, the world will...

Company gives FDA ephedra complaints.(Metabolife International and Food and Drug Administration)
December 29, 2002... 2002 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A leading seller of the dietary supplement ephedra has given the U.S. government records of 1400 customer complaints, including 14 that mention serious side effects. Metabolife International...

HHS launches public health awareness and prevention campaign.(Health and Human Services, and the National Diabetes Education Program )(Brief Article)
December 29, 2002... 2002 DEC 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. government has launched a national diabetes prevention campaign promoting modest lifestyle changes as a way to help prevent the onset of the disease. The campaign, "Small Steps, Big...