Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA articles from January 2003

Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA archives from January 2003

Women account for half of HIV cases for the first time.
January 5, 2003... 2003 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Two decades after AIDS first became noticed, as a disease of homosexual men, women now account for half of the 37 million adults infected with HIV, according to a new United Nations report. The...

Swaddling may help sleeping babies remain on their backs.
January 5, 2003... 2003 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Infants sleep with fewer awakenings when swaddled, and swaddling may help sleeping infants remain on their backs, say researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. SIDS...

WHO reports on model of hepatitis C virus infection in the U.S.
January 5, 2003... 2003 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers with the World Health organization reported findings of "a comprehensive epidemiologic model of hepatitis C in the United States." According to A. Salomon and colleagues, "Through...

Revamped AIDS web site tailored to diverse users.(AIDSinfo)
January 5, 2003... 2003 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- AIDSinfo, a web site offering comprehensive information on HIV/AIDS treatments and clinical trials, went live on December 2, 2002 to mark World AIDS Day. The site at http://aidsinfo.nih.gov merges...

Continued research is essential, WHO says.(lymphatic filariasis)
January 5, 2003... 2003 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A global public-private partnership sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) has resulted in significant progress over the past five years in reaching the goal of eliminating lymphatic...

FDA clears COBAS Ampliscreen system.(Food and Drug Administration)
January 5, 2003... 2003 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Roche Diagnostics, based in Indianapolis, has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted 510(k) clearance of the company's COBAS AmpliScreen System. The COBAS...

U.S. agency finds highly variable levels of worrisome chemical in foods.(acrylamide)
January 5, 2003... 2003 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Popular U.S. brands of potato chips and french fries contain highly variable levels of a possible cancer-causing substance - amounts that fluctuate from bag to bag and seem to depend partly on how long...

Study finds ethnicity link.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2003... 2003 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Hispanic women contract cervical cancer almost twice as often as other women, indicating that not enough of them are having Pap tests, U.S. health officials say. The study by the Centers for...

CDC guidelines to help labs enforce 'biosecurity'.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
January 5, 2003... 2003 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. government has issued detailed guidelines aimed at tightening security at labs that handle dangerous pathogens but have gone largely unregulated. It's the most detailed set of...

ER workers ready for vaccine.(emergency rooms)
January 5, 2003... 2003 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In a town known for high-stakes gambling, Suzanne Lau is ready to risk a small chance of injury and even death to be vaccinated against smallpox. A nurse at one of the city's busiest emergency rooms,...

Healthcare workers union eyes vaccination protections.
January 5, 2003... 2003 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The nation's largest union representing health care workers has announced that various protections are needed for nurses and others set to receive smallpox vaccinations three decades after the United...

Reduction strategies show success.
January 5, 2003... 2003 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- People who use nicotine replacement products like skin patches, gum and inhalers while continuing to smoke can cut their daily cigarette consumption almost in half, according to a new study. Using...

ClearOne audio equipment chosen for CDC emergency operations center.(ClearOne Communications, Inc.)(Brief Article)
January 5, 2003... 2003 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Audio products from ClearOne Communications, Inc., (CLRO) will be installed in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's new Emergency Operations Center in Atlanta. The Emergency...

Death in Maryland likely related to blood transfusion.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2003... 2003 JAN 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A Maryland woman's death from West Nile virus was probably related to a blood transfusion she received, health officials say. The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has listed the...

Diabetes decreases prostate cancer risk.(morality rates of people with diabetes)
January 12, 2003... 2003 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - Diabetes is responsible for 3.6% of deaths in the United States, and accounts for 5.2% of deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to a...

FDA issues statement on blood industry's withdrawal of products.(Food and Drug Administration makes recommendations to blood banks to prevent transmission of West Nile virus)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2003... 2003 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the blood banking community to assess and manage the potential risk of West...

Report card finds older Americans fail 6 of 10 goals for improving health.
January 12, 2003... 2003 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A report card grading the health of older Americans finds that the nation failed to meet 6 of 10 goals for improving the health status of older Americans, including goals set for physical activity,...

Hepatitis C virus presents risk for liver cancer in adults with AIDS.
January 12, 2003... 2003 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Government researchers have established a connection between hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and liver cancer but not HCV infection and non-Hodgkin lymphoma...

American women waiting to begin families.
January 12, 2003... 2003 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The average American woman was almost 25 years old when she had her first child in the year 2000. That's compared with an average age of 21.4 years for a first birth in 1970, according to a new report...

Study: Two vaccines work best.(children in New Hampshire daycare center get chickenpox despite having already received vaccine)
January 12, 2003... 2003 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A chickenpox outbreak at a day care center two years ago found vaccinations surprisingly ineffective and may suggest that children should get two shots instead of one, researchers say. Dr. Karin...

Report: South leads U.S. in HIV, AIDS but not in funding.
January 12, 2003... 2003 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The South leads the country in new HIV infections and overall AIDS cases, yet lags in the amount of federal funding when compared with other regions, officials at a regional AIDS conference say. ...

No more medical roulette: Publisher says internet will change in 2003.
January 12, 2003... 2003 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- NewsRx is celebrating its twentieth year as a publisher by adding 20 new weeklies. The company's CEO is predicting major changes in the publishing industry and Internet in 2003. The Atlanta-based...

Most states fall short when it comes to tobacco treatment for the poor.( )(Brief Article)
January 12, 2003... 2003 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Although tobacco dependence treatment has been proven effective in helping people quit smoking, most states do not provide such treatment for pregnant women, children and their parents living at or...

Inspections sharply reduce diarrhea outbreaks on cruise ships.
January 12, 2003... 2003 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new report links diarrhea outbreaks aboard vacation cruise ships to the scores they get on mandatory sanitation inspections. It found that as cruise lines improved their sanitation practices in the...

West Virginia health leaders gather to discuss obesity.
January 12, 2003... 2003 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Health leaders gathered December 9, 2002, at the first West Virginia Summit on Obesity to work toward finding a way to stop the growing epidemic of obesity. "Things are getting worse and worse; the...

FDA's new head pledges more action against misleading ads.(Mark McClellan, Food and Drug Administration)
January 12, 2003... 2003 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The new chief of the powerful U.S. Food and Drug Administration has promised faster action to stop drug advertisements that mislead patients into thinking a medication is better or safer than it really...

Analysis: U.S. vulnerable to smallpox's return.
January 12, 2003... 2003 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- It was one of history's greatest triumphs: eliminating a disease that killed hundreds of millions of people and was feared across the globe. Yet in a new world of terrorist threats, smallpox is...

Colorado readies plan to vaccinate health workers.(Brief Article)
January 12, 2003... 2003 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Colorado hasn't seen a case of smallpox since 1949, but 53 years later, the state is preparing a plan to vaccinate hundreds of health care workers who could vaccinate the public in the event of a...

Vaccine test subjects suffer side effects.
January 12, 2003... 2003 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A week after she was given an experimental dose of smallpox vaccine, Elizabeth Forrester's arm became swollen, her head throbbed and she felt tired and feverish. "At one point I was like 'cut it...

Wisconsin turns in vaccination plan to CDC.
January 12, 2003... 2003 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Wisconsin wants to vaccinate thousands of health care workers against smallpox starting as early as January 2002, according to a plan public health officials submitted December 9, 2002 to the federal...

Capsid protein causes encephalitic inflammation by triggering cell suicide.
January 12, 2003... 2003 JAN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The protein that forms the protective capsid surrounding the West Nile virus genetic material may contribute to the deadly inflammation associated with the virus. West Nile virus, which has...

Treatment is more complex than 'all or nothing'.(evaluating alcoholism treatment )
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An analytical method for evaluating alcoholism treatment suggests more ways to define success than strictly going cold turkey. The method may help provide some nuance to traditional approaches, the...

Tobacco exposure in womb may explain increased cot death risk among babies of smokers.(Brief Article)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A slower arousal response, as a result of tobacco exposure in the womb, might explain the increased risk of cot death (SIDS) among babies of smokers, suggests new research. Researchers monitored...

Acetaminophen overdose chief cause of liver failure.
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Unintentional acetaminophen overdose is the most common cause of acute liver failure in the United States, research from the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas shows. ...

Why do the elderly fall? The answer could save lives.
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Falls are the leading cause of accidental deaths among people over the age of 75 and the second leading cause for those aged 45 to 75, according to the U.S. National Safety Council. Although the...

CDC prepares microbiologists for detecting increasing antimicrobial resistance.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed a new training tool to assist laboratorians in selecting and using appropriate testing methods to detect antimicrobial-resistant...

Review looks at preventing spread of hepatitis C virus in U.S.
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In a recent issue of the journal Hepatology, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) virologists discussed groups at risk for hepatitis C virus infection and preventing transmission of...

FDA issues consumer alert on importing certain prescription drugs.(Food and Drug Administration)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- As part of its ongoing efforts to reduce preventable adverse events from the products it regulates, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it is strengthening the controls designed...

Sex workers in Mexico-U.S. border regions potential source for HIV/AIDS spread.
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The social behavior of sex workers and transportation workers along the U.S.-Mexico border has the potential to spread HIV and AIDS through North and Central America in much the same way the disease...

VaxGen soars on fast-track status for HIV/AIDS vaccines.(Brief Article)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Shares of drug maker VaxGen rose December 16, 2002, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration designated its HIV/AIDS vaccine candidates as fast-track products for the prevention of the disease. ...

Survey: One-third of Americans use antibiotics inappropriately.
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Despite widespread public alarm about inappropriate use and increasing antibiotic ineffectiveness, many Americans still use the drugs improperly. One out of three Americans mistakenly believes...

Racial, ethnic disparities persist in presentation, treatment and survival.
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Racial and ethnic differences are apparent in the way women under age 35 with breast cancer are treated and the clinical and genetic characteristics of the tumor, according to a new study. These...

New pediatric combination vaccine approved.(Pediarix)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new combination vaccine that protects infants against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), polio, and disease due to the hepatitis...

VA selects ProTime System for home blood coagulation testing study.(Veterans Administration)(Technidyne Corp.)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Thoratec Corp. (THOR) announced that its International Technidyne Corp. (ITC) subsidiary has been awarded a bid through its distributor, Quality Assured Services, Inc., to provide between 850 and...

Shortages of key drugs give hospitals headaches.
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- At hospitals across the country, physicians, pharmacists and nurses are constantly coping with a persistent, potentially dangerous problem: medication shortages. From the most potent antibiotics...

Purdue works to transform virus from killer to healer.(Purdue University researchers)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- By redesigning the shell of Ebola, Purdue University researchers have transformed the feared virus into a benevolent workhorse for gene therapy - and as one of the first gene bearers that can be...

Research hints birds could spread virus.(Ebola virus research)(Brief Article)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Ebola shares a closer relationship with several bird viruses than was previously thought, bolstering the case for a common ancestor and hinting that birds might carry the deadly virus, a Purdue...

Health officials to push for legislation on child drug research.
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Bush administration won't appeal a court decision that threw out rules that required drug companies to test in children adult medicines commonly given to kids. Instead, federal health...

CDC breaks ground on new scientific communications center.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)(Brief Article)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) broke ground December 18, 2002 on a state-of-the-art Scientific Communications Center that will house meeting space for scientific training programs...

Satellite images predict transmission risk.(risk of exposure to Sin Nombre virus)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and other institutions report that satellite imagery could be used to determine areas at high risk for exposure to Sin Nombre virus...

FDA panel deciding on safety of flu spray.(Food and Drug Administration)(FluMist vaccine from MedImmune Inc.)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The manufacturer of the first pain-free flu vaccine seeks to ease federal scientists' safety concerns by withdrawing its attempt to market the product to children under 5 years old. A U.S. Food...

Infants discharged 1 day after birth fare as well as those staying 2 days.
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new study sponsored by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found no ill effects from discharging infants in a large Massachusetts HMO from the hospital 1 day after uncomplicated...

Additive-free cigarettes may pack a more toxic tobacco punch.
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Despite perceptions that additive-free cigarettes and the hand-rolled cigarettes from India called bidis may provide a less-toxic smoke than conventional cigarettes, new research suggests the opposite...

Teen smoking declines sharply in 2002.
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- American young people are turning away from cigarette smoking at a pace that should bring cheer to parents, educators, and health professionals alike. Teen use of cigarettes has been dropping steadily...

Premature births rise in U.S.; teen birth rate at record low.
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The percentage of babies born prematurely in the United States reached a two-decade high in 2001, driven by an increase in twins and triplets. The government also found a rise in prenatal care and...

Panel softens screening stance.(prostate cancer screenings)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A U.S. government advisory panel has dropped its objection to routine prostate cancer screenings for millions of middle-aged and elderly men, saying it is possible the tests save lives. The U.S....

FDA warns of crackdown on dietary supplement industry.(Food and Drug Administration)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Food and Drug Administration has warned the $17 billion dietary supplement industry that it is now cracking down on companies that make fraudulent health claims about their pills, powders and...

Broad-spectrum UV radiation added to government list of known carcinogens.(Brief Article)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- While dermatologists have long known that ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun or artificial light sources such as tanning beds and sun lamps can cause skin cancer, the U.S. Department of Health and...

Kids low in vaccine priority.(smallpox vaccinations)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- For decades, the vast majority of smallpox inoculations were delivered to children, but in the new vaccination program now under way, children won't qualify absent a bioterror attack, federal officials...

New Jersey announces vaccination plan.(smallpox vaccination for health care workers)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Health care workers who might care for patients in case of a smallpox outbreak will be vaccinated against the disease on a voluntary basis, New Jersey health officials say. A plan submitted by the...

Some injured by vaccine won't qualify for compensation.(Brief Article)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Some people who may be injured by the smallpox vaccine will not qualify for compensation under current law, health officials say. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said he is open...

State health officials reintroduced to vaccine.
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Thirty years since the last routine smallpox vaccinations were given, state health officials are getting reintroduced to the scar-causing vaccine, double-pronged needles and safety measures they'll...

Will millions need booster shots?(smallpox vaccine)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In a hallway at Strong Memorial Hospital, in Rochester, New York, two volunteers in a medical study showed off the results of booster vaccinations they were given for the smallpox vaccinations they had...

'Commandos' spread message of drug's effectiveness.(clot-busting drug called TPA)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- They jokingly call themselves commandos, but instead of camouflage gear they wear white coats - doctors whose mission is to get more stroke victims a clot-busting drug that can mean the difference...

VA reports progress in battling claims backlog.(Department of Veterans Affairs)(Brief Article)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- After years of battling a rising backlog of applications from veterans and survivors seeking financial benefits, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reports that it is reversing the trend. ...

First U.S. prenatal case reported.(transmission of West Nile virus from mother to baby in utero)
January 19, 2003... 2003 JAN 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A month-old baby with the West Nile virus was infected before she was born in the country's first documented intrauterine transmission of the disease, according to a report. The case surprised...

U.S. mortality has increased substantially, partly because of aging population.
January 26, 2003... 2003 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Deaths associated with influenza have increased substantially in the past 2 decades in the U.S., according to new findings. Influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) result in a substantial...

New state data show obesity and diabetes still on the rise.
January 26, 2003... 2003 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The obesity and diabetes epidemics continued to escalate during 2001, according to new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC reported that obesity climbed...

Extending coverage to millions of people in the Americas is a challenge.
January 26, 2003... 2003 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The extension of social protection in health is a powerful public policy tool destined mainly to combat exclusion in health. An estimated 100 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean are...

DNA vaccine protects macaques against viral infection.
January 26, 2003... 2003 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Government researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that DNA vaccine has protected non-human primates against hepatitis E...

Task force issues new diet counseling recommendations.(U.S. Preventive Services Task Force)(at-risk heart disease patients)
January 26, 2003... 2003 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A health care task force convened by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced that there is good evidence that extended behavioral counseling can help patients who are at known...

Insurance company joins with CDC to take on obesity research.(Kaiser Permanente's Care Management Institute)(U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
January 26, 2003... 2003 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- As obesity reaches epidemic proportions, Kaiser Permanente's Care Management Institute (CMI), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and others have joined forces to find effective...

Smokers, binge drinkers aren't getting advice.(routine checkups)
January 26, 2003... 2003 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- About 2 million smokers and 2 million binge drinkers who visited their doctors for a routine checkup in 1996-1997 did not get any advice on quitting smoking or using alcohol, a new study estimates. ...

FDA establishes Office of Combination Pproducts.(drug, device, biologic products)
January 26, 2003... 2003 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has established a new office to streamline the processing of complex drug-device, drug-biologic, and device-biologic combination products that play an increasingly...

Trends show some disability rates declining among older adults.
January 26, 2003... 2003 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Improvements have been seen in several measures of disabilities and limitations among older adults during the last decade, according to a U.S. review study. However, the authors say more research about...

CDC survey finds rise in binge drinking among Americans.(Brief Article)
January 26, 2003... 2003 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Binge drinking is on the rise in the United States and is climbing fastest among 18- to 20-year-olds, who are too young to drink legally, according to a government survey. Episodes of binge...

Atlanta study says disorder more common than thought.(austism)
January 26, 2003... 2003 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The rate for autism in 5 metropolitan Atlanta counties is vastly greater - by a rate of about 9 times more - than studies on the neurological disorder previously have documented, federal researchers...

Government: Red Cross didn't probe infections.(blood transfusion patients contract Hepatitis B)
January 26, 2003... 2003 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The American Red Cross received reports that 134 people, including 1 who died, got hepatitis B after blood transfusions, but the organization did not investigate them because of internal policies that...

Red Cross may have released unsafe blood.
January 26, 2003... 2003 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The American Red Cross may have released tainted blood to hospitals, the U.S. government said in a report of more than 200 violations of federal blood safety rules in its battle to get the Red Cross to...

Smallpox vaccine recipients should wait to give blood, FDA says.(Brief Article)
January 26, 2003... 2003 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Recipients of the smallpox vaccine should not donate blood for at least 3 weeks after getting the shot, the U.S. government is warning, because that vaccine contains a live virus that might enter the...

Study urges more screening.(testing for chlamydia )
January 26, 2003... 2003 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Changing physicians' behavior so they give sexually active teenage girls a simple urine test during a routine doctor's visit is an effective way of identifying chlamydia and ultimately helping prevent...

Congress may take up dilemma.(claim of first human clone)
January 26, 2003... 2003 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Real or hoax, the claim that the world's first human clone has been born puts the next step squarely into Congress' court: will it ban baby-making via cloning? President Bush led a conservative...

FDA approves Prozac for pediatric use.
January 26, 2003... 2003 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved new uses for the antidepressant Prozac (fluoxetine) to treat children and adolescents 7-17 years of age for depression (major depressive disorder) and...

Huge health study on WTC debris planned.(World Trade Center)(Brief Article)
January 26, 2003... 2003 JAN 26 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new study will follow as many as 200,000 people exposed to ash and dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center to determine patterns of illness and recovery, a published report says. New...