Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA articles from March 2001

Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA archives from March 2001

Scattered Records Make Measuring Coverage Difficult.(immunization)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2001... 2001 MAR 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michelle Marble, staff medical writer -- Many parents use several different providers to get their children immunized, creating a paper trail that's often impossible to follow. "Lack of a...

Herpes Zoster Blamed For Chickenpox Outbreak In HIV(+) Children.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2001... 2001 MAR 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, staff medical writer -- An active case of herpes zoster in a child attending a summer camp for children with HIV was responsible for an outbreak of chickenpox. Protective...

Enzyme Immunoassay Offers New Tool For Identifying Estrogen Metabolites.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2001... 2001 MAR 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Julie Crawshaw, medical staff writer -- The estrogen metabolites hydroxyestrone (2OHE-1) and 16 alpha-hydroxyestrone (16OHE-1) may contribute to developing breast cancer, so it is important to...

Organization Will Facilitate Collaborations Between CDC And Academic Medicine.(Association of American Medical Colleges)(United States. Centers for Disease Control)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2001... 2001 MAR 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have entered into a cooperative agreement that will enhance the involvement of the...

Alcohol Use Associated With Increased Risk Of Injury Or Death For Bicyclists.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2001... 2001 MAR 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Not surprisingly, a new study shows that alcohol use while bicycle riding is associated with a substantially increased risk of fatal or serious injury. In an article in the February 21, 2001,...

Uncomplicated Acute Cases Don't Require Antibiotics.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2001... 2001 MAR 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michelle Marble, staff medical writer -- Antibiotics may be prescribed more often than is necessary to treat bronchitis, researchers in the United States say. Bronchitis in otherwise...

Frequent Religious Attendance May Encourage Better Health Behaviors.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2001... 2001 MAR 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Individuals who attend weekly religious services may be more likely than less-frequent attenders to improve their health behaviors and to maintain already established good health habits, according...

Internet Tool Can Help Limit Vancomycin Use.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2001... 2001 MAR 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Julie Crawshaw, medical staff writer -- Using an Internet-based tool to evaluate vancomycin use is a good approach, but most hospital personnel in a trial program did not or could not use it,...

Promising New Antivenom Therapy Developed For Snake Bite.(Crotalidae Polyvalent Immune Fab)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2001... 2001 MAR 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Emergency physicians spearheaded the development of a new antivenom for treating rattlesnake and moccasin snakebites that promises to be safer than its predecessor and can be infused within...

Living Near Where Pesticides Are Used May Boost Fetal Death Due To Birth Defects.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2001... 2001 MAR 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Living close to areas where agricultural pesticides are applied may boost the risk of fetal death due to birth defects, a new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study indicates. ...

Infection Common In Mice Near Off-Road Recreation Area In Utah.(hantavirus)(Utah, University of)
March 11, 2001... 2001 MAR 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- University of Utah biologists found nearly 30% of deer mice were infected with hantavirus around central Utah sand dunes popular with people who ride off-road vehicles (ORVs). The scientists...

FDA Approves U.S. Clinical Trials for Penn State/Arrow Heart Assist Device.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 11, 2001... 2001 MAR 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first series of U.S. clinical trials for a new kind of heart assist device, called the Arrow LionHeart, developed by Pennsylvania State...

Prospects For Control Are At Hand.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2001... 2001 MAR 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michelle Marble, staff medical writer -- Effective control of influenza is possible in the United States if available vaccines and antiviral drugs are used as widely as they should be,...

Allometric Approach Can Save Time And Money If Applied Prospectively.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 11, 2001... 2001 MAR 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Julie Crawshaw, staff medical writer -- Data gathered from drug administration in animals can be used to predict maximum tolerated dose (MTD) in humans, if an allometric measure is applied...

Competence Levels Show Data Reported To WHO May Not Be Reliable.(World Health Organization, research)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Julie Crawshaw, staff medical writer -- The testing proficiency of laboratories around the world is spotty and calls into question data the labs report to the World Health Organization,...

Incidence Jumps Among Young People, Especially Women.(sudden cardiac death)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In the first study to examine U.S. trends in sudden cardiac death (SCD) among the young, researchers have found that the number of adolescents and young adults who die from sudden cardiac arrest...

American Indian, Alaskan Native Women Are Less Likely to Get Pap Tests.(medical treatment statistics)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Julie Crawshaw, staff medical writer -- Indian and Alaskan native women are less likely than other American women to have had a Papanicolaou (Pap) test, researchers at the U.S. Centers for...

U.S./Mexico Cross-Border Initiative Will Address Epidemic.(diabetes research)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In response to the growing numbers of people on both sides of the U.S. and Mexico border who have diabetes, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Pan-American Health...

Study Links Improved Air Quality With Decreased Emergency Visits For Asthma.(during Atlanta Summer Olympics, 1996)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a study showing that decreased citywide use of automobiles in Atlanta, Georgia, during the 1996 Summer Olympics led to...

Technique Reliably Identifies Isolates Responsible For Outbreaks.(Neisseria meningitidis research)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Julie Crawshaw, staff medical writer -- Researchers looking for another way to identify isolates responsible for outbreaks of Neisseria meningitidis say pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE)...

Elimination Of Household Allergens, Pollutants Could Reduce Disease Nearly 40%.(asthma research)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- More than half a million children in the United States under the age of six with asthma would not have the disease if risk factors were removed from the home, according to a new Children's Hospital...

Researchers Say Botulinum Toxin Is Major Biological Weapons Threat.(John Hopkins School of Public Health)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Working Group on Civilian Biodefense, an expert panel convened by the Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, says that botulinum toxin poses a...

Physician Group Supports Safety, Availability of Over-the-Counter Emergency Option.(American College of Obstetricians and Gynocologists, contraceptives)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has issued new and revised documents on the safety and availability of emergency oral contraception (EC). ACOG says the fallback...

Epidemiologic Report Highlights Significance Of Public Health Problem.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Disability remains a large public health problem in the U.S., affecting over 44 million (22%) people in 1999, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to a report in...

Immigrants May Live Longer, Healthier Than U.S.-Born.(cancer and mortality statistics research)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Foreign-born residents have significantly lower risks of mortality than people born in the U.S., according to researchers from the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Anti-Cancer Council of...

Evidence Report Supports Interventions For Diagnosis And Management.(of epilepsy)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new evidence report indicates that the available scientific literature supports the use of a complete history and physical examination, including neuropsychologic assessment and a standard...

U.S. Agencies Call For Reintroduction Of Routine Hepatitis B Vaccines For Newborns.(Brief Article)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Changes in hepatitis B immunization recommendations that were intended to be temporary appear to have caused long-lasting changes in newborn hepatitis B vaccination practice, says the U.S. Centers...

Experts Decide Content Of 2001-2002 Northern Hemisphere Vaccine.(influenza)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The composition of the vaccine for year 2001-2002 (Northern Hemisphere influenza season) has been decided and communicated to vaccine manufacturers by the World Health Organization (WHO), following...

Drugfacts.Com, NewsRx Collaboration Expands Availability Of Custom Health News For Professionals.(Brief Article)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Drugfacts.com, the premier free drug information resource on the Internet for pharmacists and other healthcare professionals, and NewsRx, the leading provider of daily and weekly health news, have...

Aftermath Of Natural Disasters Poses Major Health Risks.(Brief Article)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The good news is, you're not killed or injured in a natural disaster. The bad news is, you might die a few days or weeks later from some terrible disease. That is the scenario that plays out...

Almost 25% Of Children's Burns Caused By Irons.(Brief Article)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Two Temple University burn specialists have determined that 23% of Temple burn patients under age six received their injuries from either a clothes or curling iron. The physicians also found...

StaphVAX Elicits Antibodies With In Vitro Activity Against Antibiotic-Resistance.(Brief Article)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- New in vitro data confirm that human antibodies elicited by Nabi(R) StaphVAX(R) (Staphylococcus aureus Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccine), an investigational vaccine under development to protect...

People Born In '70s Less Likely To Progress To Hard Drugs.(Brief Article)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new U.S. study concludes: "Dire predictions of future hard drug abuse by youths who came of age in the 1990s may be greatly overstated." The study finds that the recent increase in marijuana...

African Americans Remain Disproportionately Affected, Outbreaks Among Gay And Bi.(of syphilis)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Despite a 10% decline in syphilis rates for African Americans from 1998 to 1999 (from 16.9 cases to 15.2 cases per 100,000 people), African Americans remain disproportionately affected by syphilis,...

Cigars Get Good Press; Health Risks Not Emphasized.(Brief Article)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A recent report in the American Journal of Public Health points to the influence of the media in glamorizing smoking. Lynn Wenger, MSW, MPH, University of California San Francisco Institute...

Prevention Entails Comprehensive Understanding Of Paths To Behavior In Youth.(Brief Article)
March 18, 2001... 2001 MAR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Julie Crawshaw, staff medical writer -- Preventing violence among youth in the United States will require a comprehensive approach that carefully considers all the developmental pathways of...

Ethicists Call For Overhaul Of Clinical Trials To Improve Patient Safety.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2001... 2001 MAR 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The current system for protecting people participating in clinical drug trials is outdated and needs to be overhauled, according to authors of an article in the March 7, 2001, issue of the Journal...

Health And Human Rights - The Role Of Medical Relief Agencies.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2001... 2001 MAR 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Two articles in the March 3, 2001, issue of The Lancet examined the challenges faced by medical relief agencies in the face of humanitarian disaster. Tim Cullinan from Merlin, a U.K.-based...

Injection Drug Users At Needle Exchange Program Share Few Syringes, And Those Who Do Share With Friends.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 25, 2001... 2001 MAR 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Most injection drug users who use community needle exchange programs - which aim to reduce the risk of illness spread through tainted needles - do not share their needles, according to public...

Sequential Disinfection Process Provides Safer Drinking Water.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2001... 2001 MAR 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Fresh from the faucet, a killer may be lurking in your drinking glass. Cryptosporidium parvum is a parasitic protozoan that can infiltrate a city's water supply, as happened in Milwaukee in...

Mercury Levels In U.S. Women And Children Generally Below Hazardous Levels.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2001... 2001 MAR 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, mercury levels in the blood and hair of U.S. women and children show their exposure is generally below hazardous levels. These...

New Prime-Boost Strategy Shows Promise In Monkeys.(AIDS vaccines research)
March 25, 2001... 2001 MAR 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A team of academic and government researchers in the United States has reported on a promising new "prime-boost" HIV vaccine approach that is currently on a development fast-track for human...

Distribution Of High-Density Lipoproteins Varies By Sex, Age, Weight.(heart disease in children and adolescents)(Brief Article)
March 25, 2001... 2001 MAR 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Several studies of adults have tied the atherogenicity of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) particles to coronary heart disease, but little is known about these relationships in young...

Alternative Vaccine Schedule Could Be More Cost-Effective.(rabies vaccination booster shots)(Brief Article)
March 25, 2001... 2001 MAR 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer -- Adding booster shots to pre-exposure regimens for rabies vaccination could, in theory, be a more cost-effective approach to disease containment. C....

No Association Found Between MMR Immunization And Increasing Occurrence Of Autism.(California Department of Health Services' research into measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines)(Brief Article)
March 25, 2001... 2001 MAR 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An analysis of data involving young children in California does not suggest an association between measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) immunization and an increase in the occurrence of autism, according to...