Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA articles from March 2002

Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA archives from March 2002

Harlem residents suffer more from oral problems than other health complaints.(Brief Article)
March 10, 2002... 2002 MAR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Harlem adult residents say they suffer more from oral health problems than other medical complaints, such as asthma, diabetes and hypertension, according to a study by researchers at Columbia...

U.S. sees dramatic decline in chickenpox incidence.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 10, 2002... 2002 MAR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The introduction of the varicella vaccine in the U.S. in 1995 has resulted in a marked decline in varicella incidence, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and...

Aetna, CDC renew collaboration to educate physicians, consumers about appropriate antibiotic use.(Aetna Inc.)(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)(Brief Article)
March 10, 2002... 2002 MAR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists and public health officials agree: the ability of disease-causing organisms to develop resistance to antimicrobial drugs will continue to grow unless decisive action is taken. Since...

Women heart patients decry "for men only" artificial heart clinical trial.(Brief Article)
March 10, 2002... 2002 MAR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A national association of women heart patients in the U.S. criticized the recent artificial heart clinical trial that involved six male heart patients. It has also requested a U.S. Food and Drug...

More kids in U.S. get federal insurance.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 10, 2002... 2002 MAR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Children are increasingly likely to have health insurance as states continue signing them up for a government insurance program for children of the working poor, the government reports. Hispanics,...

FDA submits budget proposal for FY2003.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 10, 2002... 2002 MAR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- President Bush's budget request for the Food and Drug Administration for fiscal year (FY) 2003 (Oct. 1, 2002-Sept. 30, 2003) totals $1.727 billion, including $1.432 billion in budget authority and $295...

Pentagon's vaccination program in limbo.(anthrax vaccine)(Brief Article)
March 10, 2002... 2002 MAR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Though long-awaited supplies of anthrax vaccine are now available, the Pentagon is not committing itself to restarting its troubled program for America's 2.4 million men and women in uniform. ...

Researcher finds more complications in work since October.(Martin Hugh-Jones anthrax research)(Brief Article)
March 10, 2002... 2002 MAR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- No one paid much attention to the research of Dr. Martin Hugh-Jones, tucked away in Louisiana State University's School of Veterinary Medicine. He's pretty sure that 80% of his colleagues never knew...

Murphy named VA acting under secretary for health.(Department of Veterans Affairs)(Frances M. Murphy)(Brief Article)
March 10, 2002... 2002 MAR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Anthony J. Principi announced the appointment of Frances M. Murphy as the acting under secretary for health. With this appointment, Murphy occupies the highest...

Government starts distribution of funds for bioterror attacks to states.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 10, 2002... 2002 MAR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- States and cities are getting more than $1 billion in federal money to help their health officials prepare for bioterrorism, as well as less exotic epidemics or disasters. The Department of Health...

New study to examine sudden, unexplained death.(Oregon Sudden Unexplained Death Study )(Brief Article)
March 10, 2002... 2002 MAR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Approximately 90% of cardiac arrest patients die of their attacks, and as many as 15% of those deaths can remain unexplained. Determining why these sudden deaths occur and how to prevent them is the...

Lack of health workers imperils Africa's gains, UN agency warns.(World Health Organization )(Brief Article)
March 10, 2002... 2002 MAR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An emerging "crisis of health manpower" in Africa threatens to derail the continent's progress, according to experts attending a United Nations-sponsored meeting that concluded recently in Addis Ababa,...

National campaign to promote new 24/7 poison hotline.(American Association of Poison Control Centers )(Brief Article)
March 10, 2002... 2002 MAR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) has launched a nationwide public awareness campaign to promote 1-800-222-1222, a new life-saving toll-free hotline that connects Americans to...

Efforts to prevent perinatal HIV transmission in Michigan highly successful.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 10, 2002... 2002 MAR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Efforts to prevent perinatal HIV transmission in Michigan have been highly successful, with the percentage of children perinatally infected with HIV decreasing significantly from 19% (15) of children...

Despite declines in heart disease deaths, rates still higher in African Americans.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 10, 2002... 2002 MAR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Despite recent declines in coronary heart disease (CHD) death rates, a disparity between African Americans and white Americans has increased, according to research presented at the American Heart...

WHO report outlines plan for new health spending, points to way out of poverty to health.(World Health Organization )(Brief Article)
March 10, 2002... 2002 MAR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scaling Up the Response to Infectious Diseases: A Way out of Poverty, a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, UNAIDS, the World Bank, UNESCO and UNFPA, was launched at the World...

Cytokine dysregulation underlies symptoms.(Ebola infection)(Brief Article)
March 10, 2002... 2002 MAR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - A massive proinflammatory and proapoptotic cytokine response underlies the symptoms of Ebola infection, researchers in Maryland argue. "Ebola virus (EBOV)...

Fluorogenic 5'-nuclease assays may have prognostic value.(Ebola virus infection)(Brief Article)
March 10, 2002... 2002 MAR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in the United States say that they may have found a useful prognostic tool for use with patients suffering from Ebola virus infection. Tammy...

Mercury interactive software testing tools first to be audited for use in FDA regulated industries.(Food and Drug Administration )(Mercury Interactive Corporation )(Brief Article)
March 10, 2002... 2002 MAR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- To help customers regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reduce information technology (IT) costs, Mercury Interactive Corporation (MERQ) announced that its software testing tools and...

Fitness Fever offers fun and fitness for Minnesota students.(Brief Article)
March 10, 2002... 2002 MAR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- There's a fever coming to Minnesota's elementary schools this February, and it's likely to cause an epidemic of fun with fruits, vegetables, and fitness. More than 265,000 first- through...

HIV/AIDS impact on education intensifies economic downfall.(Brief Article)
March 17, 2002... 2002 MAR 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The economic decline caused by the HIV/AIDS epidemic in one of Africa's hardest hit sub-Saharan countries, Mozambique, may translate into even more dramatic losses as the disease takes a toll on...

Study shows promising use of proteomics and bioinformatics in ovarian cancer detection.(Brief Article)
March 17, 2002... 2002 MAR 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Results of a study published in the The Lancet show that a new method of assessing protein patterns in blood samples was able to detect 100% of ovarian cancer cases, even at the elusive early stage...

FDA probes herbal supplement.(Brief Article)
March 17, 2002... 2002 MAR 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The 45-year-old woman became jaundiced and then, in just months, became so ill she needed a liver transplant. Her doctor suspects the popular herbal supplement kava. European health officials...

Record analysis shows slight connection between inflammation and disease.(Brief Article)
March 17, 2002... 2002 MAR 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Terry Hartnett, senior medical writer - Although some patients with diabetes may have symptomatic inflammation, there is no conclusive evidence that swelling causes the disease, say researchers at...

Women with PKU should follow special diet before and during pregnancy.(phenylketonuria)(Brief Article)
March 17, 2002... 2002 MAR 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Women with phenylketonuria (PKU) who are pregnant who abandon their special diet risk having babies with mental retardation, according to the February 15, 2002 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report...

FDA recalls two herbal supplements.(Food and Drug Administration )(Brief Article)
March 17, 2002... 2002 MAR 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Consumers should immediately stop using two products sold as herbal supplements that actually contain powerful prescription drugs, the Food and Drug Administration said February 8. The recalled...

New vaccines will take awhile.(Brief Article)
March 17, 2002... 2002 MAR 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Americans will probably have to depend on current anthrax vaccines if there's another such biological attack this year, a leading researcher says. Second-generation vaccines are in the works but not...

Texan infected with HIV from donor.(David Autrey)(Brief Article)
March 17, 2002... 2002 MAR 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A Texas ranch hand undergoing surgery was infected with the AIDS virus in what is believed to be the first U.S. case of the virus being transmitted through donated blood since rigorous new HIV...

Cleland cries foul over Bush request to slash CDC funding.(Max Cleland, George W. Bush)(Brief Article)
March 17, 2002... 2002 MAR 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- President Bush's proposal to slash funding for the Atlanta facility crucial to the anthrax investigation has left Georgia Sen. Max Cleland wondering about political favors. Cleland said he was...

Illlinois officials worried about AIDS despite drop in cases.(Brief Article)
March 17, 2002... 2002 MAR 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The number of reported AIDS cases in Illinois dropped last year for the first time in three years and to the lowest level in more than a decade, the state's Health Department has announced. In...

New ethics guidelines announced for HIV patients.(by American Society for Reproductive Medicine; suggest fertility specialists could minimize risks in pregnancy)(Brief Article)
March 17, 2002... 2002 MAR 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Fertility specialists shouldn't dismiss the idea of helping some HIV infected parents have children, new ethics guidelines say. The standards issued February 13, 2002 by the American Society for...

WHO: Vaccine fears could lead to unnecessary deaths.(Brief Article)
March 17, 2002... 2002 MAR 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Safety fears that have led some British parents to refuse to have their children vaccinated could lead to many unnecessary deaths if the concerns spread to developing countries, the United Nations...

Antibiotic overuse in chickens may compromise effectiveness for humans.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2002... 1902 MAR 31 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Extensive use of powerful antibiotics in poultry animals may limit their efficacy for humans, researchers in the United States warn. "Fluoroquinolones...

U.S. women are having more children, new report shows.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention )(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2002... 1902 MAR 31 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Women in the United States are having more children than at any time in almost 30 years, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) birth statistics released by HHS...

Routine free or low-cost HIV/AIDS testing could stem rising rates of infection.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2002... 1902 MAR 31 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The failure of educational programs to stem the rates of HIV/AIDS infection may be overturned by new policies on testing, said a Central Michigan University health sciences professor who is calling for...

WHO urges vaccination for Northern Hemisphere.(World Health Organization, influenza vaccinations)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2002... 1902 MAR 31 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- As the influenza season in the Northern Hemisphere reaches its peak, the World Health Organization (WHO) is scaling up its efforts to fight this potentially devastating disease. Influenza is one...

Tax increases can cut the number of habitual teen smokers.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2002... 1902 MAR 31 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Relatively small increases in cigarette taxes can prevent teenagers from becoming heavier smokers, according to a new analysis of U.S. national data. Previous research has shown that raising...

Too many patients never make it to the hospital alive.(sudden deaths from coronary failure are high)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2002... 1902 MAR 31 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- About half of all deaths from heart disease happen before the patient can get to a hospital, the government has reported, a finding health officials called alarming. The U.S. Centers for Disease...

CDC: Diabetic women often poor.(report from Centers for Disease Control)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2002... 1902 MAR 31 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Women with diabetes are twice as likely to be poor or undereducated as those without the disease, according to a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The findings...

Success of treatment swells ranks of HIV infected.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2002... 1902 MAR 31 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Doctors have been so successful in saving the lives of people with AIDS that the number of Americans with HIV is actually increasing again after holding steady for years and is now approaching 1...

Thousands received ineffective vaccine in Brazil, officials say.(Merck & Co. recalls Hepatitis A vaccine)(Brief Article)
March 31, 2002... 1902 MAR 31 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- As many as 60,000 Brazilians may have to get revaccinated against hepatitis A after the company that makes the vaccine said some doses weren't potent enough, a health official says. Merck & Co....

Panel advises flu shots for babies.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's immunization panel )(Brief Article)
March 31, 2002... 1902 MAR 31 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A U.S. advisory panel decided to encourage flu shots for children ages 6-23 months - a group not previously on the recommended list for the vaccine. The government currently recommends the vaccine...

WHO starts testing program for HIV/AIDS in Afghanistan.(World Health Organization)(Brief Article)
March 31, 2002... 1902 MAR 31 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The United Nations health agency says it is planning to survey the level of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases in Afghanistan and encourage testing of donated blood before transfusions. ...