Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA articles from October 2000

Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA archives from October 2000

Newspaper Presents Revealing Series of Investigative Reports; FDA Addresses Industry's Annual Meeting.(Laws governing tissue banks to be improved.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... 2000 OCT 1 - (NewsRx.com) -- Tissue banking of non-vital organ and tissue donations has been the subject of an ongoing series of investigative reports by journalists with Florida's Orange County Register newspaper. Of particular...

FDA Database of Foodborne Illness Risk Factors Released.(U.S. Food and Drug Administration)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... 2000 OCT 1 - (NewsRx.com) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on September 7, 2000, announced the release of the "Report of the FDA Retail Food Program Database of Foodborne Illness Risk Factors." This report establishes a...

Study Finds Booster Plus Oral Vaccine is Best Protection.(Poliomyelitis)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... 2000 OCT 1 - (NewsRx.com) -- Giving a booster shot in addition to the oral polio vaccine is the best way to ensure that babies in Third World countries are protected from the virus, a study has found. In industrialized countries,...

Training Assistance Improves Laboratory Standards in Egyptian Hospitals.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... 2000 OCT 1 - (NewsRx.com) -- In 1998, several Egyptian hospitals received outside training assistance in an effort to improve quality control and performance standards in their laboratories. A result of that training project was...

Health Officials Worried About Bacterial Infection in Adventure Racers.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... 2000 OCT 1 - (NewsRx.com) -- World health officials are worried that dozens of people who slogged through the rivers and jungles of Borneo as part of an adventure race have contracted a sometimes-fatal bacterial illness. They are...

Native American Research Centers for Health Program Launched.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... 2000 OCT 1 - (NewsRx.com) -- The U.S. National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) and the Indian Health Service (IHS) are collaborating on a new program designed to promote, develop, and support centers that will link the...

Awareness Efforts Seem to be Working in the U.S.(donation of organs - potential organ donors has to be approached about his donation; new regulations)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 2000... 2000 OCT 1 - (NewsRx.com) -- Organ donation in the United States increased by nearly 4% during the first half of 2000 after remaining flat in 1999, the U.S. government reported September 12, 2000. During the first six months of this...

FDA Updates Advisory for Several Lots of Norplant Contraceptive Kits.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... 2000 OCT 1 - (NewsRx.com) -- Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the maker of The Norplant System, a five-year contraceptive implant, is advising doctors to inform patients who had the product inserted since October...

FDA Panel Declines to Ease Blood Donor Ban.(U.S. Food and Drug Administration)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... 2000 OCT 1 - (NewsRx.com) -- U.S. government scientists on September 15, 2000, narrowly rejected a proposal to ease the ban on gay male blood donors, citing insufficient evidence about how the move might affect the AIDS risk to the U.S....

FDA Posts Images of Implant Complications on the Internet.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... 2000 OCT 1 - (NewsRx.com) -- Officials at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are posting on the Internet photographs of what a woman's breast looks like when a breast implant leaks or causes other problems in an effort to ensure...

No AIDS-Related Viruses or Chimpanzee DNA Found in 1950s-Era Polio Vaccine.(Study refutes Edward Hooper's book The River.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... 2000 OCT 1 - (NewsRx.com) -- Tests performed by three independent laboratories on 1950s-era polio vaccine samples from The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, failed to find any traces of SIV, HIV-1, or DNA indicating that...

CDC Contract Awarded to Promote Testing Nationally.(HIV positive people - testing and prevention treatment)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... 2000 OCT 1 - (NewsRx.com) -- Motivational Educational Entertainment (MEE) Productions Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has been selected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop HIV testing campaigns and...

New Tool Impacts Multi-Billion Dollar Drug.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2000... 2000 OCT 1 - (NewsRx.com) -- Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and their colleagues have announced work they say could impact the multi-billion dollar heparin industry and change how the U.S. Food and Drug...

Refugee Records for TB Screening Often Arrive Incomplete.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 2000... 2000 OCT 1 - (NewsRx.com) -- Public health authorities recently presented findings at the CDC 2000 International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases that indicate refugees arriving for resettlement in the USA often have records...

One in Five Schoolchildren in Developing Countries Smokes, New Survey Shows.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- The tobacco companies - facing court proceedings and an increasingly vocal anti-smoking movement in industrialized countries - are turning their sights on developing countries, the World Health Organization...

State Policies May Result in Lower Teen Smoking Rates.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- A preliminary state-by-state analysis suggests that U.S. state tobacco policies may have a measurable effect on teen smoking rates. "To our knowledge this is the first time that a relationship has been...

CDC: Racial Gap of Premature Births Narrows.(United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- Black babies are twice as likely as white infants to be born prematurely, but the gap is narrowing, the U.S. government reported September 22, 2000. Single-born premature births among black women fell...

Outbreak in U.S. Caused by Oysters Carrying Vibrio parahaemolyticus.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- An outbreak of acute gastroenteritis in 1998 in the United States was caused by oysters that contained the bacteria Vibrio parahaemolyticus, according to an article in the September 27, 2000, issue of The...

Drug-Resistant Strains Reported in Several U.S. States.(treatment of gonorrhea)(Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- As drug-resistant strains of gonorrhea continue to emerge, successful treatment of this sexually transmitted disease (STD) is becoming more difficult. In the 1980s, gonorrhea became resistant to penicillin...

Counseling Can Help Correct Misconceptions About Sexually Transmitted Diseases.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- Many individuals have misguided notions of how to protect themselves from sexually transmitted disease (STD), but counseling may help, suggest the results of a study of 3,500 STD clinic visitors. "The most...

FDA Proposes Labeling Requirements for Systemic Antibacterial Drug Products Intended for Human Use.(United States. Food and Drug Administration)(Brief Article)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, on September 19, 2000, proposed that all systemic antibacterial drug products intended for human use contain additional labeling information about the emergence of...

Japanese Officials Acknowledge Importing Suspect Brain Tissue.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- Japan might have imported brain tissue for use in surgery for a decade, despite warnings from the U.S. government that it could be tainted with mad cow disease, officials said September 21, 2000. Until...

FDA Weighs Acne Drug Restrictions.(United States. Food and Drug Administration recommend stronger control off Accutane)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- Women and their doctors may soon face far tougher restrictions on who can take the acne drug Accutane, which can cause serious birth defects. Accutane is highly effective at fighting disfiguring acne, but...

Group Calls for Regulation of Acne Drug that Causes Birth Defects.(March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- Warning that too many pregnant women are being exposed to the anti-acne drug Accutane (isotretinoin), which can cause severe birth defects and miscarriage, the March of Dimes said that the drug must be...

Recommendation of Acne Drug Restrictions Opposed.(byThe American Academy of Dermatology)(Brief Article)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- The following was released by the The American Academy of Dermatology: [helv] The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) is strongly opposed to an advisory panel recommendation to the U.S. Food and Drug...

Deteriorating Stockpiles of Demilitarized Chemical Agents Pose Preventable Public Health Dangers.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- Deteriorating stockpiles of the demilitarized chemical agents in the U.S. not only have released chemicals in far greater quantities than were released during an incident last spring in Tooele, Utah, but...

Newspaper Reports Questionable Involvement of Schering-Plough in Hepatitis C Coalitions.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- In what appears to be a bold marketing ploy, drugmaker Schering-Plough reportedly created a number of "grass-roots" hepatitis C coalitions in the U.S. for the purposes of selling its antiviral drug, Rebetron,...

Physician Encouragement, Patient Awareness of Risk Can Affect Women's Participation in Screening.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- When physicians actively encourage their older female patients to participate in fecal occult blood testing, patients are more willing to undergo cancer screening, new research shows. Colorectal cancer...

Epidemics Prompt Emergency Campaigns.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- Epidemics of dengue and its more serious form, dengue hemorrhagic fever, in El Salvador and other countries have prompted emergency campaigns to control the outbreaks, showing the fact that dengue is basically...

Funding for Biodefense Research Focuses on Public Health Issues.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has awarded a $300,000 grant to The Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health that will be used to launch an educational initiative...

Logging Companies Play Major Role in Emergence, Spread of New Diseases.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- A recent study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health that examined the factors causing humans to become infected by novel pathogens has found that the intersection of forest hunting and...

CDC Releases U.S. Vaccine Coverage Statistics.(U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Immunization Program)(Brief Article)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- According to a report in the September 22, 2000, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, immunization coverage in the U.S. was greater than or equal to 90% for three doses of poliovirus vaccine, three doses of...

States Ready for Flu Vaccine Delay.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- Health departments across the western U.S. say they will limit flu shots to high-risk people and take other steps to cope with an expected shortage of the vaccine this winter. The U.S. Centers for Disease...

Baltimore Cuts Some STD Rates in Half.(sexually transmitted disease)(Brief Article)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- Two years after Baltimore, Maryland, was ridiculed for having the highest sexually transmitted disease infection rates in the U.S., syphilis case are down 60% between 1997 and 1999, and chlamydia and gonorrhea...

Environmentalists Say Pesticide Sprays are Harming People.(Used to combat West Nile fever in N.Y.)(Brief Article)
October 8, 2000... 2000 OCT 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- A woman who said she could barely speak after pesticide hit her face was among witnesses called by environmentalists who hoped to convince a judge to block New York City's all-out attack against the West Nile...

Committee Calls for Improved Tracking, Action to Cut Rate of New HIV Infections.(Institute of Medicine report)(Health & Fitness)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- U.S. efforts to thwart the spread of HIV - the virus that causes AIDS - have slowed rapid growth of the epidemic, but the number of new infections remains unacceptably high, a national committee has...

Appalachian Women May Have Lower Breast Carcinoma Mortality Rate.(Health & Fitness)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- Women in the Appalachian Region of the U.S. experience lower overall breast carcinoma mortality compared with women who live elsewhere in the U.S., according to a study published in the October 1, 2000, issue...

Cost-Benefit of Flu Shots for Healthy Working Adults Questioned.(Centers for Disease Control study)(Health & Fitness)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- Giving influenza shots to healthy working adults who are less than 65 years of age can reduce rates of illness and work absenteeism, but may not be cost-beneficial overall, according to a new study published...

CDC Forecasts Top Ten Challenges of 21st Century.(U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report on public health planning for the future)(Health & Fitness)(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) outlined what it believes are the top 10 public health challenges the United States must address and says the tools already exist to combat them, in a...

CDC Integrates Genetics Research to Prevent Disease, Improve Health.(Centers for Disease Control reports on genetic aspects of disease and their research)(Health & Fitness)(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- Virtually all human diseases are the result of the interaction of genetic factors and modifiable environmental factors such as diet, infectious agents, or toxic chemicals. By identifying and defining...

Health Officials Investigating Increase in Infants.(cleft lip and palate incidence cause for concern in Tennessee)(Health & Fitness)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- Tennessee state and U.S. federal health officials are investigating an increase in the number of infants diagnosed with cleft lip or cleft palate in Dickson County, Tennessee, following a report by a...

Contract Awarded to Define Research Practices for Human Studies.(Covalent Group, Inc. awarded contract)(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- Covalent Group, Inc. (CVGR), Wayne, Pennsylvania, has entered into an agreement with the University of Pennsylvania to assist in the implementation of new federal regulations requiring all clinical research...

CDC's Environmental Health Lab Measures Exposures to Toxic Substances.(Centers for Disease Control)(Health & Fitness)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- Some 25 years after its creation, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) environmental health laboratory remains an essential resource in assessing individual human exposure to toxic...

CDC: Facilities Not What You See in the Movies.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)(buildings need upgrading)(Health & Fitness)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- Although the facilities of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are portrayed as high-tech and nearly space-age in many popular movies, the reality is quite different, according to...

Center in Tennessee Awarded CDC Grant.(National Limb Loss Information Center awarded grant)(Health & Fitness)(Government Activity)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- A resource for people who have lost arms or legs is getting a $4.2 million U.S. government grant, announced Tennessee senators Bill Frist and Fred Thompson on September 26, 2000. The National Limb Loss...

FDA Proposes New Guidance for Infant Apnea Monitors.(U.S. Food and Drug Administration)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is withdrawing a proposed rule published in 1995 to establish a mandatory performance standard for infant apnea monitors because it believes such a performance...

Education, Catheter Protection Result in Fewer Infections for Stem Cell Transplant Recipients.(research findings)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- A program of patient and caregiver education, along with two simple mechanical steps, was shown to reduce the number of bloodstream infections (BSI) in stem cell transplant recipients. "BSI are common...

Approval Process Needs Streamlining.(for licensing new cancer drugs)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- It is essential to speed up the process of licensing new cancer drugs so that patients can benefit more quickly from novel treatments, cancer specialist Dr. Luca Gianni told a news conference held in...

New Project Aims to Identify Primary Immune Deficiencies Early Among U.S. Minorities.(research into primary immunodeficiency diseases)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- Primary immunodeficiency diseases - little-known immune system disorders caused by genetic flaws - appear less often among members of minority groups in the United States than among non-minorities. Scientists...

Public Health Genetics Crucial to Treatment, Expert Says.(Gerald T. Keusch)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- New discoveries in what is being called "Public Health Genetics" will be crucial in harnessing genetics technologies to track emerging infectious diseases and improve their diagnosis, treatment and...

Experts Decide Content of 2001 "Southern Hemisphere" Vaccine.(World Health Organization)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- The composition of the vaccine for year 2001 (southern hemisphere influenza season) has been decided and communicated to vaccine manufacturers by the World Health Organization (WHO), following agreement on...

FDA Approves Arsenic Trioxide in Record Time for Cancer Drug Development Program.(U. S. Food and Drug Administration)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Trisenox (arsenic trioxide) for the treatment of patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) who have not responded to, or have relapsed following...

Vaccine is Cost-Effective in High Risk Populations.(lyme disease vaccine)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- Lyme disease (LD) vaccine is cost-effective only in high risk populations, suggest researchers in the United States. "LD is the most frequently reported tick-borne disease in the United States with an...

FDA Approves Mifepristone for Termination of Early Pregnancy.(United States, Food and Drug Administration)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on September 28, 2000, approved mifepristone (tradename Mifeprex), also known as RU-486, for the termination of early pregnancy, defined as 49 days or less, counting...

Rift Valley Fever Reported in Saudi Arabia, First Cases Ever Outside Africa.(Brief Article)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- As of September 17, 2000, the Health Ministry of Saudi Arabia reported 16 deaths in humans (14 males), from Rift Valley fever in the Jizan region in southwestern Saudi Arabia. Laboratory confirmation of...

Conjugate Vaccines May Be More Effective than Polysaccharide Vaccines in HIV Patients.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)(experiment reported)(Health & Fitness)(Brief Article)(Technical)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- Depending on HIV serotype, a 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine was more protective than a 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine in HIV infected adults, researchers in the United States found. "HIV...

Infants Immunized Against Hepatitis B at Birth Receive Most Vaccine Doses.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)(report)(Health & Fitness)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- U.S. government researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that infants who receive their first dose of hepatitis B vaccine shortly after being born are more likely to receive...

Maryland Officials Urge Calm.(West Nile virus detected in Baltimore: controls in place)(Health & Fitness)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- Mosquito control trucks sprayed insecticide over two square miles of downtown Baltimore, Maryland, streets early on September 27, 2000, in an effort to eradicate mosquitoes that could carry the West Nile...

New Jersey Man is First U.S. Victim This Year.(West Nile virus)(Health & Fitness)(Brief Article)
October 22, 2000... 2000 OCT 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- The West Nile virus has claimed its first victim in the United States this year, causing the death of an 82-year-old New Jersey man. He died on September 14, 11 days after he became ill. Officials said...