Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA articles from October 2001

Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA archives from October 2001

WHO Reports Elimination Goals Met In Africa.(World Health Organization leprosy elimination)
October 7, 2001... 2001 OCT 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The African Region of the World Health Organization has achieved the Organization's goal for leprosy elimination, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Ebrahim M. Samba, reported. "By the...

Vascular System Complications Increase Amputation Risk In Diabetes.(Brief Article)
October 7, 2001... 2001 OCT 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Vascular system problems are the leading cause of amputations in patients with types 1 and 2 diabetes throughout the world, according to the organizers of a...

Drugs Not Available For Nigerian Treatment Plan.(Brief Article)
October 7, 2001... 2001 OCT 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Nigeria has begun what it called Africa's most ambitious AIDS treatment program although health officials admitted they had yet to receive any of the cheap generic drugs needed for the plan. ...

Louisiana Disputes It Has Fewest Asthma Sufferers.(Brief Article)
October 7, 2001... 2001 OCT 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- State officials are disputing a recent federal study that said Louisiana has the lowest rate of asthma sufferers in the country. In August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,...

WHO Reports Lists Risk Factors For Progression In Eye Disease.(diabetic retinopathy progression risk factors reported by)(World Health Organization)(Brief Article)
October 7, 2001... 2001 OCT 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Age, body mass index (BMI), and glucose control are just some of the risk factors for diabetic retinopathy progression and proliferation in types 1 and 2...

Web Site Offers News, Statistics, Health, And Safety Information.(West Nile Virus Information Center Web site)(Brief Article)
October 7, 2001... 2001 OCT 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have issued new warnings that the West Nile Virus has spread farther and faster this year than ever before, reaching nine states from...

Mexico Launches Education Campaign For Migrants.(AIDS awareness)(Brief Article)
October 7, 2001... 2001 OCT 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Seeking to stem a tide of HIV infections among migrants, the Mexican government launched a health education program Saturday aimed at those who cross the border - and who sometime bring AIDS home...

Federal Funds To Prevent AIDS Were Used For Sexually Explicit Ads.(Brief Article)
October 7, 2001... 2001 OCT 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The advertisements addressed to gay men were provocative: Learn to write racy stories about your sexual encounters, choose toys "for solo and partner sex'' or share tales of erotic experiences. ...

Outbreak In Chad Totals 3,557 Cases, With 113 Deaths.(cholera outbreak)(Brief Article)
October 7, 2001... 2001 OCT 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- As of September 4, 2001, the World Health Organization has reported a total of 3557 cases, including 113 deaths from a cholera outbreak in southwestern Chad, with a case-fatality rate of 3.2%. ...

Outbreak Spreads In South Korea.(cholera outbreak)(Brief Article)
October 7, 2001... 2001 OCT 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- At least 106 people have been diagnosed with cholera in South Korea, including one patient in the country's populous capital of Seoul, health officials said. The outbreak began September 3,...

CDC Warns That Rare Tick Virus Is Spreading In New England.(United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 7, 2001... 2001 OCT 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, warned of an extremely rare virus spread by ticks after three people in Maine and one in Vermont contracted encephalitis. Since...

Adults 20 And Older Should Be Screened Every 5 Years, Says CDC.(United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)(Brief Article)
October 7, 2001... 2001 OCT 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that among people screened for blood cholesterol the awareness of high blood cholesterol (HBC) has been increasing. ...

Disease Outbreaks Reported In Norway.(Brief Article)
October 7, 2001... 2001 OCT 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- As of September 4, 2001, the National Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway has reported a total of 19 cases (17 confirmed by urinary antigen detection and two probable cases) including two...

HIV/AIDS Deaths Are Decreasing In Some Areas Of Kenya.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 7, 2001... 2001 OCT 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The director of Kenya's National HIV/AIDS Control Council, Margaret Gachara, has said that deaths associated with HIV/AIDS are declining in some parts of the country, the independent Daily Nation...

NHLBI, AHA Urge Physicians To Stress Need To Call 911.(National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)(American Heart Association)(heart attacks)(Brief Article)
October 7, 2001... 2001 OCT 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A joint call to action urging physicians to educate their patients about heart attack warning signs - and the importance of calling 9-1-1 immediately - was announced by the National Heart, Lung, and...

Public Health Expert Urges Parents To Use School Lunches To Fight Obesity.(Brief Article)
October 7, 2001... 2001 OCT 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Barraged by advertisements for junk food, school children need help from their parents to avoid developing a lifelong weight problem, according to a public health expert. Parents should use the...

CDC Reports Finds Americans Are Improving Their Health.(United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 7, 2001... 2001 OCT 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Small-town Americans tend to smoke more, lose more teeth as they age and die sooner than suburban and many big-city residents, a government snapshot of the country's health shows. Overall,...

Dormancy Insight Could Help Wipe Out The Disease.(tuberculosis)(Brief Article)
October 7, 2001... 2001 OCT 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- New knowledge about the way tuberculosis-causing bacteria can survive in a dormant state for years in our bodies could pave the way for treatments that will finally wipe out this dread disease. ...

WHO Officials Calls For Closer Cooperation.(World Helath Organization)(health problems in Western Pacific)(Brief Article)
October 7, 2001... 2001 OCT 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Government authorities in the Western Pacific region need better cooperation to combat problems such as smoking, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infections, a World Health Organization...

FDA Approves First Nucleic Acid Test For HIV and Hepatitis C.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2001... 2001 OCT 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Food and Drug Administration has licensed the first nucleic acid test (NAT) systems intended for screening of plasma donors. These test systems are expected to further ensure the safety of...

Obesity And Diabetes Continue To Increase Across America.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2001... 2001 OCT 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The dual epidemics of obesity and diabetes that developed among U.S. adults in the 1990s continue to increase. The most recent findings indicate more than half of American adults are overweight,...

Streptococcus pneumoniae Is Increasingly Resistant To Fluoroquinolones.
October 14, 2001... 2001 OCT 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Streptococcus pneumoniae is the leading cause of community-acquired pneumonia, meningitis, and otitis media in the United States. Because of the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in...

WHO Study Describes Causes Of Death In Diabetes Patients.(World Health Organization )(Brief Article)
October 14, 2001... 2001 OCT 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - After accounting for a number of factors, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death throughout the world in patients with types 1 or 2 diabetes....

Hip Implants Recalled For Potential Fracture Problem.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2001... 2001 OCT 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- FDA has announced that eight U.S. firms that make hip implants are or will be voluntarily recalling certain of their hip implants due to a potential problem with a component. The component, a...

No Solution In Sight For Shortage Of Vaccine For Military Personnel.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2001... 2001 OCT 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The prospect of a major U.S. military campaign against terrorism comes as the Pentagon grows ever closer to running out of vaccine for the deadly anthrax virus. Pentagon officials declined to...

Macau Health Officials Confirm 415 Cases.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2001... 2001 OCT 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Macau health officials confirmed that the number of people infected with dengue fever has sharply risen to 415, since 14 people in the gambling enclave were first stricken by the mosquito-borne...

Outbreak In Maui First Cases In Hawaii In 50 Years.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2001... 2001 OCT 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Health officials confirmed that four people on Maui contracted dengue fever over the summer, the first cases of the mosquito-borne disease in Hawaii in more than 50 years, state officials said. ...

Sri Lankan Military, Tamil Rebels Call Truce For Vaccination Program.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2001... 2001 OCT 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Sri Lanka security forces and Tamil rebels have agreed to cease hostilities for four days to facilitate the immunization of children against polio in areas characterized by heavy fighting in Sri...

Kids Get More Physical Activity Than Previously Thought.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2001... 2001 OCT 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A review and analysis of 26 studies of physical activity levels of children, completed by University at Buffalo (New York) researchers, has found that children accumulate more physical activity...

Cases Of Whooping Cough Increase In Texas' Rio Grande Valley.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2001... 2001 OCT 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The number of cases of whooping cough in the Rio Grande Valley have nearly doubled since last year, according to Texas health officials. There were 24 cases of whooping cough, a highly...

Outbreak Associated With Unchlorinated Wading Pool.
October 14, 2001... 2001 OCT 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Health officials report that an outbreak of Shigellosis in Iowa has been traced to an unchlorinated wading pool. In June (2001), local physicians reported 11 cases of diarrhea to a county...

Kid's Anti-Tobacco Programs Are Strong, But Teen Programs Are Weak.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2001... 2001 OCT 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- America's schools are doing a better job of warning students off of tobacco, but many scale back the message when it's needed most, a new government survey says. The survey conducted last year...

Immtech Announces Start of Phase II DB289 Trials.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2001... 2001 OCT 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Immtech International, Inc., has announced that a Phase II study of DB289 for the treatment of African sleeping sickness (Trypanosomiasis) has begun in Angola, Africa. The study is supported...

Peru Interventions Led To Dramatic Decline In Incidence, Mortality.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2001... 2001 OCT 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Researchers in Europe and Peru say that intensive efforts to enhance tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment have saved tens of thousands of lives in that...

WHO Launches Urgent Appeal For $2.9 Million To Cover Abidjan Epidemic.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2001... 2001 OCT 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched an urgent appeal for U.S. $2.9 million to cover the cost of a mass immunization campaign in response to a potentially disastrous outbreak of yellow...

HHS Report Shows Drug Use Rates Stable, Youth Tobacco Use Declines.(Health and Human Services)(Statistical Data Included)
October 21, 2001... 2001 OCT 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson has released findings of the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse showing that overall rates of current use of illicit drugs were...

New CDC Recommendations Now In Effect.(Centers for Disease Control)(Brief Article)
October 21, 2001... 2001 OCT 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- New recommendations for influenza vaccination issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are again in effect, urging health care providers to prioritize vaccination of the...

Case In Florida Appears To Be Isolated Event.(Brief Article)
October 21, 2001... 2001 OCT 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Florida State Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control are investigating a confirmed case of anthrax in a 63-year-old male Florida resident, but so far this appears to be an...

HHS Awards $10 Million Grant For Children's Initiative.(Health and Human Services)(Statistical Data Included)
October 21, 2001... 2001 OCT 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson has awarded $10 million in grant funds to improve treatment and services for children and adolescents exposed to traumatic events. The...

Experts: United States Is Unprepared For Germ Attack.(Statistical Data Included)
October 21, 2001... 2001 OCT 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Stashed in secure government warehouses around the country are 400 tons of antibiotics and other medical supplies ready for what seemed until a month ago to be an unimaginable catastrophe - a terrorist...

Vaccine To Undergo Phase II Clinical Trial In Nepal.(Brief Article)
October 21, 2001... 2001 OCT 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Genelabs Technologies, Inc. announced September 25, 2001, the initiation of a Phase II clinical trial of an investigational new vaccine for prevention of disease caused by hepatitis E virus (HEV). ...

Aventis Pasteur To Complete Flu Vaccine Shipments By November.(Brief Article)
October 21, 2001... 2001 OCT 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Aventis Pasteur, the nation's leading supplier of influenza vaccine, says it anticipates shipping all influenza vaccine orders to customers by the end of November (2001). Smaller customers were...

Illnesses Associated With Use Of Plant Growth Regulator.(Dormex)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 21, 2001... 2001 OCT 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- During January-February 2001, eight cases of acute illness in the county of Ragusa, Italy, were reported to the Italian National Institute for Health (INIH) by the Milan Poison Control Center (MPCC)...

Total of 34 Cases, 2 Fatalities Reported In Hispaniola, Dominican Republic.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 21, 2001... 2001 OCT 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- From July 12, 2000, through September 18, 2001, a total of 21 cases of poliomyelitis (including two fatal cases) were reported from the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, divided between Haiti and the...

Chemical, Biotech Firms Strengthen Security Against Bioterrorism.(Brief Article)
October 21, 2001... 2001 OCT 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Chemical and biotechnology companies are scrambling to improve security to keep their potentially deadly products away from terrorists. New security rules range from the general - a survey of...