Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA articles from September 2002

Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA archives from September 2002

Involuntary smoke exposure affects severity among children.(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Children with high levels of tobacco smoke exposure are more likely to have moderate or severe asthma, says a study conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While it...

CDC summarizes Colorado E. coli findings.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention )(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- On July 8, 2002, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was notified by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) of a cluster of cases of Escherichia coli...

Tolerance associated with family history.(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- People with a family history of alcoholism may develop a tolerance that causes them to drink more to feel the same effects, according to a study conducted at the Indiana University (IU) School of...

High HDL levels explain differences in heart disease risk in white and African-American women.(high density lipoproteins)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - The prevalence of coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors was similar in obese and lean African-American women but was significantly greater in...

More research needed on effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals.(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Are human sperm counts declining due to exposure to certain environmental contaminants? Is human breast cancer increasing due to exposure to organochlorine chemicals? Are chemicals that have the...

FDA's advisory on methyl mercury and fish consumption still OK.(Food and Drug Administration)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Consumer Advisory on Methyl Mercury and Fish Consumption, issued by the agency last year, "provides sound, actionable advice to the public on safely consuming...

FDA warns public about Chinese diet pills containing fenfluramine.(Food and Drug Administration)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is alerting the public about Chinese weight-loss products, Chasu (Jianfei) Diet Capsules and Chasu Gempi, because they pose a potential public health risk....

NIH launches large clinical trial on EDTA chelation therapy.(National Institutes of Health )(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), components of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), have...

CDC examines barriers to children walking and biking to school.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Parents and communities should work together to identify and create safe routes to school so that children can travel actively by walking and biking, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control...

Alcohol use, thrill-seeking prove bad mix for HIV-positive men.(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- HIV-positive men who seek new experiences and think alcohol improves sex are more likely to have unprotected sex, according to a new study. Most HIV prevention programs target risk-takers who are...

CDC visit to San Francisco probes workshops.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention )(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Federal officials met with members of San Francisco's public health department August 13, 2002, to try to determine whether HIV prevention workshops such as "A Walk on the Wildside" and "Guy Watch" are...

PAHO journal analyzes health inequities.(Pan American Health Organization)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The latest issue of the Pan American Journal of Public Health explores the many factors determining inequity in health in the countries of the Americas. In a special edition, health equity is analyzed...

Patients with bleeding disorder face liver disease from bloodborne pathogens.(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - The cumulative incidence of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related end-stage liver disease in patients with hemophilia increases with human immunodeficiency virus...

Eli Lilly subpoenaed over marketing of osteoporosis drug.(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- U.S. investigators have ordered Eli Lilly and Co. to turn over records involving an osteoporosis drug, which a competitor complained was being marketed improperly as a breast cancer preventative. ...

Promising vaccine may provide long-lasting protection.(malaria)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers have developed a unique vaccine that destroys a deadly toxin produced by the parasite that causes malaria, which kills more than 2 million people each year. The vaccine appears extremely...

Vaccination campaign immunizes more than 13 million children in Kenya.(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In an effort to combat preventable deaths from measles, the Measles Initiative launched its largest mass vaccination campaign ever in Kenya, June 17-23, 2002. The Kenya campaign, the first of nine...

States push vaccination.(bacterial meningitis)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- It started like a mere stomach bug: John Kach felt fine one day but spent the next throwing up. By day's end the 19-year-old college freshman was in a coma - and spent almost 4 months in the hospital,...

Tobacco firms used financial ties to weaken market for antismoking product.(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Tobacco companies have used their financial ties with nicotine gum and nicotine patch manufacturers to pressure these firms into weakening their marketing of the nicotine-replacement products,...

Cruise companies urged to do more thorough cleaning.(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Alaska and U.S. epidemiologists are urging cruise ship companies to aggressively sanitize and disinfect their vessels to prevent viruses from spreading among passengers. After a series of viral...

FDA stops shipments from major tissue bank, citing germ risk.(Food and Drug Administration)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A Georgia tissue bank whose products are linked to a death and numerous serious infections is appealing the government's order that it quit distributing cadaver tissue because it can't guarantee the...

FDA seeks criminal probe of ephedra seller.(Food and Drug Administration)(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation into whether a leading ephedra seller lied about the safety of the long-controversial dietary supplement. The Food and Drug...

CDC chief: Epidemic could spread to Pacific coast.(Brief Article)
September 15, 2002... 2002 SEP 15 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- West Nile virus is an "emerging, infectious disease epidemic" that could be spread all the way to the Pacific Coast by birds and mosquitoes, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says....

Medical costs of cardiovascular disease related to excess weight estimated at $31 billion.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... 2002 SEP 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - Being overweight is costly in terms of resultant cardiovascular disease and its financial burden in the U.S., researchers at the U.S. Centers for...

FDA unveils new initiative to enhance pharmaceutical good manufacturing practices.(Food and Drug Administration)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... 2002 SEP 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it is undertaking a significant new initiative to enhance the regulation of pharmaceutical manufacturing and product quality and to bring...

Cigarette tax hike could save millions of lives.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... 2002 SEP 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A global policy change that discourages tobacco use could save more than 5 million smokers' lives at a reasonable cost, a new report on tobacco control policies estimates. "Even with deliberately...

Report stresses worker protection for homeland security.(National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences )(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... 2002 SEP 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. government must help train emergency personnel and provide updated safety guidelines so the workers are better protected against hazards such as they faced at the World Trade Center and the...

Parents' risky behavior rubs off on children.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... 2002 SEP 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Parents who smoke and drink and generally do not take care of their health may influence their children to do the same, according to a new study that links parents' risky behavior to early sexual...

Vaccine effective in mice with cell-mediated immune function.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... 2002 SEP 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - A vaccine against the Ebola Zaire virus (EBO-Z) is effective in mice with cell-mediated immune function although its efficacy in other animals is questionable,...

Study raises gene screening questions.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... 2002 SEP 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Katie Clapp knew something was wrong with her newborn boy, but it took 2 years and dozens of doctor visits before he was diagnosed with the most common inherited cause of mental retardation. By...

Children's body mass index predicts overweight or obesity in adulthood.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... 2002 SEP 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Body mass index, or BMI, provides a guideline based on weight and height to determine underweight and overweight. Recently, BMI-for-age growth charts used by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and...

Experts urge weight loss for youths.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... 2002 SEP 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- `By now, it's a well-known fact: The nation's younger generation is fatter than any before it, with 14% classified as obese or overweight. Dana Jenkins was part of that statistic. An athletic but...

9.5M vaccine doses donated to Global Eradication Initiative.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... 2002 SEP 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Chiron Corporation (CHIR) announced that the company's vaccine business unit will donate 9.5 million doses of poliomyelitis (polio) vaccine to the polio Global Eradication Initiative during the summer...

Baxter grants $200,000 to global polio eradication initiative.(Baxter International Foundation)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... 2002 SEP 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Baxter International Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Baxter International, Inc., has awarded a $200,000 grant to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which is spearheaded by the World...

Is British government health policy based on evidence or assumption?(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... 2002 SEP 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The overinterpretation of a few small-scale studies, carried out up to 10 years ago, could end up being used to determine health policy because the findings fit in with the government's broader policy...

FDA faults ruling on Paxil ads.(United States. Food and Drug Administration)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... 2002 SEP 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A federal judge was wrong to ban national TV commercials that claim the antidepressant Paxil is not habit-forming, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a new court filing. The FDA's...

Groups seek to bar abortion pill.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... 2002 SEP 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Antiabortion groups petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration August 21, 2002, to halt sales of the abortion pill Mifeprex, saying the agency shouldn't have approved it almost 2 years ago. ...

Early detection of bioterrorist threat or epidemic is goal of software system.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... 2002 SEP 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Computer scientists at the University at Buffalo (UB) who developed handwriting recognition software systems for the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Census Bureau are developing a system to flag...

Nationwide tissue distribution plan devised.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2002... 2002 SEP 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- As a result of the need for tissue donations for victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks, a nationwide plan has been developed to make tissue available in the event of future disasters. ...

Bacterial alterations source of persistent COPD lung infections.(chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)(Brief Article)
September 29, 2002... 2002 SEP 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Clever bacteria populations may be changing just enough to keep ahead of patients' immune systems, causing a mysterious intensification of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) - the fourth...

Major NCI study finds increased risk of cancer in long-term survivors.(National Cancer Institute)(Hodgkin disease patients)(Brief Article)
September 29, 2002... 2002 SEP 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An international study of more than 32,000 Hodgkin disease patients has shown that long-term survivors of the disease have double the normal risk of developing a subsequent cancer later in life. ...

Which kids experiment with smoking and which become regular smokers?(Brief Article)
September 29, 2002... 2002 SEP 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Using national data from a sample of 20,747 adolescents, researchers from Brown University's Medical School examined which interpersonal, familial and peer influences made it more likely for...

Health official cites behavioral change as key to raising low birth weights.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 29, 2002... 2002 SEP 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The problem of low birth weight is growing in America's largest cities and suburbs, according to a new study, but a health official from the city with the smallest ratio of low birth weights stressed...

Teen drug use linked with later health problems.(Brief Article)
September 29, 2002... 2002 SEP 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A long-term study has linked adolescent drug use with health problems in early adulthood. Subjects in their mid-to-late twenties who had used drugs as teens reported more health problems than those who...

Study points to depression as a risk for developing AD.(Alzheimer disease)(Brief Article)
September 29, 2002... 2002 SEP 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A long-term study of people over age 65 suggests that severity of depressive symptoms is related to risk of developing Alzheimer disease. The study is published in the August 13, 2002 issue of...

Norplant users need not use backup method.(contraceptive)(Brief Article)
September 29, 2002... 2002 SEP 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Wyeth Pharmaceuticals of Madison, New Jersey, is announcing that patients who have received the Norplant System and who were using backup contraception may safely stop using backup methods for...

Babies fond of salt have higher blood pressure, a granny with hypertension.(Brief Article)
September 29, 2002... 2002 SEP 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Within 3 days of birth some babies exhibit a unique response to salty taste - and the response is strongest in babies who have at least one grandparent with a history of hypertension, according to new...

Drought has positive side: Plague, hantavirus cases down.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 29, 2002... 2002 SEP 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Dry weather is keeping New Mexico's rodent population down this summer and limiting human exposure to plague and hantavirus, health officials said in August 2002. So far this year, New Mexico has...

U.S. to re-evaluate hormone replacement therapy's risks.(Brief Article)
September 29, 2002... 2002 SEP 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- U.S. health officials this fall will reassess hormone replacement therapy for postmenopausal women in response to a recent study questioning the therapy's risks and benefits. In July 2002,...

When moms smoke, certain kids are more vulnerable.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 29, 2002... 2002 SEP 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Certain children appear especially susceptible to respiratory problems if their mothers smoked during pregnancy, according to preventive medicine researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of...

Meeting at U.N. headquarters agrees on need to stem illicit tobacco trade.(Brief Article)
September 29, 2002... 2002 SEP 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- As the International Conference on Illicit Tobacco Trade wrapped up at United Nations Headquarters in New York City, a senior World Health Organization official said the event had served to generate...

Orlando to be among three cities to test vaccine.(smallpox vaccine)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 29, 2002... 2002 SEP 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- U.S. government scientists plan to test a new smallpox vaccine in Orlando, Florida and two other cities. The tests will determine what dosage protects people against the virus as a biological...

Study finds 7 in 10 smokers want to quit.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 29, 2002... 2002 SEP 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Seven in 10 adult smokers in the United States say they want to quit - but their success in kicking the habit varies widely by race and education, the government says. A study of more than 32,000...

CDC: Three-fourths of U.S. toddlers got vaccinated against chickenpox.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 29, 2002... 2002 SEP 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Three-fourths of American toddlers received the chickenpox vaccine last year, up from just one-fourth 5 years ago, the government said. A nationwide survey found that 76% of children 19 to 35...

VA taps former top Air Force lawyer to improve regulations.(Veterans Affairs)(Brief Article)
September 29, 2002... 2002 SEP 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi recently selected retired Major General William A. Moorman, formerly the Judge Advocate General of the Air Force, to lead the review of all VA...