UMN: Bio-Med Library - Public Health

Last Updated: 2004-09-28 15:32:49 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Maggie Fox

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - This year's U.S. flu vaccine will be safe and will be distributed on time, Chiron Corp. President and Chief Executive Officer Howard Pien pledged on Tuesday.

Pien also said the company was working hard to develop a better and more efficient way to make influenza vaccine so it can adapt to epidemics that change as the virus mutates every year.

Last month Chiron said it would delay shipment of its FluVirin vaccine because lots containing 4 million doses of the vaccine did not meet sterility standards.

Article from: Reuters.com

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Link

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28 September 2004

Two new cases confirmed

Since yesterday, the Ministry of Public Health in Thailand has confirmed two new cases of H5N1 avian influenza in humans. The cases are a 26-year-old woman, who died on 20 September, and her 32-year-old sister, who remains hospitalized in stable condition.

These new cases bring the total in Thailand confirmed since early September to three. Altogether, Thailand has reported 15 cases, of which 10 were fatal, since the first human cases were detected in January of this year.

Investigation of possible human-to-human transmission in a family cluster

The most recent cases are part of a family cluster of four cases under investigation to determine whether human-to-human transmission may have occurred. Immediate investigation of any possible human-to-human transmission is always needed to determine whether transmission has been efficient and sustained. Such a situation would be cause for alarm, as it might signal the start of an influenza pandemic. Inefficient, limited human-to-human transmission may occur on rare occasions and is in line with what is known, from epidemiological and laboratory investigations, about the possible behaviour of the H5N1 virus.

Article from: WHO Communicable Disease Surveillance & Response (CSR)

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Tue Sep 28, 2004 03:51 PM ET

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans are caught between worries over the safety of the flu vaccine and fears that they will not be able to get it when they need it, a health official told Congress on Tuesday.

But the president of a major flu vaccine manufacturer pledged that his company's vaccine was safe and would be distributed on time for the October start of the flu season.

Last year's early influenza season led to heavy demand for the vaccine. And health officials miscalculated, so the vaccine, which is made up of three different flu strains, did not protect against the most common and dangerous strain.

Articel from: Reuters.com

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Tue Sep 28, 2004 11:04 AM ET

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Health insurance premiums for workers are rising around three times faster than their wages, and health costs eat up a quarter of earnings for more than 14 million Americans, according to a survey on Tuesday.

While benefits are being cut, health insurance premiums are rising, the report from the nonprofit Families USA found.

"Working families were squeezed by runaway health care costs over the past four years," said Families USA executive director Ron Pollack.

Article from Reuters.com

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ChemIDplus, the National Library of Medicine's dictionary of more than 360,000 chemicals, has a new look and new search features (http://chem.sis.nlm.nih.gov/chemidplus/chemidheavy.jsp).

Every day more than 3,000 toxicologists, scientists, researchers and pharmacologists use ChemIDplus to investigate chemicals that affect biological functions in humans and animals. ChemIDplus gives detailed information on every chemical discussed in MEDLINE/PubMed medical journals.

In a recent survey, users requested more chemical property information. In response, many CHEMIDplus records now provide boiling point, melting point, solubility, molecular weight, and other data. In addition, ChemIDplus users can now search for chemicals by their range of effects, by toxicity, and by the organs/body systems they may act on (such as nervous system, skin, heart, kidneys and liver). ChemIDplus also helps users draw a chemical structure, and search for other chemicals with similar structures. Details about the recently added data and guidance for searching it are provided ( http://chem.sis.nlm.nih.gov/chemidplus/documentation/help/chemidfs2webAdvanced.jsp).

Questions about ChemIDplus can be sent to NLM's Specialized Information Services Division mailto:tehip@teh.nlm.nih.gov

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26 Sep 2004

New guidelines on managing HIV have been published recently in Clinical Infectious Diseases (CID) and are available free online to all HIV care providers via the journal's electronic edition. The guidelines, developed by the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) of IDSA, summarize important changes in the way HIV/AIDS should be managed.

The success of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has extended the life of those infected with HIV and changed HIV/AIDS into a chronic disease that requires long-term management in the context of a person's overall life and health, the guideline authors say.

Article from : Medical News Today

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Associated Press
09.27.2004, 04:06 PM

American workers are paying more for their health insurance and getting less than they were four years ago, and the situation is particularly acute in several states important in the presidential race, said a consumer group that has been critical of President Bush.

Families USA also noted that the number of people without insurance jumped significantly since Bush took office, with more than 85 million people uninsured at some point during 2003 or 2004.

Articel from: Forbes.com

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Monday, September 27, 2004 —

The Measles Initiative is integrating innovative malaria prevention activities into mass measles vaccination campaigns in Africa. Current plans call for Togo to be the first country to achieve nationwide, household coverage of insecticide treated bednets (ITNs) in six days with plans to distribute 730,000 ITNs during the December 2004 campaign.

Insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs) are an important tool to fight death and disease due to malaria, especially in Africa south of the Sahara, which accounts for 90% of deaths due to malaria worldwide. One of the goals of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership is that in Africa south of the Sahara, 60% of the people most at risk (young children and pregnant women) will sleep under ITNs.

To date this target has not been met, because too often people who are most in need of the ITNs do not know about them, do not have access to them, or cannot afford them (even a unit cost of $5 is high for a rural African family).

Link to Red Cross

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Friday September 24, 9:08 am ET

WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The Disease Management Association of America (DMAA) has formed a committee that will be dedicated to further engaging the disease management community to support national initiatives in patient safety. The first task, a definition of patient safety as it applies to disease management programs, has been completed. The full definition will be available to the attendees at the Disease Management Leadership Forum, October 21-23, 2004, Orlando, Florida and will be included in DMAA's new book of DM Definitions.

Press Release

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Irvine, Calif. , September 23, 2004
In what may be a first step toward expanding the arsenal against HIV, UC Irvine researchers have successfully targeted an HIV protein that has eluded existing therapies.

Researchers targeted Nef, a protein responsible for accelerating the development of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. Nef was targeted with small molecules synthesized by the researchers – molecules that disrupted Nef’s interaction with other proteins.

Article from: Today@UCI

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By Kim Dixon and Ransdell Pierson

CHICAGO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - When it comes to the price tag for the newest biotechology drugs for cancer and other hard-to-treat diseases, the sky is likely to remain the limit, insurers, drugmakers and industry watchers say.

Neither HMOs nor the government-sponsored Medicare program is seriously challenging unprecedented costs for the new drugs, which include rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis treatments.

Article from: Reuters.com

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Friday, September 24, 2004 Posted: 10:51 AM EDT (1451 GMT)

ATLANTA, Georgia (Reuters) -- Alcohol abuse kills some 75,000 Americans each year and shortens the lives of these people by an average of 30 years, a U.S. government study suggested Thursday.

Excessive alcohol consumption is the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States after tobacco use and poor eating and exercise habits.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which published the study, estimated that 34,833 people in 2001 died from cirrhosis of the liver, cancer and other diseases linked to drinking too much beer, wine and spirits

Article from: CNN

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Publicly-reporting plans post fifth straight year of gains; broader system still plagued by quality gaps

Annual toll: 42,000 - 79,000 avoidable deaths, 66.5 million sick days and $1.8 billion in excess medical costs

Download the Report (PDF, 680 kb)

View the news conference Webcast (kaisernetwork.org)

NCQA's recently released State of Health Care Quality 2004 finds that the quality of care delivered by health plans that publicly report on their performance improved markedly last year. Yet the U.S. health care system as a whole remains plagued by deadly “quality gaps” that contribute to 42,000 to 79,000 avoidable deaths every year. The findings suggest that the system is deeply polarized, delivering excellent care to some people, and generally poor care to many others. NCQA’s annual State of Health Care Quality report also found that nearly 66.5 million avoidable sick days and more than $1.8 billion in excess medical costs can be traced to the health care system’s routine failure to provide needed care.

Link To: National Center for Quality Assurance (NCQA)

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Publicly-reporting plans post fifth straight year of gains; broader system still plagued by quality gaps

Annual toll: 42,000 - 79,000 avoidable deaths, 66.5 million sick days and $1.8 billion in excess medical costs

Download the Report (PDF, 680 kb)

View the news conference Webcast (kaisernetwork.org)

NCQA's recently released State of Health Care Quality 2004 finds that the quality of care delivered by health plans that publicly report on their performance improved markedly last year. Yet the U.S. health care system as a whole remains plagued by deadly “quality gaps” that contribute to 42,000 to 79,000 avoidable deaths every year. The findings suggest that the system is deeply polarized, delivering excellent care to some people, and generally poor care to many others. NCQA’s annual State of Health Care Quality report also found that nearly 66.5 million avoidable sick days and more than $1.8 billion in excess medical costs can be traced to the health care system’s routine failure to provide needed care.

Link To: National Center for Quality Assurance (NCQA)

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Poor Medical Treatment Kills Thousands in U.S., Says New Report on Health Care Quality

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON Sept. 23, 2004 — Requiring doctors and hospitals to report publicly on their performance and tying their pay to the results would dramatically reduce avoidable deaths and costs attributable to poor medical care, says a new report from an organization that works to improve health care quality.
Wild variations in medical care led to 79,000 avoidable deaths and $1.8 billion in additional medical costs last year, the private National Committee for Quality Assurance said in its annual report released Wednesday.

Article from: abc News

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By Janice Billingsley
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Sept. 23 (HealthDayNews) -- Recent flu seasons dominated by more severe strains of flu and an aging U.S. population that's more vulnerable to disease have caused a jump in the number of hospitalizations and deaths from the respiratory illness.

That's why it's crucial that people -- particularly those most vulnerable -- get a flu shot this fall, U.S. health officials said at a press conference Thursday in Washington, D.C.

"There has been a startling increase in the number of hospitalizations for flu, to approximately 200,000 last year, and Americans need to do better to protect themselves and their families," said Dr. Walter Orenstein, director of the National Immunization Program, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Article from: Forbes.com

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BuaNews (Pretoria)
NEWS
September 23, 2004
Posted to the web September 24, 2004

By Candace Freeman
Pretoria

HIV and AIDS prevalence rates among South African teenagers have been declining constantly, although general infection rates remain critical.

This was shown in the results of the 14th National HIV and Syphilis Sero-Prevelance Survey of women attending Public Antenatal Clinics for 2003 conducted by the Department of Health.

"There has been a constant decline in prevalence among teenagers since 1999. Other age groups have shown increases in prevalence, with the 25 to 29 year age group consistently recording higher rates," explained the report.

An estimated 35, 4 percent HIV prevalence was found among the 25 to 29 year olds attending antenatal clinics last year, compared to 31, 4 percent in 2001.

A figure of 15, 8 percent was recorded for teenagers up to 20 years.

Based on results of the antenatal survey, 5, 6 million South Africans were estimated to be HIV positive by the end of 2003. This is a rise of 300 000 from estimates in 2002.

Article from: allAfrica.com

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Annual Report Suggests Polarized Health System

POSTED: 10:11 am EDT September 23, 2004

WASHINGTON -- Routine failure to provide needed health care in the United States came with the price tag of $1.8 billion in additional medical costs and up to 79,000 avoidable deaths, according to a new study.

In its annual report, the private National Committee for Quality Assurance said there was some improvement last year in the care offered by the nation's managed care organizations.

Articel from: Channel 3000

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NUPGE president James Clancy contrasts advantages of Canada's single-payer system with America's failure to insure all and curb soaring costs

Lake Buena Vista, Florida - The United States could eliminate vast health care inequities and save huge amounts of money by adopting a single-payer system similar to the one pioneered by Canada, James Clancy, NUPGE national president, told an American union audience yesterday.

Clancy delivered the remarks Tuesday at the annual Inter-Union Gas Workers Conference, hosted this year by the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical, and Energy Workers International Union (PACE).

Article from: National Union of Public and General Employees

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Greetings U of M students, faculty and staff...

The Fall schedule of classes are now available. Please feel free to check them
out at: http://www.biomed.lib.umn.edu/lc.html

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Tuesday, September 21, 2004 Posted: 9:51 AM EDT (1351 GMT)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The United States needs more black, Hispanic and American Indian doctors and nurses if minorities have any hope of catching up to whites in terms of the quality and accessibility of health care, a special commission said Monday.

While blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans make up more than 25 percent of the U.S. population, they represent only 9 percent of the nation's nurses, 6 percent of doctors and 5 percent of dentists, the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Health Workforce said.

Article from: CNN.com

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22 September, 2004
CHINA

Hong Kong (AsiaNews/SCMP) - Hong Kong scientists say they have identified chemical compounds that can stop Sars being infectious, raising hopes for a cure for the deadly illness.

The breakthrough is based on "chemical genetics", or the use of chemicals to thwart viruses from replicating.

Using a new method called the high-throughput screening platform, the researchers quickly screened the Sars virus against a chemical library of more than 50,000 molecule compounds.

Article from: AsiaNews.it

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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded a contract to Aventis Pasteur Inc. to make and store two million doses of avian influenza H5N1 vaccine, it was announced Tuesday.

The vaccine is designed to counter the H5N1 influenza virus that has killed 29 people in Vietnam and Thailand so far this year.

The $13 million contract is meant to ensure that the United States is prepared for a pandemic of this form of avian influenza virus. The vaccine would be used to protect laboratory staffers, public health workers and, if needed, the general public, according to a HHS news release.

From drkoop.com

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Article from BBC

The government has been urged to speed up its research into Variant CJD - the human form of mad cow disease.

It follows news that more than 460 people in Northern Ireland are being warned that they could have been exposed to vCJD through blood plasma products.

The Department of Health said on Tuesday that it was writing to 464 patients to explain they were potentially at a small increased risk of infection.

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What is Epidemiologic Perspectives & Innovations?

Epidemiologic Perspectives & Innovations is an open access, peer-reviewed, online journal of epidemiologic research methods, applications, critical overviews, teaching tools, perspectives, and other analytic work.

Epidemiology, is a critically important field in informing clinical, policy, and individual health decisions. It is a young field, experiencing major fundamental advances every year, however the high social value of its results means the science is primarily devoted to producing immediate results. Yet existing journals almost exclusively publish reports of new epidemiologic study results, leaving few pages available for other contributions to the science and its applications. Such contributions, including policy applications of epidemiologic findings, new methodology, critical overviews of the field, re-analyses of previous findings, and methods for teaching and communicating, require thoughtful, critical scholarly discussion.

Epidemiologic Perspectives & Innovations provides a forum for such contributions - anything in or about epidemiology other than just reporting new study findings. Of particular interest are articles about policy, philosophy, and practices in the field, which do not relegate to commentary or discussion, but are treated as analytic work. Epidemiologic Perspectives & Innovations emphasizes articles that are accessible and of interest to a broad range of health researchers, teachers, practitioners, and policy makers, rather than those that appeal primarily to a few specialists in a particular subfield.

Edited by Corinne Aragaki and Carl V. Phillips, Epidemiologic Perspectives & Innovations is supported by an international Editorial Board.

For more information and manuscript submission click here

The University of Minnesota Libraries is a member of BioMed Central. This membership enables students, faculty and staff to publish articles without paying a processing charge. For more info please go to: http://www.biomedcentral.com/inst/20200

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Environmental Defense Lays Out Plan To Cut By 80% Key Air Pollution Sources That Trigger Asthma

(20 September 2004 -- New York) A new report from Environmental Defense ranks the top 50 U.S. cities where the worst air pollution impacts the greatest number of kids. The Dangerous Days of Summer report recognizes the serious impact poor air quality has on the health of children, but especially on those with asthma, and lays out a plan to reduce by 80% the most important sources of air pollution that trigger asthma.

"This report is a wake up call. Fighting for clean air in this country means fighting for the millions of kids that struggle to breathe every day because of pollution," said John Balbus, M.D., M.P.H., director of the health program at Environmental Defense. "The good news is that the country can curb the triggers of asthma and ease the burden of other health consequences from air pollution. An urgent first step toward this goal is for EPA to cut the harmful pollution from power plant smokestacks instead of weakening long-standing clean air protections."

Link to press release

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Harnessing the exquisite specificity of the immune system to detect and attack cancer cells has long been a dream of cancer immunologists. Cancer vaccines are getting ever closer to becoming reality as they are shown to consistently and reproducibly stimulate the immune system to attack cancer-specific targets. Now early-phase clinical trials are beginning to show hints of the promise of immunotherapy.

Article from: Eurekalert.com

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WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., SEPT. 22, 2004 -- The March of Dimes today issued the following statement on the report on newborn screening prepared for the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration by the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG):
The March of Dimes supports comprehensive newborn screening for all babies in this country, regardless of their place of birth. Our policy is to support screening for specific conditions when there is a documented benefit to the child and there is a reliable test that enables early detection from newborn blood spots or other means. We support parents' rights to be fully informed about their baby's screening results, and we support expansion of health care provider education about newborn screening. March of Dimes state chapters and their partners work closely with governors, state legislators, and health departments to improve state newborn screening programs.

The March of Dimes strongly commends the ACMG report for advancing the field of newborn screening, defining a uniform panel for newborn screening, and providing a policy framework for the states. We support the recommendations in this report and we urge the Secretary of Health and Human Services to accept them as a national standard for newborn screening.

Article from Eurekalert.com

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A naturally occurring chemical that may repel yellow fever mosquitoes can now be made in the laboratory, Indiana University Bloomington scientists report.

"The synthesis requires only seven steps," said organic chemist P. Andrew Evans, who led the research. "It should be quite trivial to scale this up to the production of large quantities."

Gaur acid is a natural skin secretion of the gaur, an Asian wild ox. Preliminary evidence suggests that this chemical discourages the landing and feeding of Aedes aegypti, a common mosquito that carries and transmits the yellow fever virus in some parts of the world.

Evans and his group used a rhodium catalyst to aid the tricky synthesis of gaur acid, also known as bovinic acid. In doing so, the chemists also determined the exact chemical structure of the compound. Their approach is described in Angewandte Chemie, a German chemistry journal.

Article from: Eurekalert.com

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More physicians are finding that board recertification has evolved into a continuous certification process.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. Sept. 27, 2004.

Family physician Tony Golden, MD, has been through board recertification three times. He isn't sure he can stomach a fourth one.

"I've seriously questioned doing it again," said Dr. Golden, who practices in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Board-certified family physicians go through recertification every seven years, but Dr. Golden and other doctors are facing a new era in recertification. In 2000, medical specialty boards agreed to transition their recertification programs into maintenance-of-certification processes, which focus on continuous lifelong learning.

Article from amednews.com

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EDITORIAL
As medical technology advances, new information about health risks disease becomes common knowledge. Among members of the general public, discussions about disease risk factors and potential links to lifestyles and genetics are common topics.

One item of particular concern is the ongoing debate about potential relationships between cancer risk and substances that people normally come into contact with at home or in the workplace.

Some studies suggest that exposure to chemicals that "mimic" hormones -- including drugs taken in some hormone replacement therapies -- might increase breast or ovarian cancer risk.

Article from theithacajournal.com

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NLM is pleased to announce the debut of the NLM Catalog, a new Entrez database. The NLM Catalog provides access to NLM bibliographic data for over 1.2 million journals, books, audiovisuals, computer software, electronic resources, and other materials via the NCBI Entrez retrieval system. Supporting automated mapping features such as explosions on MeSH terms, the new database is an alternate search interface to the bibliographic records resident in LocatorPlus. The NLM Catalog is available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi from the "Search" pull-down menu and from the PubMed sidebar. It is also a hyperlink under "Library Catalogs and Services" on the NLM homepage.

For further information about the new database, see the overview at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query/static/nlmcat_help.html#overview

Posted by Cindy Gruwell at 09:20 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Last Updated: 2004-09-17 13:00:26 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Darius James Ross

VILNIUS (Reuters) - A lack of information and public funding is helping fuel the spread of HIV/AIDS in several recent European Union entrants and threatens to become pandemic across the bloc, a panel of experts said on Friday.

They said the opening of borders on Europe's eastern flank could allow for an influx of infections into western Europe from areas such as the Baltics, where cash-strapped governments find it difficult to fund prevention and costly treatment programs.

In addition, they added, a lack of information on prevention and transmission of HIV, coupled with public prejudice against those who have tested positive, may worsen the situation.

Article from Reuters

Posted by Cindy Gruwell at 09:12 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -There have been widespread concerns that mercury-based preservatives used in vaccines might impair the neurological development of children, but the opposite seems to be true.

Immunizing infants with vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal may actually be associated with improved behavior and mental performance, according to two British studies published in the medical journal Pediatrics.

Dr. Jon Heron of the University of Bristol, and colleagues followed 12,956 children, born in 1991 and 1992, until they were about 7-1/2 years old. Information was collected on doses of thimerosal-containing diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccines given at ages 3, 4, and 6 months, as well as on measures of behavior, fine motor skills, speech, tics and special education needs.

Article from Reuters

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Health affairs article: Federal oversight, increasing public coverage, data collection, and workforce diversity all key steps to improve care
New York City, September 14, 2004--Eliminating disparities in health care for minority children will take a concerted quality improvement effort throughout the fragmented U.S. health care system, best overseen by a national body housed within the Department of Health and Human Services, says an article in the September/October issue of Health Affairs.
In "Policies to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Child Health and Health Care," Commonwealth Fund Senior Program Officer Anne C. Beal, M.D., details a strategy to eliminate pervasive disparities in the care received by children of color in the U.S. compared with white children while improving quality of care for all children. Key elements in any effort to achieve high quality care for all children, she writes, include increasing children's enrollment in public insurance programs, improving quality of care for beneficiaries enrolled in public programs and for patients who receive care from safety net providers, collecting data on disparities and monitoring progress to eliminate them, and training providers to treat an increasingly diverse patient population as well as increasing the diversity of the health care workforce to reflect the patient population.

Article from: EurekAlert

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By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter
From HealthDayNews

Sept. 13, 2004 — The air in some parts of Southern California is so dirty that it impedes the development of children's lungs.

By the time they are 18, many children who grow up in polluted areas have lungs that are underdeveloped and will likely stay that way into adulthood, claims a study in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Article from: ABC News

Posted by Cindy Gruwell at 02:19 PM | Permalink

By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY
In the fight against cancer, some scientists are thinking small. Really, really small.
The National Cancer Institute launches a five-year, $144 million project today to investigate using nanotechnology, the science of building devices on the atomic level, to fight cancer.

Article from: USA Today

Posted by Cindy Gruwell at 02:17 PM | Permalink

National-NBC) Sept. 13, 2004 - Health care costs are on the rise, and American workers are feeling the effects, according to a new survey.

Employers have cut health care coverage for five million jobs since 2001, according to a yearly survey of 3000 companies in the US.

Much of the loss is credited to small businesses that can't compensate for rising health care expenses.

Article from: WIS News 10

Posted by Cindy Gruwell at 02:16 PM | Permalink

Few patients with cancer and other serious illnesses have applied for early Medicare prescription drug coverage, according to the Associated Press.

The Bush administration had planned on a lottery to see who would get the 50,000 slots that were created as part of last year's Medicare prescription drug law. But, just 6,364 people have submitted early applications for insurance for expensive medications such as oral cancer drugs and self-injectable drugs for multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and other serious diseases, the AP said.

Article from: Dr. Koop

Posted by Cindy Gruwell at 02:14 PM | Permalink

By Zhang Feng (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-09-14 01:03

Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi said Monday that China is willing to strengthen co-operation with other countries and regions of the Western Pacific in fighting various diseases including communicable and chronic ones.

Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi (C) gives a speech during the opening ceremony of the 55th session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for the Western Pacific in the city of Shanghai September 13, 2004.

Although having achieved a victory in containing SARS and avian influenza in recent years, the region now faces the increasing burden brought by various diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and chronic diseases, Wu said.

Article from: China Daily

Posted by Cindy Gruwell at 02:13 PM | Permalink

U.S. Congress passes teen suicide prevention bill

Last Updated: 2004-09-10 10:25:29 -0400 (Reuters Health)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress on Thursday easily passed a bill to help prevent teen suicide, legislation named for a senator's son who took his own life a year ago this week.

The legislation, which authorizes $80 million over three years for prevention programs and research, now goes to President George W. Bush for his signature.

Link from Reuters: Health

Posted by Cindy Gruwell at 02:09 PM | Permalink

Brussels, 8 September 2004

HIV/AIDS – a resurgent epidemic in Europe and its neighbourhood: Commission calls for political leadership
A paper adopted by the European Commission today calls for the EU to show political leadership in averting an HIV/AIDS epidemic in Europe and its neighbouring countries. The proportion of newly reported HIV cases has doubled in Western Europe since 1995. In certain of the countries that joined the EU on 1 May and in the EU’s eastern neighbours the rates of new infections are the highest in the world. The paper calls for greater efforts to prevent the spread of the disease, measures to ensure people in poorer European countries have access to affordable treatment, better coordination of national HIV/AIDS strategies and action to develop new medicines and vaccines. The Commission’s paper is due to be debated by Health ministers and AIDS experts from across the EU and its eastern neighbours at an international conference in Vilnius on 16-17 September

Link: http://www.aids.lt/iac/

Posted by Cindy Gruwell at 02:07 PM | Permalink

Big News Network.com Monday 13th September, 2004

The World Health Organization warned Sunday in China an avian influenza epidemic may occur unless Asian countries intensify preventative efforts.

Compared with SARS, I am a lot more concerned (with the avian influenza), Shigeru Omi, director of WHO Regional Office for Western Pacific, told reporters at Shanghai's 55th session of the WHO Western Pacific Regional Committee, reported Xinhua, China's main government-run news agency.

Articel from: Big News Network.com

Posted by Cindy Gruwell at 11:00 PM | Permalink

/10/2004 5:25:00 PM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: National Desk

Contact: HHS Press Office, 202-690-6343; Web: http://www.hhs.gov/

WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 /U.S. Newswire/ -- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said the third anniversary of the worst attack on American soil marks a time to remember the lives lost and their families, take measure of the tremendous progress made in bolstering our nation's preparedness for another attack, and reaffirm our commitment to further strengthening our nation's public health system.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, the nation's public health infrastructure has been strengthened, hospitals' surge capacities have grown, new science to limit the dangers of bioterrorism have been created, and antidotes to deadly agents and other medical countermeasures have been produced and stockpiled. Yet, Secretary Thompson warns there is more work to do and the nation must remain vigilant and dedicated to further strengthening our public health system and preparedness for a terrorist attack.

Article from: U.S. Newswire

Posted by Cindy Gruwell at 10:44 PM | Permalink

Friday, September 10, 2004 · Last updated 2:32 p.m. PT

By MARK SHERMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Nancy Davenport Innis, chief executive of the not-for-profit Patient Advocate Foundation is shown in Washington Friday, Sept. 10, 2004. Far from the expected deluge, applications have lagged for generous, early Medicare prescription drug coverage for patients with cancer and other illnesses.The Bush administration was planning a lottery to fill 50,000 slots that were included in last year's Medicare prescription drug law. Instead, just 6,364 people have applied for the head start on drug insurance for costly oral cancer medicines and self-injectable drugs for multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases. (AP Photo/Lauren Burke)

WASHINGTON -- Far from the expected deluge, relatively few patients with cancer and other serious illnesses have applied for generous early Medicare prescription drug coverage.

The Bush administration was planning a lottery to determine who would get the 50,000 slots included in last year's Medicare prescription drug law. Instead, just 6,364 people have applied for the head start on drug insurance for costly cancer medicines taken orally and self-injectable drugs for multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases.

The Medicare Web site now advises: "There are still many enrollment slots available!"

Article from : Seattle Post Intelligencer

Posted by Cindy Gruwell at 05:00 PM | Permalink

Some companies are offering workers financial incentives to be healthy.

JULIE APPLEBY
USA TODAY

The cost of health insurance provided by employers rose an average of 11.2 percent this year and is expected to rise again in 2005, adding to the economic anxiety of workers and businesses.

It is the fourth-straight year of double-digit premium increases.

For the first time, the average cost of a family policy in the most popular type of insurance - known as a PPO - went above $10,000, according to an annual survey of more than 3,000 large and small employers conducted by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.

Article from: Tucson Citizen

Posted by Cindy Gruwell at 04:39 PM | Permalink

Data first to find protection for all pneumococcal-related illnesses
VANDERBILT The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, which has been routinely given to young children since 2000, reduces the incidence of middle ear infection and pneumonia, a new study shows.
"This highlights that the vaccine significantly decreases illnesses in children and reinforces its importance in our public health efforts," said Dr. Kathy Poehling, assistant professor of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville.

The study appears in the September issue of the journal "Pediatrics."

Article form EurekAlert

Posted by Cindy Gruwell at 09:38 PM | Permalink

Tuesday, September 7, 2004 Posted: 11:48 AM EDT (1548 GMT)

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Vaccinating children against chickenpox saves the U.S. health care system nearly $100 million a year in reduced hospitalizations for severe cases of the itchy disease, a study found.

Though most people who get the usually mild disease can be treated at home, chickenpox can be serious, and complications requiring hospitalization can include severe skin infections, encephalitis and pneumonia.

Article from CNN:Health

Posted by Cindy Gruwell at 09:33 PM | Permalink

Tuesday, September 7, 2004 Posted: 4:17 PM EDT (2017 GMT)

CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) -- Heavily diluted doses of existing smallpox vaccine remain effective, which means the U.S. stockpile of the vaccine can be stretched if needed, researchers said on Tuesday.

Smallpox is a highly contagious viral disease that killed untold millions until it was officially eradicated in 1979, but fears following the September 2001 attacks that it might be used as a biological weapon sparked a U.S. effort to ensure there was enough vaccine.

A large portion of the available smallpox vaccine in the United States has been frozen since it was manufactured in the 1950s. The U.S. government has contracted with Britain's Acambis Plc to supply millions more new doses.

Article from CNN:Health