Sunday, December 12, 2010

10-year effort to find Hep C victims nears end with 71 people not identified


Sunday December 12 2010

A global hunt is on to track down the remaining women who were given contaminated blood during the Hepatitis C catastrophe. By the time the 10-year programme to locate all potential victims ends, Ireland's worst-ever health scandal is expected to have cost the State more than €1bn arising from compensation, legal fees, inquiry reports and the programme to track down people who received infected blood.

Irish embassies have been asked to assist in the final push. Dr Emer Lawlor, deputy national medical director of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS), said the tracing programme should be concluded by May next year.
So far, 3,726 recipients have been identified. Of these people, 2,599 tested negative and 325 had evidence of exposure to Hepatitis C but have since lost the virus.
In all, 295 people still have Hep C. "It means from that particular period, there are still 71 people whose identities are known to the IBTS who have still not been tested. Of these, 32 people declined to be tested," said Dr Lawlor.


European Citizens Are Drinking Themselves To Death
11 December 2010

Europe is failing to deal with the life-threatening effects of excessive and regular alcohol consumption on its citizens' health. Severe diseases, such as liver cirrhosis, are growing at an alarming rate and are affecting...


Platinum And Blue Light Combine To Combat Cancer
11 December 2010

When it comes to health care, blue lights are usually most useful on the top of ambulances; but now new research led by the University of Warwick has found a way to use blue light to activate what could be a highly potent..


The Gift That Keeps On Giving
09 December 2010

It's the season of giving. It's the time of year when we pause to think of those we love and reach out to help someone we might not even know. For Michelle Salerno, a Lombard, Ill., resident the perfect gift came early this year...


A consultant liver transplant surgeon explains the procedure

The surgeon says: Paolo Muiesan is consultant liver transplant at Kings College Hospital
The liver has remarkable powers of regeneration, but with liver disease its restorative abilities are greatly impaired.
People link cirrhosis with alcoholism, but cirrhosis is baused by a range of diseases. Livers are transplanted as a result of cancer, cirrhosis and acute liver failurre.
Liver transplant patients have the lowest rejection rate of all organ transplant receipients and we only need to match on blood group.
If a liver is about to become abavilalbe - possibly from someone about to be declared brain dead - the transplant coordinator will aircall or bleep the on-call liver surgeon any time of the day or night.
If it's me, I will be told the patient's medical history, including their length of time in intensive care. If none of these details preclude use of that organ, we will send a retrieval team - two surgeons, a nurse and a perfusionist (a technician whose job it is to look after the fluids preserving the organ) to recover the liver.
If the donor is in Europe - the UK has reciprocal arragements for organs with European countries - this sometimes means chartering a plane to get the team there and back fast. Even if it is kept in special preserving fluid, a liver starts to deteriorate after 14 hours out of the body....


Effects of alcohol on medications can be toxic, inhibitive

The advice to refrain from mixing alcohol with medication doesn't only mean when washing down the particular drug.
While it can be dangerous to mix certain prescription medications with alcohol, some over-the-counter medications can also cause a negative reaction, even if the medicine is taken hours before the alcohol consumption.
"The medicine will not disappear; it stays in the body," said Dr. Sam Zakhair, director of the division of Metabolism and Health Effects at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism....


Double Block of Blood Vessels to Starve Cancerous Tumors
A novel strategy of blocking the growth of blood vessels with antibodies should result in improved treatment of cancerous tumors, researchers in Finland ...

In Case You Missed It
Patients Desperately Needing Transplants Share Stories
They call on governor to restore AHCCCS cuts
Published : Tuesday, 07 Dec 2010, 5:16 PM MST

PHOENIX - Doctors, transplant patients and Democratic lawmakers blasted what they refer to as "BrewerCare" Tuesday, calling for Governor Jan Brewer to restore the money slashed from the state's Medicaid program AHCCCS.

A news conference was held at the state Capital. Among those in attendance were four people waiting for transplants for themselves or their loved ones, and called for Brewer to do something now before its too late.....

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