.'THERE is some confusion about the cause of the liver disease that has given Fred Kress a short time to live. The 46-year-old handyman and house painter, who lives outside of Baltimore, had had hepatitis C, which causes liver damage, for several years. Doctors at one point suggested that alcohol abuse may have been a contributing factor, which makes no sense, Mr. Kress and his family say, because he was never much of a drinker. The real culprit, he now believes, was chemical: he didn’t wear the right mask when he was painting houses, and when he did his craft projects, making alien masks out of fiberglass resin, he worked in a small, windowless room, ignoring all the warning labels on the supplies he used.
He served with the Army with the First Cavalry Division as a sniper. He was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds suffered in a November 1969 ambush that cost him his right leg. Eight years ago he had a liver transplant, having contracted hepatitis C, likely through blood transfusions years earlier when rehabbing in Army hospitals.
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Hepatitis C Substantially Impacts U.S. Work ProductivityKantar Health Research Wins Presidential Poster of Distinction Award at 2010 AASLD Meeting
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - November 10, 2010) - Hepatitis C (HCV) places a burden on U.S. employers because of increased work productivity loss for those with the virus, according to the National Health and Wellness Survey, conducted by Kantar Health and presented recently in a poster at the 2010 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) annual meeting. The study also suggests that HCV places a substantial burden on the U.S. healthcare system because of an increased number of emergency room and physician visits.
Organ donors leave behind one of the greatest gifts of all.
`Someone had to die for me to live."
That's been the hardest thing for liver transplant recipient Linus Maxwell to get straight in his head.
The Blenheim man received a donated liver in July 2007 after being diagnosed with hepatitis C a year earlier. The gratitude he feels to the woman whose liver saved his life has been a powerful incentive to make the most of every day and look after his body.
Through the donor co-ordinator, he has written to the donor's family telling them he is really well and thanking them for the gift of new life.
Mr Maxwell was 17 when he contracted hepatitis C by sharing needles – a stupid mistake of youth that came close to killing him 30 years later.
New York Times examines HIV prevention products undergoing clinical trials
10. November 2010
The New York Times examines several products being studied in clinical trials that researchers hope will one day prevent sexual transmission of HIV. The newspaper describes the ongoing trials of a vaginal microbicide gel containing the antiretroviral tenofovir which was found to reduce the risk of HIV infection in women by 39 percent, writing, "[o]ther clinical trials will report their results in 2011 and 2012 and, if all goes well, researchers hope to have a product or two ready to enter the market by 2013."
Kidney Exchange: Saving 14 Lives
WASHINGTON, DC (Ivanhoe Newswire) --More than 80,000 men and women are waiting for a kidney. Seven of them on the transplantation list will die today.
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Former GSK Lawyer Charged in Bupropion Cover-Up
The U.S. Department of Justice has charged a former vice president and lawyer at GlaxoSmithKline with trying to cover up evidence that the company was illegally marketing the depression drug bupropion (Wellbutrin) as a weight-loss aid.
Polio Outbreak: Republic Of Congo Launches Emergency Response
Written by Catharine Paddock, PhDWith support from American and international agencies, the government of the Republic of Congo has launched an emergency response plan, with nationwide vaccination starting on Friday, to deal with the polio outbreak that...
Drinks High In Fructose Raise Gout Risk For Women
Written by Christian NordqvistWomen who regularly consume drinks with a high fructose content have a 74% higher risk of developing gout compared to females who consume such drinks once per month or less, researchers from Boston University School of..
When the Doctor Has a Boss
Anna Wilde Mathews(The Wall Street Journal, New York, November 8, 2010)"The traditional model of doctors hanging up their own shingles is fading fast, as more go to work directly for hospitals that are building themselves into consolidated health-care providers…The biggest U.S. physician-recruiting firm, Merritt Hawkins, a unit of AMN Healthcare Inc., said the share of its doctor searches that were for positions with hospitals [were up]…The number of searches for physician groups and partnerships has dropped. The number of searches for physician groups and partnerships has dropped. The trend is tied to the needs of both doctors and hospitals, as well as to emerging changes in how insurers and government programs pay for care."
U.S.: Survey: Fewer Doctors Taking Freebies from Drug Companies
Judith Graham(Chicago Tribune, November 8, 2010)"Fewer doctors report accepting drug samples, gifts, meals and all-expenses-paid trips from drug companies, according to a new study...Still, arrangements between physicians and the pharmaceutical industry continue to be common…The results 'may be signaling the slow death of the primary marketing model for drug companies, which is paying doctors to influence their behavior,' said Eric Campbell, the study's leader and director of research at the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital. The physicians most likely to have relationships with drug companies practiced in independent groups; those least likely were employed by hospitals or medical schools, many of which have adopted policies cracking down on gift-giving by pharmaceutical representatives."Free registration required.
Hidden Heart Disease
Laura Landro(The Wall Street Journal, New York, November 9, 2010)"About a third of U.S. adults have hypertension, which leads to one in six deaths in the U.S. But at least the same number, and possibly as many as 37%, are prehypertensive. Because prehypertension was only formally identified as a concern in 2003, doctors haven't reached consensus on treatment, and there is mounting debate about the best approach. Some doctors are sticking by federal guidelines that recommend lifestyle changes…Others, especially when treating patients at the high end of the prehypertension range, are turning to drugs usually prescribed for high blood pressure, based on new evidence that they can prevent or delay progression to full-blown hypertension."Free registration required.
Canada: Hospital Bans Waiting-Room Magazines
Dakshana Bascaramurty(The Globe and Mail, November 9, 2010)"Some infection-control experts see removal of shared items as necessary to control the spread of disease, while others say such measures are pointless if proper triage and hand hygiene measures aren’t prioritized. And for patients who have to sit in waiting rooms for hours on end? Such policing can be overkill…reactions to the pandemic of the moment. Before SARS, avian flu and H1N1, waiting room signs politely asked that you return reading materials to tables before leaving. Now the areas have become environments filled with hand-sanitizing stations and disposable masks…But as recent history has shown, after each health scare fades, public and even hospital vigilance often does, too.
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As H.I.V. Babies Come of Age, Problems Linger
Pam Belluck(The New York Times, November 5, 2010)"At a time when H.I.V. in the United States has become a manageable disease for many [youth with HIV]…are proof of the epidemic’s troubling, lingering legacy. They are the survivors, born beginning in the 1990s to the first big wave of people with AIDS, babies practically destined to die. Improvements in drugs, along with some luck, allowed some 10,000 of them to live -- and these days only about 200 children a year are born with H.I.V., thanks to vigilant drug treatment of infected pregnant women. But life for those first H.I.V. babies now entering adolescence and adulthood has been a battle, and their experience is considered so significant -- not only in this country but also for the millions of H.I.V.-positive babies worldwide -- that federal health agencies have begun an extensive study to follow these young people as they grow up."Free registration required.
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