In the News
Hepatitis A warning issued after Christmas communion on Long Island
New York (CNN) -- Hundreds of people might have been exposed to hepatitis A while receiving communion on Christmas Day, Long Island officials said Monday.
The Nassau County Department of Health is offering vaccines to those who attended two services at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Massapequa Park in Long Island, New York, according to Nassau County Department of Health spokeswoman Mary Ellen Laurain.
Individuals might be at risk if they received communion during the 10:30 am and noon Masses, according to a statement from the county health department.
"We know that there's a potential that (exposure) could have happened," she said. "We think the risk is relatively low."
At least one member of the clergy involved in the communion process was infected with the disease, Laurain said.
There have been no additional reports of illness.
Some 1,300 people were in attendance between the two church services, she added.
Symptoms of the disease include the onset of fever, fatigue, poor appetite, nausea, stomach pain, dark-colored urine and jaundice, according the statement. The disease is rarely fatal and most people recover within a few weeks without complications, it said.
Individuals exposed to the disease should receive vaccination within two weeks of exposure, the statement said.
Source
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Stara Zagora is nearing epidemic of hepatitis A
03 January 2011 22:22 FOCUS
03 January 2011 22:22 FOCUS
News Agency Bulgaria
Stara Zagora / Haskovo. The town of Stara Zagora is nearing epidemic of hepatitis A. Only in the last few days in the county hospital in Stara Zagora were adopted 150 people, bTV announced. Only today 15 new patients with jaundice were hospitalized. The source of infection is not clear yet. Doctors in Stara Zagora do not remember such a boom of hepatitis for years.
36m Indians suffer from Hepatitis-B: Bishnu
January 4th, 2011
The number of Indians getting Hepatitis-B and succumbing to the disease has increased with the country ranking second in the list of countries with the most Hepatitis-B affected patients, said Prof. Bishnu Pada Chatterjee, emeritus professor at West Bengal University of Technology.
Speaking to this newspaper on Monday during the Indian Science Congress, Prof Chatterjee said that about two billion people have been infected with the disease worldwide of which 36 million are from India. “Hepatitis B and C infections are major global problems. Of the two billion people infected worldwide, more than 350 million are chronic carriers of the virus. About five to 12 lakh people die due to Hepatitis every year. The majority of people chronically infected with viral hepatitis are living in Asia and the Western Pacific region,” he added.
Prof. Chatterjee said even though the government had asked all hospitals to test the blood of donors before transfusing, it was not being followed. “Persons transfusing blood in hospitals do not have adequate awareness about using sterilized syringes and blood is not being tested for HIV or hepatitis. These are the reasons for hepatitis spreading to others and for more people succumbing to the disease,” he added.
He pointed out that hepatitis-related morbidity and mortality could be greatly reduced by a dual approach of integrating Hepatitis-B and C vaccines into all national immunization programmes, besides effectively treating the infection.
Stara Zagora / Haskovo. The town of Stara Zagora is nearing epidemic of hepatitis A. Only in the last few days in the county hospital in Stara Zagora were adopted 150 people, bTV announced. Only today 15 new patients with jaundice were hospitalized. The source of infection is not clear yet. Doctors in Stara Zagora do not remember such a boom of hepatitis for years.
36m Indians suffer from Hepatitis-B: Bishnu
January 4th, 2011
The number of Indians getting Hepatitis-B and succumbing to the disease has increased with the country ranking second in the list of countries with the most Hepatitis-B affected patients, said Prof. Bishnu Pada Chatterjee, emeritus professor at West Bengal University of Technology.
Speaking to this newspaper on Monday during the Indian Science Congress, Prof Chatterjee said that about two billion people have been infected with the disease worldwide of which 36 million are from India. “Hepatitis B and C infections are major global problems. Of the two billion people infected worldwide, more than 350 million are chronic carriers of the virus. About five to 12 lakh people die due to Hepatitis every year. The majority of people chronically infected with viral hepatitis are living in Asia and the Western Pacific region,” he added.
Prof. Chatterjee said even though the government had asked all hospitals to test the blood of donors before transfusing, it was not being followed. “Persons transfusing blood in hospitals do not have adequate awareness about using sterilized syringes and blood is not being tested for HIV or hepatitis. These are the reasons for hepatitis spreading to others and for more people succumbing to the disease,” he added.
He pointed out that hepatitis-related morbidity and mortality could be greatly reduced by a dual approach of integrating Hepatitis-B and C vaccines into all national immunization programmes, besides effectively treating the infection.
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Worth Your Time:
The huffington post has an interesting article written by Frances Kissling which covers the story of two sisters who were jailed for life in 1994 for armed burglary. They both had their sentences suspended in December by Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour with one sisters release contingent on donating her kidney to "The Other Sister Who Was Released". On this blog a few days ago was an entry on Organ Harvesting In China . If you read that entry or not you will most likely agree with what the author Ms. Kisslings wrote in her piece:
"While donating a kidney is extremely safe when donors are healthy and a rigorous evaluation has taken place, it does have a small risk of death. Requiring a prisoner to agree to take this risk in return for parole violates international transplant standards and human rights. The idea that prisoners are able to consent to risky medical treatment in return for benefits is one that ethicists have long questioned. It's one step removed from the Chinese government practice of selling the organs of executed prisoners and kidneys from live Falun Gong and others in jail".
Read The Full Article Here
NATAP posted this today :
EU drugs agency launches new guidelines for HIV testing in injecting drug users - pdf of guidelines attached
- (01/03/11)
No resistance to tenofovir disoproxil fumarate detected after up to 144 weeks of therapy in patients monoinfected with chronic hepatitis B virus - published pdf attached
- (01/03/11)
From Medical News Today:
Terrence Higgins Trust Launches New Support Groups For Gay Men In Brighton & Hove, UK
03 January 2011Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) is to launch three support groups in the New Year all aimed at gay men living with HIV in Brighton & Hove. Two groups; the Lounge (for men who have been living with HIV for a year or more) and...
[read article]
Fraunhofer MEVIS And The University Of Bern Cooperate With The Leading Liver Center In Shanghai
02 January 2011In a research partnership between the Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing MEVIS in Bremen and the ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research at the University of Bern, this navigation technique will be...
[read article]
If you're new to this blog check out HCV Advocate Newsletter, January 2011
Other Health News
From Medpage:
Depression Plus Diabetes Raises CV Death RiskThe coexistence of depression and diabetes confers a high mortality risk on middle-age women, particularly for death from cardiovascular disease, a prospective study showed.
The huffington post has an interesting article written by Frances Kissling which covers the story of two sisters who were jailed for life in 1994 for armed burglary. They both had their sentences suspended in December by Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour with one sisters release contingent on donating her kidney to "The Other Sister Who Was Released". On this blog a few days ago was an entry on Organ Harvesting In China . If you read that entry or not you will most likely agree with what the author Ms. Kisslings wrote in her piece:
"While donating a kidney is extremely safe when donors are healthy and a rigorous evaluation has taken place, it does have a small risk of death. Requiring a prisoner to agree to take this risk in return for parole violates international transplant standards and human rights. The idea that prisoners are able to consent to risky medical treatment in return for benefits is one that ethicists have long questioned. It's one step removed from the Chinese government practice of selling the organs of executed prisoners and kidneys from live Falun Gong and others in jail".
Read The Full Article Here
NATAP posted this today :
EU drugs agency launches new guidelines for HIV testing in injecting drug users - pdf of guidelines attached
- (01/03/11)
No resistance to tenofovir disoproxil fumarate detected after up to 144 weeks of therapy in patients monoinfected with chronic hepatitis B virus - published pdf attached
- (01/03/11)
From Medical News Today:
Terrence Higgins Trust Launches New Support Groups For Gay Men In Brighton & Hove, UK
03 January 2011Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) is to launch three support groups in the New Year all aimed at gay men living with HIV in Brighton & Hove. Two groups; the Lounge (for men who have been living with HIV for a year or more) and...
[read article]
Fraunhofer MEVIS And The University Of Bern Cooperate With The Leading Liver Center In Shanghai
02 January 2011In a research partnership between the Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing MEVIS in Bremen and the ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research at the University of Bern, this navigation technique will be...
[read article]
If you're new to this blog check out HCV Advocate Newsletter, January 2011
Other Health News
From Medpage:
Depression Plus Diabetes Raises CV Death RiskThe coexistence of depression and diabetes confers a high mortality risk on middle-age women, particularly for death from cardiovascular disease, a prospective study showed.
Posttraumatic stress disorder -- but not a history of concussion -- strongly predicted postconcussive symptoms and poorer psychosocial outcomes in soldiers returning from a long deployment to Iraq, researchers found.
Recalled:
Albuterol Inhalation Solution Recalled Due to Mislabeling
Albuterol Inhalation Solution Recalled Due to Mislabeling
Robert Lowes
Authors and Disclosures
January 3, 2011 — Ritedose is voluntarily recalling 0.083% albuterol sulfate inhalation solution in 3-mL single-use dose vials because some vials are embossed with incorrect concentration information, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today.
The product package makes the mislabeling even more confusing. The single-use dose vials are wrapped in protective foil inside a shelf carton. Single-use vials with an actual concentration of 2.5 mg/3 mL are incorrectly embossed with a concentration of 0.5 mg/3 mL. The correct concentration of 2.5 mg/3 mL, however, appears on the protective foil and shelf carton.
Clinicians who read the incorrect concentration embossed on the vials may mistakenly adjust the volume of the product upward, resulting in an administered dose that is 5 times the recommended one. This error is more likely in hospital settings, where the inhalation-solution vials often are not accompanied by the rest of the packaging.
Significant overdosing could result in signs and symptoms of albuterol toxicity, which includes tremors, dizziness, nervousness, headaches, seizures, angina, high blood pressure, low potassium levels, and rapid heart rates up to 200 beats per minute. Potential health effects range from temporary and medically reversible to life-threatening and fatal.
Albuterol sulfate inhalation solution is indicated for the treatment of acute asthma exacerbations and exercise-induced asthma in adults and children.
Patients should return the albuterol inhalation solution to the medical practice, pharmacy, or hospital where they obtained it.
More information about today’s announcement, including lot numbers of the product under recall, is available on the FDA Web site.
Clinicians and patients also can contact Ritedose by telephone at 1-803-935-3995 or by email at recall@ritedose.com.
To report adverse events related to 0.083% albuterol sulfate inhalation solution, contact MedWatch, the FDA's safety information and adverse event reporting program, by telephone at 1-800-FDA-1088, by fax at 1-800-FDA-0178, online at http://www.fda.gov/medwatch, or by mail to MedWatch, FDA, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20852-9787.
Journalist
Robert Lowes
Freelance writer, St. Louis, MissouriDisclosure: Robert L. Lowes has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Posted: 01/03/2011
Journalist
Robert Lowes
Freelance writer, St. Louis, MissouriDisclosure: Robert L. Lowes has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Posted: 01/03/2011
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Pharmaceutical News
A decline in U.S. drug approvals, spurred by an “increased conservatism” on safety issues by the Food and Drug Administration
Merck, of Whitehouse Station, N.J., made progress in 2010 launching new products and advancing its drug pipeline, said Ron Rogers, a spokesman. Products to be evaluated this year include boceprevir, a hepatitis C treatment that five analysts project, on average, will have sales of $524.4 million in 2014.
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