Air passengers from Israel quarantined in Canada for flu symptoms
About 80 passengers on a flight from Tel Aviv were quarantined for several hours at a Canadian airport late Tuesday after some of them showed flu symptoms, reports reaching here said Wednesday.
Eight people were violently ill during Air Canada flight 085, which arrived at Toronto's Pearson International Airport from Tel Aviv, carrying 201 passengers.
The quarantined passengers, aged 18 to 26, reportedly belong tothe same travel group. Some of them were suffering symptoms of vomiting, nausea and diarrhea.
Health officials said the eight had "acute gastroenteritis." One person was taken to hospital, while the rest were released later.
As many as 75 other passengers were detained at the airport for a few hours for extra screening as a precautionary measure.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Indonesian teenager hospitalized for suspected bird flu
Indonesian teenager hospitalized for suspected bird flu
A 12-year-old boy was hospitalized in Indonesia for developing bird flu symptoms and earlier contacts with a dead chicken, local press said Wednesday.
He was admitted to the Hasan Sadikin Hospital in the West Java capital of Bandung Tuesday with high fever, cough and respiratory problems.
A relative said he picked up a dead chicken in front of the house with bare hands and threw it to a nearby river. The following day, he became ill, reported major national newspaper Tempo's website.
If confirmed, he could be the 108th bird flu case in the country, where 94 people have died of the virus to make the world's highest death toll among any other affected countries.
A 12-year-old boy was hospitalized in Indonesia for developing bird flu symptoms and earlier contacts with a dead chicken, local press said Wednesday.
He was admitted to the Hasan Sadikin Hospital in the West Java capital of Bandung Tuesday with high fever, cough and respiratory problems.
A relative said he picked up a dead chicken in front of the house with bare hands and threw it to a nearby river. The following day, he became ill, reported major national newspaper Tempo's website.
If confirmed, he could be the 108th bird flu case in the country, where 94 people have died of the virus to make the world's highest death toll among any other affected countries.
U.S.: bacteria-laced milk kills 3, woman miscarries
U.S.: bacteria-laced milk kills 3, woman miscarries
The fifth-generation owners of Whittier Farms are proud of their Holstein cows, still deliver milk in glass bottles to front doors, and customers enjoy their products because they are a hormone-free taste of old New England.
But U.S. health officials now say three elderly men have died and at least one pregnant woman has miscarried since last June after drinking bacteria-contaminated milk from the dairy's plant in Shrewsbury, about 35 miles west of Boston.
All were infected with listeria, which is extremely rare in pasteurized milk. It is more often found in raw foods, such as uncooked meat and vegetables, and processed foods such as soft cheeses and cold cuts.
The outbreak is believed to be only the third time listeria has ever been linked to pasteurized milk in the United States, said Dr. Alfred DeMaria, state director of communicable disease control. A 1983 outbreak in Boston that was believed to have been caused by pasteurized milk led to 14 deaths.
"We know something is going on; we just don't know what it is," DeMaria said. "We just need to find out how the bacteria is getting into the milk."
Listeria bacteria are often present in manure and are commonly found in soil and water. Pasteurization is supposed to kill listeria. Tests at the Whittier Farms plant found nothing wrong with its pasteurization process.
Health investigators are now looking at the cooling and bottling machinery, including the connecting pipes, for the source of the bacteria, DeMaria said. Investigators have taken about 70 samples from vents, ceilings, floors, tanks, bottle-washers, bottles and other equipment.
Brian Gay, owner of Maple Farm Dairy, has distributed Whittier's milk for about a decade and said many of his customers were shocked by the outbreak. Some canceled their service, Gay said, but most seem willing to return to Whittier when the milk is deemed safe.
The fifth-generation owners of Whittier Farms are proud of their Holstein cows, still deliver milk in glass bottles to front doors, and customers enjoy their products because they are a hormone-free taste of old New England.
But U.S. health officials now say three elderly men have died and at least one pregnant woman has miscarried since last June after drinking bacteria-contaminated milk from the dairy's plant in Shrewsbury, about 35 miles west of Boston.
All were infected with listeria, which is extremely rare in pasteurized milk. It is more often found in raw foods, such as uncooked meat and vegetables, and processed foods such as soft cheeses and cold cuts.
The outbreak is believed to be only the third time listeria has ever been linked to pasteurized milk in the United States, said Dr. Alfred DeMaria, state director of communicable disease control. A 1983 outbreak in Boston that was believed to have been caused by pasteurized milk led to 14 deaths.
"We know something is going on; we just don't know what it is," DeMaria said. "We just need to find out how the bacteria is getting into the milk."
Listeria bacteria are often present in manure and are commonly found in soil and water. Pasteurization is supposed to kill listeria. Tests at the Whittier Farms plant found nothing wrong with its pasteurization process.
Health investigators are now looking at the cooling and bottling machinery, including the connecting pipes, for the source of the bacteria, DeMaria said. Investigators have taken about 70 samples from vents, ceilings, floors, tanks, bottle-washers, bottles and other equipment.
Brian Gay, owner of Maple Farm Dairy, has distributed Whittier's milk for about a decade and said many of his customers were shocked by the outbreak. Some canceled their service, Gay said, but most seem willing to return to Whittier when the milk is deemed safe.
Nearly 5% of poultry in Vietnam bear bird flu viruses
Nearly 5% of poultry in Vietnam bear bird flu viruses
Nearly five percent of 15,000 samples from healthy poultry in different cities and provinces in Vietnam have been tested positive to bird flu viruses, local newspaper People reported Wednesday.
Nearly 1.8 percent of tested waterfowls have bird flu viruses, the newspaper quoted a recent survey by the country's Department of Animal Health as reporting.
Fowls having high rates of bearing the viruses are raised in Lang Son, Ha Nam and Thai Binh in the northern region, Ha Tinh, DaNang and Quang Nam in the central region, and Long An, Dong Thap, Ca Mau and Tra Vinh in the southern region.
Bird flu is now hitting northern Thai Nguyen province and southern Tra Vinh province, said the department.
Nearly five percent of 15,000 samples from healthy poultry in different cities and provinces in Vietnam have been tested positive to bird flu viruses, local newspaper People reported Wednesday.
Nearly 1.8 percent of tested waterfowls have bird flu viruses, the newspaper quoted a recent survey by the country's Department of Animal Health as reporting.
Fowls having high rates of bearing the viruses are raised in Lang Son, Ha Nam and Thai Binh in the northern region, Ha Tinh, DaNang and Quang Nam in the central region, and Long An, Dong Thap, Ca Mau and Tra Vinh in the southern region.
Bird flu is now hitting northern Thai Nguyen province and southern Tra Vinh province, said the department.
Dengue death toll in S'pore raised from 8 to 20 last year
Dengue death toll in S'pore raised from 8 to 20 last year
Total 20 people died of dengue in Singapore last year, more than the originally reported eight fatalities, local English daily The Straits Times reported Wednesday.
This is nearly three times the number who lost their lives to the bite of the Aedes mosquito in 2006, when seven died, and not much lower than in 2005, when 25 were killed in the worst dengue outbreak here to date.
The proportion of deaths to the total number of reported cases of 8,826 last year is 0.2 percent, similar to that in 2006.
The new tally of 20 is based on the latest figures compiled by the Registry of Birth and Deaths, the Health Ministry told the English daily.
The newspaper said the under-reporting of deaths does highlight a loophole in the reporting system, which requires doctors to notify the Health Ministry when they discover a patient has dengue. However, it is currently not compulsory for doctors or hospitals to tell the ministry if dengue is detected or confirmed after a patient has died.
The ministry said it is acting to fix the oversight immediately.
Dengue fever is transmitted to humans by the Aedes mosquito, which breeds in still water. The virus can cause fever, severe headache, joint and muscular pains, vomiting, diarrhea and rashes. There is no commercially ready vaccine for dengue.
Total 20 people died of dengue in Singapore last year, more than the originally reported eight fatalities, local English daily The Straits Times reported Wednesday.
This is nearly three times the number who lost their lives to the bite of the Aedes mosquito in 2006, when seven died, and not much lower than in 2005, when 25 were killed in the worst dengue outbreak here to date.
The proportion of deaths to the total number of reported cases of 8,826 last year is 0.2 percent, similar to that in 2006.
The new tally of 20 is based on the latest figures compiled by the Registry of Birth and Deaths, the Health Ministry told the English daily.
The newspaper said the under-reporting of deaths does highlight a loophole in the reporting system, which requires doctors to notify the Health Ministry when they discover a patient has dengue. However, it is currently not compulsory for doctors or hospitals to tell the ministry if dengue is detected or confirmed after a patient has died.
The ministry said it is acting to fix the oversight immediately.
Dengue fever is transmitted to humans by the Aedes mosquito, which breeds in still water. The virus can cause fever, severe headache, joint and muscular pains, vomiting, diarrhea and rashes. There is no commercially ready vaccine for dengue.
Vietnam faces acute diarrhea return
Vietnam faces acute diarrhea return
Vietnam's Health Ministry has warned that acute diarrhea poses a threat to the coming Lunar New Year festival in February, following 17 cases of infections in Hanoi capital since the outbreak in the country was announced to have ended on Dec. 25, 2007, local newspaper Vietnam News reported Wednesday.
Health Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu on Tuesday asked all localities to deal with the reemergence of the disease by implementing inspections on food hygiene and safety, water supplies, and food processing workshops, especially those processing shrimp paste and raw vegetables. He also called for a serious response to any hygiene violations to ensure a healthy festival.
In his urgent message, Trieu urged strict supervision to find and treat acute diarrhea patients in a timely manner. City and provincial People's Committees had to take responsibility if widespread outbreaks occurred in their territories, he said.
Trieu also called for a public awareness campaign on food safety and hygiene with the help of the mass media.
Last October, acute diarrhea spread to 13 provinces and cities in Vietnam. Hanoi suffered the most with a majority of cases. There were about 2,000 cases with no fatalities in the capital, said the newspaper.
Brazil vaccinates in 18 states following yellow fever cases
Brazil vaccinates in 18 states following yellow fever cases
Brazil's Ministry of Health is carrying out vaccinations against yellow fever in 18 states following two human cases in Brasilia, local media reported Tuesday.
A 38-year-old man was taken to hospital in Brasilia last week, suffering from acute kidney failure. Doctors confirmed he was suffering from yellow fever.
Suspicions were raised late December when monkeys died of the disease in a national park in the federal capital.
The government's National Health Surveillance Agency vaccinated all citizens and visitors in Brasilia as well as in the neighboring state of Goias, where the patient had spent New Year's Eve.
However, because another case was tracked in the region, the agency extended vaccinations to 16 further states, including all those in northern and mid-western Brazil, as well as the states of Bahia, Maranhao and Piaui in the northeast, Santa Catarina in the south, Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo in the southeast, and the western region of Sao Paulo state.
Any person planning to visit the areas listed by the government must take the vaccine 10 days before arrival.
Over the past 12 years, 349 cases of the disease have been reported in Brazil, leading to 161 deaths. The cases were mainly in the rainforest region.
Cuban scientists discover new drugs for fighting heart diseases, parasites
Cuban scientists discover new drugs for fighting heart diseases, parasites
Cuban researchers have discovered substances that can reverse the side effects of drugs used to fight heart diseases and parasites, the country's Juventud Rebelde newspaper reported Tuesday.
The chemicals were derived from tiadiazines, based on their potential anti-parasite properties and the diversification of heterocyclical systems with pharmaceutical properties, the newspaper quoted Hortensia Rodriguez, head of Havana University's Organic Synthesis Laboratory, as saying.
After studying new agents which could be more effective against dangerous parasites, the researchers then sought compounds with novel molecular structures, using methods with a minimal environmental impact, the newspaper said.
Heart diseases and acute parasitic infections are among the world's most serious diseases.
Cuban researchers have discovered substances that can reverse the side effects of drugs used to fight heart diseases and parasites, the country's Juventud Rebelde newspaper reported Tuesday.
The chemicals were derived from tiadiazines, based on their potential anti-parasite properties and the diversification of heterocyclical systems with pharmaceutical properties, the newspaper quoted Hortensia Rodriguez, head of Havana University's Organic Synthesis Laboratory, as saying.
After studying new agents which could be more effective against dangerous parasites, the researchers then sought compounds with novel molecular structures, using methods with a minimal environmental impact, the newspaper said.
Heart diseases and acute parasitic infections are among the world's most serious diseases.
Study challenges drug's role in autism
Study challenges drug's role in autism
The use of mercury-based preservative thimerosal may not be linked with autism as previously thought, according to a new study.
The prevalence of autism in California children continued to rise after many vaccine manufacturers started to remove the mercury-based preservative thimerosal in 1999, suggesting that the chemical was not a primary cause of the disorder, according to the study published in the January issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
The analysis found that from 2004 to 2007, when exposure to thimerosal dropped significantly for 3- to 5-year-olds, the rate continued to increase in that group from 3.0 to 4.1 per 1,000 children, according to the study.
"If mercury exposure in vaccines was a major cause of autism, then the number of ... affected kids should have diminished once they were no longer exposed to thimerosal," said Dr. Robert Schechter, lead author of the study and a medical officer at the state Department of Public Health. "That is not what we found."
The study is the latest in a series that has investigated the connection between thimerosal and autism. The majority have found no association.
The latest study was based on data from the California Department of Developmental Services, which provides services to about 36,000 people with autism and has one of the country's best reporting systems.
The researchers looked at all reported cases in the state of California starting with children born in 1989. They found the number of cases per 1,000 children has been steadily increasing from that point to March 2007, the end point of the study.
Steve M. Edelson, an experimental psychologist who is director of the Autism Research Institute, a nonprofit organization in San Diego of California, said the study, along with evidence from previous research, argued against thimerosal as the major culprit in autism.
But, he added, it still does not rule out all blame. Edelson said such large-scale analysis could overlook smaller groups of children, who for whatever reasons have a particular vulnerability to mercury. He said more solid evidence can only come from laboratory studies, such as postmortem analyses of the brains of autistic children.
The use of mercury-based preservative thimerosal may not be linked with autism as previously thought, according to a new study.
The prevalence of autism in California children continued to rise after many vaccine manufacturers started to remove the mercury-based preservative thimerosal in 1999, suggesting that the chemical was not a primary cause of the disorder, according to the study published in the January issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
The analysis found that from 2004 to 2007, when exposure to thimerosal dropped significantly for 3- to 5-year-olds, the rate continued to increase in that group from 3.0 to 4.1 per 1,000 children, according to the study.
"If mercury exposure in vaccines was a major cause of autism, then the number of ... affected kids should have diminished once they were no longer exposed to thimerosal," said Dr. Robert Schechter, lead author of the study and a medical officer at the state Department of Public Health. "That is not what we found."
The study is the latest in a series that has investigated the connection between thimerosal and autism. The majority have found no association.
The latest study was based on data from the California Department of Developmental Services, which provides services to about 36,000 people with autism and has one of the country's best reporting systems.
The researchers looked at all reported cases in the state of California starting with children born in 1989. They found the number of cases per 1,000 children has been steadily increasing from that point to March 2007, the end point of the study.
Steve M. Edelson, an experimental psychologist who is director of the Autism Research Institute, a nonprofit organization in San Diego of California, said the study, along with evidence from previous research, argued against thimerosal as the major culprit in autism.
But, he added, it still does not rule out all blame. Edelson said such large-scale analysis could overlook smaller groups of children, who for whatever reasons have a particular vulnerability to mercury. He said more solid evidence can only come from laboratory studies, such as postmortem analyses of the brains of autistic children.
More Americans suffer heart problems due to terror stress
More Americans suffer heart problems due to terror stress
More Americans suffer heart problems because of stress and fear about terrorism after 9/11, according to a new study.
Heart problems are common even among those who have no personal connection to the attacks, according to the study conducted by researchers at the University of California in Irvine (UCI).
UCI researchers linked psychological stress responses to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon to a 53 percent increase in heart problems -- including high blood pressure and stroke -- in the three years after Sept. 11, 2001, said the study published on Tuesday by the Los Angeles Times.
It was the first study to show the effect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on cardiac health.
Most of those surveyed watched the attacks on live television, and one-third had no personal connection to them. Most of them had no preexisting heart problems, and the results persisted even when risk factors such as high cholesterol, smoking and obesity were taken into account, according to the study.
"It seems that the 9/11 attacks were so potent that media exposure helped to convey enough stress that people responded in away that contributed to their cardiovascular problems," Alison Holman, an assistant professor of nursing science at UCI and the study's lead researcher, said.
The three-year study took a random nationwide survey of more than 1,500 adults whose health information had been recorded before the terror attacks.
Researchers then asked participants about their stress responses in the weeks after the attacks and issued yearly follow-up questions ending in late 2004, said the study.
Chronic worriers -- those who continued to fear terrorism for several years after the attacks -- were the most at risk of heart problems, said the study.
More Americans suffer heart problems because of stress and fear about terrorism after 9/11, according to a new study.
Heart problems are common even among those who have no personal connection to the attacks, according to the study conducted by researchers at the University of California in Irvine (UCI).
UCI researchers linked psychological stress responses to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon to a 53 percent increase in heart problems -- including high blood pressure and stroke -- in the three years after Sept. 11, 2001, said the study published on Tuesday by the Los Angeles Times.
It was the first study to show the effect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on cardiac health.
Most of those surveyed watched the attacks on live television, and one-third had no personal connection to them. Most of them had no preexisting heart problems, and the results persisted even when risk factors such as high cholesterol, smoking and obesity were taken into account, according to the study.
"It seems that the 9/11 attacks were so potent that media exposure helped to convey enough stress that people responded in away that contributed to their cardiovascular problems," Alison Holman, an assistant professor of nursing science at UCI and the study's lead researcher, said.
The three-year study took a random nationwide survey of more than 1,500 adults whose health information had been recorded before the terror attacks.
Researchers then asked participants about their stress responses in the weeks after the attacks and issued yearly follow-up questions ending in late 2004, said the study.
Chronic worriers -- those who continued to fear terrorism for several years after the attacks -- were the most at risk of heart problems, said the study.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Dieting hardest for emotional eaters: study
Dieting hardest for emotional eaters: study
French fries are shown in Hollywood, California October 3, 2007. Emotional eaters -- people who eat when they are lonely or blue -- tend to lose the least amount of weight and have the hardest time keeping it off, U.S. researchers said on Thursday. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)CHICAGO (Reuters) - Emotional eaters -- people who eat whenthey are lonely or blue -- tend to lose the least amount ofweight and have the hardest time keeping it off, U.S.researchers said on Thursday.
They said the study may explain why so many people who loseweight gain it all back.
"We found that the more people report eating in response tothoughts and feelings, the less weight they lost," HeatherNiemeier, an obesity researcher at The Miriam Hospital and TheWarren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, said in astatement.
"Amongst successful weight losers, those who reportemotional eating are more likely to regain," said Niemeier,whose study appears in the journal Obesity.
The study included 286 overweight men and women who wereparticipating in a behavioral weight loss program.
A second group consisted of more than 3,300 adults who havelost at least 30 pounds and kept it off for at least one year.
Niemeier and her team analyzed responses to an eatinginventory questionnaire.
They focused on people who ate because of externalinfluences, such as people who eat too much at parties, andpeople who ate because of internal influences, such as feelinglonely or as a reward.
What they found is that the more a person ate for internalreasons, the less weight they lost over time.
"Our results suggest that we need to pay more attention toeating triggered by emotions or thoughts as they clearly play asignificant role in weight loss," Niemeier said.
The study was funded by a grant from the NationalInstitutes of Health.
French fries are shown in Hollywood, California October 3, 2007. Emotional eaters -- people who eat when they are lonely or blue -- tend to lose the least amount of weight and have the hardest time keeping it off, U.S. researchers said on Thursday. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)CHICAGO (Reuters) - Emotional eaters -- people who eat whenthey are lonely or blue -- tend to lose the least amount ofweight and have the hardest time keeping it off, U.S.researchers said on Thursday.
They said the study may explain why so many people who loseweight gain it all back.
"We found that the more people report eating in response tothoughts and feelings, the less weight they lost," HeatherNiemeier, an obesity researcher at The Miriam Hospital and TheWarren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, said in astatement.
"Amongst successful weight losers, those who reportemotional eating are more likely to regain," said Niemeier,whose study appears in the journal Obesity.
The study included 286 overweight men and women who wereparticipating in a behavioral weight loss program.
A second group consisted of more than 3,300 adults who havelost at least 30 pounds and kept it off for at least one year.
Niemeier and her team analyzed responses to an eatinginventory questionnaire.
They focused on people who ate because of externalinfluences, such as people who eat too much at parties, andpeople who ate because of internal influences, such as feelinglonely or as a reward.
What they found is that the more a person ate for internalreasons, the less weight they lost over time.
"Our results suggest that we need to pay more attention toeating triggered by emotions or thoughts as they clearly play asignificant role in weight loss," Niemeier said.
The study was funded by a grant from the NationalInstitutes of Health.
FDA to allow general sales of Zyrtec-D
FDA to allow general sales of Zyrtec-D
WASHINGTON - The popular allergy drug Zyrtec-D can now sell without a prescription, the Food and Drug Administration announced Friday.
Zyrtec-D combines the antihistamine cetirizine with a nasal decongestant, pseudoephedrine. It is for use by adults and children 12 or older to relieve symptoms of hay fever and other respiratory allergies.
Like other brands that contain pseudoephedrine, nonprescription Zyrtec-D will be sold from behind store counters because of a new law that requires customers to show identification, among other steps, before buying the decongestant. The law is intended to limit purchases of large quantities of pseudoephedrine, which can be used to cook the illegal drug methamphetamine.
Zyrtec-D is distributed by McNeil Consumer Healthcare.
WASHINGTON - The popular allergy drug Zyrtec-D can now sell without a prescription, the Food and Drug Administration announced Friday.
Zyrtec-D combines the antihistamine cetirizine with a nasal decongestant, pseudoephedrine. It is for use by adults and children 12 or older to relieve symptoms of hay fever and other respiratory allergies.
Like other brands that contain pseudoephedrine, nonprescription Zyrtec-D will be sold from behind store counters because of a new law that requires customers to show identification, among other steps, before buying the decongestant. The law is intended to limit purchases of large quantities of pseudoephedrine, which can be used to cook the illegal drug methamphetamine.
Zyrtec-D is distributed by McNeil Consumer Healthcare.
Zyrtec-D Approved Without Prescription
Zyrtec-D Approved Without Prescription
FRIDAY, Nov. 9 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and DrugAdministration approved on Friday the allergy drug Zyrtec-D fornon-prescription use in people 12 and older. It combines theantihistamine Zyrtec with a nasal decongestant.
Zyrtec-D (cetirizine hydrochloride/pseudoephedrine) has been sold as aprescription drug since 2001. Sold by McNeil Consumer Healthcare, it'sprescribed for relief of allergy symptoms, including runny nose, sneezing,itchy eyes and nose, and nasal congestion.
Zyrtec-D also is used for reducing swelling of nasal passages, forrelief of sinus congestion and pressure, and for restoring freer breathingthrough the nose.
Hay fever and other allergies are the sixth-leading cause of chronicdisease, with about 50 million sufferers each year in the United States,according to the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and InfectiousDiseases.
"The approval of this widely used drug for nonprescription use willenable many people to have access to another effective treatment for theirallergy symptoms," Dr. Andrea Leonard-Segal, director of the FDA'sDivision of Nonprescription Clinical Evaluation, said in a preparedstatement.
Common side effects of Zyrtec-D include drowsiness and dry mouth, theFDA said.
Because the drug contains pseudoephedrine, it is subject to salesrestrictions imposed by the federal Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act,passed in 2005. These restrictions include limiting the amount that aperson can buy, and tracking requirements imposed on stores distributingthe product, the FDA said.
More information
The FDA has more about this drug's history.
FRIDAY, Nov. 9 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and DrugAdministration approved on Friday the allergy drug Zyrtec-D fornon-prescription use in people 12 and older. It combines theantihistamine Zyrtec with a nasal decongestant.
Zyrtec-D (cetirizine hydrochloride/pseudoephedrine) has been sold as aprescription drug since 2001. Sold by McNeil Consumer Healthcare, it'sprescribed for relief of allergy symptoms, including runny nose, sneezing,itchy eyes and nose, and nasal congestion.
Zyrtec-D also is used for reducing swelling of nasal passages, forrelief of sinus congestion and pressure, and for restoring freer breathingthrough the nose.
Hay fever and other allergies are the sixth-leading cause of chronicdisease, with about 50 million sufferers each year in the United States,according to the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and InfectiousDiseases.
"The approval of this widely used drug for nonprescription use willenable many people to have access to another effective treatment for theirallergy symptoms," Dr. Andrea Leonard-Segal, director of the FDA'sDivision of Nonprescription Clinical Evaluation, said in a preparedstatement.
Common side effects of Zyrtec-D include drowsiness and dry mouth, theFDA said.
Because the drug contains pseudoephedrine, it is subject to salesrestrictions imposed by the federal Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act,passed in 2005. These restrictions include limiting the amount that aperson can buy, and tracking requirements imposed on stores distributingthe product, the FDA said.
More information
The FDA has more about this drug's history.
Clinical Trials Update: Nov. 9, 2007
Clinical Trials Update: Nov. 9, 2007
(HealthDay News) -- Here are the latest clinical trials, courtesyof Thomson CenterWatch:
Dupuytren's Disease
If you are 18 or older and have Dupuytrens contracture,an abnormal thickening beneath the skin in the palm of the hand, you maybe eligible to participate in this clinical study.
The research siteis in Phoenix, Ariz.
More information
Please see http://www.centerwatch.com/patient/studies/cat255.html.
-----
Insomnia
If you are 18 or older and wake frequently during thenight, or wake too early in the morning without being able to get back tosleep, you may be eligible to participate in this study.
Theresearch site is in Mineola, N.Y.
More information
Please see http://www.centerwatch.com/patient/studies/cat189.html.
-----
Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial
If you are 12 or older and have had seasonal allergysymptoms for at least two years, you may be eligible to participate inthis study.
The research site is in Austin, Texas.
More information
Please see http://www.centerwatch.com/patient/studies/cat804.html.
-----
Copyright 2007 Thomson CenterWatch. All rights reserved.
(HealthDay News) -- Here are the latest clinical trials, courtesyof Thomson CenterWatch:
Dupuytren's Disease
If you are 18 or older and have Dupuytrens contracture,an abnormal thickening beneath the skin in the palm of the hand, you maybe eligible to participate in this clinical study.
The research siteis in Phoenix, Ariz.
More information
Please see http://www.centerwatch.com/patient/studies/cat255.html.
-----
Insomnia
If you are 18 or older and wake frequently during thenight, or wake too early in the morning without being able to get back tosleep, you may be eligible to participate in this study.
Theresearch site is in Mineola, N.Y.
More information
Please see http://www.centerwatch.com/patient/studies/cat189.html.
-----
Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial
If you are 12 or older and have had seasonal allergysymptoms for at least two years, you may be eligible to participate inthis study.
The research site is in Austin, Texas.
More information
Please see http://www.centerwatch.com/patient/studies/cat804.html.
-----
Copyright 2007 Thomson CenterWatch. All rights reserved.
Pill Poses Little Cervical Cancer Risk
Pill Poses Little Cervical Cancer Risk
FRIDAY, Nov. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Women taking oralcontraceptives are at a slightly increased risk for developing cervicalcancer, but a decade after stopping the pill even this very small riskdisappears, a new British study suggests.
However, that finding doesn't change the recommendation for women tocontinue getting screened for cervical cancer, experts say.
"This is good news," said lead researcher Dr. Jane Green, anepidemiologist in the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at the University ofOxford. "We have been able to estimate the lifetime risk of cervicalcancer for women on the pill and find it's really quite small," shesaid.
"The small increase in cervical cancer we see in women who are takingoral contraceptives starts to fall once pill use stops and has really goneaway by 10 years after stopping use," Green said.
"The pill has many other benefits, including reducing the risk of othercancers, such as ovarian cancer and womb cancer," Green added.
The report is published in the Nov.10 issue of The Lancet.
In the study, Green and her colleagues from the InternationalCollaboration of Epidemiological Studies of Cervical Cancer collected dataon almost 16,600 women with cervical cancer and more than 35,500 womenwithout cervical cancer. These women had participated in a total of 24studies.
Green's team confirmed that the risk of cervical cancer among women whouse oral contraceptives does increase over time. But this increase in riskis very small -- women who take contraceptives for five years or more haveonly about twice the risk compared with women who never took the pill.
In absolute terms, that means that a 20-year-old woman living in adeveloped country who uses an oral contraceptive for 10 years increasesher odds of developing cervical cancer by age 50 from 3.8 cases per 1,000women (without Pill use) to 4.5 per 1,000 women after using oralcontraception. In less developed countries, where access to cervicalcancer screening is more limited, that risk rises from 7.3 to 8.3 casesper 1,000 women, the researchers estimated.
Similar risk was seen for invasive and localized cancer and in womenwho have the human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes about 70 percent ofall cervical cancers, Green noted.
Although the risk for cervical cancer associated with the Pill issmall, Green advised women to still be screened for the disease."Screening for cervical cancer is effective," she said. "The advice is togo for regular screenings."
Eventually, Green hopes that the vaccination against the humanpapillomavirus will go a long way to preventing many cases of cervicalcancer.
One expert agreed that the findings showed the risk for cervical cancerfrom oral contraceptives was very small.
"This is reassuring news for women," said Dr. Peter Sasieni, from theWolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine at Queen Mary University ofLondon and author of an accompanying journal comment. "There is really aminimal risk from oral contraceptives, and that risk disappears fairlysoon when you stop taking them," he said.
"When making a decision about what from of contraception to use, womenshouldn't worry about cervical cancer," Sasieni concluded. "It's not anissue," he said.
However, he believes that taking oral contraceptives is another goodreason to get screened regularly for the disease. "By going for regularscreenings, a women can reduce her risk by 80 percent," Sasieni said.
Another expert agreed that women shouldn't worry about the Pill andcervical cancer risk.
"I don't think women are basing their decision of which form ofcontraception to use on the risk for cervical cancer," said Debbie Saslow,director of breast and gynecologic cancer at the American Cancer Society."People who want to use oral contraceptives should not be alarmed over theslight increase in cervical cancer risk," she said.
However, women -- whether they take oral contraceptives or not --should be getting regular cervical cancer screening, Saslow said.
FRIDAY, Nov. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Women taking oralcontraceptives are at a slightly increased risk for developing cervicalcancer, but a decade after stopping the pill even this very small riskdisappears, a new British study suggests.
However, that finding doesn't change the recommendation for women tocontinue getting screened for cervical cancer, experts say.
"This is good news," said lead researcher Dr. Jane Green, anepidemiologist in the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at the University ofOxford. "We have been able to estimate the lifetime risk of cervicalcancer for women on the pill and find it's really quite small," shesaid.
"The small increase in cervical cancer we see in women who are takingoral contraceptives starts to fall once pill use stops and has really goneaway by 10 years after stopping use," Green said.
"The pill has many other benefits, including reducing the risk of othercancers, such as ovarian cancer and womb cancer," Green added.
The report is published in the Nov.10 issue of The Lancet.
In the study, Green and her colleagues from the InternationalCollaboration of Epidemiological Studies of Cervical Cancer collected dataon almost 16,600 women with cervical cancer and more than 35,500 womenwithout cervical cancer. These women had participated in a total of 24studies.
Green's team confirmed that the risk of cervical cancer among women whouse oral contraceptives does increase over time. But this increase in riskis very small -- women who take contraceptives for five years or more haveonly about twice the risk compared with women who never took the pill.
In absolute terms, that means that a 20-year-old woman living in adeveloped country who uses an oral contraceptive for 10 years increasesher odds of developing cervical cancer by age 50 from 3.8 cases per 1,000women (without Pill use) to 4.5 per 1,000 women after using oralcontraception. In less developed countries, where access to cervicalcancer screening is more limited, that risk rises from 7.3 to 8.3 casesper 1,000 women, the researchers estimated.
Similar risk was seen for invasive and localized cancer and in womenwho have the human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes about 70 percent ofall cervical cancers, Green noted.
Although the risk for cervical cancer associated with the Pill issmall, Green advised women to still be screened for the disease."Screening for cervical cancer is effective," she said. "The advice is togo for regular screenings."
Eventually, Green hopes that the vaccination against the humanpapillomavirus will go a long way to preventing many cases of cervicalcancer.
One expert agreed that the findings showed the risk for cervical cancerfrom oral contraceptives was very small.
"This is reassuring news for women," said Dr. Peter Sasieni, from theWolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine at Queen Mary University ofLondon and author of an accompanying journal comment. "There is really aminimal risk from oral contraceptives, and that risk disappears fairlysoon when you stop taking them," he said.
"When making a decision about what from of contraception to use, womenshouldn't worry about cervical cancer," Sasieni concluded. "It's not anissue," he said.
However, he believes that taking oral contraceptives is another goodreason to get screened regularly for the disease. "By going for regularscreenings, a women can reduce her risk by 80 percent," Sasieni said.
Another expert agreed that women shouldn't worry about the Pill andcervical cancer risk.
"I don't think women are basing their decision of which form ofcontraception to use on the risk for cervical cancer," said Debbie Saslow,director of breast and gynecologic cancer at the American Cancer Society."People who want to use oral contraceptives should not be alarmed over theslight increase in cervical cancer risk," she said.
However, women -- whether they take oral contraceptives or not --should be getting regular cervical cancer screening, Saslow said.
Fighting fat and climate change
Fighting fat and climate change
WASHINGTON - America's obesity epidemic and global warming might not seem to have much in common. But public health experts suggest people can attack them both by cutting calories and carbon dioxide at the same time.
How? Get out of your car and walk or bike half an hour a day instead of driving. And while you're at it, eat less red meat. That's how Americans can simultaneously save the planet and their health, say doctors and climate scientists.
The payoffs are huge, although unlikely to happen. One numbers-crunching scientist calculates that if all Americans between 10 and 74 walked just half an hour a day instead of driving, they would cut the annual U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, by 64 million tons.
About 6.5 billion gallons of gasoline would be saved. And Americans would also shed more than 3 billion pounds overall, according to these calculations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering public promotion of the "co-benefits" of fighting global warming and obesity-related illnesses through everyday exercise, like walking to school or work, said Dr. Howard Frumkin, director of the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health.
"A simple intervention like walking to school is a climate change intervention, an obesity intervention, a diabetes intervention, a safety intervention," Frumkin told The Associated Press. "That's the sweet spot."
Climate change is a deadly and worsening public health issue, said Frumkin and other experts. The World Health Organization estimated that 160,000 people died in 2000 from malaria, diarrhea, malnutrition and drownings from floods — problems that public health and climate scientists contend were worsened by global warming. Officials predict that in the future those numbers will be higher.
The American Public Health Association, which will highlight the health problems of global warming in April, is seeking to connect obesity and climate change solutions, said executive director Dr. Georges Benjamin.
"This may present the greatest public health opportunity that we've had in a century," said University of Wisconsin health sciences professor Dr. Jonathan Patz, president of the International Association for Ecology and Health.
The key is getting people out of the car, Patz and Frumkin told the public health association at its annual convention. Reducing car travel in favor of biking or walking would not only cut obesity and greenhouse gases, they said, it would also mean less smog, fewer deaths from car crashes, less osteoporosis, and even less depression since exercise helps beat the blues.
In a little-noticed scientific paper in 2005, Paul Higgins, a scientist and policy fellow with the American Meteorological Society, calculated specific savings from adopting federal government recommendations for half an hour a day of exercise instead of driving.
The average person walking half an hour a day would lose about 13 pounds a year. And if everyone did that instead of driving the same distance, the nation would burn a total of 10.5 trillion calories, according to the scientist, formerly with the University of California at Berkeley. At the same time, that would cut carbon dioxide emissions by about the same amount New Mexico produces, he said.
"The real bang for the buck in reducing greenhouse gas emissions was from the avoided health expenses of a sedentary lifestyle," said Higgins.
But it's not just getting out of the car that's needed, said Dr. Robert Lawrence of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. A diet shift away from heavy meat consumption would also go far, he said, because it takes much more energy and land to produce meat than fruits, vegetables and grains.
Recent studies support that argument. Last year the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported that the meat sector of the global economy is responsible for 18 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. Much of that is indirect, including the fertilizer needed to grow massive amounts of feed for livestock, energy use in the whole growing process, methane released from fertilizer and animal manure, and transportation of the cattle and meat products.
Similar calculations were made in a study in September in the medical journal Lancet.
The average American man eats 1.6 times as much meat as the government recommends, Lawrence said. Some studies have shown eating a lot of red meat is linked to a higher risk for colon cancer.
As for fighting obesity and global warming by walking and cycling, don't expect people to do it easily, said Kristie Ebi. She's a Virginia public health consultant and one of the lead authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.Citing the decades-long effort to curb smoking, she said, "It turns out changing people's habits is very hard."___On the Net:American Public Health Association: http://www.apha.org/National Center for Environmental Health: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/climatechange/
WASHINGTON - America's obesity epidemic and global warming might not seem to have much in common. But public health experts suggest people can attack them both by cutting calories and carbon dioxide at the same time.
How? Get out of your car and walk or bike half an hour a day instead of driving. And while you're at it, eat less red meat. That's how Americans can simultaneously save the planet and their health, say doctors and climate scientists.
The payoffs are huge, although unlikely to happen. One numbers-crunching scientist calculates that if all Americans between 10 and 74 walked just half an hour a day instead of driving, they would cut the annual U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, by 64 million tons.
About 6.5 billion gallons of gasoline would be saved. And Americans would also shed more than 3 billion pounds overall, according to these calculations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering public promotion of the "co-benefits" of fighting global warming and obesity-related illnesses through everyday exercise, like walking to school or work, said Dr. Howard Frumkin, director of the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health.
"A simple intervention like walking to school is a climate change intervention, an obesity intervention, a diabetes intervention, a safety intervention," Frumkin told The Associated Press. "That's the sweet spot."
Climate change is a deadly and worsening public health issue, said Frumkin and other experts. The World Health Organization estimated that 160,000 people died in 2000 from malaria, diarrhea, malnutrition and drownings from floods — problems that public health and climate scientists contend were worsened by global warming. Officials predict that in the future those numbers will be higher.
The American Public Health Association, which will highlight the health problems of global warming in April, is seeking to connect obesity and climate change solutions, said executive director Dr. Georges Benjamin.
"This may present the greatest public health opportunity that we've had in a century," said University of Wisconsin health sciences professor Dr. Jonathan Patz, president of the International Association for Ecology and Health.
The key is getting people out of the car, Patz and Frumkin told the public health association at its annual convention. Reducing car travel in favor of biking or walking would not only cut obesity and greenhouse gases, they said, it would also mean less smog, fewer deaths from car crashes, less osteoporosis, and even less depression since exercise helps beat the blues.
In a little-noticed scientific paper in 2005, Paul Higgins, a scientist and policy fellow with the American Meteorological Society, calculated specific savings from adopting federal government recommendations for half an hour a day of exercise instead of driving.
The average person walking half an hour a day would lose about 13 pounds a year. And if everyone did that instead of driving the same distance, the nation would burn a total of 10.5 trillion calories, according to the scientist, formerly with the University of California at Berkeley. At the same time, that would cut carbon dioxide emissions by about the same amount New Mexico produces, he said.
"The real bang for the buck in reducing greenhouse gas emissions was from the avoided health expenses of a sedentary lifestyle," said Higgins.
But it's not just getting out of the car that's needed, said Dr. Robert Lawrence of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. A diet shift away from heavy meat consumption would also go far, he said, because it takes much more energy and land to produce meat than fruits, vegetables and grains.
Recent studies support that argument. Last year the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported that the meat sector of the global economy is responsible for 18 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. Much of that is indirect, including the fertilizer needed to grow massive amounts of feed for livestock, energy use in the whole growing process, methane released from fertilizer and animal manure, and transportation of the cattle and meat products.
Similar calculations were made in a study in September in the medical journal Lancet.
The average American man eats 1.6 times as much meat as the government recommends, Lawrence said. Some studies have shown eating a lot of red meat is linked to a higher risk for colon cancer.
As for fighting obesity and global warming by walking and cycling, don't expect people to do it easily, said Kristie Ebi. She's a Virginia public health consultant and one of the lead authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.Citing the decades-long effort to curb smoking, she said, "It turns out changing people's habits is very hard."___On the Net:American Public Health Association: http://www.apha.org/National Center for Environmental Health: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/climatechange/
Record number of recalls in US bring raft of safety tests
Record number of recalls in US bring raft of safety tests
This image received courtesy of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission shows Aqua Dots. China's product safety watchdog halted the export of a toy suspected of containing toxic substances in the latest scandal plaguing the "made in China" brand, state press said Saturday. A wave of recalls in the United States, including the withdrawal from sale of several products aimed at children, has sparked a surge in the number of product safety tests which are uncovering yet more dangerous items.(AFP/HO)WASHINGTON (AFP) - A wave of recalls in the United States, including the withdrawal from sale of several products aimed at children, has sparked a surge in the number of product safety tests which are uncovering yet more dangerous items.
Last month, the Consumers Union dubbed 2007 "the year of the recall," saying a record number of dangerous foods and unsafe products had been pulled off the shelves in the United States.
"One million cribs with side rails that can separate and strangle infants, 175 million pieces of children??s jewelry made with hazardous levels of lead, and 30 million pounds of ground beef contaminated with the deadly e-coli bacteria all appeared on the list of recalls for 2007," the non-profit consumer group said in a statement.
The latest massive recall came on Wednesday when 4.2 million Chinese-made toy bead sets were taken off sale because they contained a substance that has a similar toxic effect as GHB, the so-called date rape drug, when ingested.
"Children who swallow the beads can become comatose, develop respiratory depression, or have seizures," the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said.
The same day, nearly 400,000 Chinese-made toys, most of them miniature cars, were recalled for containing unacceptable levels of lead paint.
And on Thursday, 175,000 Curious George plush toys and 51,000 sets of children's sunglasses were recalled, also for having high levels of lead in their decorative paint.
Since the wave of recalls, many involving products made in China, began gathering speed this summer, consumer protection groups, officials from different states and even individuals have begun conducting safety tests on all manner of products.
Greenpeace Research Laboratories found the plastic coating of Apple iPhone headphone cables to contain "a high level of chlorine... along with phthalates plasticizers."
The phthalates found in the headphone cables are classified as "toxic to reproduction, category 2, because of their long-recognised ability to interfere with sexual development in mammals," Greenpeace senior scientist, Dr. David Santillo said on the environmental activist organization's international website.
"These phthalates are banned from use in all toys or childcare articles sold in Europe," he said.
Officials at Apple were not available for comment.
Greenpeace also tested five makes of laptop computer for dangerous chemicals. Those tests showed high levels of some potentially toxic substances in Apple and Hewlett Packard laptops in particular.
In Arizona, the department of health services issued an alert on Thursday about poker chips with potentially dangerous levels of lead.
Up to 20 million of the tainted poker chips are used in large casinos in the United States, as well as in individual homes.
Just weeks before Halloween, a hugely popular holiday with children in the United States that falls on the last day of October, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown commissioned a university chemistry department to conduct lead tests on 22 items.
The paint on three of the items, or 14 percent of the products tested, was found to be excessively high in lead.
Lead can cause damage to the brain and nervous system of children, behavior and learning problems, slowed growth, hearing problems and headaches.It is also potentially harmful to adults, in whom it can lead to reproductive problems, high blood pressure, and memory and concentration problems, among others.In the first half of October, more than two million products, many of them aimed at children, were recalled in the United States for exceeding the levels of lead allowed by US safety laws.As the number of lead-related recalls has soared, kits for home lead tests have been snapped up like hotcakes."Our sales have increased quite dramatically," a spokesperson at Homax Lead Check said, without quantifying the rise.Meanwhile, the independent Consumer Reports watchdog has warned that its lab tests have "detected lead at widely varying levels in samples of dishware, jewelry, glue stick caps, vinyl backpacks, children's ceramic tea sets, and other toys and items not on any federal recall list."
This image received courtesy of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission shows Aqua Dots. China's product safety watchdog halted the export of a toy suspected of containing toxic substances in the latest scandal plaguing the "made in China" brand, state press said Saturday. A wave of recalls in the United States, including the withdrawal from sale of several products aimed at children, has sparked a surge in the number of product safety tests which are uncovering yet more dangerous items.(AFP/HO)WASHINGTON (AFP) - A wave of recalls in the United States, including the withdrawal from sale of several products aimed at children, has sparked a surge in the number of product safety tests which are uncovering yet more dangerous items.
Last month, the Consumers Union dubbed 2007 "the year of the recall," saying a record number of dangerous foods and unsafe products had been pulled off the shelves in the United States.
"One million cribs with side rails that can separate and strangle infants, 175 million pieces of children??s jewelry made with hazardous levels of lead, and 30 million pounds of ground beef contaminated with the deadly e-coli bacteria all appeared on the list of recalls for 2007," the non-profit consumer group said in a statement.
The latest massive recall came on Wednesday when 4.2 million Chinese-made toy bead sets were taken off sale because they contained a substance that has a similar toxic effect as GHB, the so-called date rape drug, when ingested.
"Children who swallow the beads can become comatose, develop respiratory depression, or have seizures," the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said.
The same day, nearly 400,000 Chinese-made toys, most of them miniature cars, were recalled for containing unacceptable levels of lead paint.
And on Thursday, 175,000 Curious George plush toys and 51,000 sets of children's sunglasses were recalled, also for having high levels of lead in their decorative paint.
Since the wave of recalls, many involving products made in China, began gathering speed this summer, consumer protection groups, officials from different states and even individuals have begun conducting safety tests on all manner of products.
Greenpeace Research Laboratories found the plastic coating of Apple iPhone headphone cables to contain "a high level of chlorine... along with phthalates plasticizers."
The phthalates found in the headphone cables are classified as "toxic to reproduction, category 2, because of their long-recognised ability to interfere with sexual development in mammals," Greenpeace senior scientist, Dr. David Santillo said on the environmental activist organization's international website.
"These phthalates are banned from use in all toys or childcare articles sold in Europe," he said.
Officials at Apple were not available for comment.
Greenpeace also tested five makes of laptop computer for dangerous chemicals. Those tests showed high levels of some potentially toxic substances in Apple and Hewlett Packard laptops in particular.
In Arizona, the department of health services issued an alert on Thursday about poker chips with potentially dangerous levels of lead.
Up to 20 million of the tainted poker chips are used in large casinos in the United States, as well as in individual homes.
Just weeks before Halloween, a hugely popular holiday with children in the United States that falls on the last day of October, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown commissioned a university chemistry department to conduct lead tests on 22 items.
The paint on three of the items, or 14 percent of the products tested, was found to be excessively high in lead.
Lead can cause damage to the brain and nervous system of children, behavior and learning problems, slowed growth, hearing problems and headaches.It is also potentially harmful to adults, in whom it can lead to reproductive problems, high blood pressure, and memory and concentration problems, among others.In the first half of October, more than two million products, many of them aimed at children, were recalled in the United States for exceeding the levels of lead allowed by US safety laws.As the number of lead-related recalls has soared, kits for home lead tests have been snapped up like hotcakes."Our sales have increased quite dramatically," a spokesperson at Homax Lead Check said, without quantifying the rise.Meanwhile, the independent Consumer Reports watchdog has warned that its lab tests have "detected lead at widely varying levels in samples of dishware, jewelry, glue stick caps, vinyl backpacks, children's ceramic tea sets, and other toys and items not on any federal recall list."
China to relax ban on HIV/AIDS carriers entering the country
China to relax ban on HIV/AIDS carriers entering the country
A Chinese nurse prepares an injection at a Shanghai hospital, 2002. China is planning to relax regulations barring HIV/AIDS carriers from entering the country. The move came in response to improved public understanding about the way the virus spreads, health officials said, without specifying when the new rules would come into effect.(AFP/File/Liu Jin)BEIJING (AFP) - China plans to relax rules that are currently barring HIV/AIDS carriers from entering the country, the health ministry said on Monday.
Ministry spokesman Mao Qun'an said the decision was based on current knowledge of the way the AIDS virus spreads.
He said the existing restrictions, strongly criticised by AIDS activists as discriminatory, were introduced when people were "unfamiliar" with how the disease may spread.
Mao did not disclose when the new rules would take effect, or if the relaxation would mean a complete end to limits on HIV/AIDS carriers' entry into China.
China had 650,000 HIV/AIDS patients according to an estimate put forward jointly by the government and United Nations health agencies in January 2006.
Mao said the government would release its latest estimate of the number of people having HIV/AIDS in China at the end of November.
A Chinese nurse prepares an injection at a Shanghai hospital, 2002. China is planning to relax regulations barring HIV/AIDS carriers from entering the country. The move came in response to improved public understanding about the way the virus spreads, health officials said, without specifying when the new rules would come into effect.(AFP/File/Liu Jin)BEIJING (AFP) - China plans to relax rules that are currently barring HIV/AIDS carriers from entering the country, the health ministry said on Monday.
Ministry spokesman Mao Qun'an said the decision was based on current knowledge of the way the AIDS virus spreads.
He said the existing restrictions, strongly criticised by AIDS activists as discriminatory, were introduced when people were "unfamiliar" with how the disease may spread.
Mao did not disclose when the new rules would take effect, or if the relaxation would mean a complete end to limits on HIV/AIDS carriers' entry into China.
China had 650,000 HIV/AIDS patients according to an estimate put forward jointly by the government and United Nations health agencies in January 2006.
Mao said the government would release its latest estimate of the number of people having HIV/AIDS in China at the end of November.
Eight-limbed Indian toddler stable after surgery
Eight-limbed Indian toddler stable after surgery
Lakshmi before surgery to remove her 'parasitic twin' that stopped developing in the womb. A two-year-old Indian girl, born with four arms and four legs, is making a good recovery after a 27-hour operation last week. Doctors say her condition is stable and will decide later this week whether to move her from the intensive care unit.(AFP/File)BANGALORE, India (AFP) - A two-year-old Indian girl who was born with four arms and four legs is making a good recovery after a marathon operation last week, doctors said Monday.
"She is more or less stable now but her wounds have to heal still," said Sharan Patil, who led the team of surgeons that completed the 27-hour procedure last Wednesday.
Lakshmi, named after the four-armed Hindu goddess of wealth, was born fused to the pelvis of the twin that stopped developing in her mother's womb.
"Infection is still an issue because she is so little," Patil told AFP. "We will decide tomorrow when to move her from the ICU (Intensive Care Unit)."
Lakshmi is cheerful and has been spending time with her father, Shambhu, mother Poonam, and older brother Mithelesh over the past two days, responding well to interaction with her family and hospital staff, the surgeon said.
She is able to eat semi-solid food such as rice pancakes and soft breads after regaining consciousness and being taken off a respirator Friday, Patil said.
In the rare, risky operation -- the first of its kind to be performed in India -- doctors separated Lakshmi from the organs and body parts of the other foetus, a condition that occurs once in 50,000 conjoined twin births.
Her parents, from a remote district in poverty-stricken eastern Bihar state, brought her to Bangalore after a New Delhi hospital refused to perform the operation, saying the case was too complex and the cost prohibitive.
The surgery, which cost 2.4 million rupees (60,000 dollars), was performed free by the Bangalore hospital.
Lakshmi before surgery to remove her 'parasitic twin' that stopped developing in the womb. A two-year-old Indian girl, born with four arms and four legs, is making a good recovery after a 27-hour operation last week. Doctors say her condition is stable and will decide later this week whether to move her from the intensive care unit.(AFP/File)BANGALORE, India (AFP) - A two-year-old Indian girl who was born with four arms and four legs is making a good recovery after a marathon operation last week, doctors said Monday.
"She is more or less stable now but her wounds have to heal still," said Sharan Patil, who led the team of surgeons that completed the 27-hour procedure last Wednesday.
Lakshmi, named after the four-armed Hindu goddess of wealth, was born fused to the pelvis of the twin that stopped developing in her mother's womb.
"Infection is still an issue because she is so little," Patil told AFP. "We will decide tomorrow when to move her from the ICU (Intensive Care Unit)."
Lakshmi is cheerful and has been spending time with her father, Shambhu, mother Poonam, and older brother Mithelesh over the past two days, responding well to interaction with her family and hospital staff, the surgeon said.
She is able to eat semi-solid food such as rice pancakes and soft breads after regaining consciousness and being taken off a respirator Friday, Patil said.
In the rare, risky operation -- the first of its kind to be performed in India -- doctors separated Lakshmi from the organs and body parts of the other foetus, a condition that occurs once in 50,000 conjoined twin births.
Her parents, from a remote district in poverty-stricken eastern Bihar state, brought her to Bangalore after a New Delhi hospital refused to perform the operation, saying the case was too complex and the cost prohibitive.
The surgery, which cost 2.4 million rupees (60,000 dollars), was performed free by the Bangalore hospital.
Drug injecting triggers most Mauritius HIV cases
Drug injecting triggers most Mauritius HIV cases
A volunteer aiming to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS displays clean syringes at Baie du Tombeau, Mauritius, November 12, 2007. (Ed Harris/Reuters)ROCHE BOIS, Mauritius (Reuters) - Drug abuse accounts for92 percent of new HIV infections in Mauritius, up from just 14percent in 2002, the government said on Monday.
The Indian Ocean island nation has an estimated HIVprevalence rate of 1.8 percent, which is low for the region. Onthe African mainland, HIV infection rates stand at 16.1 percentin Mozambique and 18.8 percent in South Africa, for example.
But officials say risky practices like sharing needles usedfor injecting drugs are causing many more infections. Mauritiussuffers the second highest rate of heroin and opiate use in theworld, according to U.N. figures.
"Some 92 percent of the virus' transmission today isthrough the exchange of needles by drug addicts," saidMauritius' minister of health and quality of life, SatyaFaugoo.
The government was expanding a needle exchange program tosupply drug users, he said.
"Initially, we are targeting some 2,000 drug addicts byJune," Faugoo told Reuters, adding that the authorities werealso planning to treat another 1,000 addicts with opiatesubstitute methadone.
Mauritius has an estimated 20,000 drug addicts among its1.3 million population, according to government figures, butmany people who work with users think the real number ishigher.
(Reporting by Ed Harris; Editing by Daniel Wallis andCaroline Drees)
A volunteer aiming to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS displays clean syringes at Baie du Tombeau, Mauritius, November 12, 2007. (Ed Harris/Reuters)ROCHE BOIS, Mauritius (Reuters) - Drug abuse accounts for92 percent of new HIV infections in Mauritius, up from just 14percent in 2002, the government said on Monday.
The Indian Ocean island nation has an estimated HIVprevalence rate of 1.8 percent, which is low for the region. Onthe African mainland, HIV infection rates stand at 16.1 percentin Mozambique and 18.8 percent in South Africa, for example.
But officials say risky practices like sharing needles usedfor injecting drugs are causing many more infections. Mauritiussuffers the second highest rate of heroin and opiate use in theworld, according to U.N. figures.
"Some 92 percent of the virus' transmission today isthrough the exchange of needles by drug addicts," saidMauritius' minister of health and quality of life, SatyaFaugoo.
The government was expanding a needle exchange program tosupply drug users, he said.
"Initially, we are targeting some 2,000 drug addicts byJune," Faugoo told Reuters, adding that the authorities werealso planning to treat another 1,000 addicts with opiatesubstitute methadone.
Mauritius has an estimated 20,000 drug addicts among its1.3 million population, according to government figures, butmany people who work with users think the real number ishigher.
(Reporting by Ed Harris; Editing by Daniel Wallis andCaroline Drees)
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