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The Central Georgian
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CDC study: U.S.
deaths from deadly drug-resistant staph may surpass AIDS
CHICAGO --More than 90,000 Americans get potentially deadly infections each year
from a drug-resistant staph "superbug," the government reported Tuesday in its
first overall estimate of invasive disease caused by the germ.
Deaths tied to these infections may exceed those caused by AIDS, said one public
health expert commenting on the new study, part of which was conducted in the
Atlanta area. The report shows just how far one form of the staph germ has
spread beyond its traditional hospital setting.
5.4 million gift for Emory lung disease research
Emory University in Atlanta is getting a 5.4
million dollar gift to help researchers fight lung disease. The grant is
coming from the founder of Monster.com, Andrew McKelvey. This represents a
second monetary gift that McKelvey is giving the school. A previous gift of
20-million dollars was given to a lung transplantation center at Emory's
School of Medicine, named after McKelvey. The center represents Georgia's
only lung transplant program. It's expected about 26 transplants will be
performed this year, which is double the amount performed in 2001.
FDA advises
stronger diabetes drug warning
WASHINGTON (UPI)
-- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said manufacturers of certain type 2
diabetes drugs have agreed to add a stronger heart failure warning on drug
labels.
Heart failure is a condition
that occurs when the heart does not adequately pump blood. The FDA said the
information will be included in the form of a "boxed" warning -- the FDA's
strongest form of a warning -- emphasizing the drugs might cause or worsen heart
failure in some patients.
The FDA said the warning
involves the thiazolidinedione class of anti-diabetic drugs. The products
include the brands Avandia, Actos, Avandaryl, Avandamet and Duetact -- all
manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline and Takeda.
"This new boxed warning
addresses FDA's concerns that Â… these drugs are still being prescribed to
patients without careful monitoring for signs of heart failure," said Dr. Steven
Galson, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and research.
The strengthened warning advises
health care professionals to observe patients carefully for the signs and
symptoms of heart failure, including excessive and rapid weight gain, shortness
of breath, and edema after starting drug therapy. The FDA said the use of the
drugs by such patients should be reconsidered.
Young black smokers face
obstacles to quitting
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An
"alarmingly" high number of inner-city black young adults smoke and, for those
trying to quit, several factors may conspire to thwart their efforts, research
shows.
A key factor, researchers found,
is the widespread belief among 18- to 24-year-old black smokers and nonsmokers
that smoking cigarettes is a normal behavior that's very common and "essentially
unproblematic."
The ease with which people can
purchase single cigarettes, or "loosies" as they are known, is another factor.
"This study found that the sale of single cigarettes was more pervasive than
previously reported and that most of the sales occurred on the street,"
according to the report in the American Journal of Public Health.
According to medical trial, 'double protection' doesn't
improve HIV prevention
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - For prevention of HIV infection,
there's no advantage to using a diaphragm as well as a condom during sex,
according to investigators hoping for an effective female-controlled method of
avoiding AIDS.
Dr. Nancy S. Padian and her colleagues tested the theory that
covering the cervix with a diaphragm and still using a condom would enhance
protection against HIV, in a medical trial involving some 5000 sexually active
women living in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Those randomly assigned to the "intervention" group were given
diaphragms and lubricating gel along with condoms, while condoms alone were
dispensed to the "control" group.
The women were re-evaluated and counseled about risk reduction
and "condom negotiation" during quarterly follow-up visits for up to 24 months.
More..
Zimbabwe to put 40,000
more on AIDS drugs by year-end
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe will put 40,000 more people on life saving
anti-retroviral drugs by the end of the year despite an economic crisis that has
hobbled the country's health care, state media reported on Tuesday.
The southern African country is among the worst hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic,
killing more than 3,000 people every week and accounting for 70 percent of
hospital admissions.
African
Americans are more likely to die from cancer than any other racial group...
African
Americans are more likely to die from cancer than any other racial group,
according to a new report by the American Cancer Society.
In 2003, the cancer death rate was 35 per cent higher for
black men and 18 per cent higher for black women, compared with white men and
women. It also warned that around 153,000 African Americans will be diagnosed
with cancer in 2007 and 63,000 of them will die.
Already the death rate for black men with prostate cancer is
2.4 times higher than that of white men and African American women have a death
rate from breast cancer which is 1.4 times higher than that of white women.
Last June, the Journal of the American Medical Association
reported that 39 per cent of pre-menopausal black women developed a dangerous
form of breast cancer, confirming anecdotal evidence that black women who
develop breast cancer under the age of 50 are more likely to die from it.
The American Cancer Society believes the reason for the higher
cancer death rates among African Americans is that they are more likely to be
diagnosed at a later stage than other groups, when the cancer has become more
advanced and is less responsive to treatment. But a lack of access to healthcare
insurance is also thought to be a factor.
Another theory relates to the high obesity rates among African
Americans, which stands at 45 per cent, compared with 30 per cent of white
Americans. Obesity increases the risk of developing cancer, so that is also
believed to be a contributory factor to the high cancer rates among the US black
population.
African Americans already have a lower life expectancy (70.2
years) than the national average of 76.5 years. But black American men have the
lowest life expectancy of all, which stands at just 66.1 years – seven and a
half years lower than the national average of 73.6 years for all men.
In the UK, African Caribbean men are
three times more likely to develop prostate cancer than white men. But because
of the failure of the NHS to properly record ethnicity data it is not yet known
to what degree black women in the UK succumb to breast cancer, compared with the
rest of the population.
New Drug said to be Effective in Helping
Blacks with Alzheimer's Disease
WASHINGTON (NNPA) - When Jonathan Lackland's
grandmother, Cora, forgot to turn off the lights or stove, the family just
thought she was tired and missing her deceased husband Richard. But when those
types of things happened more often and the woman known for being "meticulous"
was now listless and easily agitated, the Lacklands knew it was more than grief.
"In the beginning you blow it off, oh she just
made a mistake," said Jonathan Lackland.
"But we began to see changes in terms of how
lethargic she had become... She'd get very frustrated if she couldn't make a
point-meaning she would forget-and normally this was unlike her and that's when
we began to realize something just isn't right," he said.
And it was more than fatigue and loneliness that
was changing Cora Lackland. It was Alzheimer's disease.
More...
Why You Should Add Cranberry Juice to Your
Diet
Most urinary tract infections (also called
bladder infections or UTIs) occur from an overgrowth of E. coli bacteria in the
urethra or bladder. Cranberry prevents bacteria from adhering to the walls of
these organs, making it difficult for an infection to develop. Cranberries can
also help speed recovery time after you get a UTI.
For prevention, drinking at least one glass of
cranberry juice a day is your best bet. Be sure to buy pure cranberry juice, not
a blend, to make sure you get a good concentration. Cranberry capsules are also
available, but research shows the effects are not as strong as drinking actual
juice.
Unfortunately, when an infection does develop,
cranberries alone cannot get rid of one: you will need to go to your doctor for
antibiotics.
New effort at routine HIV
testing may take years to carry out ....
(AP) ATLANTA
- Don't expect your doctor to nudge you toward
an HIV test anytime soon, despite bold new government advice that most Americans
be tested for the AIDS virus.
Public health experts say testing in many parts
of the country probably won't get going for a year, maybe longer, because of a
complex tangle of state laws and the reluctance of some family doctors.
"I think it's going to be very slow progress,"
said Lawrence Gostin, a public health law professor at Georgetown University.
More....
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