STB's News You Can Use -- 19 January 1997

* News You Can Use! -- 19 January 1997 *

AIDS: new test and new concerns
Air bag debate continues
Smoking linked to aging, wrinkles
FDA may pull Seldane from the market
More info with your prescription
A killer fungus and mad cow
Dieters may not benefit from exercise
Health News & Notes
Buffalo News_ article on STB
Index of past newsletters

Hope, concern and turmoil over HIV and AIDS

*** An Oregon company named Epitope Incorporated has developed a test for AIDS that appears to be a highly accurate alternative to blood testing. The Orasure test uses a toothbrush-like device to scrape tissue from the cheek and gum. The research was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. See the USA Today story, and the original FDA test approval statement. (Associated Press, 15 January 1997)
*** The man who gave this killer virus the name AIDS back in 1983, Michael Gottlieb, says that early treatments such as AZT may have inadvertently created resistance to the better class of drug cocktails that followed in the past few years. Researchers say between five and 30 percent of AIDS patients will receive little or no benefit from treatments including protease inhibitors, becuase taking the older antiviral drugs may have fortified the surviving AIDS virus, creating mutations that the newer drugs can't handle. Gottlieb said it was a resistance accident waiting to happen, since the newer drugs came along before scientists understood how quickly the virus mutates. (Associated Press, 12 January 1997)
*** There appears to be a second incidence where a health professional infected a patient with the AIDS virus. An orthopedic surgeon in France is believed to have transmitted the virus during an operation. (Associated Press, 16 January 1997)
*** A member of Canada's Parliament, Grant Hill of the Reform Party, has been cleared by his medical peers of any wrongdoing in his declaration that homosexuals are unhealthy and spread disease. Hill practised medicine for over 20 years before being elected in 1993. While arguing against amendments to the Human Rights Act in May 1996, Hill said homosexuals suffer from HIV, parasitic infections, lowered life expectancy and hepatitis, and passage of pro-gay legislation would only encourage a lifestyle known to spread disease. Despite his arguments, the Act now prohibits discrimination against gays. In response to his politically sensitive words, the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons conducted an eight-month investigation, and on 10 January 1997, cleared him at a private meeting. Hill said the College concluded he was factually accurate. His e-mail address is: hillg@reform.ca (Calgary Sun, 15 January 1997)

Protect kids from powerful air bags, or adults who don't buckle up?

Auto air bags have saved countless lives since they were introduced, but now they also have been blamed for a number of deaths of small children and shorter adults. Now, the debate is raging over whether to install disconnect switches now so that consumers can make their own choice, re-design all air bags so they deploy with less force, or create a so-called "smart bag" that senses the size of the person in the seat, and deploys with the correct amount of force necessary.
*** General Motors is moving ahead with a $3 million public safety campaign to protect their customers now. Some 8,500 GM dealers in the United States are being sent videos and booklets that discusses car safety equipment, and how to use it properly. The free materials will be available at dealerships starting in February or early March, or you can call them toll-free for a free copy, at 1-800-247-9168. The materials will teach the proper use of seat belts, child seats and protecting kids from passenger-side air bags. (Associated Press, 16 January 1997)
*** That's what makes this story out of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, so tragic. A one-year child was sitting in a child safety seat in the rear of the car, but the little girl crawled into the front seat and refused to go back. So she was sitting on a passenger's lap when the car she was in hit the back of a pickup truck. Both front seat air bags deployed, and the one-year-old died of massive head and neck injuries. Air bags have been blamed for the deaths of 30 other children in the U.S. (Associated Press, 13 January 1997)
*** The obvious answer to some is to reduce the force at which air bags deploy. But what will that do to adults? USA Today looked at documents from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which indicated that leaving air bags at their current force could kill another 128 children annually by the year 2004. However, reducing their power could mean an additional 1200 adult deaths by 2004. The paper quotes one safety official as saying the priority is to "reduce the risk to children," even if the trade-off means more traffic deaths for adults not wearing seat belts. (Associated Press, 14 January 1997)

Smoking appears to hasten aging and cause wrinkles

You know how some young women will smoke to try and stay thin? Apparently, smoking also thins the skin cells. Researchers at St. Thomas' Hospital in London, England, studied 50 sets of identical twins. In fact, they were close to identical in everything, except smoking habits. They found that the twin that didn't smoke had thicker, more supple skin, and looked younger than the twin that smoked.
Genetically, they should aged at the same rate, but, on average, the smoking twin had skin 25% thinner than the non-smoking twin. In a few cases, the difference was 40 percent. Wrinkles occur as the skin thins, and the study goes on to say that smoking may cause the release of an enzyme that breaks down skin elasticity, or may restrict the blood supply to the skin. The researchers say it's been known for a long time that smoking makes you look older, but it never has been demonstrated in such scientific detail. They openly hoped that young smokers who ignore warnings about their health, might listen to these warnings about their looks. See the complete Associated Press story. (Associated Press, 12 January 1997; Broadcast News, 13 January)

The FDA may pull Seldane from the market

For years, if you wanted relief from seasonal allergies without drowsiness, the choice was Seldane. But now the U.S. government may withdraw its approval for the drug, due to safety concerns. The Food and Drug Administration says it appears that Seldane causes a potentially fatal heart condition, when combined with other medications. Interaction concerns had been growing in recent years -- in 1992, Health Canada ordered that antihistamines like Seldane be sold only through prescriptions. Those concerns allowed a newer drug, Claritin, to bypass Seldane in sales. Hoechst Marion Roussel, which manufactures Seldane, says it plans to fight to keep it on the market. But it's taking a two-pronged approach to be safe, and also is beginning a campaign to switch patients over to its safer allergy drug, Allegra. See the complete CNN story. (Associated Press, 13 January 1997; Broadcast News, 13 January)

U.S. wants to issue information pamphlets with prescriptions

As if in response to the Seldane story, Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala has approved a plan designed to give patients better information about their prescription drugs. Pharmacists will be encouraged to give a standardized pamphlet to everyone who gets a new prescription, informing them of the drug's uses, and warnings about side effects and interactions. Also, the new regulations would allow pharmacists to talk about unapproved or "off-label" use of a prescription drug if that information was specific to an individual patient. Several medical groups and drug makers oppose the plan, saying patients could be scared away from needed medications by warning about drug reactions that are very rare. See the full press release and the USA Today story. (Associated Press, 14 January 1997; USA Today, 17 January)

A killer fungus among us, and more about mad cow

*** The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believe that a black, slimy fungus has killed three infants and sickened 18 others. The fungus was found in water-logged homes in Cleveland between 1993 and 1996. The children got sick from inhaling a toxin produced by the fungus, apparently attacking their rapidly-devloping lungs. The adults were not affected in the same way -- it caused their lungs to bleed. The CDC says that while the fungus was known to cause internal bleeding in animals, this is the first link to human bleeding. The illness is not transmitted from person to person. Read the complete Associated Press story.
*** It's possible that the mad cow disease scare is far from over. Reporting in the journal "Nature," researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine project a final death total ranging anywhere from the hundreds to thousands. Too little is known about how many people actually consumed beef or other foods tainted with mad cow. Fifteen deaths have been linked to the human brain disease that was linked to mad cow disease in animals. The longer that number remains low, the more confident researchers will grow that the epidemic will be small. But if the number of deaths rises to 50 in 1997, it could point to an eventual death toll near 13,000. (Associated Press, 15 January 1997)

Exercisers don't always lose more weight then dieters

Thomas Wadden won't be welcome at Gold's Gym anytime soon. He's a professor from the University of Pennsylvania who's concluded that dieters who lift weights and get aerobic exercise don't always shed more pounds than those who just sit around. Moreover, he found that exercisers' bodies aren't always leaner, their metabolisms don't always work faster, and they are not necessarily happier about themselves. The study will be reported in the April edition of the "Journal of Consulting and Clinic Psychology." (Associated Press, 15 January 1997)

News You Can Use! (but I couldn't squeeze in)

Banning smoking... and smoker's breath: The Kimball Physics Company in Wilton, New Hampshire, has taken the fight against second-hand smoke to a new level. Not only is smoking prohibited on Kimball property, admittance to any of their eight buildings is denied to anyone who has smoked in the previous two hours. Company spokesman Chuck Crawford says the policy also applies to non-employees, such as truck drivers making a delivery. And he says one employee even tried to conceal his smoking by eating garlic. (Associated Press, 13 January 1997)
Birth control pill recall: Bristol-Myers Squibb has recalled 150,000 packs of Ovcon 35 birth control pills because of a packaging mix-up. The batch is the 28-day formula, lot number H6J272A. Women who have pills from that lot should return them to their pharmacies. The mix-up could have women taking some pills on the wrong days. The company says it's unlikely to cause a women to get pregnant -- it's more likely to disrupt her menstrual cycle. See the USA Today story. (Associated Press, 17 January 1997)
Eating stones is good for you: This from Siberia, where the local habit is to chew on stones. No, I don't know why. Anyway, a Siberian scientist quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency says minerals absorbed from the stones boosts the immune system of the local populace. (Broadcast News, 14 January 1997)
Protecting kids from iron pills: The Food and Drug Administration says 35 children have died, and another 110,000 thousand have been sickened by eating iron pills intended for adults. They are the leading cause of poisoning deaths for children under the age of six. Now the FDA has ruled that drugs and dietary supplements that contain iron must carry a prominent warning label, which will state that children can die from eating iron pills left within their reach. Also, pills containing 30 milligrams or more of iron must be sold in individual doses, packed in "blister packs" that are extremely difficult for children to open. See the CNN story. (Associated Press, 15 January 1997)
Can another drink cure a hangover?: Turns out the old joke has some truth to it. Dr. Ian Calder of the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, England, studied hangovers, and found that it's not the alcohol that causes the hangover. It's what happens to it the day after. After the drink has been metabolized, it produces something called congeners, and that's what causes the hangover. Since symptoms are at their worst when all the alcohol is gone, Dr. Calder suggests that another drink could cure hangovers by blocking congeners from forming. Incidentally, bourbon forms more congeners than vodka. See the CNN story. (Broadcast News, 3 January 1997)

*** News You Can Use! -- 19 January 1997 ***

* News You Can Use! -- 19 January 1997 *