*** News You Can Use! -- 25 July 1996 ***
Has E. coli grown more dangerous? That's the anxious question being asked by Japanese health officials, after a strain called E. coli 0157 is blamed for sickening over 8,400 people, killing seven and hospitalizing nearly 600 (as of 23 July). The outbreaks are concentrated in a few clusters, affecting 6,000 schoolchildren in the city of Sakai, a retirement home in the suburbs of Osaka, and an electronics equipment company in Kyoto. Typical of the way this disease works, the latest fatalities were an 85-year-old woman and a ten-year-old girl. The schoolchildren are a special concern to health officials, because the young can suffer potentially fatal kidney complications.
Even as Japan scrambles to track the source of the E. coli, a less dangerous but no less mysterious case of food poisoning is baffling researchers in North America. The U-S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are trying to nail down the source of a single-cell parasite called cyclospora. It invades the small intestine, causing diarrhea, vomiting and other illnesses. Although treatable with antibiotics, cyclospora still can last several weeks. In June, health officials in Texas blamed strawberries from California, costing growers in that state millions of dollars. Officials later said lab tests hadn't found any tainted strawberries. The latest suspect is raspberries from Guatemala. But there's no conclusive word yet. (Associated Press, 23 July 1996, 22 July, 21 July)
See the CNN story.
There's hope for the millions of people who suffer from migraine headaches. One-third of the patients in a new study reported long-lasting relief after using nose drops containing the topical anesthetic lidocaine. The medicine is inexpensive -- about five cents a dose. But some experts aren't sold on the benefits of the nose drops, because their effectiveness fades with repeated use. The study is reported in The Journal of the American Medical Association. (Associated Press, 23 July 1996)
See the CNN story.
Maybe you've seen him singing on his own commecials. Maybe you've seen his full-page ads, or read about the controversy that follows in their wake. If you haven't yet heard about Phil Sokolof, he's quite a lightning rod. A self-described "cholesterol crusader," Sokolof uses his own money to make news, such as the full-page ads he took out in major newspapers to chastise McDonald's over the saturated fats in their french fries. His latest target is pharmaceutical giant Merck, makers of the cholesterol-lowering medicine Zocor. Since the pill costs the same whether it's 20 mg (the typical dose) or a double-dose size of 40 mg, Sokolof says buy the 40 mg dose -- and cut it in half. Some experts call it irresponsible, because Zocor pills aren't meant to be split and might not divide their dose evenly. But others say the pill-splitting is routinely done at some U-S federal hospitals. (Associated Press, 23 July 1996)
See the CNN story.
Speaking of controversy...
A panel for the Food and Drug Administration met under tight security on 19 July to hold hearings on RU486, the abortion drug. After reviewing two French studies, the panel voted 6-0, with two abstentions, to recommend the drug's approval, with conditions.
RU486 has been the center of a major medical and ethical debate ever since its unveiling. The French-made drug was hailed as a safe alternative to surgical abortions. But pro-life, anti-abortion forces mobilized in opposition to the drug, one calling it a "human pesticide." In urging the panel to reject the drug, opponents say it endangers both fetuses and mothers. But RU486 is already available in France, England, Sweden and China, and it's been sold to some 200,000 women. And research on thousands of French women indicates that the drug causes an abortion 95% of the time, with rare complications.
Scientists on the panel say women must understand that taking RU486 can be painful, cause bleeding, and must be used carefully. (Associated Press, 20 July 1996, 19 July, 18 July; Broadcast News, 20 July)
See the CNN story.
See the USA Today story.
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are trying to use gene therapy to help arthritis patients battle the debilitating ailment. The treatment begins with the patien'ts own genes, which are cloned to produce an arthritis-blocking protein. Then these cells are "piggy-backed" on a mouse virus, and injected into the patient's joints. As researcher Christopher Evans puts it, the therapy turns the joint into a "little factory that makes its own medicine." (Associated Press, 19 July 1996)
Home Access Health Corporation is now offering a home testing kit for the HIV virus. The company began taking orders via a toll-free telephone number for its Home Access Express test kits two days after approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The kits let people take a blood sample at home, mail it to a laboratory, and then learn by telephone if they have the HIV virus that causes AIDS. To receive a kit, call 1-800-HIV-TEST (1-800-448-8378). Johnson & Johnson began limited sales of its Confide home test this spring.
See the USA Today story. (USA Today, 24 July 1996)
See the CNN story.
Regular listeners to the Dr. Dean Edell medical talk radio program know precisely where he stands on psycho-stimulants such as Ritalin. He believes that American are too quick to treat hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder with drugs, rather than search for alternative solutions. Now more medical and advocacy groups are relaying the same message in Congressional hearings. Howard Morris, vice president of the National Attention Deficit Disorder Association, says some doctors use Ritalin as a diagnostic tool: "If it works, then you've got it and if it doesn't, then you don't." The U-S Department of Education estimates two and a-half million school-age children may have ADD. Guidelines are being written to help parents, doctors and educators identify attention deficit disorder in children. (Associated Press, 22 July 1996)
See the CNN story.
A disease more commonly associated with developing countries is making something of a comeback in the United States: cholera. Federal researchers say the number of cases has jumped in the past five years, mainly brought into the United States by travelers from foreign countries. Half of the newer cases can be traced to two separate arrivals -- an airplane from Latin America, and a cruise ship from Southeast Asia. But researchers also say the individual traveler's risk of contracting cholera is "extremely low." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention documented 160 cases from 1992-1994. It's not much, but that's more cases than the United States had in the 25 years before that. And, nearly all the latest cases are resistant to antibiotics. The study was reported in The Journal of the American Medical Association. (Associated Press, 23 July 1996)
See the CNN story.
STB's News You Can Use! edited and written by --
Tom Connolly, for Infant Moose Web Page Creations.
Past newsletters: 18 July 1996 | 11 July 1996 | 3 July 1996 | 26 June 1996 | 20 June 1996 | 12 June 1996 | 6 June 1996 | 31 May 1996 | 25 May 1996 | 16 May 1996 | 9 May 1996
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