*** News You Can Use! -- 7 September 1996 ***
Romania is in the middle of its worst outbreak of viral meningitis in a decade. As of September 2, there were 14 deaths attributed to the disease, mostly among patients 59 years of age or older. The health ministry says the epidemic spread from Bucharest to neighboring areas, with another 66 new patients admitted to hospitals over the Labor Day weekend. That brings the known number of viral meningitis cases to 281.
Meanwhile, a high school football player in New York State is in serious condition with bacterial meningitis, an infection of the bloodstream and the thin lining that covers the brain and spinal cord. A junior at Auburn High School was sent home ill Wednesday (Sep. 4). He was diagnosed and airlifted to a Syracuse hospital the same day. Health officials are working to prevent the disease from spreading. Besides cancelling Saturday's (Sep. 7) varsity football game and practices, antibiotics will be given to all of the football players, as a precautionary measure. (Broadcast News, 2 September 1996; Associated Press, 6 September)
A University of North Carolina study explored the eating habits of Americans at different income levels. Thirty years ago, poor black people generally ate more grains and beans, because they couldn't afford a lot of meat and butter. As a result, those people had a better, healthier diet than rich whote folks. But over the last 30 years, more affluent Americans have turned away from "richer" foods, reducing their fat consumption by 5% since the 1960's. They did it by cutting out fat, eating less red meat and butter, and drinking less whole milk. Another finding: poor people who are obese generally get that way from a decline in physical activity, not from eating more junk food than the average person. The research is published in the "New England Journal of Medicine."
But that doesn't mean we don't crave rich, fatty foods. The University of Michigan came up with a list of the Top Ten Foods Men Crave. Number one was steak and roast, followed by ice cream, and a healthy choice, poultry. But there's still room for junk, including doughnuts, cookies and cake (#4) and pizza (#7). (Associated Press, 4 September 1996, 5 September; CBS Radio, 5 September)
The third floor of Bell Canada's main office in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada... the third floor of Amoco's chemical division research center in Naperville, Illinois... home to medical mysteries. Both have been shut down, while medical researchers try to learn why so many people who worked there got seriously ill. In Hamilton, about 15 of 150 employees were diagnosed with either breast, colon or uterine cancer, or brain tumors. There have also been several miscarriages. Bell Canada spokesman Perry Blocher says air quality, radiation and other emissions have all measured within acceptable industry standards. The workers' union suspects electromagnetic fields emitted by computers and fax machines. The company says that's unlikely.
South of the border, in Naperville, Illinois, an oil company has closed part of a research center where ten employees have contracted brain tumors since 1982. On the third floor alone, three employees have been stricken, so it's been shut down. The brain tumor rate for the entire complex is about ten times the rate for the general population. Earlier studies did not establish a link between the tumors and the chemical studies conducted in the building. But Amoco has sent in another team of medical researchers to look again. (Broadcast News, 4 September 1996, 5 September, 7 September; Associated Press, 27 August)
President Clinton is creating the Advisory Commission for Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry, to study how health management organizations and other managed care plans are affecting patient care. The panel would include Health Secretary Donna Shalala and Labor Secretary Robert Reich. Clinton has expressed concern that managed care undermines the rights of patients. He also voiced support for a bill that would ban so-called "gag rules," in which HMO's bar doctors from discussing expensive treatment options with patients.
Cost pressures from managed care is cited for a surprising trend in doctors' pay -- downward. A study in the journal "Health Affairs" found that the average pay for doctors in 1994 fell 4% from the year before. Researcher Carol Simon of the University of Illinois said it was the first time she's seen doctors' pay go down.
Another apparent effect of managed care is the increasing demand for general practitioners. Researchers from the University of Washington reviewed recruitment ads in medical journals. They found that, in 1990, there were four ads for specialists for every generalist ad. By 1995, that ratio dropped to less than two to one. The study was reported in The Journal of the American Medical Association. (Associated Press, 2 September 1996, 3 September, 5 September)
Investigators for a presidential advisory committee charge that the Pentagon conducted a less-than-complete inquiry of chemical weapons use during the 1991 war in the Persian Gulf. Panel officials say they've turned up 1100 U.S. soldiers who were exposed to the nerve gas sarin, many of whom now report debilitating illnesses. The panel branded the Pentagon's initial exam "superficial."
And now there is a suggestion that either top military leaders were not given all the facts, *or* those facts all still being withheld from the public. The Birmingham News filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the military logs compiled for General Norman Schwarzkopf. When the records were provided, they omitted eight days when U.S. soldiers were destroying the ammo depot where sarin was stored. It's possible those logs were omitted for national security purposes.
In a related note, the U.S. Senate has passed a measure to benefit children of Vietnam war veterans. Even though the link between exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange and birth defects has not been proven, the bill would give federal benefits to veterans' children who suffer from spina bifida, the crippling neural defect. (Associated Press, 2 September 1996, 6 September)
The Alberta Complementary Medical Association held an emergency meeting over the Labor Day weekend, and they emerged with a defiant stance. These doctors of alternative medicine say they will refuse to follow new rules laid out by the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons. Association president Dr. Ken Wiancko says the new rules require those who practice alternative medicine (like acupuncture, chelation and vitamin therapy) to apply to become a registered complementary doctor. Wiancko says the rules are unjust, and would allow alternative doctors to be investigated at their own expense, as often as the College deems necessary. College spokesman Dr. Bryan Ward responds that the aim is to protect the public from unsafe or ineffective treatments.
And here's a story about an alternative technique that's even further from the mainstream than most. It's "distant mental imaging," where people project their positive, healing mental energy toward an object at a distance. On the Discovery Channel science show, "at.discovery.ca," host Jay Ingram invited viewers to project their positive thoughts at a subject that would certainly be unaware of their support -- because they were plants. Three bins of tomatoes infected with a fungus failed to improve, despite being the recipient of international waves of positive thinking. There was no discernable difference between those three bins and another three bins that were controls. (Associated Press, 3 September 1996, 6 September)
Austrian man develops lung disease from photocopying machine
Doctors from the University of Vienna, writing in the British medical journal Lancet, report a case of contracting a serious lung disease after repeated exposure to the toner from a photocopier. The 39-year-old non-smoker is only the second known such case. He presented a dry cough and breathlessness after moderate exertion for a year. Biopsies found particles in his lungs and lymph nodes, with metallic elements copper and silicon in the same amounts as found in toner dust. He worked as a data-collection specialist in a newspaper agency, and changed the copy machine's toner. The article warned that expanded use of photocopiers will lead to a higher incidence of pulmonary disease. (CBS Radio, 6 September 1996; Associated Press, 7 September)
- You know how some occupations can be dangerous, but you may not have heard how perilous it is to go golf ball diving. Plenty of golf balls wind up in water hazards, and now and then, an enterprising scuba diver will go looking for some easy money, like picking up soda cans for the deposit money. Except that it's more lucrative -- a golf ball can be re-sold to a broker for 15¢, and a pro shop can re-sell them for a dollar apiece. But in separate incidents, two scuba divers died at Toronto-area clubs. They were each working alone, despite rules requiring commercial divers to operate in three-person teams. The Ontario Labor Ministry has warned golf course operators to better protect divers. They say the golf course ponds often feature dangerous obstructions, such as broken concrete, that can snag scuba gear. And many are full of hazardous pesticides that are leached from the fairways. (Broadcast News, 4 September 1996)
- A drug hailed that appears to make cancer cells more susceptible to chemotherapy has been handed over to Bristol-Myers Squibb, the world's largest pharmaceutical company. Representing a group of Winnipeg medical researchers, Dr. Lorne Brandes signed over the patent rights to DPPE. In return, the drug giant will make payments to the University of Manitoba and to the Manitoba Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation. DPPE is an antihistamine that, used alone, hastens the production of diseased cells. But if chemotherapy is delivered an hour later, DPPE knocks out those diseased cells. (Winnipeg Free-Press, 6 September 1996)
- Health Canada has issued an alert, warning consumers not to use the East Indian herbal medicine K.4. Used to treat prostate symptoms, it's been implicated in two deaths and two illnesses in New Zealand. (Broadcast News, 6 September 1996)
- Who do you think would have a high rate of skin cancer? Someone who spends all day in the sun -- lifeguards, right? Right. The Orlando Sentinel surveyed 200 current and former lifeguards, and found that nearly 40% had some form of skin cancer, compared with about 20% for the general population. Additionally, lifeguards tend to develop the disease at a much younger age than most people. (Associated Press, 2 September 1996)
- A stroke victim has won a $6 million settlement from Walgreen drug stores over a botched prescription. E. Nathan Johnson was supposed to get a blood thinner called Coumadin after knee replacement surgery in 1994. According to the suit, a Walgreen's in Daytona Beach, Florida, filled the prescription, and instead gave him Cycrin, a hormone for women. After 11 days, his wife discovered the mistake, but two days after that, Johnson suffered a stroke, which was complicated by a heart attack. He's now 71 and comatose. Johnson's wife sued the store and one of its pharmacists, and the chain's insurer agreed to settle. (Associated Press, 4 September 1996)
STB's News You Can Use! edited and written by --
Tom Connolly, for Infant Moose Web Page Creations.
Past newsletters: 31 August 1996 | 24 August 1996 | 17 August 1996 | 9 August 1996 | 2 August 1996 | 25 July 1996 | 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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