Public Health
77 die from rare tropical disease on island paradise
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Travellers to an exotic island in the Indian Ocean have been issued with warnings against a rare tropical disease.
Seventy seven people have already died in Mauritius from the rare chikungunya virus which is carried by mosquitoes.
Mauritius, an island paradise particularly popular with honeymooning couple has about 700,000 visitors annually, generating more than £400 million.
Following the outbreak the number of French tourists who normally account for about a quarter of the total, plummeted.
Space Research Explores Bone Loss
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Astronauts who travel in space are at risk for bone loss in much the same way that cancer patients who receive radiation therapy are, and both groups are more likely to develop fractures than the general population.
To better understand the causes, Clemson researchers have developed the first model to study the rate of bone loss in those two groups. Their results are published in the Journal of Applied Physiology.
Clemson bioengineering professor Ted Bateman said, “Recent exams of astronauts who were on the International Space Station showed signs of bone loss in the neck and vertebrae. Even five years after returning to Earth, they have not completely recovered from this loss.”
Angola embarks on massive child vaccination drive
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Three-year-old Josefina Beamgh screams as the needle punctures her tiny back. A drop of blood spouts to the surface and the terrified child drops to the ground, distraught but safe from the scourge of measles.
“Do the next one,” Kisi Josefina Beamgh, the child’s mother, tells a nurse as she grabs one of Josefina’s four wide-eyed siblings. One by one, each receives the jab as well as an oral polio vaccination and Vitamin A supplement.
The scene was repeated throughout Angola’s capital Luanda on Wednesday as the southwestern African nation began one of its largest childhood vaccination and anti-malaria campaigns since winning independence from Portugal in 1975.
Second-generation airbags safer for kids
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A new study confirms that newer airbags designed to be less hazardous to children and small adults are indeed safer for young children, without putting adults at greater risk.
The first generation of air bags, built to protect an average-size male, “have been lethal for children and adults in some crashes,” Dr. Carin M. Olson of the University of Washington in Seattle and her colleagues note in the July 15 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Second-generation air bags developed to deal with this problem were included in most cars built in 1998 and nearly all passenger cars of subsequent model years, they add. These air bags include depowered air bags, which inflate with less force, and advanced air bags.
Tuberculosis Must be Tackled Among Socially Excluded Groups
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Tuberculosis can infect anyone, but predominantly affects the poor, write Alistair Story and colleagues. In London, where over 40% of all cases in the UK in 2004 were reported, rates of tuberculosis have more than doubled since 1987 and are now the highest among homeless people, problem drug users, people living with HIV, prisoners and new entrants, particularly those from countries experiencing chronic civil conflict.
Recently published guidance from the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommends chest x-ray screening for homeless people and entry screening for prisoners. Mobile x-ray units targeted at high risk groups are also being evaluated in London.
The guidance also suggests hospital admission for homeless people and those with clear socioeconomic need, allocation of a named key worker for all patients, and risk assessment to identify those patients unlikely to adhere to treatment.
Jailed Italian Mafia boss to have in-vitro baby
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An Italian judge has ruled that a Mafia boss serving a life sentence for murder should be allowed to father a baby through artificial insemination—and the public health service should pay for it.
In a case that is certain to stir controversy, the judge accepted the request by Salvino Madonia, who was convicted for the high-profile 1991 murder of a businessman who had refused to pay an extortion fee to the Mafia.
Madonia, 50, is detained in a high-security prison and is not allowed to meet his family, including his 32-year old wife Mariangela, in private.
Poor in England more likely than rich to die in 50s
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The poorest in England are over 10 times more likely to die in their 50s than richer people despite receiving similar healthcare, researchers said.
Obesity and smoking, two of the leading causes of preventable death, are more common in lower economic groups but Professor Michael Marmot of University College London said psychological factors and social position can also have an effect on health.
“There is an intricate relationship between wealth and health,” said Marmot, the principal investigator of the English Longitudinal Study on Aging (ELSA).
Calif. prison health care in shambles-report
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California’s prison health-care system is at best in a “state of abject disrepair,” the receiver appointed by a U.S. judge to probe its workings reported on Wednesday.
In his first bimonthly report, court-appointed receiver Robert Sillen concluded California’s prison health-care system is in shambles.
“Almost every necessary element of a working medical care system either does not exist or functions in a state of abject disrepair,” Sillen wrote in a scathing 37-page report based on observations from tours of five state prisons.
Results of Hospital Performance Measures Do Not Always Reflect Patient Outcomes
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Hospital quality measures do not fully account for the variation in hospital death rates for heart attack patients, according to a study in the July 5 issue of JAMA.
As part of the national effort to improve hospital quality, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) monitor and publicly report hospital performance on acute myocardial infarction (AMI - heart attack) “core” process measures approved by the Hospital Quality Alliance, according to background information in the article. Although the CMS/JCAHO process measures are considered indicators of quality of AMI care, little is known about how these measures track with each other. And the degree to which process measure performance conveys meaningful information about short-term death rates remains unclear.
People with learning difficulties abused:UK report
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Checks will be carried out on all services providing care to Britons with learning difficulties after two independent bodies said on Wednesday there were “serious concerns” about their treatment.
The warning came after an investigation by the Healthcare Commission and the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) into Cornwall NHS Trust found what they called unacceptable standards of care including evidence of institutional abuse.
“Let us first be clear we are not saying that the abusive behavior we found in Cornwall is happening everywhere,” said a joint statement from Anna Walker, the Healthcare Commission’s chief executive, and David Behan, CSCI chief inspector.
Health alert issued as heatwave set to continue
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The heatwave across much of southern Britain poses “significant health risks” for the elderly and very young, officials warned on Monday.
The warning came after the Meteorological Office said it was raising its Heat-Health alert to the highest level since it started issuing heatwave warnings in 2004.
London and much of southern England and Wales are forecast to bake again on Monday and Tuesday with temperatures rising up to 32 degrees centigrade (90F).
Should Patients Have to Opt Out of Electronic Records?
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The potential benefits of sharing patient electronic records within health systems are broadly agreed, but concerns remain over patient consent and security. Experts in this week’s BMJ discuss how patients should consent to use of electronic records in the NHS and how the data can be kept secure.
There are two broad schools of thought. The first (the opt-out model) is for the public to be informed of the NHS care records service and to be given a chance to opt out if they do not want their clinical records shared within the NHS. The second model is for no sharing to occur until people have expressed their desire to share their clinical records within the NHS (the opt-in model).
Nigel Watson, Chief Executive of Wessex Local Medical Committees, has experienced an opt-out approach and believes that this is the way forward.
Gen-Probe and Bayer to settle patent disputes
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Gen-Probe has announced that Bayer HealthCare LLC has agreed to end a series of disputes involving multiple patent litigations and contract arbitrations.
Under the binding terms of the agreement, Gen-Probe will withdraw its patent litigation against Bayer and will grant Bayer immunity from suit with respect to all existing and future Gen-Probe patents for all of Bayer’s current nucleic acid diagnostic products. Further, future Bayer products will be immune from suit under four specified Gen-Probe patent families. Also, Bayer will grant Gen-Probe immunity from suit under certain Bayer patents with respect to Gen-Probe’s current TIGRIS instrument and future instruments. As part of the agreement, Bayer will pay Gen-Probe certain lump sum royalties over the next 18 months.
Researchers discover new cell structures
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Carnegie Mellon University researchers Kris Noel Dahl and Mohammad F. Islam have made a new breakthrough for children suffering from an extremely rare disease that accelerates the aging process by about seven times the normal rate.
Dahl, an assistant professor of chemical and biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon, said her work with researchers at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the John Hopkins University School of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania reveals that children suffering from Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS) have an excessively stiff shell of proteins.
The nucleus in all three trillion cells of the human body contains the DNA genome, which is wrapped with a stiff protein shell called the nuclear lamina. Children with HGPS have a mutation in one of the proteins of the lamina shell. For years, experts have thought this mutation made their nuclei much softer and more likely to be ruptured when cells were under stress.
Babies to be tested after London hospital worker is stricken with TB
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Following the discovery that a London hospital health worker has been found to have tuberculosis (TB), more than 200 babies are to be tested for the disease.
The health worker who was diagnosed with TB in March may have been ill since last December and it is very unlikely that the person has infected others at the hospital.
However the families of 213 babies treated on a postnatal ward at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Obstetric Hospital in London have been advised to have their babies screened.
