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Shildt Financial Services hopes that you find the following news items to be helpful and informative.
IN REVIEW: Health News Back To September, 2008
Health Highlights (Sept. 25, 2009 to Oct. 2, 2009) Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay: Drug Deaths Outnumber Traffic Fatalities In 16 States: CDC Drugs now claim more lives than traffic crashes in 16 states, a new federal government report shows. Traffic crashes remain the leading cause of injury-related death in the United States, but drug-related deaths roughly doubled between the late 1990s and 2006, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Associated Press reported. The number of states in which drug-related deaths outnumber traffic deaths has increased from eight in 2003, to 12 in 2005, and 16 in 2006 -- Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. The CDC said illicit drugs such as heroin and cocaine continue to be major killers, but prescription painkillers such as methadone have accounted for most of the increase in recent years, the AP reported. ----- Tylenol Maker Recalls Some Products for Kids The manufacturer of Tylenol is voluntarily recalling more than 20 liquid medications for children and infants because some ingredients in the medicines didn't meet the company's testing standards. McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a division of Johnson & Johnson, which makes the products, reported that there were no injuries associated with the recall, according to Dow Jones. The company also said all of the medicine that reached store shelves meet qualifications. The recalled products, made between April and June 2008, include about 50 batches of children's and infants' liquid Tylenol products. The company began recalling the products in August from warehouses and retail stores after bacteria was detected in an inactive ingredient that was not used in the final products but was manufactured at the same time. Consumers with questions about the recall should call the company at 1-800-962-5357. For a complete list of the recalled products, go to the Tylenol Web site.----- FDA Advisers Back New OxyContin Pill U.S. health advisers on Thursday recommended approval of a new version of the painkiller OxyContin that is designed to lessen its misuse. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's panel of experts voted 14-4 in favor of the reformulated Purdue Pharma drug, which has a plastic-like coating that makes it harder to crush or dissolve in water. But the experts also recommended the company be required to conduct a follow-up study to track patients taking the drug over the long term, the Associated Press reported. The FDA is not required to follow its experts' advice, though it usually does. OxyContin was hailed as a breakthrough treatment for severe chronic pain when it was introduced in 1996. But drug abusers quickly discovered they could get a heroin-like high by crushing the pills and snorting or injecting them. On Tuesday, FDA scientists called the new version's resistance to abuse "limited," but said that "may provide an advantage over the currently available OxyContin." Last year, an FDA advisory panel told Purdue that it needed to conduct more tests to demonstrate the tamper resistance of the new version. ----- Possible Link Between Diabetes Treatment Januvia and Pancreatitis There may be a link between the diabetes treatment Januvia and cases of acute pancreatitis, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Friday. The agency said that between October 2006 and February 2009, there were 88 cases of acute pancreatitis reported in patients taking Januvia, the Associated Press reported. "It is recommended that health care professionals monitor patients carefully for the development of pancreatitis after initiation or dose increases," the FDA said in a news release. Januvia should be used with caution and with appropriate monitoring in patients with a history of pancreatitis. The FDA is working with drug maker Merck & Co. to include new warning information on the drug's label, the AP reported. ----- Whooping Cough Vaccination Recommended for Adults and Teens Most adults and teens should be vaccinated against whooping cough (pertussis), says the American Academy of Family Physicians. Many people believe that whooping cough is no longer a major public health concern in the United States, but health experts estimate there are up to 600,000 cases each year in adults alone, according to the AAFP. The organization this week launched a public health initiative to promote awareness about the importance of whooping cough vaccination to protect adolescents and adults from this highly contagious respiratory disease. "For protection against whooping cough, health experts ... recommend that most adolescents and adults get a single dose of the Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis) vaccine to replace Td (tetanus and diphtheria toxoids)," Dr. Ted Epperly, president of the AAFP, said in a news release. ----- Toxins in Drinking Water at Thousands of U.S. Schools Unsafe levels of lead, pesticides and other types of toxins have been found in drinking water at thousands of schools across the United States over the last decade, according to an analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data by the Associated Press. Toxic contamination of drinking water is most common in schools with wells, which account for up to 11 percent of the 132,500 schools in the country. About 20 percent of schools with their own water supply violated the Safe Drinking Water Act in the past decade. The number of violations increased over that time because of stricter standards for such contaminants as arsenic and some disinfectants, the EPA told the AP. The EPA doesn't have the power to require drinking water testing for all schools. "It's an outrage," Marc Edwards, an engineer at Virginia Tech who has been honored for his work on water quality, told the AP. "If a landlord doesn't tell a tenant about lead paint in an apartment, he can go to jail. But we have no system to make people follow the rules to keep school children safe?" ----- Hundreds More Nursing Homes Candidates for Inspection: Report Hundreds of potentially sub-par nursing homes aren't included in a U.S. government program that pays special attention to poorly performing nursing homes, says a Government Accountability Office report. The report looked at a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services program that identifies as many as 136 nursing homes as "special focus facilities" that warranted more frequent inspections, the Associated Press reported. But GAO investigators said as many as 580 nursing homes could be considered candidates for the program. The GAO report didn't identify the nursing homes. The findings suggest that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services program has too narrow a focus, said Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wisc., chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, the AP reported. "If far more than 136 nursing homes boast the bleakest conditions, then perhaps we should consider expanding" the program, Kohl said. At the least, he said he wants stronger warnings used on Medicare's Nursing Home Compare Web site. ----- Switch to Digital Patient Records Driven by Big Hospitals Large hospitals seeking to improve patient care and gain a competitive edge are driving the United States' move toward computerized medical records, The New York Times reported. One example is North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System. On Monday, the regional hospital group was scheduled to announce plans to offer its 7,000 affiliated doctors subsidies of up to $40,000 each over five years to adopt digital patient records, the newspaper said. That amount would be in addition to a federal program that offers up to $44,000 over five years for doctors who switch to computerized medical records. Around the nation, similar incentive programs to assist affiliated doctors are in place at Memorial Hermann Healthcare System in Houston and Tufts Medical Center in Boston, the Times reported. Electronic health records can be shared by hospitals, doctors' offices, and labs to coordinate patient care, prevent unnecessary tests, and reduce medical mistakes. In addition, doctors may form a stronger association with hospitals that subsidize the switch to computerized records. Those doctors may be more likely to admit their patients to those hospitals, the Times said. ----- Neocate Infant Formula Recalled: FDA A blending error has prompted a recall of some cans of Neocate specialized infant formula, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday. About 3,700 cans of the formula contain protein levels lower than that declared on the label, United Press International reported. Short-term use of the recalled formula would be unlikely to cause nutritional problems for infants, but long-term consumption may affect growth in certain infants, said Nutrica North America Inc. of Gaithersburg, Md. The FDA said the recalled 14-ounce cans were distributed to pharmacies, healthcare professionals and consumers nationwide. The recall includes cans with "Lot#P91877" printed on the bottom of each can. The lot number also appears on the right hand side of the case label, UPI reported. For more information, consumers can call the company at 800-365-7354, options 8-6061. ----- EPA Warns About PCBs in School Window/Door Caulking Schools across the United States need to check window and door caulking to see if it contains potentially cancer-causing PCBs, says the Environmental Protection Agency. If significant amounts of PCBs are found, the caulking should be removed. Although an exact number isn't known, PCBs may be present in many schools that were built or renovated before the chemicals were banned in the late 1970s, said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, according to the Associated Press. The danger to students is uncertain. "We're concerned about the potential risks associated with exposure to these PCBs, and we're recommending practical, common sense steps to reduce this exposure as we improve our understanding of the science," Jackson said in a news release. The agency plans to conduct research into the link between PCBs in caulk and in the air and will conduct tests on PCBs in schools, the AP reported. The EPA has set up a PCBs-in-caulk hot line (1-888-835-5372) and Web site at www.epa.gov/pcbsincaulk. ----- Swine Flu-Related School Closings Could Cost $47 Billion It would cost between $10 billion and $47 billion to close U.S. schools and day-care centers because of swine flu, according to a new report. Keeping children home from school would mean that parents would have to stay home from work, including some who are health-care workers, said the paper issued by the Brookings' Center on Social and Economic Dynamics, the Associated Press reported. Among the other estimates:
Schools are being told to close only as a last resort, such as when large numbers of students or staff have swine flu, the AP reported. As of Monday, at least 187 schools across the United States had closed, affecting nearly 80,000 students, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
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