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Twentyone million doses of H1N1 VACCINE

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:28:45 +0000

The secretaries of commerce, education and homeland security offered guidance to businesses on how to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus and how to prepare for a major outbreak. They stressed the importance of allowing employees who exhibit flu symptoms to go home and stay home until at least 24 hours after their fevers subside. They also said that businesses should consider eliminating policies requiring a doctor’s note to justify a sick day and that employers should be prepared to operate with fewer people. In the U.S., 7,511 people have been hospitalized and 477 have died of swine flu, according to Aug. 13 figures from the CDC. Still, as the H1N1 virus swept across the world, many Americans who were infected had only mild symptoms and recovered without incident, while countries such as Mexico suffered a high mortality rate for reasons that aren’t clear. Kids six months to nine years old who’ve never been immunized against seasonal flu require two doses of that vaccine while those who’ve been previously immunized only need one. Clinical trial results from the H1N1 flu vaccine aren’t in yet, so it’s not clear whether one or two doses will be required.

School prepare for swine flu

admin — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 06:58:31 +0000

The number of H1N1 flu-infected patients has reached 21 in Myanmar, according to the Health Department Sunday.The authorities continue to take preventive measures against the possible spread of the global human flu pandemic, advising all private clinics in the country to report or transfer all flu-suspected patients, who returned from abroad, to local state-run hospitals or health departments for increased surveillance. CHINA has issued strict rules to schools to curb the spread of swine flu, urging them to downsize classes and in some cases delay the start of the new academic year, state media said on Sunday.According to the most recent health ministry figures, China has recorded a total of 2,537 cases of A(H1N1) flu, with none of them so far proving fatal.

Suicides among US soldiers

admin — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 09:12:56 +0000

At the Pentagon, Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli said suicides reported among Army soldiers in the last four and a half months totaled 51, compared to 41 in the first two months of the year alone.Suicides reported among soldiers have tapered off from extreme highs of early this year amid intense Army efforts to stem the deaths, but officials are not yet ready to say they have turned a corner on the problem.The ISR will design and conduct several large-scale survey data collections, and build and manage the study research databases in a way that protects the identity and privacy of Army personnel. The ISR will survey 90,000 active personnel, including members of the Army, National Guard, and Reserves. Researchers will ask about the prevalence of suicide-related behavior, as well as risk and protective factors. Saliva and blood samples will be taken for genetic and biologic analysis. The head of an Army suicide task force, Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire, said Monday a three-month review of 143 suicides last year — the highest since records were kept in 1980 — found “we have young leaders who have not been trained in the art of just taking care of soldiers,” particularly after they come home from combat.

Number of drunken drivers decline

admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:12:40 +0000

The findings come from the latest roadside survey by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration based on breath, saliva, blood samples and questionnaires taken from randomly selected drivers in 300 locations around the United States. In 1973, 7.5 percent of drivers had a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher. (A level of .08 is above the legal limit in all 50 states.) In the latest survey, the percentage of people driving above the legal alcohol limit had fallen to 2.2 percent.The survey data showed that men were more likely to be impaired by alcohol than women. Drivers were most likely to be legally drunk between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., compared with daytime or evening hours. The vehicles most likely to be operated by drunk drivers were motorcycles and pick-up trucks.The number of drunk drivers on the roads has fallen sharply during the past 30 years amid tougher laws, stiffer enforcement and a shift in societal views on alcohol, a government survey found Monday.The study found a higher risk of encountering drunken drivers in the early morning hours — 4.8 percent of drivers had an illegal blood alcohol level from the hours of 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. on Saturday. It found that 1.2 percent of drivers were legally drunk during the hours of 10 p.m. to midnight on Friday night, 1.2 percent of those surveyed were legally drunk while 0.2 percent were drunk during the daytime.

Beef products recalled by JBS

admin — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:42:28 +0000

All the recalled beef is in boxes bearing “EST. 969″ and packaging date codes of 042109 or 042209. They have case codes of 21852, 21853, 31852, 31853, 33852, 33853, 41853, 41853, 79852, 79853 or 90853.JBS Swift Beef Co. of Greeley has recalled about 41,000 of its beef products because of possible E. coli contamination.The products were produced April 21-22 and shipped to distributors and retailers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin.

Mosquito – related diseas

admin — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 09:25:53 +0000

As the temperature goes up and people start going outside, we want to make sure that people are aware of that fact that some mosquitoes do carry disease,’’ said Dr. Catherine Brown, state public health veterinarian. While the month’s rains may not cause a bump in mosquito numbers, the mild winter and prolonged snow cover may be factors that lead to elevated numbers as the summer progresses, Brown said.Mosquitoes testing positive for West Nile Virus have been found, so aerial spraying is set for Rindge Tract west of Stockton between 7:30 and 9:30 tonight or 5:30-7:30 a.m. Sunday to try to control adult mosquitoes.Mosquitoes can be an annoying, serious problem. They interfere with work and spoil hours of leisure time. Some are capable of transmitting diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, several different types of encephalitis, and West Nile virus to humans and animals.

Governor not infavour to build prison hospital

admin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:15:09 +0000

In a letter obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, Corrections Secretary Matthew Cate tells a court-appointed receiver that the state cannot afford the $1.9 billion fix Cate agreed to last month.Schwarzenegger said in a statement Thursday that California cannot afford the additional cost.The Schwarzenegger administration has rejected a plan designed to end years of litigation over inmate medical care in California’s prison system.In saying Thursday that fiscal times are not right to spend $1.9 billion on long-term health care beds for prisoners, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration has put itself on track for a new head-on collision with the federal courts.The governor, who is a defendant in that case, submitted a plan that was contingent on the plan that he just decided not to execute.

Cancer risks and weight -loss

admin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:22:43 +0000

Scientists have long thought obese people have a higher cancer risk, possibly because fat cells produce hormones that might lead to the disease.Women who have their stomachs stapled can cut their cancer risk by up to 40% – but men don’t seem to reap the benefit, a study shows.Being overweight as a young adult increases the risk for pancreatic cancer. That’s according to a study published Wednesday in the journal of the American Medical Association.The risk of cancer leveled off for those who became overweight or obese at age 40, and the risk became insignificant for those whose excessive weight gain did not start until after age 50.

Urine test for Appendicitis

admin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:42:58 +0000

The test is based on a protein excreted in the urine by patients who have an infection in the appendix. Led by Dr. Richard Bachur, chief of emergency medicine at Children’s Hospital Boston, researchers discovered the hallmark protein by collecting and analyzing urine samples from 12 pediatric patients with confirmed cases of appendicitis (determined by inspection of the appendix after surgery). From an initial result involving thousands of different proteins, researchers narrowed the potential candidates by comparing the 12 samples to those from healthy children without appendicitis. “We analyzed the proteins to see which were statistically significant compared with [the controls], and this gave us a short list,” explains Hanno Steen, director of the Proteomics Center at Children’s and a co-author of the study. That short list, combined with other possible protein candidates identified in previous research on the subject, comprised 57 different possibilities.Appendicitis is the most common surgical emergency in children, but the diagnosis can be challenging. An incorrect diagnosis can either lead to unnecessary surgery or a ruptured appendix with serious complications.From this study, the researchers identified seven biomarkers linked with appendicitis. Of these, leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein appeared to be the best — with few false-positive or false-negative results.

Swine Flu in Middle East

admin — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:13:14 +0000

China’s top epidemiologist said Tuesday that the country is closely monitoring any possible new mutation of the A/H1N1 flu virus. 28,774 confirmed cases of swine flu have been reported in 74 countries across the world, including 13,000 confirmed cases in the U.S. The disease has caused 144 deaths throughout the world, including 27 deaths in the U.S. The origin of the swine flu outbreak can be traced to Mexico, where the virus has reportedly killed and infected 108 and 6,241 people respectively (data as of June 11, 2009). Tuesday, China reported 237 infections on the mainland with no fatalities. “We are well prepared for the battle against any possible new mutation of the flu virus,” said Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, on the sideline of a seminar in Beijing.