Health Highlights: Jan. 31, 2003

Health Highlights: Jan. 31, 2003

source: Health Scout News

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of The HealthScout News Service:

Secondhand Smoke, Lead Levels Drop for Some

Levels of secondhand smoke and lead present in many people’s bodies have dropped significantly since they were last measured about a decade ago. But readings are still too high in a considerable portion of the population, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.

In 1999 and 2000, 2.2 percent of children ages 1 to 5 had elevated levels of lead, compared with 4.4 percent in the early 1990s. And amounts of cotinine, a product of nicotine after it enters the body, dropped by 75 percent in nonsmoking adults and by 58 percent in children compared with earlier readings, CBS News reports.

But cotinine levels measured twice as high in blacks as in whites or Mexican-Americans, the CDC said. Also, children’s levels were double those of adults, which CDC officials say is possibly because the last decade’s public health efforts focused primarily on reducing smoke in adult areas.

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Atlanta Hospitals Quarantine Blood Supplies

In an “urgent notification” to hospitals in Atlanta, the Red Cross asked the medical facilities to temporarily halt their use of some units of donated blood.

Stating that “White particulate matter was noted in a number of. . . Baxter collection bags,” Red Cross officials urged hospitals to inspect their supplies and quarantine units identified by the “Southern Region code 003.” Those units should be for emergency use only, the statement advised.

Georgia Hospital Association spokesman Kevin Bloy told CNN that all association members have been instructed to hold blood while the Red Cross works at identifying the substance found in some of the blood.

Hospitals in the Atlanta area have postponed elective surgery and are using back-up blood for emergency procedures.

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Unique Psoriasis Treatment Approved

Biogen’s Amevive, the first biologic drug of its kind, has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to treat moderate to severe psoriasis.

Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease in which overactive skin cells multiply at 10 times the normal rate. Excess cells then pile up at the skin’s surface, causing red, scaly patches that can be painful and disfiguring. These patches typically form on the joints, limbs and scalp, but they can appear anywhere on the body.

Some 4.5 million Americans have the disease, and about 1.5 million suffer from its moderate-to-severe form, in which topical creams or ointments are often ineffective, according to HealthScoutNews.

Biologic drugs are engineered from proteins produced by living cells. Amevive — tested by 1,000 participants in clinical trials in the United States, Europe, and Canada — suppresses the overactive immune cells in the skin. But doctors must monitor patients closely, since the immune-suppressing drug could increase a user’s risk of contracting certain cancers and infections, Biogen says.

Common side effects include dizziness, cough, nausea, and injection site pain or inflammation. The drug is taken over 12 weeks, though the company says many participants in clinical trials remained in remission for several months. Biogen says it’s evaluating the drug’s long-term effectiveness.

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FDA Seeks to Streamline Product Development

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it’s developed new guidelines to help companies that manufacture drugs and medical devices speed development of their products to market.

FDA Administrator Dr. Mark McClellan says while the agency isn’t relaxing its stringent approval standards, it wants to encourage companies to develop more innovative products and help them lower soaring development costs.

Foremost, the agency promises to reduce “regulatory uncertainty” by better communicating with the companies to avoid repeated reviews of drugs and medical devices before they are eventually approved. McClellan says even the most useful new products are often rejected on the first try because of problems with the manufacturer’s application for approval.

The agency says companies recently have been filing for fewer approvals — especially for groundbreaking products to treat critical conditions like heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

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Even Mild Concussions Are Serious, Study Finds

High school coaches should be cautious about letting an athlete who has suffered even the most mild concussion return to the playing field, researchers conclude from a new study.

Even when symptoms disappear within 15 minutes, concussions can lead to short-term memory problems and an increased risk of permanent brain damage, say scientists at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Sports Medicine Concussion Program.

The researchers evaluated 64 high school athletes with mild concussions, testing them at 36 hours, four days and seven days after they suffered their injuries, reports the Associated Press. Memory problems, in some cases, were apparent a week after participants received their concussions.

If coaches and team physicians miss the often subtle signs of a concussion — including nausea, dizziness, and headaches — an athlete who returns to the field too soon risks a rare condition called “second-impact syndrome,” in which a second blow to the head causes a fatal brain hemorrhage, the researchers warn.

Their study appears in February’s Journal of Neurosurgery.

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New York Syphilis Cases Soar

Syphilis cases shot up 55 percent last year in New York City from a year earlier, with much of the increase attributed to gay and bisexual men, city health officials tell The New York Times.

Some 436 new cases were reported last year, up from 282 cases in 2001 and 117 cases in 2000, the newspaper says. And even more troubling, 230 of the men diagnosed last year also were infected with the AIDS – causing HIV virus.

The biggest increase in reported cases of syphilis was among white men living in Manhattan, the Times says.

The sexually transmitted disease commonly begins with a sore on the hand, mouth or genitals. If left untreated, symptoms disappear, but the germ remains in the body — where it eventually can cause permanent damage to the brain, heart, and nervous system.

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