There has been an outbreak of the deadly fungal meningitis disease in the US, affecting thousands of people with 16 people already dead. According to the website of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), authorities are  gravely concerned with the sudden outbreak linked to pharmacy-distributed steroids.

The outbreak of fungal meningitis has been directly linked to steroids supplied by Massachusetts-based New England Compounding Center (NECC); the company has announced that it is proceeding with an “abundance of caution” because of the risk of contamination, although there is no evidence so far that any of its other products have been contaminated.

Meningitis is a rare disorder that evolves as a consequence of spreading fungus through the blood to the spinal cord. It is generally caused by the inflammation of protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord called meninges. In other words it is swelling of edges or lining around spinal cord and brain.

Speculation tells us that injections distributed by NECC, called methylprednisolone acetate, used widely to nurse back pain, may have been cause of this clinical mayhem. Close to 13,000 people may have received the drug as part of their treatment. So far cases of meningitis have surfaced in Tennessee, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, Texas, Idaho, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio and Florida.

According to the CDC, more than 20 states have received the implicated drugs, and it has launched a multistate investigation to figure out the underlying cause of meningitis outbreak.

The CDC issued a cautionary call for patients who feel ill. They advise that anyone who is concerned about whether they received medication from the NECC should contact their physician. The CDC also issued clinician guidelines stating that physicians should contact patients who have been exposed. The CDC also warned that people with weaker immune systems, like those suffering from AIDS, are at greater risk of getting infected with fungal meningitis.

Dr Michael Carome, from a Washington based public advocacy group Public Citizen, said “Congress exempted drugs compounded by pharmacists from the usual safety and efficacy requirement.”

If speculation turns out to be true, and the cause of the outbreak is pharmacy miscalculation, then from broader perspective it is a regulatory loophole rather than clinical blunder.

David Miller, Chief Executive Officer at IACP, brought severity to the situation when he said that “this is not traditional compounding we’re talking about, it is multi-state selling and large-scale manufacturing.”

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Washington,U.S.A — Only months after the office of the U.S. Surgeon General warned that exposure to on-screen smoking causes young people to start smoking, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has spotlighted the U.S. movie industry’s failure to protect young audiences.

Reversing a five-year decline in movie smoking, from 2005 to 2010, four out of the six major Hollywood studios featured more smoking in their youth-rated (G, PG and PG-13) movies in 2011. Overall, tobacco incidents per youth-rated film climbed by more than one-third above 2010; in 2011, youth-rated movies delivered almost twice as many tobacco impressions to domestic theater audiences as in 2010, topping 10 billion. The three major studios with published policies addressing onscreen smoking — Disney, Universal (Comcast) and Warner Bros. (Time Warner) — saw the sharpest increases in the number of tobacco incidents per youth-rated movie.

“These data show us that individual policies that movie studios created in good faith to address this important public health problem do not stand up,” said Cheryl G. Healton, DrPH, President and CEO of Legacy, a national public health organization dedicated to reducing the tobacco epidemic in the United States. “The only way to ensure a substantial and permanent reduction in young people’s exposure to on-screen smoking is for the movie industry to adopt a uniform set of policies that apply to all producers and distributors and provide structural incentives for lasting change,” Healton added.

The Legacy-funded study “Smoking in Top-Grossing US Movies in 2011″ published today in the CDC’s Preventing Chronic Disease found that the number of top-grossing, youth-rated movies that were tobacco-free dropped 17 percentage points from 2010 to 2011 among companies with policies, and the number of tobacco incidents in their movies climbed from an average of 1 in 2010 to 8.5 incidents per movie in 2011.

Across the industry, youth-rated movies accounted for 68 percent of all tobacco impressions delivered to theater audiences in 2011, compared to 39 percent in 2010. The review was conducted by Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down! (TUTD), a project of Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails and the University of California, San Francisco, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. (Tobacco impressions, an index of audience exposure, are estimated by multiplying the number of tobacco incidents in a film by paid admissions to the film)

“In 2011, the steady progress we had seen since 2005, led by three companies who each demonstrated that smoking in youth-rated movies could be all but eliminated, stopped and slipped backward. The stark difference in performance between those three major studios with policies and the three without all but disappeared last year,” said Stanton A. Glantz, Ph.D., Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and lead author of the report.

“The result of this increase in the amount of onscreen smoking will be thousands of more kids starting to smoke,” Glantz added. “That’s why only a uniform, industry-wide R rating policy for smoking will protect kids from exposure to tobacco imagery. It creates a sustainable, voluntary incentive for producers to leave smoking out of films produced to be marketed to kids.”

The problem of smoking in movies is a top public health priority, as the U.S. Surgeon General, the CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have emphasized the importance of reducing youth exposure to on-screen smoking.

“The industry knows what these policies are, because they have been recommended repeatedly by health agencies and organizations, civic bodies, youth groups, and, earlier this year, by more than three dozen state attorneys general: the R-rating for future smoking, certification of no tobacco payoffs, strong anti-tobacco spots before any movie with smoking, shown in any channel, and an end to tobacco brand display in movies,” Healton said.

“How many more movies will it take for Hollywood to get the big picture and stop recruiting kids for Big Tobacco?” Healton asked. “When an actor lights up, so does a child. It is time for the media companies and their movie studios to take real, lasting action on this issue.”

To learn more about Legacy’s life-saving programs, visit www.LegacyForHealth.org or follow them on Twitter @legacyforhealth and Facebook www.Facebook.com/Legacy.

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At least 154 cases of a new strain of swine flu were detected across several states. The number of victims had been 29 one week ago, but the five time increase has officials concerned about another mass outbreak.

The original strain of swine flu, H1N1, killed at least 17,000 people between 2009 and 2010. This was highly contagious and moved so fast that countries only reported the number of deaths and clusters of unusual outbreaks.

This new strain, H3N2v, a variant of the H3N2 common influenza, so far has only effected people in direct contact with pigs. The states that are most affected also come in most contact with traveling fairs, complete with petting zoos and shows; people that work around pigs on a regular basis are high at risk. Indiana reports at least 113 cases, Ohio 30 cases, and one case each in Hawaii and Illinois.

Dr. Joseph Bresee of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) believes that “This is not a pandemic situation.” The CDC states that the disease must transfer easily between humans before it is considered a pandemic. However, they told ABC News that they are also concerned that “the new strain has a gene from the 2009 pandemic strain that might let it spread more easily than pig viruses normally do.” H3N2v could become another worldwide problem.

Bresee admits that the number of cases is expected to continue to rise, and a few human-human transmissions wouldn’t surprise anyone.

The good news is the cases are mild compared to other virulent flus, and no one has died so far. The two cases that resulted in hospitalization both fully recovered and were discharged.

The flu vaccine from this year doesn’t cover the new strain, so all are urged to be careful and take precautions by careful hand washing and avoiding eating and drinking around infected humans and animals. The CDC suggests seeking medical care for suspected infection.

While adults may have antibodies for H3N2v from similar flus in the 1990′s, parents should take extra care into account for children, who are the most affected so far. The CDC also warns those over 65, pregnant women and individuals with chronic diseases not to attend traveling fairs this year.

Fair officials are keeping an eye out for any pigs that exhibit flu symptoms. These include a runny nose, coughing and sneezing. In the meantime, Bresee is working on finding a vaccine for the virus in the chance it becomes a pandemic.

Image Courtesy of   Diego Cupolo [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

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Sixteen are confirmed dead and thirty are in isolation in Kagadi hospital from the well-known and terrifying virus, Ebola.

Ebola is a viral infection related to HIV that is characterized by fever, body aches, rash, abdominal pain, and in most case violent hemorrhaging (bleeding from body openings). Similar to HIV, Ebola is spread only through contact with bodily fluids. Death rates from previous outbreaks range from 50-90% and there is no known cure or treatment except to treat the symptoms. Knowledge of the virus was made popular by the book The Hot Zone which was later the basis of the film ‘Outbreak.’

Ebola was originally discovered in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is named after the Ebola River. Five strains, all named for regions, are known to exist: Zaire, Sudan, Cote d’Ivoire, Bundibugyo, Reston. This latest outbreak is the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus.

This outbreak has been centered in the Western region of Uganda and began in the city of Kibaale, about 100 miles from the capital, Kampala. The origin of the virus is unknown although the Kibaale Forest has a high concentration of monkeys and birds that are known transmitters of the disease.

The World Health Organization (WHO), United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Doctors Without Borders, and the Ugandan government are all working tirelessly to contain this outbreak. So far only two cases have been found far away from the original outbreak zone, one infected person was 200 miles outside of Kampala and had traveled from the area.

The other suspected case was in Eldoret, a large town in the Rift Valley in Kenya. Health officials are working on tracking down all 232 people who have had contact with the thirty individuals in isolation at the hospital and the sixteen who died originally.

Olimpia de la Rosa, the emergency coordinator for Doctors without Borders stated, “Right now there is no treatment for Ebola, so the most effective measure we can take is to contain the spread of the disease. That is why we need to start working immediately. Other cases need to be rapidly identified because containment is what can stop it.”

The thirty in isolation are currently only suspected to have the Ebola virus, although according to Dr. Dan Kyamanywa, at least three have been officially confirmed as having the virus.

Five of the thirty are prisoners from Kibaale prison and are showing the signs of vomiting, fever, and diarrhea. The rest of the cases will be verified when the blood samples return from the CDC labs in the US or the lab in Kampala (the only lab in Uganda capable of performing the analysis). Those with the virus – or just suspected to have it – are put in isolation and the medical personnel must wear many layers of protective gear.

Dr. Kyamanywa stated, “We do expect the number of suspected cases to increase. It’s important to break transmission and reduce the number of contacts that suspected cases have.”

According to the Ugandan Health Minister, Dr. Christine Ondoa, the outbreak initially went undetected because the patients only exhibited signs of fever and vomiting but no hemorrhaging, the most obvious symptom of the disease. The President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, has asked Ugandans to refrain from handshaking, kissing, using public transport, having casual sex, and do-it-yourself burials.

The Ugandan government has also suffered from a lack of supplies. According to health official Stephen Mfashingabo, “There was no money from the Health Ministry to fund activities since this outbreak was confirmed and there was also no food.”

Many Ugandans are terrified about the outbreak. In 2000 another Ebola outbreak occurred, infecting 425 and killing more than half. Market day on Wednesday, August 1 was cancelled and many residents in Uganda are scared to go shopping, visit churches and mosques, or travel. Tumusiime Jamilo, a reporter for a local Ugandan station reported, “Fears of catching Ebola have twisted people’s lives. They can’t go to the markets to buy things, [others can’t] sell their products and that’s hitting their pockets.”

The thirty in the hospital twelve were admitted very recently. It is still unknown how effective the prevention methods have been.

Image Courtesy of  uusc4all

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New York City, U.S.A. - Beginning August 4, 2012, New Hampshire will require notification that 6-month-olds should not be routinely fed infant formula mixed with fluoridated water to avoid discoloring babies’ un-erupted teeth (fluorosis), reports the Fluoride Action Network (FAN).

Passed by the House, 253-23, unanimously by the Senate, and signed by the Governor, HB-1416 reads: “If a public water supply is fluoridated, the following notice shall be posted in the water system’s consumer confidence report: ‘Your public water supply is fluoridated. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, if your child under the age of 6 months is exclusively consuming infant formula reconstituted with fluoridated water, there may be an increased chance of dental fluorosis. Consult your child’s health care provider for more information.’” The bill was introduced by Rep. Anne Cartwright(R-Alstead), and had four co-sponsors.

“Neither a nutrient nor required for healthy teeth, fluoride chemicals are added to public water supplies in a failed attempt to reduce tooth decay,” says Paul Connett, Ph.D., FAN’s Executive Director. “Current science shows that fluoride hardens teeth topically. Swallowing fluoride delivers risks without benefits,” says Connett.

Fluoridated water contains 100-200 times more fluoride than breast milk. And all infant formula already contains some fluoride.

The Centers for Disease Control reports that 41% of 12-15 year-olds are affected with fluoride overdose symptoms – dental fluorosis, white spotted, yellow, brown and/or pitted teeth – from over-ingesting fluoride while their teeth were forming.

Connett says, “We are proud of New Hampshire legislators for taking this bold step. Fluoridation is a political issue and most legislators shy away from notifying constituents of any scientifically-verified negative effects from fluoride for fear of offending the dental lobby.”

The scientific literature has been reporting for over a decade that mixing infant formula with fluoridated water is linked to dental fluorosis. And many government, health and dental agencies now advise against mixing fluoridated water and infant formula. But New Hampshire is the first state to require warnings on annual water reports. Connett says, “We hope this gives legislators the courage to stop fluoridation entirely because several studies from China show even modest exposure to fluoride is associated with lower IQ. Fluoride promoters can provide no evidence that efforts are being made to either refute or repeat these studies in the U.S.”

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Pasadena, U.S.A. – People who have had an episode of herpes zoster, also known as shingles, face a relatively low short-term risk of developing shingles again, according to a Kaiser Permanente Southern California study published online in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. These findings suggest that among people with immune systems that have not been compromised, the risk of a second shingles episode is low.

Researchers reviewed electronic health records and monitored recurrence of shingles for more than 6,000 individuals. They found fewer than 30 cases of recurrent shingles in an average of two years of follow-up and little difference in the rate of recurrence between the vaccinated and unvaccinated population.

“This study’s findings are important because we found that the risk of having a recurrent shingles episode is not as high as previous research indicates,” said Hung Fu Tseng, PhD, MPH, study lead author with the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation in Pasadena, California. “We now have empirical data that show the risk of recurrence is low among an elderly population who did not have compromised immune systems, regardless of their vaccination status.”

More than 1 million people develop shingles every year in the United States. Shingles is a painful contagious rash caused by the dormant chickenpox virus, which can reactivate and replicate, damaging the nerve system. The elderly are especially vulnerable because immunity against the virus that causes shingles declines with age.

When the Food and Drug Administration approved the shingles vaccine in 2006, the agency said that having an episode of shingles boosts immunity and suggested it was unlikely that people would experience a recurrence. It further stated that the effectiveness of the vaccine in preventing repeat episodes had not been proven in clinical trials because trials have not been conducted.

By contrast, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended the herpes zoster vaccine for people ages 60 and older, including those who reported a previous episode.

“While this latest study adds to the growing evidence base of emerging knowledge about the shingles vaccine, more research is needed. Our findings need to be replicated by studies with larger populations. Kaiser Permanente Southern California researchers will continue to follow this population of vaccinated people in order to determine the long term preventative efficacy,” said Dr. Tseng.

Researchers studied electronic health records for 1,036 vaccinated and 5,180 unvaccinated Kaiser Permanente members aged 60 and older. The vaccinated population included members who received vaccines between 2007 and 2010. The zoster vaccine is not recommended for patients with immune systems that have been compromised as a result of cancer or other medical conditions, so they were excluded from this study.

Based on the clinically confirmed cases, researchers found the risk of the recurrence of shingles after a recent episode is fairly low, regardless of vaccination status. Each year, on average, 19 persons per 10,000 in the vaccinated cohort experienced a recurrence of shingles. The rate was only slightly higher for the unvaccinated population, at approximately 24 persons per 10,000 per year.

This is the latest in a series of published Kaiser Permanente studies conducted to better understand vaccine effectiveness and safety. In 2011, Dr. Tseng was a lead researcher in a Vaccine Safety Datalink study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine that found the herpes zoster vaccine to be safe. Also last year, Dr. Tseng published a study in the journalVaccine that found that administering the pneumococcal and the herpes zoster vaccines at the same time is as beneficial as if they were administered separately. In addition to that study, Dr. Tseng published a study in 2011 in the Journal of the American Medical Association that found the shingles vaccine is associated with a fifty-five percent reduced risk of developing the disease. In 2010, another study by Dr. Tseng in JAMA found the pneumococcal pneumonia vaccination is not associated with a reduced risk of heart attacks or strokes in men.

Two Kaiser Permanente studies found that the combination vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox is associated with double the risk of febrile seizures for 1- to 2-year-old children, compared to same-day administration of the separate vaccine for MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) and the varicella vaccine for chickenpox. Other Kaiser Permanente studies found that children of parents who refuse vaccines are nine times more likely to get chickenpox and 23 times more likely to get pertussis (commonly known as whooping cough), compared to fully immunized children. Another study found that herpes zoster is very rare among children who have been vaccinated against chickenpox.

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Washington, U.S.A - As Memorial Day approaches heralding the summer pool season, a new survey on swimmer hygiene conducted by the Water Quality & Health Council (WQHC) finds that although nearly all Americans (93%) say they would never re-use someone else’s bath water, almost seven in 10 (68%) admit they do not always shower before getting in the pool. Failing to shower before swimming adds contaminants to the pool that can lead to unhealthy swimming conditions.

“Swimming is not a substitute for bathing. Too many people unknowingly treat the pool as a communal bathtub,” said Dr. Chris Wiant, chair of the Water Quality & Health Council. “It may seem counter-intuitive, but it’s important to shower before you jump in the pool to help keep swimming healthy for everyone in the pool.”

“The pre-swim shower removes a lot of the sweat, cosmetics and urine that can mix with chlorine to create irritants in pool water,” said Michele Hlavsa, Chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Healthy Swimming Program. “These irritants, not the chlorine itself, cause red eyes when we swim and the strong chemical smell of some pools.”

The April 2012 survey found that one in five respondents admit to peeing in the pool, echoing the results from a WQHC survey conducted three years ago. According to Dr. Wiant, “No matter how easy it is to pee anonymously in the pool; swimmers should avoid doing so and take their children on frequent bathroom breaks. Pool operators should also monitor and maintain proper pool water chemistry, especially pH and chlorine levels, which CDC calls ‘the first defense against germs that can make swimmers sick.’”

The WQHC is again making available this year free pool test strips so swimmers can check pH and chlorine levels using a simple, color-coded test strip. Proper chlorine levels and pH help keep pools healthy by destroying waterborne germs that can cause diarrhea, swimmer’s ear, and skin infections.

Last summer, WQHC mailed over 32,000 free pool test strips to swimmers who requested them on the Healthy Pools website. Data submitted by swimmers across the nation last summer showed that 54% of pools tested had unacceptable chlorine levels and 47% had inappropriate pH levels.

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Washington, U.S.A. – The Cancer Support Community (CSC) and the Amgen Foundation, announced the launch of Open to Options, a program designed  to bridge the communications gap between physicians and patients and inspire patient confidence in making treatment decisions.  Following a successful pilot funded by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Open to Options program is ready to provide professional counselors who help more people formulate a list of personalized questions and concerns to be taken into the oncologist’s office.

“The number and complexity of options for treating cancer can be overwhelming for people,” said Vicki Kennedy, Vice President of Program Development & Delivery at the CSC. “The goal of Open to Options is to help people affected by all cancers evaluate their options so they can feel more confident and communicate clearly with their doctor so a decision is made that best fits their individual desires and goals.”

“We are delighted to support the Open to Options program as part of our ongoing commitment to empowering patients to take an active role in their care,” said Jean Lim Terra, president of the Amgen Foundation. “The resources that the Cancer Support Community provides individuals and families helps to ensure that those affected by cancer have the knowledge and support they need to make the right decisions at the right time.”

The program was created in response to CSC research that found the majority of cancer patients are unprepared to make treatment decisions.  The study found that 9 out of 10 patients felt that the list of questions, concerns and expectations contributed to a more productive appointment with their doctor and that the oncologist answered most of their questions.  The study also showed:

• A decrease in anxiety about the appointment for most patients
• Repeat use of the tools and techniques learned
• Patient and physician satisfaction

“Open to Options helped me prioritize my questions and concerns in a concise, logical order to help me optimize my time with the oncologist,” said Trish H., a multiple myeloma patient who participated in the Open to Options pilot.  “When I went into his office, I had my concerns printed out and when I left the appointment I knew that I had decided on the treatment option that was right for me.”

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As a highly experienced vision screener who has tested more than 50,000 children over the past 10 years for Florida’s VisionQuest, Nancy Jeppesen has seen the real impact on children who have a vision problem, but were not identified.

“I believe vision issues among children is a silent epidemic,” said Jeppesen, who founded Florida’s VisionQuest in 1994.  “These kids don’t know they can’t see. Most of them were born that way.  When we go into a Title I school that is typically made up of minority students from high poverty circumstances, we have seen as much as 43 percent of the school population requiring eye glasses. And this is at the elementary school level.

“If these children had a cold or the flu or even a tooth ache, there would be a public outcry that 43 percent of them need something and they’re not getting it taken care of immediately.”

Jeppesen is a mother of five who watched one of her own children struggle in fifth grade because she had not been correctly identified with a vision issue after taking the eye chart test in third grade. That experience led Jeppesen to found a non-profit organization, Florida VisionQuest, which began working with schools in Florida to provide vision screenings, eye exams and eye glasses to children. Jeppesen says parents may not realize the correlation between vision problems and academic success.

“Parents rely on vision screenings in the schools to find out if their children have a vision problem,” said Jeppesen, who points out that many children are passing the eye chart exam, but still have a vision issue. “You have parents dismissing vision as the reason their child is having a problem in school, when in fact that may be the only reason.”

The longtime vision health expert has witnessed the real life consequences that develop from children who can’t see in a classroom.

“Typically the child who has an unidentified vision problem will sit in class and fail,” said Jeppesen. “They will check out of school mentally, because they can’t see, they can’t participate, they can’t compete. That child will think they are stupid which hurts their self-esteem.” Given that set of circumstances, many of those children will feel left out and start looking at other options.

“Those children will try to figure out some other way to be successful in life and that might be on the street, it might be in gangs, whatever it may be, but the sad part is we have lost those children in the school system,” said Jeppesen.  “I had a fifth grader once who said he could never figure out why the teacher spent so much time writing on the chalkboard when no-one can see it. That is tragic!”

The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) state that vision disability is the single most prevalent disabling condition among children. Approximately 80 percent of what children learn in their early school years is visual, so if they can’t see a teacher’s writing on the blackboard, they will struggle.

Today, of all school-age children across America, 25 percent suffer from a vision problem, that is 12.5 million children who may be unable to see the blackboard or read their textbooks.  Research shows that of the children in the 9 to 15 year-old age group only 10 percent of those who needed glasses actually had them.

Changing the Status Quo

The 149 year-old eye chart has been the standard of vision screening, which has resulted in so many children going unidentified. However, a revolutionary new device called Spot has recently been introduced and is drastically changing vision screening in America.

“Up until now, it has been challenging to identify all children who have a vision issue,” said Jeppesen. “For the first time, we now have a vision screening tool, Spot, which can accurately identify all of the children with vision problems.  Now we can help those children. That is so exciting for all of us out there screening children!”

For Jeppesen, Spot is so revolutionary that she believes it is helping to save the lives of those children who otherwise would have no chance of succeeding in school.

“I feel like every day we save not only one child’s life, but we are helping to save 10 or 20 or even 30 lives each day, because we are identifying kids who didn’t know they had a vision problem,” said Jeppesen, who relies on only seven employees and a network of 350 volunteers including eye care specialists to help with screenings and follow-up care throughout Florida. “What’s really exciting is when you put glasses on that little kid’s face and all of a sudden they can see. We help to open up their entire world.”

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The percentage of U.S. citizens screened for cancer remains below national targets, with significant disparities among racial and ethnic populations, according to the first federal study to identify cancer screening disparities among Asian and Hispanic groups.

The report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, was published in the CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

In 2010, breast cancer screening rates were 72.4 percent, below the Healthy People 2020 target of 81 percent; cervical cancer screening was 83 percent, below the target of 93 percent; and colorectal cancer screening was 58.6 percent, below the target of 70.5 percent, according to the study, “Cancer Screening in the United States – 2010.”

Screening rates for all three cancers were significantly lower among Asians (64.1 percent for breast cancer, 75.4 percent for cervical cancer, and 46.9 percent for colorectal cancer) compared to other groups, the study found.  Hispanics were less likely to be screened for cervical and colorectal cancer (78.7 percent and 46.5 percent, respectively) when compared to non-Hispanics (83.8 percent and 59.9 percent, respectively).

“It is troubling to see that not all Americans are getting the recommended cancer screenings and that disparities continue to persist for certain populations. Screening can find breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers at an early stage when treatment is more effective,” said Sallyann Coleman King, M.D., an epidemic intelligence service officer in CDC’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control and lead author of the study.

“We must continue to monitor cancer screening rates to improve the health of all Americans.” Healthy People 2020 sets national objectives for improving the health of all Americans. Such objectives include the use of screening tests recommended by the United States Preventive Services Task Force for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers.

Women aged 50-74 years should be screened for breast cancer with a mammogram every two years. Women who have been sexually active for three years or are aged 21-65 years should be screened for cervical cancer with a Pap test at least every three years.

Colorectal cancer screening is recommended for average-risk men and women aged 50-75 years, using high-sensitivity fecal occult blood test (FOBT), done at home every year; sigmoidoscopy every five years, with high-sensitivity FOBT every three years; or colonoscopy every 10 years.

To assess the use of currently recommended cancer screening tests by age, race, ethnicity, education, length of residence in the United States, and the source and financing of health care researchers analyzed data from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey, which tracks progress toward the achievement of  Healthy People 2020 objectives.

For the ethnic subgroups, Asians were classified as Chinese, Filipino, or other Asian and Hispanics as Puerto Rican, Mexican, Mexican-American, Central or South American, or other Hispanic.

Significant findings include:

• Screening rates for breast cancer remained relatively stable and varied no more than 3 percent over the period 2000-2010.
• From 2000-2010, colorectal cancer screening rates increased markedly for men and women, with the rate for women increasing slightly faster so that rates among both sexes were nearly identical (58.5 percent for men and 58.8 percent for women) in 2010.
• From 2000-2010, a small but statistically significant downward trend of 3.3 percent was observed in the rate of women who reported getting a Pap test within the last three years.
• Considerably lower breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening use was reported by those without any usual source of health care or health insurance.

The authors note that this study reinforces the need to identify and track cancer screening disparities. Additionally, the report provides guidance for the development programs to increase the use of screening tests in order to meet Healthy People 2020 targets and simultaneously reduce cancer morbidity and mortality.

“Healthy People objectives are important for monitoring progress toward reducing the burden of cancer in the United States. Our study points to the particular need for finding ways to increase the use of breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening tests among Asians, Hispanics, as well as adults who lack health insurance or a usual source of health care” said Carrie Klabunde, Ph.D., an epidemiologist in NCI’s Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences and a co-author of the study.

According to the authors, the Affordable Care Act is expected to reduce financial barriers to care by expanding insurance coverage. Other efforts are needed such as developing systems that identify individuals eligible for cancer screening tests, actively encouraging the use of screening tests, and monitoring participation to improve screening rates, they say.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/christianacare/

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An article released on January 10 in PLoS ONE entitled ‘Zoonotic Viruses Associated with Illegally Imported Wildlife Products’, from a collaborative study led by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), identified evidence of retroviruses and herpesviruses in illegally imported wildlife products confiscated at several U.S. international airports, including John F. Kennedy International Airport, George Bush Intercontinental-Houston and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International.

The pilot program was initiated to establish surveillance and testing methods to uncover the potential public health risks from illegally imported wildlife products coming into the United States.  The preliminary results of the program clearly demonstrate the potential human health risk from the illegal wildlife trade at major international travel hubs as a pathway to disease emergence in animals and humans.

Lead author and Associate Director for Health and Policy at EcoHealth Alliance, Dr. Kristine Smith, stated “although the findings to date are from a small pilot study, they remind us of the potential public health risk posed by illegal importation of wildlife products – a risk we hope to better characterize through expanded surveillance at ports of entry around the country.”

“The increase in international travel and trade brings with it an increased risk of unmonitored pathogens via the illegal wildlife trade,” said Dr. Denise McAloose, chief pathologist for the Global Health Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).  The global trade of wildlife has largely contributed to the emergence of new diseases in livestock, native wildlife and humans worldwide.

Current research shows that 75 percent of emerging infectious diseases affecting people originate from contact with wildlife.  These wildlife-borne diseases can be transmitted through human-animal interactions inherent in the global wildlife trade.

Items confiscated as part of the study included raw to semi-cooked animal parts, identified by American Museum of Natural History’s Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics, Columbia University, and WCS as nonhuman primates, including baboon and chimpanzee, and various rodent species using advanced genetic barcoding technologies.

Pathogen analysis was conducted at the CDC National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention and Columbia University’s Center for Infection and Immunity.  Among the pathogens identified in the products were a zoonotic retrovirus, simian foamy viruses, and several nonhuman primate herpesviruses.

These results are the first to confirm evidence of pathogens in illegally imported bushmeat that may act as a conduit for pathogen spread, and suggest that implementation of disease surveillance of the illegal wildlife trade will help facilitate prevention of disease emergence.

“Exotic wildlife pets and bushmeat are Trojan horses that threaten humankind at sites where they are collected in the developing world as well as the U.S.  Our study underscores the importance of surveillance at ports, but we must also encourage efforts to reduce demand for products that drive the wildlife trade,” said W. Ian Lipkin of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

In fact, the U.S. is one of the largest consumers of imported wildlife products and wildlife.  A previous study by EcoHealth Alliance showed that over a six-year period (2000-2006) approximately 1.5 billion live wild animals were legally imported into the U.S. – with 90 percent slated for the pet trade.  Programs like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Healthy Pets, Healthy People and EcoHealth Alliance’sPetWatch encourage responsible exotic pet choices and ownership.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife records show that more than 55 million pounds of wildlife products enter the country each year, with New York City the most common port of entry followed by Miami, and Los Angeles.

Beyond the public health risks of the live and non-live wildlife trade are risk of disease introduction to native wildlife and agricultural species, proliferation of non-native wildlife causing damage to U.S. ecosystems, as well as the protection of threatened and endangered species identified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

“These important research results highlight the value of using new DNA barcoding identification technologies to accurately monitor the wildlife trade, important for both disease surveillance and the conservation of endangered species,” stated Dr. George Amato from the Sackler Institute of Comparative Genomics at American Museum of Natural History.

The pilot study is the first to establish port surveillance methodology to test for diseases associated with wildlife products.  Through better surveillance of illegal wildlife product shipments entering ports around the country, authorities will have a better chance at preventing new disease emergence before it occurs.

The pilot project involved a collaboration of scientists from the American Museum of Natural History, Columbia University, EcoHealth Alliance, the USGS National Wildlife Health Center, and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

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An estimated 14,000 excess deaths in the United States are linked to the radioactive fallout from the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear reactors in Japan, according to a major new article in the December 2011 edition of the International Journal of Health Services.

This is the first peer-reviewed study published in a medical journal documenting the health hazards of Fukushima.

Authors Joseph Mangano and Janette Sherman note that their estimate of 14,000 excess U.S. deaths in the 14 weeks after the Fukushima meltdowns is comparable to the 16,500 excess deaths in the 17 weeks after the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986. The rise in reported deaths after Fukushima was largest among U.S. infants under age one. The 2010-2011 increase for infant deaths in the spring was 1.8 percent, compared to a decrease of 8.37 percent in the preceding 14 weeks.

The IJHS article is available at http://www.radiation.org.

Just six days after the disastrous meltdowns struck four reactors at Fukushima on March 11, scientists detected the plume of toxic fallout had arrived over American shores.  Subsequent measurements by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found levels of radiation in air, water, and milk hundreds of times above normal across the U.S.  The highest detected levels of Iodine-131 in precipitation in the U.S. were as follows (normal is about 2 picocuries I-131 per liter of water):  Boise, ID (390); Kansas City (200);Salt Lake City (190); Jacksonville, FL (150); Olympia, WA (125); and Boston, MA (92).

Epidemiologist Joseph Mangano, MPH MBA, said: ”This study of Fukushima health hazards is the first to be published in a scientific journal.  It raises concerns, and strongly suggests that health studies continue, to understand the true impact of Fukushima in Japan and around the world.  Findings are important to the current debate of whether to build new reactors, and how long to keep aging ones in operation.”

Mangano is executive director, Radiation and Public Health Project, and the author of 27 peer-reviewed medical journal articles and letters.

Internist and toxicologist Janette Sherman, MD, said: ”Based on our continuing research, the actual death count here may be as high as 18,000, with influenza and pneumonia, which were up five-fold in the period in question as a cause of death. Deaths are seen across all ages, but we continue to find that infants are hardest hit because their tissues are rapidly multiplying, they have undeveloped immune systems, and the doses of radioisotopes are proportionally greater than for adults.”

Dr. Sherman is an adjunct professor, Western Michigan University, and contributing editor of ”Chernobyl – Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment” published by the NY Academy of Sciences in 2009, and author of ”Chemical Exposure and Disease and Life’s Delicate Balance – Causes and Prevention of Breast Cancer.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issues weekly reports on numbers of deaths for 122 U.S. cities with a population over 100,000, or about 25-30 percent of the U.S.  In the 14 weeks after Fukushima fallout arrived in the U.S. (March 20 to June 25), deaths reported to the CDC rose 4.46 percent from the same period in 2010, compared to just 2.34 percent in the 14 weeks prior. Estimated excess deaths during this period for the entire U.S. are about 14,000.

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On September 2, the Center for Disease Control reported that two children from Pennsylvania and Indiana, a boy and a girl respectively, were infected with a previously unknown flu virus that included a gene from the 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus. Fortunately, both children recovered and there has been no evidence that the virus had spread to anyone else.

Thus, it does not appear to pose a significant public health concern, officials state. “We wanted to provide some information without being alarmist because people have contact with pigs at fairs this time of year and doctors should watch for possible flu cases” said Lyn Finelli, the CDC’s flu surveillance chief. “We’re always concerned when we see transmission of animal viruses to humans.”

Both the children are two years old and had previously attended county fairs where they were exposure to pigs. The boy from Indiana was apparently infected by a caretaker who had been showing pigs at the fair a few days prior to the boy taking ill. He had developed a fever, cough, shortness of breath and diarrhea on July 23.

Since he had other chronic health problems, doctors hospitalized him for three days. On the other hand, the girl from Pennsylvania appeared to have been infected after she had touched a pig at the petting zoo. She too had developed a fever and cough as well as fatigue on Aug 20. However, she was not hospitalized, but rather sent home to recover.

Only 21 cases have been documented in the last five years of people getting the flu from pigs. Samples from both children were sent to state laboratories, which determined they were unusual and sent them to the CDC for further analysis.

CDC scientists found the viruses were a strain known as H3N2 but had picked up a so-called M, or “matrix” gene, from the 2009 H1N1 virus that caused the 2009-10 swine-flu pandemic. Since the report of the initial children, two more have been reported in Pennsylvania, raising the total of three children in that state.

Like the other child, the two children attended the same county fair in southwestern Pennsylvania in the week of Aug 13. The Pennsylvania Department of Health (PDH) reported that the first girl had fully recovered while the new cases are recovering. PDH and CDC are still unsure how these children were infected by the novel strain. The only link between the three was the county fair.

Brandi Hunter-Davenport, a PDH spokesperson said no information was available yet on whether the pigs at the fair were infected with the novel virus. “We’re still investigating what the linkages are here, if it’s human-to-human or animal-to-human transmission,” she said.

Both organizations are increasing surveillance in southwestern Pennsylvania and setting up information booths at agriculture fairs, and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture is monitoring the health of animals at fairs, according to the PDH release.PDH is not telling people to avoid public venues or fairs, but are informing the public to be aware of the novel flu and to take proper precautions to protect their health.

They also urge those who are experiences flu-like symptoms to immediately contact their local health care provider or call the health department.

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