40 Million People Infected With HIV: WHO Report
Almost five million people around the world were infected with HIV last year, bringing to 40 million the estimated number of people with the AIDS virus, says a World Health Organization (WHO) report released Monday.
About 3.1 million people died from the virus last year, which means that AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since it was first recognized in 1981, the Associated Press reported.
However, efforts over the past five years to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS are finally starting to show results in some countries, the WHO report noted.
Previously, there were declines in HIV infection rates noted in countries such as Senegal, Uganda and Thailand.
"Now we have Kenya, several of the Caribbean countries and Zimbabwe with a decline," UNAIDS chief Peter Piot told the AP, adding that all these countries have heavily promoted safe-sex and other HIV prevention.
Pregnant women in urban Kenya have shown the most dramatic decline in HIV prevalence, from about 28 percent in 1999 to 9 percent in 2003, the AP reported.
The WHO said that HIV epidemics continue to grow in southern Africa and expanding epidemics are occurring in Central and East Asia and Eastern Europe. There are indications that Indonesia and Pakistan could be on the brink of serious epidemics.
Bird Flu Virus Prompts Cull in British Columbia
More than 67,000 ducks and geese will be killed in the Canadian province of British Columbia after a bird in the Chilliwack area tested positive for avian flu, but not the deadly H5N1 strain.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said the virus was a mild North American strain of bird flu that's been present on the continent for decades. However, they decided on the cull because this mild strain of bird flu virus does have the potential to mutate into a more dangerous version, the Globe and Mail reported.
Four farms that had contact with the affected Chilliwack facility and all farms close to where the infected bird was found will be kept under observation, CFIA officials said.
The announcement about the cull was made amid increasing concern that the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus could be brought to North America by migrating birds.
In related news, the CFIA announced that two wild ducks in the province of Manitoba tested positive for the H5N1 strain. However, it was a low-pathogenic version of H5N1 and not as dangerous as the strain currently plagued Asia, the Globe and Mail reported.
Health Official: U.S. Won't Have Enough Bird Flu Vaccine for 3-5 Years
It will take the United States at least three years to have enough doses of flu vaccine to stave off a pandemic, according to Health and Human Services Secretary MIke Leavitt.
Speaking on the NBC TV progam, "Meet the Press," Leavitt said the U.S. doesn't have the manufacturing capacity to make and distribute the 300 million doses of a vaccine to protect the country's population, and it won't have that capacity for three to five years.
The issue of a major fatal flu outbreak has been heightened because incidents of avian flu killing 67 people in Asian countries in the past year have caused health officials to become concerned. So far, however, there have been no reports of the bird flu being transmitted from person to person.
"What we all learned from (Hurricane) Katrina is sometimes we have to think clearly about the unthinkable," the Associated Press quotes Leavitt as saying. "We're probably closer to a pandemic at any time in the last 37 years. We're not as prepared as we need to be."
While scientists can't predict what type of virus the avian flu could mutate into so that it would cause a pandemic, the wire service says The U.S. has only enough doses for 4.3 million people. And says the A.P., President Bush has proposed stockpiling enough of the anti-flu drugs Tamiflu and Relenza for 81 million people. There is some evidence that these drugs might be effective against a bird flu virus.
MRI Used to Track Path of Anti-Cancer Cells
Scientists continue to find new uses for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to view the functions of organs in the body. A team of scientists says it has developed a method to use the MRI to track how well a certain cancer therapy is working.
In the latest issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology , the researchers report that implanted tiny iron oxide particles were able to determine whether the cancer-fighting cells were on target.
"In four of the eight patients, MRI revealed that the implanted cells weren't where they needed to be to be effective for treatment," says Jeff Bulte, an associate professor of radiology at Hopkins' Institute for Cell Engineering who was part of the research team. A Johns Hopkins University news release says Bulte was the author of the report and developed methods to use the iron oxide particles with the anti-cancer cells.
The iron oxide technique was much more accurate than previous tracking methods like radioactivity and ultrasound, Bulte said in the news release. The cells in question are called dendritic cells, which scientists theorize can stimulate the body's immune system to fight malignant cells.
FDA Finds No Evidence Linking Tamiflu to Deaths
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday there was insufficient evidence to tie the flu drug Tamiflu to the deaths of 12 Japanese children or to hallucinations, encephalitis and other symptoms suffered by some Japanese patients.
One day after announcing it would review the deaths, the agency's staff said it wouldn't be necessary to update the drug's labeling to reflect those deaths or possible adverse effects. But the staff is recommending adding information to the label about serious skin reactions to Tamiflu, according to papers prepared for a meeting Friday of the FDA's Pediatric Advisory Committee, the Associated Press reported.
At the meeting itself, the chairman, Dr. Robert Nelson, said, "If we ever have a pandemic of avian flu, which is a debatable point, people want to know that they have a drug that will not cause more (harm) than the flu itself," said.
The advisory committee reviewed Tamiflu as part of a routine safety check of drugs whose original uses had been extended to cover children.
Melissa Truffa, of the FDA's Office of Drug Safety, told the panel earlier Friday that they found no direct link between the use of Tamiflu and the deaths in Japan.
The FDA staff said Tamiflu is used much more often in Japan than in the United States -- 11.6 million prescriptions for children in Japan between 2001 and 2005, compared to about 872,000 during that same period in the United States, AP reported.
There are no reports of deaths in the United States or Europe associated with Tamiflu.
Food Fact:
No-fry zone.
Potatoes can be a dieter's secret weapon -- if you know how best to prepare them. Keep them away from the deep fryer or high-fat toppings, and they're excellent choices. On its own, a cooked medium-size potato has only about 200 calories, and it's very filling. Top it with yogurt and a sprinkling of chives -- you'll never miss the sour cream. Potatoes are rich in protein, iron, potassium and, if you eat the skin, fiber. They also contain glutathione, an antioxidant that may help protect against cancer. Never store potatoes in the refrigerator -- it makes them turn dark when cooked. Keep them in a cool, dark, ventilated place. Trim away any green spots before cooking.
Fitness Tip of the day:
Prestretch routines.
Do you know the one thing you should always do before stretching? To prevent injury you should perform at least 10-15 minutes of cardiovascular exercise (walking, biking) prior to stretching. Never stretch a "cold muscle" -- one that does not have sufficient blood flowing through the tissue to be stretched.
FAQ of the day:
What are the best fruits for vitamin C?
The best fruit sources of vitamin C are apricots, cantaloupe, grapefruit, honeydew, kiwi, mango, orange, pineapple, plum, strawberry, tangerine and watermelon. Apricot, cantaloupe and mango are also rich in health-protective carotenoids, including the beta-carotene our bodies make into vitamin A.
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