Excessive Use of Anti-Pain Cream Caused Teen Runner's Death, M.E. Says
One of the most widely used over-the-counter anti-pain creams caused the death of a 17-year-old runner from the New York City borough of Staten Island, according to reports in the Staten Island Advance and the Associated Press.
Arielle Newman, a cross-country runner, used too much methyl salicylate -- more commonly known as oil of wintergreen -- to ease pain in her legs, the New York City Medical Examiner's office concluded Friday, the wire service reports. Methyl salicylate is found in a variety of anti-pain creams such as Bengay and Icy Hot.
Newman attended Notre Dame Academy on Staten Island and had won many track awards. She died Apr. 13, and the reason for her death had remained a mystery until Friday. The medical examiner's spokeswoman, Ellen Borakove, told the A.P. that this was the first time her office had ever reported a death caused by excessive anti-pain cream use. Borakove told the wire service that Newman used "topical medication to excess."
Alice Newman, Arielle's mother, told the Advance she couldn't believe what caused her daughter's death. "I am scrupulous about my children's health," she told the newspaper. "I did not think an over-the-counter product could be unsafe."
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Malnourishment Still Evident in the United Kingdom
Being overweight doesn't necessarily protect a person from being malnourished.
In fact, the Associated Press reports, at least 2 million Britons residents are malnourished, even if many of them don't look like they are. A recent survey revealed that a typical British diet -- high in fat, salt and calorie content -- doesn't contain the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other substances required to maintain a nutritious balance.
"People may be eating too much food, but they may not be eating enough fruits and vegetables," the wire service quotes Dr. Marinos Elia, a professor of clinical nutrition and metabolism at Southampton University, as saying.
In fact, the A.P. cites some medical experts praising the rationing system the British used during World War II, when food wasn't so plentiful. "Rationing was a huge success because it ensured that if you got your allotted amounts, you got a nutritionally reasonable diet," Dr. Colin Waine, chairman of the National Obesity Forum, told the wire service. "I'm not advocating a return to rationing, but it was a more balanced diet back then."
Fewer than 20 percent of adults in the United Kingdom eat the recommended daily portions of fruits and vegetables, the A.P. reports.
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China Orders Companies to Stop Producing, Selling Zelnorm
Officials with China's State Food and Drug Administration on Friday ordered companies in China to halt production and sales of the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) drug Zelnorm, and told patients to stop taking the medication.
The Novartis drug was being made by three companies in China and a fourth company was preparing to produce it, the Associated Press reported.
In a statement posted on its Web site, the Chinese drug watchdog warned the "risks of Zelnorm outweigh the possible benefits for some patients based on analyses from home and abroad."
There have been 98 incidents of adverse reactions among users of Zelnorm reported to China's Center for Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring since the drug went on sale in the country in 2003. Diarrhea and nausea were the most commonly reported problems. There was one reported case of low blood pressure and one of abnormally fast heartbeat.
In March, Novartis complied with a U.S. Food and Drug Adminstration request to withdraw Zelnorm from the American market after the drug was linked with increased risk of heart attack, stroke and chest pain that can become a heart attack, the AP reported.
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G8 Leaders Pledge $60 Billion to Fight Disease/Poverty in Africa
G8 leaders promised Friday to provide $60 billion to combat disease and poverty in Africa, CBC News reported.
The money from the world's richest nations would be targeted to fight illnesses such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, said Germany's development minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, who announced the agreement on Berlin television.
She said the United States pledged to donate half the money aimed at increasing African patients' access to drugs and treatment, CBC News reported.
At their 2005 summit, G8 members promised to increase aid to Africa by $50 billion by 2010. That pledge is set to miss its target by $30 billion, according to international aid organizations.
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New Vaccine Could Help Eradicate Meningitis in Africa
A new meningitis vaccine that costs just 40 cents (U.S.) per dose could help wipe out the disease in Africa, says the World Health Organization.
The vaccine, developed in India, proved successful in tests on 12- to 23-month old children in Mali and Gambia. The tests found that the vaccine was safe and produced antibody levels in the children 20 times higher than levels produced by more expensive vaccines currently on the market, Agence France-Presse reported. Further tests are planned.
"When it becomes part of the public health arsenal, this vaccine will make a real difference in Africa," F. Marc LaForce, director of the Meningitis Vaccine Project, said in a prepared statement. The project is a partnership between the WHO and a U.S. non-profit group called PATH.
"The vaccine will allow elimination of the meningococcal epidemics that have afflicted the continent for more than 100 years," said LaForce, who added that the vaccine could be introduced in Burkina Faso by the end of 2008.
He said the vaccine could be used in a mass vaccination campaign that targets 350 million people between 2008 and 2020, AFP reported.
The results of the vaccine tests bring "real hope that the lives of thousands of children, teenagers, and young adults will be saved by immunization and that widespread suffering, sickness and socioeconomic disruption can be avoided," said WHO Director General Margaret Chan.
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Stem Cell Bill Passes Congress, But White House Veto Looms
A bill that would undo federal funding restrictions on embryonic stem cell research passed the House on Thursday, but it did not have the requisite two-thirds majority needed to block a threatened veto by President Bush, the Associated Press reported.
The 264-176 vote (210 House Democrats and 37 Republicans supporting), follows on the Senate's passage of the bill a few weeks ago. The Senate ballot was one vote shy of the two-thirds majority needed to sidestep a White House veto.
Because they have the power to grow into any type of cell in the body, embryonic stem cells have long been viewed as a potential source of replacement tissue to treat a myriad of diseases. But opponents of embryonic stem cell research, including President Bush, object to the destruction of embryos as an assault on the sanctity of human life.
Supporting the bill, paralyzed congressman Rep. James Langevin, D-R.I., said that, "My education has filled me with tremendous hope, not only that stem cell research might one day lead to a cure for spinal cord injuries, but that one day ... families will no longer watch in agony as a loved one with Parkinson's or Alzheimer's gradually declines," the AP reported.
But in a statement issued last week, President Bush said that if the bill was ever made law, "American taxpayers would for the first time in our history be compelled to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos. Crossing that line would be a grave mistake."
Bush announced on Aug. 9, 2001, that his administration would only allow federal funding for research involving a limited number of preexisting stem cell lines. Critics charge that those lines cannot supply the demands of U.S. researchers, and that many of the lines are contaminated.
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