Health Headlines - October 24

Advances Boost Production of Pandemic Flu Vaccine

Recent scientific advances mean it should be possible to produce 4.5 billion doses of pandemic flu vaccine a year by 2010, says the World Health Organization.

However, this would fall short of the WHO's target of providing a flu shot to the world's 6.7 billion people within six months of a pandemic being declared, Agence France-Presse reported.

"With influenza vaccine production capacity on the rise, we are beginning to be in a much better position vis-a-vis the threat of an influenza pandemic," Marie-Paule Kieny, director of the WHO's Initiative for Vaccine Research, told journalists.

The WHO has established an advisory committee to produce a report on the issue of pandemic flu vaccine supply, AFP reported.

Experts fear that the H5N1 bird flu virus could mutate into a form that's easily transmitted between people, sparking a global pandemic that could kill millions.

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Toddlers Among Priority Recipients of Vaccine in Flu Pandemic

If the United States is hit by a flu pandemic, pregnant women, babies and toddlers would be included with emergency workers, doctors and soldiers as priority recipients of vaccine, says a draft federal government plan to be released Tuesday.

Next in line would be older children and utility workers. At the bottom of the list are healthy young adults and the elderly, the Associated Press reported.

The rankings reflect growing consensus that stopping a flu pandemic requires an emphasis on protecting those who care for the sick and maintain crucial services, and those who are most likely to spread the flu.

"Children are not only highly susceptible to influenza, children are also very good at spreading it. Protecting them also protects those in the population," said William Raub, emergency planning chief at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the AP reported.

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Unsterilized Needles Kill 1.3 Million People a Year: WHO

Each year, about 1.3 million people around the world die after receiving injections with unsterilized needles and syringes, says a World Health Organization statement released Tuesday.

The WHO said about six billion injections are given with syringes or needles that are reused without being sterilized, Agence France-Presse reported.

"This represents 40 percent of all injections given in developing countries; in some countries, the proportion is as high as 70 percent of injections," the WHO said. "The use of syringes with features that prevent re-use and needle stick injuries would avert about 1.3 million global deaths per year by preventing infections and the epidemics caused by their spread."

For years, the organization has urged member nations to use needles with such safety features. However, they each cost about 15 cents, compared to three cents for ordinary needles, AFP reported.

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Study Examines Use of Plastic Bags for Premature Infants

A study involving neonatal intensive care units worldwide is examining whether placing premature babies in special plastic bags for the first hour or two of life can help reduce heat loss, increase their chances of survival, and improve long-term health.

Rapid loss of body temperature is a common and potentially deadly problem that occurs when amniotic fluid on the newborn's skin begins to evaporate. Placing premature infants in plastic may help keep them warm while they undergo necessary medical tests, the Canadian Press reported.

Small pilot studies have suggested that this is an effective technique.

The Canadian-led study will include 1,685 premature infants, born at 28 weeks gestation or less, who will be randomly assigned to be placed in a plastic bag or receive standard treatment. The type of bag being used in the study doesn't cover the head and has an opening that gives doctors and nurses access to the umbilical cord, the CP reported.

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Inefficient Anthrax Vaccine System Costly

A lack of coordination between two U.S. government departments on the use of anthrax vaccine means that more than $100 million a year could be wasted, according to a Government Accountability Office report obtained by the Associated Press.

The departments of Defense and Health and Human Services (HHS) each buy the BioThrax vaccine. The Pentagon gives the vaccine to personnel going to Iraq, Afghanistan and the Korean peninsula, but much of the vaccine purchased by HHS sits in the Strategic National Stockpile and goes unused.

As of June, the stockpile had about 10 million anthrax vaccine doses and all will expire if not used. Currently, there are more than 520,000 expired doses of the anthrax vaccine, worth $12 million, in the stockpile, GAO investigators found.

They recommended that the Pentagon and HHS create a single inventory system to prevent vaccine from being wasted, the AP reported. However, both departments said legal issues prevent a vaccine-sharing agreement and contend that the GAO overestimated the amount of money lost.

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Egg Freezing Still Experimental: Experts

Even though egg freezing is increasingly being offered to women who want to delay motherhood, the procedure is still highly experimental and has a low success rate, says the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM).

For every frozen egg that's thawed, there is a 2 percent to 4 percent chance of a live birth, according to the ASRM, which issued a list of warnings that must be given to women so they can make an informed choice about the expensive procedure, the Associated Press reported.

Among the warnings that must be given to women:

• There's a possibility that none of the stored eggs will survive.
• Women who freeze eggs before age 35 will likely never need to use them.
• Ovary-stimulating drugs used to retrieve eggs can cause side effects.

Worldwide, there have been about 500 births from frozen-and-thawed eggs, compared with more than 200,000 births from frozen embryos, the wire service said.

"There are far fewer published outcomes for thawed previously frozen eggs than many might believe," said Dr. Marc Fritz of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who led the ASRM's discussions about egg freezing, the AP reported.