Happy Groundhog Day!
Eye Drops and Eye/Ear Wash Recalled
Possible contamination with bacteria and particulate matter has prompted a voluntary recall of NuCel-brand eye drops and eye/ear wash, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced this week.
The problem was detected after an FDA inspection of the products made by NuCel Labs of Idaho Falls, Idaho, United Press International reported. The company then initiated a nationwide recall of the potentially non-sterile eye drops and eye/ear wash in 1/4-ounce bottles.
About 500 units of the products, which have no lot numbers or expiration dates, were distributed across the United States, the FDA said. Consumers should stop using these products and return them to the company. For further information, contact NuCel at 208-542-0325.
Non-sterile eye drops could cause infections which, in rare cases, could lead to blindness, the FDA warned. So far, there have been no reports of illness or injury caused by the recalled eye drops and eye/ear wash.
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More Tamiflu-Resistant Flu Viruses Found in Europe
Tamiflu-resistant seasonal flu viruses have now been found in nine European countries, indicating the resistant strains are more widespread than previously believed, Bloomberg news reported.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said Thursday that tests on 437 H1N1 flu strain specimens from patients in 18 countries found that 59 specimens from nine countries showed resistance to Tamiflu (oseltamivir). Nearly half the resistant specimens were from Norway.
The viruses have a gene mutation that gives them "high-level" resistance to Tamiflu, Bloomberg reported.
Experts are still analyzing data and will release an interim assessment of the situation in the coming days, the ECDC said.
"At this stage, it is impossible to say what the level of resistance is in influenza across Europe," the health agency said. "However, from the limited data, the proportion of influenza viruses exhibiting resistance to oseltamivir must be significant, but not as high as in Norway."
This emerging resistance to Tamiflu has led doctors in Europe to consider other anti-flu drugs such as Relenza, Bloomberg reported.
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Well-Fed Babies Earn More as Adults: Study
Feeding nutritious food to babies could boost the amount of money they earn as adults, suggests a three-decade study that followed Guatemalan males from birth, BBC News reported.
The study found that babies who were given a very nutritious food supplement up to age 3 went on to earn an average of almost 50 percent more as adults than babies who didn't receive the supplement. The findings are published in The Lancet medical journal.
Experts said the study results could influence how aid is managed in developing nations and could also affect social policy toward the poor in more developed nations, BBC News reported.
The study provides the first direct evidence of a link between nutrition early in life and adult wages, and that well-fed infants could boost economic growth, according to The Lancet.
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U.S. Army Suicides Increased in 2007
In 2007, as many as 121 U.S. Army soldiers committed suicide, compared to 102 suicides in 2006 and 87 in 2005, according to the Associated Press, which cited internal briefing papers prepared by the Army's psychiatry consultant early this month.
The papers showed there were 89 confirmed suicides last year and 32 suspected suicides that are still under investigation, the AP reported.
Last year, more than a quarter of the confirmed and suspected suicides occurred during deployments in Iraq.
The number of attempted suicides and self injuries also increased from fewer than 1,500 in 2006 to about 2,100 in 2007. There were fewer than 500 such incidents in 2002.
The 2007 rate of suicides per 100,000 active duty soldiers has not yet been calculated, Army officials said. The 2006 suicide rate of 17.5 per 100,000 was the highest since the Army started counting in 1980, the AP reported.
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People Displaced by Hurricanes at Risk for Psychological Problems
Adults displaced from their homes for two weeks or more by Hurricanes Katrina or Rita were much more likely to have mental health and substance abuse problems than people who didn't leave their homes, says a U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) report released Thursday.
An analysis of data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that use of illicit drugs in the past month was reported by 10.5 percent of adults displaced for two weeks or longer, compared to 4.9 percent among those who hadn't left their homes.
The report also found that 25.7 percent of people who had been displaced for long periods suffered from serious psychological distress, compared to 9.2 percent of adults who hadn't left home. People displaced for two weeks or longer by either storm had far higher levels of unmet mental health treatment needs than those who had not been displaced (9.0 percent vs. 3.5 percent).
Overall, however, most adults affected by the hurricanes did not have increased incidence of mental health problems or substance abuse, the report said.
"This report shows that most people are resilient -- that they can overcome tremendous adversity," SAMHSA Administrator Terry Cline said in a prepared statement. "But it also shows that when people are displaced from their homes it can be devastating, and that mental health resources can play a critical role in enabling them to fully recover from such a trauma."
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Critics Pan Swiss Report on HIV/Unprotected Sex
Skepticism and downright alarm greeted a report released this week by Swiss health experts, who concluded that HIV-infected people who take certain retroviral drugs don't pass the virus to partners during unprotected sex, Agence France-Presse reported. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.
The Swiss Federal AIDS Commission report, which looked at the findings of four studies, concluded that couples in which one partner has HIV don't need to use a condom to prevent transmission of the virus, as long as there is proven adherence to regular retroviral therapy and it's suppressed the virus in the blood for at least six months.
But critics pointed out the four studies analyzed in the report focused on heterosexual couples and vaginal sex rather than anal sex, AFP reported.
"The real thing missing (from the Swiss report) is about anal sex and getting a new sexually transmitted infection," said Roger Peabody of the Terrence Higgins Trust AIDS charity in England.
"We don't feel the scientific evidence is conclusive and there are some key issues that are not covered in this advice," Peabody told AFP.
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