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| Hepatitis outbreak kills 88 in South Sudan: aid agency Saturday, Feb 02, 2013 07:14 AM PST JUBA (Reuters) - An outbreak of hepatitis E has killed 88 people in South Sudan after a surge in the virus hit refugee camps near the Sudanese border, an aid agency said on Saturday. More than 175,000 people have sought refuge in the new country of South Sudan after fleeing fighting in Sudan's restive border states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, according to the United Nations. Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it had treated almost 4,000 patients since the outbreak was identified in camps in the northeast of South Sudan in July 2012. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. rushing treatment for Brazil fire victims Friday, Feb 01, 2013 05:25 PM PST  SAO PAULO (Reuters) - The U.S. government is shipping emergency medical supplies to Brazil to treat survivors of a deadly nightclub fire who are suffering from exposure to cyanide gas released in the blaze, the Brazilian health ministry said on Friday. Officials say 119 people remain hospitalized after Sunday's fire at the Kiss nightclub in southern Brazil that killed 236. Brazilian doctors have said cyanide was among the toxic chemicals produced when fire consumed the soundproofing foam on the club's ceiling, contributing to the high number of fatalities. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. military veteran suicides rise, one dies every 65 minutes Friday, Feb 01, 2013 04:44 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The most extensive study yet by the U.S. government on suicide among military veterans shows more veterans are killing themselves than previously thought, with 22 deaths a day - or one every 65 minutes, on average. The study released on Friday by the Department of Veterans Affairs covered suicides from 1999 to 2010 and compared with a previous, less precise VA estimate that there were roughly 18 veteran deaths a day in the United States. More than 69 percent of veteran suicides were among individuals aged 50 years or older, the VA reported. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama offers compromise on birth control health coverage Friday, Feb 01, 2013 04:26 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Friday sought to settle a dispute with religious leaders over whether employees at faith-affiliated universities, hospitals and other institutions should have access to health insurance coverage for contraceptives. The new set of proposals would instead guarantee that employees at religious nonprofits would get access to birth control coverage without out-of-pocket costs through separate plans with insurers picking up the tab. ... Full Story | Top |
| House Republicans ask FDA for meningitis documents Friday, Feb 01, 2013 04:00 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House Republicans on Friday set a deadline for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to produce documents related to the deadly meningitis outbreak that swept across the nation in late 2012. Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee first requested, in October, documents related to FDA's oversight of New England Compounding Center, the now defunct, Boston-area compounding pharmacy that was at the center of the outbreak. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rules call for swing to healthier snacks in schools Friday, Feb 01, 2013 03:29 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Snacks sold in U.S. schools would need to be lower in fat, salt and sugar and include more nutritious items like fruits, vegetables and whole grains, under standards proposed on Friday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The proposal, more than a year overdue, also calls for a limit of 200 calories on items sold during the school day at vending machines or other venues outside the school lunch line. The proposed rules are the second step in a larger effort to improve the foods U.S. students have access to during the school day under a 2010 child nutrition law. ... Full Story | Top |
| Alaska Airlines pilot passes out midair, co-pilot lands plane Friday, Feb 01, 2013 03:18 PM PST SEATTLE (Reuters) - A Seattle-bound Alaska Airlines flight made an emergency landing in Oregon after its veteran pilot passed out in the passenger cabin, in the second such fainting spell involving the U.S. carrier in 10 days, the airline said on Friday. Flight crew and passengers helped revive the pilot and guide him into a vacant passenger seat, while the co-pilot took control of the Boeing 737-700 and safely landed in Portland late on Thursday, airline spokesman Paul McElroy said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Merck shares fall on worries about osteoporosis drug Friday, Feb 01, 2013 03:00 PM PST  (Reuters) - Merck & Co Inc's quarterly results beat estimates, but the drugmaker issued a cautious 2013 profit forecast and said it will delay seeking approval for a high-profile osteoporosis drug, sending its shares down 3 percent. Merck will not submit its osteoporosis treatment odanacatib to U.S. regulators until next year. Some analysts had predicted the medicine could generate annual sales of up to $2 billion, if approved. ... Full Story | Top |
| Uninsured less likely to get heart meds Friday, Feb 01, 2013 02:04 PM PST New York (Reuters Health) - Uninsured Americans were less likely to get the best treatment for heart troubles than those with insurance in a new study that hints the blame may lie with the quality of physicians who typically treat the uninsured. In a group of about 61,000 Americans, researchers found that those without any health insurance were between 6 percent and 12 percent less likely than people with either public or private insurance to be prescribed drugs that are considered standard care for heart disease. "There is some difference of treatment. ... Full Story | Top |
| J&J metal hip failed because of toxic debris - expert at trial Friday, Feb 01, 2013 01:47 PM PST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Toxicity caused by debris from a metal-on-metal hip implant meant that the device had to be removed from a 66-year-old man who is suing manufacturer Johnson & Johnson, according to expert testimony heard at the trial on Friday. "I concluded that his hip failed because of the toxic exposure," said Robert Harrison, an occupational medicine specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in treating plaintiff Loren Kransky but did review the medical records. ... Full Story | Top |
| Study finds no heart benefits from selenium Friday, Feb 01, 2013 01:33 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Taking extra selenium supplements offers no protection against heart disease - at least among people who already get enough of the mineral in their diets, according to a new analysis of past research. In the review of 12 studies that included close to 20,000 people, there was no difference in the number of strokes and heart attacks, heart disease-related deaths or deaths from any cause among participants randomly assigned to take selenium or nothing. ... Full Story | Top |
| Brazil nightclub owners, band detained 30 more days after fire Friday, Feb 01, 2013 01:22 PM PST SAO PAULO (Reuters) - A judge in southern Brazil ordered 30 more days of detention on Friday for the owners of a nightclub and band members involved in a fire that killed 236 in the college town of Santa Maria last weekend. The order came after a 20-year-old woman succumbed to her injuries late Thursday, pushing up the death toll from the country's second most deadly fire ever. Civil defense authorities in Rio Grande do Sul, the state where Santa Maria is located, said the victim suffered a heart attack while struggling with injuries that included burns on more than half her body. ... Full Story | Top |
| Type 1 diabetes rising in kids - study Friday, Feb 01, 2013 12:03 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Cases of insulin-requiring type 1 diabetes rose sharply in children under the age of five in Philadelphia over a two-decade span - similar to increases seen across the U.S. and Europe, according to new research. "Why are we seeing this large increase in type 1 diabetes in very young children? Unfortunately, the answer is we don't know," said lead study author Terri Lipman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. ... Full Story | Top |
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