CDC recommends HPV vaccine for boys
Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The HPV vaccine should now be given to all males between the ages of 11 and 21, according to new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices says that the human papillomavirus vaccine should be routine for all boys ages 11 to 21. It also recommends “catch-up” vaccinations for males ages 13 to 21. The committee first recommended the vaccine for boys last October, but recommendations were not formalized until they were published this week, the CDC said. The new recommendations are published in the Feb. 1 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, and in [...] Continue Reading…
Snake oil salesmen and dodgy HIV “cures”
IRIN Staff
Nairobi, Kenya (IRIN) – Uganda’s National Drug Authority recently arrested sales representatives of a company selling a drug that purports to cure HIV; the firm’s owners are not licensed to sell medicine and are being sought by the police. The drug, known as Virol ZAPPER, was being sold in 37-milliliter liquid doses, each costing about US$210; patients were advised to take 10 drops daily. It was being advertised on local radio and TV stations as a miracle cure for HIV. The sale of such “cures” is a profitable racket for charlatans willing to take advantage of desperate HIV-positive people; here is a collection of some dodgy treatments that have made the news in Africa over the [...] Continue Reading…
New guidelines follow recall of faulty HIV test
Nairobi, Kenya (IRIN) – The Kenyan government has changed its HIV testing algorithm following the withdrawal of a widely used brand of HIV test on warnings from the UN World Health Organization (WHO). In December, WHO removed the Standard Diagnostics Bioline® HIV 1/2 3.0 Rapid HIV Test Kit from its list of approved rapid test kits with immediate effect; the alert was issued after Bioline failed quality assurance tests. The Kenyan government estimates one million kits were in circulation at the time of the recall, about one-tenth of all the HIV kits available in the country. “We followed the World Health Organization alert and have in turn ordered all health facilities and voluntary counseling and testing [...] Continue Reading…
Some hospitals turn to post-discharge clinics to help hold down readmissions
United States (KaiserHealth) – For patients, the transition from hospital to home is a critical time. Discharged with follow-up instructions and often a fistful of medications, many need medical guidance. But too often a smooth handoff to a primary-care physician doesn’t happen, and small recovery glitches become larger ones. The result: In short order the patient is often back in the hospital. According to a study released this month by the Center for Studying Health System Change, a Washington-based research group, a third of adult patients discharged from a hospital don’t see a physician within 30 days — and experts say this is a key reason so many of them are readmitted. Some hospitals are trying a [...] Continue Reading…
CDC: U.S. teens not eating enough fruits, vegetables
Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
Atlanta, GA, United States (AHN) – U.S. teens are not eating enough fruits and vegetables, according to a new study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The findings, based on data complied from nearly 10,800 students in grades nine through 12 who took part in the National Youth Physical Activity and Nutrition Study 2010, found median consumption was 1.2 times per day for both fruits and vegetables. Median fruit consumption was much higher among males than females, and much higher among grade nine students than among students in grades 10 and 12. A little more than 28.5 percent, or one in four, of the high school students ate [...] Continue Reading…
Psychiatric drug use soars during past decade
Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
Atlanta, GA, United States (AHN) – Over the past decade, the medicating of Americans for mental illness has continued to grow. From 2001 to 2010, overall use of psychiatric drug use among adults rose 22 percent. One on five adults now takes at least one psychotic drug such as anti-depressants, antipsychotics and anti-anxiety medications. The new figures, released Wednesday, are based on prescription drug pharmacy claims of 2 million insured American adults and children reported by Medco Health Solutions Inc., a pharmacy benefit manager. In 2010, Americans spent $16.1 billion on antipsychotics to treat depression, bipolar disorders and schizophrenia; $11.6 billion on antidepressants; and $7.2 billion on treatment for ADHD, according [...] Continue Reading…
More American patients seek treatment abroad to escape high medical costs
Tom Ramstack – AHN News Legal Correspondent
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The number of Americans heading abroad for medical care rose sharply last year amid high health care costs and a poor economy in the United States, according to medical tourism industry figures. Some of their preferred locations for life-saving surgeries and other procedures are India and Mexico, the health information company Health Digital Systems reported. Surgeries like hip replacements, dental implants and heart bypasses can cost half as much in Southeast Asia and Latin America compared with the United States. Among the six million Americans who traveled abroad for medical care last year, 45 percent traveled to Asia, 26 percent to Latin America and [...] Continue Reading…
Arroyo goes abroad for medical care as corruption charges loom
Vittorio Hernandez – AHN News
Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines (AHN) – Former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo plans to seek medical treatment abroad for a pinched neck nerve. She has undergone three surgeries to correct the ailment, but still needs further medical attention. However, she and husband Miguel Arroyo are on the immigration watch list because of numerous corruption and plunder cases filed against the couple. House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said he is willing to grant the former president, now a congresswoman, travel authority to pursue medical treatment in Germany. Belmonte had previously issued an authority to Arroyo, but it had lapsed. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who placed Arroyo – her former boss – on the [...] Continue Reading…
Trump Casino offers plastic surgery jackpot
Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
Atlantic City, NJ, United States (AHN) – The Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort is offering a prize guaranteed to change the life, or at least the looks, of one lucky winner. The jackpot of the Trump Taj Mahal Nip and Tuck Sweepstakes is $25,000 towards an array of plastic surgery procedures including Botox injections, implants and liposuction. Players can roll the dice and pull the slots for the top prize through Oct. 29 at the Atlantic City casino. The sweepstakes is open to Trump One Card holders who earn a certain number of points and then must be present and playing at the time of the drawing for a chance to [...] Continue Reading…
Oakland clinic provides medical care to ex-offenders
Oakland, CA, United States (KaiserHealth) – Most former inmates leave California prisons with no consistent place to get medical care. Instead, they rely on a scattershot of county-funded clinics or end up at county emergency rooms. But in California, that’s beginning to change. The state negotiated with the Obama administration to gain early access to funds available under the federal health law. Starting last month, counties began enrolling all low-income residents — including ex-offenders — into a version of Medi-Cal. Ex-convict Darren Thurmond wears a prison-issued grey sweat suit, stretched tightly over his large belly and carries a crumbled brown paper bag, as he climbs out of the prison van stopping just outside the metal gates of [...] Continue Reading…
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