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(AP) – 14 May, 2011
LONDON (AP) — Smallpox,
one of the world's deadliest diseases, eradicated three decades ago, is kept
alive under tight security today in just two places — the United States and
Russia.
Many other countries say
the world would be safer if those stockpiles of the virus were destroyed.
Now for the fifth time, at
a World Health Organization meeting next week, they will push again for the
virus' destruction. And again it seems likely their efforts will be futile.
It was in 1996 that WHO's
member countries first agreed smallpox should be destroyed. But they have
repeatedly delayed a demand for destruction so that scientists could develop
safer smallpox vaccines and drugs. That's now largely been done: There are two
vaccines, a third in the works, and there are experimental drugs being developed
for treating it, but not curing it.
Yet even if most of WHO's
member countries vote to set a new date for destruction, the agency doesn't have
the power to enforce the decision.
The scientific community
remains divided over whether the smallpox samples should be destroyed. The
respected journal Nature editorialized against it earlier this year, arguing
that scientists need the ability to do further research, and perhaps develop new
vaccines and treatments in an era of possible biological attack. However, one of
the most prominent figures in wiping out the deadly, disfiguring disease is in
favor of destroying all remnants of it.
"It would be an
excellent idea to destroy the smallpox viruses," said Dr. Donald A.
Henderson, who led WHO's eradication effort in the 1970s. "This is an
organism to be greatly feared."
He says possession of
smallpox by those not authorized to have it should be made a crime against
humanity and that international authorities should prosecute any country found
with it.
A report by independent
researchers commissioned by WHO last year concluded there was no compelling
scientific reason to hang onto the viruses and that the stockpiles were mainly
needed to continue advanced development of the drug treatment and satisfy
regulatory requirements. Yet other scientists contend the stockpiles could still
provide valuable information in the future.
Smallpox is one of the
most lethal diseases in history. For centuries, it killed about one-third of the
people it infected, including Queen Mary II of
Smallpox vaccines are made
from vaccinia, a milder related virus. "We have many ways of looking at
smallpox, including gene mapping, that means we don't need the actual (smallpox)
virus," said Henderson, who is now with the Center for Biosecurity at the
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
American and Russian
officials disagree.
Dr. Nils Daulaire,
director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Global
Affairs, said the
A scientist at the Russian
laboratory where smallpox is kept, who spoke anonymously because he was not
authorized to speak to the press, said the virus should be kept in case similar
ones pop up in the future and more studies are needed.
Meanwhile, officials from
developing countries are anxious to close the last chapter on the disease.
"There is a consensus
to destroy the viruses, so how come we're in this situation where we're
pandering to the
Oyewale Tomori, a virology
professor at Redeemer's University in
Keiji Fukuda, WHO's
assistant director-general for health security and the environment, said the
agency remains concerned about the possibility of smallpox's return. "The
chance of an outbreak is reasonably low, but not zero," he said. With the
new vaccines and drugs, Fukuda was optimistic any smallpox outbreak would be
stamped out relatively quickly though acknowledged any new cases might spark
global alarm.
"If smallpox were to
reappear, we would be in a much better situation than in the past, considering
the vaccine supplies and strategies that have been demonstrated to work,"
he said. He guessed that stamping out a smallpox outbreak would be faster than
the four months it took to mostly end the 2003 global outbreak of SARS, where
doctors could only isolate patients and trace suspect cases. With smallpox,
Fukuda said countries could quickly vaccinate people in surrounding areas and
that drugs could be sent to treat patients.
Fukuda said many rich
countries like the
David Evans, a smallpox
expert at the
Laboratories where
smallpox is kept have the highest possible containment measures. Scientists who
work with the virus use fingerprint or retinal scans to get inside, wear a
full-body suit including gloves and goggles, and shower with strong disinfectant
before leaving the lab and taking off the suit. The
Rumors about stockpiles in
countries like
Evans thinks it's unlikely
terrorists would resort to smallpox in a biological attack. "If you want to
disrupt countries, there are lots of easier ways to do it than to experiment
with something so dangerous," he said.
AP Medical Writer Mike
Stobbe in
Copyright © 2011 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved.
(AP) – 14 May, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a highly anticipated hepatitis C
drug from Merck that is the first new treatment for the virus in 20 years.
The first-of-its-kind
pill, Victrelis, has been shown to cure more patients in less time than the
older drugs now used.
About 3.2 million people
in the
The FDA said it approved
the new drug based on two trials in which more than 65 percent of patients were
cured when combining Victrelis with the two older drugs. Like HIV drugs,
Victrelis will be prescribed as part of a drug cocktail to fight the virus.
Some patients were also
able to eliminate the virus in seven months on the drug, nearly half the time
needed with the current treatments alone.
Boceprevir works by
blocking the enzyme protease that helps hepatitis reproduce. It differs from the
older medications that boost the immune system.
"This new medication
provides an effective treatment for a serious disease, and offers a greater
chance of cure for some patients' hepatitis C infection compared to currently
available therapy," said Dr. Edward Cox, director of the FDA's office of
antimicrobial products.
The drug, known
generically as boceprevir, is designed to be taken three times a day with meals.
Side effects include fatigue, nausea, headache and low blood cell count.
Analysts expect boceprevir
to reach annual sales between $800 million and $1 billion. The drug is one of
two new hepatitis treatments expected to gain approval this month. Vertex
Pharmaceuticals is scheduled to receive a decision on its drug, telaprevir, by
May 23. That drug is could garner even higher sales of up to $3 billion due to
higher efficacy data, according to analyst estimates.
Hepatitis C is the primary
cause of liver transplants in the
People can get the disease
by sharing needles or having sex with an infected person. The disease could also
be picked up from blood transfusions before 1992, when testing of the blood
supply for the virus began.
Most people with hepatitis
C don't even know they have the virus until after liver damage has occurred,
which can cause abdominal pain, fatigue, itching and dark urine.
Current treatment for
hepatitis C runs about $30,000. A spokeswoman for the Whitehouse Station,
N.J.-based Merck could not immediately discuss the drug's price. The company
will begin shipping the drug immediately.
"We look forward to
building on our legacy in the fight against infectious diseases, and to being a
part of this exciting new era in the treatment of hepatitis C," said Merck
CEO Kenneth Frazier, in a statement.
Merck & Co. Inc. was
the first company to market a drug for hepatitis C in 1991 when it launched
interferon-alpha.
Copyright © 2011 The
Associated Press.
By Genevra Pittman
(Reuters
Health) - More gay men reported being cancer survivors than straight men in a
new study from
That suggests they may
need targeted interventions to prevent cancer, the researchers said, but more
studies are needed to answer lingering questions. For example, are gay men more
likely to be diagnosed with cancer than straight men? Or, are they just more
likely to survive if they do get cancer?
"A lack of hard
data" on how sexual orientation affects the risk of cancer is "one of
the biggest problems we have," said Liz Margolies, executive director of
The National LGBT Cancer Network. Margolies, who was not involved in the
research, told Reuters Health, "It's critical that we know that for funding
and for program planning."
As a step toward
addressing the lack of data, researchers looked at three years of responses to
the California Health Interview survey, which included more than 120,000 adults
living in the state.
Among other health-related
questions, participants were asked if they had ever been diagnosed with cancer
and whether they identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or straight.
The findings are published
in the journal Cancer.
Out of 51,000 men, about
3,700 said they had been diagnosed with cancer as an adult. While just over 8
percent of gay men reported a history of cancer, that figure was only 5 percent
in straight men. The disparity could not be attributed to differences in race,
age, or income between gay and straight men.
About 7,300 out of 71,000
women in the study had been diagnosed with cancer, but overall cancer rates did
not differ among lesbian, bisexual, and straight women.
However, among women who
were cancer survivors, lesbian and bisexual women were more likely to report
fair or poor health than straight women.
Ulrike Boehmer, the
study's lead author from the Boston University School of Public Health, said
higher rates of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) may be related to the
increased risk of cancer in gay men, but the study couldn't address that
question specifically.
Margolies thinks there is
more going on. "Gay men as a group have a bunch of risk factors for
cancer," she said.
For instance, gay men and
lesbian women are more likely to smoke and abuse alcohol than straight men and
women. They're also more likely to avoid going to see their doctor for routine
physicals or cancer screening, Margolies added - since healthcare providers may
not all be tolerant and accepting of their identity.
"I don't think that
we're going to get people to have early screening or see doctors except in
emergencies ... until they can be guaranteed a safe and welcoming
experience" at the doctor's office, she said.
Margolies said that while
the new findings are "very important," she cautions about generalizing
them too far beyond this individual study. Partially that's because she suspects
lesbian women may also have an increased risk of cancer compared to straight
women, because they have some of the same risk factors as gay men.
But Margolies and Boehmer
agree that there is still an important message to take away from the findings:
gay, lesbian and bisexual people need more attention from the healthcare
community, specifically when it comes to their cancer risks.
"Because more gay men
report as cancer survivors, we need foremost programs for gay men that focus on
primary cancer prevention and early cancer detection," Boehmer told Reuters
Health in an email.
And, "Because more
lesbian and bisexual women than heterosexual women with cancer report that they
are in poor health, we need foremost programs and services that improve the
well-being of lesbian and bisexual cancer survivors," she added.
"Health care
facilities and social service agencies -- any organization that addresses the
needs of cancer survivors -- must understand the extra challenges that lesbian
and bisexual cancer survivors and gay men have," Margolies concluded.
SOURCE: bit.ly/gzHzeL
Cancer, online May 9, 2011.
(AFP) – 12 May, 2011
Bedbugs carrying potent
drug-resistant staph bacteria have been found in a poor section of
Five bedbugs were plucked
off the bodies of three hospitalized patients from a rough section of downtown
The bugs were tested and
found to be infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and
vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE), said the CDC's Emerging
Infectious Diseases report.
It was unclear whether the
people infected the bugs or the bugs infected the people.
"To our knowledge, no
conclusive evidence has demonstrated disease transmission by bedbugs," said
the study, which called for further research due to the admittedly small sample
of patients.
"Bedbug carriage of
MRSA, and the portal of entry provided through feeding, suggests a plausible
potential mechanism for passive transmission of bacteria during a blood
meal."
In other words,
contamination could theoretically happen if a person scratches where a bedbug
has attached to the skin, causing an abrasion that allows the bacteria room for
entry.
MRSA is a staph infection
increasingly seen in hospitals that can turn deadly if it gets into the
bloodstream or a surgical wound.
VRE is a type of bacteria
that can live on the skin and in the intestines without harming a person, but
can cause serious health issues in people who are ill or have weakened immune
systems.
Both bacteria have
developed resistance to many antibiotics.
As many as 31 percent of
people living in that section of Vancouver, known as Downtown Eastside, have
reported bedbug infestations, and both VRE and MSRA infections are commonly seen
at the nearby Saint Paul's Hospital, the report said.
A boom in bedbug
populations has been witnessed across
Copyright © 2011 AFP. All
rights reserved.
BANGALORE | Wed May 11,
2011 (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson unit Janssen said it was in discussions
with regulatory authorities in five countries to address trace amounts of a
fungicide found in certain lots of its HIV drug Prezista.
This comes on the back of
a series of J&J recalls related to the presence of the chemical.
The discussions were
initiated by Janssen after it received four consumer reports of an
uncharacteristic musty, moldy odor.
The widespread recall of
J&J's Tylenol pain reliever and other medications also originated with
complaints of a musty odor. The company has recalled more than 300 million
bottles and packages of adult and children's consumer medicines since early
2010.
Janssen's investigation
determined that the odor is likely caused by trace amounts of tribromoanisole (TBA)
-- a fungicide used in packaging materials -- found in bottles sourced from a
common supplier.
A very small number of
patients reported temporary gastrointestinal symptoms after taking the HIV drug,
but there were no reported serious adverse events caused by the presence of TBA.
"We do want to make
it clear that patients should not stop taking their medication," the
company said.
Anyone experiencing an
uncharacteristic odor associated with Prezista 400mg or 600mg tablets should
return their tablets to their pharmacist for immediate replacement, Janssen
added.
The countries affected
include
Although no injuries have
been linked to the ongoing recalls, they have sullied J&J's reputation,
pressured its share price and sparked Congressional investigations.
TBA is a byproduct of a
chemical preservative sometimes applied to wood and often used in the
construction of pallets on which products are transported and stored.
An internal investigation
is underway with suppliers to evaluate all potential sources of TBA, Janssen
said.
CHICAGO | Thu May 12, 2011
May 12 (Reuters) - People with HIV who took antiretroviral drugs cut the risk
spreading the infection to their uninfected sexual partner, U.S. government
researchers said on Thursday.
The findings also suggest
that the protection is strongest when patients take the drugs as soon as
possible.
The clinical trial, known
as HPTN 052, was to end in 2015 but the findings are being released early
because the treatment worked so well.