Friday, September 28, 2012
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Poor HIV patients improve with care beyond drugs: study
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Patients stepping into Johns Hopkins University's HIV clinic in east Baltimore do not just see a doctor or get prescriptions for their antiretroviral drugs. Many also get help finding a place to live or bus fare to make it to their next appointment.
Such care that goes beyond the examination table and into patients' often challenging lives has been key to helping poorer HIV patients - particularly blacks and women - live long, healthier lives, according to a 15-year study published on Thursday in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Researchers at the university followed 6,366 patients in the mostly black, low-income part of a city marked by abandoned buildings and plagued by an illegal drug trade that drew national attention on the gritty television series 'The Wire.'
From 1995 to 2010, doctors at Hopkins joined with social workers and other experts to treat HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDs, and address other aspects of care that can often derail patients, such as being able to fill prescriptions or access health insurance programs for the needy.
They found that with additional assistance, patients at the clinic could expect to live to about age 73 despite their background. Researchers found no difference in patients' health over time despite their gender, race, risk group, or socioeconomic status - a finding they said showed comprehensive care could eliminate disparities that arise among at-risk groups.
'Just like over time we have developed medications that are easier to take, have fewer toxicities and are more effective, I think we've done exactly the same things in our ability to deliver quality care to this particular population,' Dr. Richard Moore, the study's lead author, said in an interview.
Moore, a professor of infectious diseases and director of the university's clinic, said the program showed it was possible to counter the impact of economic disparities on healthcare.
Even though HIV medications have significantly improved since the virus emerged in the United States decades ago, accessing those medications, receiving consistent care and follow-up appointments for the chronic condition are key, he said.
HIV still hits certain populations harder than others, and rising infection rates among gay black men, for example, remain a major worry among public health experts.
IMPROVING OUTCOMES
'Our results emphasize that advances in HIV treatment have had a positive impact on all affected demographic and behavioral risk groups in an HIV clinical setting,' Moore and his colleagues wrote.
Previous studies have shown that certain groups of HIV patients - the poor, minorities, women and drug users - tended to have worse outcomes and die earlier.
Moore found that more comprehensive care that addresses problems such as homelessness and a lack of reliable transportation could help an average 28-year-old with HIV live roughly 45 more years with no significantly higher risk of various infections or other complications, a result that 'did not differ by demographic or behavioral risk group.'
Moore also credited the roughly $2 billion Ryan White CARE Act, the largest federal program solely aimed at paying for care for low-income HIV patients who are uninsured or have inadequate coverage. The program, which President Barack Obama extended in 2009, is up for renewal next year.
About 92 percent of the clinic's patients are low-income, according to the study.
Michael Saag, head of the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Center for AIDS Research, said the new findings underscored the need to revamp the nation's healthcare system so that all people get quality care. HIV patients are lucky to have access to Ryan White funds, but others do not.
'This is likely a fundamental reason why the poor and disadvantaged in the United States have health disparities that cause disproportionately worse clinical outcomes than those with means,' Saag said in an editorial accompanying the study.
To be sure, researchers only followed patients who continued with the clinic over time. Patients who dropped out for various reasons, even despite staff effort to contact them, were not included in the data.
Over the years, Moore said he and his colleagues had learned what tends to work, and what does not, when it comes to their patients.
Moore, who has worked at the Hopkins clinic for 24 years, said patients were immediately connected to a case worker who sometimes started counseling them even before their first appointment.
Other clinics have also started similar efforts in recent year, but this more comprehensive type of care is not yet available nationwide.
'Medical care, particularly for a lot of people who aren't necessarily well-insured or living in a stable situation, you have to just as much deal with all that aspect of assisting them with their lives,' Moore said. 'I wish that wasn't the case.'
(Editing by Peter Cooney Steenhuysen)
This news article is brought to you by LINUXOS.PRO - where latest news are our top priority.
Such care that goes beyond the examination table and into patients' often challenging lives has been key to helping poorer HIV patients - particularly blacks and women - live long, healthier lives, according to a 15-year study published on Thursday in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Researchers at the university followed 6,366 patients in the mostly black, low-income part of a city marked by abandoned buildings and plagued by an illegal drug trade that drew national attention on the gritty television series 'The Wire.'
From 1995 to 2010, doctors at Hopkins joined with social workers and other experts to treat HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDs, and address other aspects of care that can often derail patients, such as being able to fill prescriptions or access health insurance programs for the needy.
They found that with additional assistance, patients at the clinic could expect to live to about age 73 despite their background. Researchers found no difference in patients' health over time despite their gender, race, risk group, or socioeconomic status - a finding they said showed comprehensive care could eliminate disparities that arise among at-risk groups.
'Just like over time we have developed medications that are easier to take, have fewer toxicities and are more effective, I think we've done exactly the same things in our ability to deliver quality care to this particular population,' Dr. Richard Moore, the study's lead author, said in an interview.
Moore, a professor of infectious diseases and director of the university's clinic, said the program showed it was possible to counter the impact of economic disparities on healthcare.
Even though HIV medications have significantly improved since the virus emerged in the United States decades ago, accessing those medications, receiving consistent care and follow-up appointments for the chronic condition are key, he said.
HIV still hits certain populations harder than others, and rising infection rates among gay black men, for example, remain a major worry among public health experts.
IMPROVING OUTCOMES
'Our results emphasize that advances in HIV treatment have had a positive impact on all affected demographic and behavioral risk groups in an HIV clinical setting,' Moore and his colleagues wrote.
Previous studies have shown that certain groups of HIV patients - the poor, minorities, women and drug users - tended to have worse outcomes and die earlier.
Moore found that more comprehensive care that addresses problems such as homelessness and a lack of reliable transportation could help an average 28-year-old with HIV live roughly 45 more years with no significantly higher risk of various infections or other complications, a result that 'did not differ by demographic or behavioral risk group.'
Moore also credited the roughly $2 billion Ryan White CARE Act, the largest federal program solely aimed at paying for care for low-income HIV patients who are uninsured or have inadequate coverage. The program, which President Barack Obama extended in 2009, is up for renewal next year.
About 92 percent of the clinic's patients are low-income, according to the study.
Michael Saag, head of the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Center for AIDS Research, said the new findings underscored the need to revamp the nation's healthcare system so that all people get quality care. HIV patients are lucky to have access to Ryan White funds, but others do not.
'This is likely a fundamental reason why the poor and disadvantaged in the United States have health disparities that cause disproportionately worse clinical outcomes than those with means,' Saag said in an editorial accompanying the study.
To be sure, researchers only followed patients who continued with the clinic over time. Patients who dropped out for various reasons, even despite staff effort to contact them, were not included in the data.
Over the years, Moore said he and his colleagues had learned what tends to work, and what does not, when it comes to their patients.
Moore, who has worked at the Hopkins clinic for 24 years, said patients were immediately connected to a case worker who sometimes started counseling them even before their first appointment.
Other clinics have also started similar efforts in recent year, but this more comprehensive type of care is not yet available nationwide.
'Medical care, particularly for a lot of people who aren't necessarily well-insured or living in a stable situation, you have to just as much deal with all that aspect of assisting them with their lives,' Moore said. 'I wish that wasn't the case.'
(Editing by Peter Cooney Steenhuysen)
This news article is brought to you by LINUXOS.PRO - where latest news are our top priority.
U.S. poor HIV patients live longer with care extending past drugs
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Patients stepping into Johns Hopkins University's HIV clinic in east Baltimore don't just see a doctor or get prescriptions for their antiretroviral drugs; many also get help finding a place to live or bus fare to make it to their next appointment.
Such care that goes beyond the examination table and into patients' often challenging lives has been key to helping poorer HIV patients - particularly blacks and women - live longer, healthier lives, according to a 15-year study published on Thursday in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Researchers at the university followed 6,366 patients in the mostly black, low-income part of a city marked by abandoned buildings and plagued by an illegal drug trade that drew national attention on the gritty television series 'The Wire.'
From 1995 to 2010, doctors at Hopkins joined with social workers and other experts to treat HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDs, and address other aspects of care that can often derail patients, such as being able to fill prescriptions or access health insurance programs for the needy.
They found that with additional assistance, at-risk patients who contract the virus in their late 20s can expect to live to about age 73 despite their race, sex or drug use, compared with some earlier data that showed higher mortality rates among such groups.
'Just like over time we have developed medications that are easier to take, have fewer toxicities and are more effective, I think we've done exactly the same things in our ability to deliver quality care to this particular population,' Dr. Richard Moore, the study's lead author, said in an interview.
Moore, a professor of infectious diseases and director of the university's clinic, said the program shows it is possible to counter the impact of economic disparities on healthcare.
Even though HIV medications have significantly improved since the virus emerged in the United States decades ago, accessing those medications, receiving consistent care and follow-up appointments for the chronic condition are key, he said.
HIV still hits certain populations harder than others, and rising infection rates among gay black men, for example, remain a major worry among public health experts.
IMPROVING OUTCOMES
Previous studies have shown that certain groups of HIV patients -- the poor, minorities, women and drug users -- tended to have worse outcomes and die earlier.
Moore found that more comprehensive care that addresses problems such as homelessness and a lack of reliable transportation can help an average 28-year-old with HIV live roughly 45 more years with no significantly higher risk of various infections or other complications.
Moore also credited the roughly $2 billion Ryan White CARE Act, the largest federal program solely aimed at paying for care for low-income HIV patients who are uninsured or have inadequate coverage. The program, which President Barack Obama extended in 2009, is up for renewal next year.
Michael Saag, head of the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Center for AIDS Research, said the new findings underscore the need to revamp the nation's healthcare system so that all people get quality care. HIV patients are lucky to have access to Ryan White funds, but others do not.
'This is likely a fundamental reason why the poor and disadvantaged in the United States have health disparities that cause disproportionately worse clinical outcomes than those with means,' Saag said in an editorial accompanying the study.
Over the years, Moore said he and his colleagues have learned what tends to work, and what doesn't, when it comes to their patients.
Moore, who has worked at the Hopkins clinic for 24 years, said patients are immediately connected to a case worker who sometimes starts counseling them even before their first appointment.
Other clinics have also started similar efforts in recent year, but this more comprehensive type of care is not yet available nationwide.
'Medical care, particularly for a lot of people who aren't necessarily well-insured or living in a stable situation, you have to just as much deal with all that aspect of assisting them with their lives,' Moore said. 'I wish that wasn't the case.'
(Editing by Leslie Adler)
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
Such care that goes beyond the examination table and into patients' often challenging lives has been key to helping poorer HIV patients - particularly blacks and women - live longer, healthier lives, according to a 15-year study published on Thursday in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Researchers at the university followed 6,366 patients in the mostly black, low-income part of a city marked by abandoned buildings and plagued by an illegal drug trade that drew national attention on the gritty television series 'The Wire.'
From 1995 to 2010, doctors at Hopkins joined with social workers and other experts to treat HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDs, and address other aspects of care that can often derail patients, such as being able to fill prescriptions or access health insurance programs for the needy.
They found that with additional assistance, at-risk patients who contract the virus in their late 20s can expect to live to about age 73 despite their race, sex or drug use, compared with some earlier data that showed higher mortality rates among such groups.
'Just like over time we have developed medications that are easier to take, have fewer toxicities and are more effective, I think we've done exactly the same things in our ability to deliver quality care to this particular population,' Dr. Richard Moore, the study's lead author, said in an interview.
Moore, a professor of infectious diseases and director of the university's clinic, said the program shows it is possible to counter the impact of economic disparities on healthcare.
Even though HIV medications have significantly improved since the virus emerged in the United States decades ago, accessing those medications, receiving consistent care and follow-up appointments for the chronic condition are key, he said.
HIV still hits certain populations harder than others, and rising infection rates among gay black men, for example, remain a major worry among public health experts.
IMPROVING OUTCOMES
Previous studies have shown that certain groups of HIV patients -- the poor, minorities, women and drug users -- tended to have worse outcomes and die earlier.
Moore found that more comprehensive care that addresses problems such as homelessness and a lack of reliable transportation can help an average 28-year-old with HIV live roughly 45 more years with no significantly higher risk of various infections or other complications.
Moore also credited the roughly $2 billion Ryan White CARE Act, the largest federal program solely aimed at paying for care for low-income HIV patients who are uninsured or have inadequate coverage. The program, which President Barack Obama extended in 2009, is up for renewal next year.
Michael Saag, head of the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Center for AIDS Research, said the new findings underscore the need to revamp the nation's healthcare system so that all people get quality care. HIV patients are lucky to have access to Ryan White funds, but others do not.
'This is likely a fundamental reason why the poor and disadvantaged in the United States have health disparities that cause disproportionately worse clinical outcomes than those with means,' Saag said in an editorial accompanying the study.
Over the years, Moore said he and his colleagues have learned what tends to work, and what doesn't, when it comes to their patients.
Moore, who has worked at the Hopkins clinic for 24 years, said patients are immediately connected to a case worker who sometimes starts counseling them even before their first appointment.
Other clinics have also started similar efforts in recent year, but this more comprehensive type of care is not yet available nationwide.
'Medical care, particularly for a lot of people who aren't necessarily well-insured or living in a stable situation, you have to just as much deal with all that aspect of assisting them with their lives,' Moore said. 'I wish that wasn't the case.'
(Editing by Leslie Adler)
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Morning-after pills available to N.Y. high school students
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hundreds of New York City high schools students have received morning-after pills since the launch of a program that provides emergency contraception through public school nurses, the city's health department said on Monday.
Many schools around the nation have long made condoms available to students but New York health officials said they believe the city is the first to make hormonal contraceptives available.
The program, which started last year and now has been instituted at 13 high schools, allows school nurses to give students emergency contraceptive pills, designed to prevent pregnancy following unprotected sex or a contraceptive failure if taken within 72 hours. It also provides condoms, birth-control pills and pregnancy testing.
The program is designed to battle the problem of unplanned pregnancies among teens, health officials said.
'In New York City over 7,000 young women become pregnant by age 17, 90 percent of which are unplanned,' Alexandra Waldhorn, a health department spokeswoman, said in an email.
'We are committed to trying new approaches, like this pilot program in place since January 2011, to improve a situation that can have lifelong consequences,' she said.
Parents were informed of the program from the start and given the choice of opting out of any or all of the services but have largely supported the program, Waldhorn said, but it had not been reported on until the New York Post wrote about it during the weekend.
Between 1 percent and 2 percent of parents sent back an opt-out form, she said.
Joan Malin, president of Planned Parenthood of New York City, said that while 'in an ideal world a teen would consult with a parent or caregivers before becoming sexually active and seeking out birth control,' that was not always the case.
This program 'equips school nurses and other qualified staff to be those responsible adults providing appropriate advice and medical care.'
Others, however, expressed concern that parents were not making informed decisions about the program.
Greg Pfundstein, the executive director of the Chiaroscuro Foundation, an anti-abortion group in New York, said the program should be conducted on an opt-in basis so that parents had to actively give their consent.
He also said the health department had not done enough to show that the program would achieve its intended effect of reducing unwanted teenage pregnancies.
New York State Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, a Democrat who represents parts of the South Bronx, called on Mayor Michael Bloomberg to immediately kill the program.
'It is unconscionable for New York City's government to implement any program that gives medication to students without the prior authorization of parents,' he said in a letter to the mayor.
The program - known as CATCH for Connecting Adolescents to Comprehensive Healthcare - is an extension of services that already were available to about a quarter of all New York public school students through privately run health clinics.
The 13 public schools were chosen because such facilities were not available nearby.
In the past school year, 567 students received emergency contraception and 580 students received Reclipsen, a birth-control pill, through the program.
Some anti-abortion advocates object to the morning-after drugs, which work by preventing the release of an egg, preventing fertilization or stopping a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus.
The National Association of School Nurses, contacted by the Post, said it did not know of any similar program in the nation. (Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Bill Trott)
This news article is brought to you by INTERNET NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Many schools around the nation have long made condoms available to students but New York health officials said they believe the city is the first to make hormonal contraceptives available.
The program, which started last year and now has been instituted at 13 high schools, allows school nurses to give students emergency contraceptive pills, designed to prevent pregnancy following unprotected sex or a contraceptive failure if taken within 72 hours. It also provides condoms, birth-control pills and pregnancy testing.
The program is designed to battle the problem of unplanned pregnancies among teens, health officials said.
'In New York City over 7,000 young women become pregnant by age 17, 90 percent of which are unplanned,' Alexandra Waldhorn, a health department spokeswoman, said in an email.
'We are committed to trying new approaches, like this pilot program in place since January 2011, to improve a situation that can have lifelong consequences,' she said.
Parents were informed of the program from the start and given the choice of opting out of any or all of the services but have largely supported the program, Waldhorn said, but it had not been reported on until the New York Post wrote about it during the weekend.
Between 1 percent and 2 percent of parents sent back an opt-out form, she said.
Joan Malin, president of Planned Parenthood of New York City, said that while 'in an ideal world a teen would consult with a parent or caregivers before becoming sexually active and seeking out birth control,' that was not always the case.
This program 'equips school nurses and other qualified staff to be those responsible adults providing appropriate advice and medical care.'
Others, however, expressed concern that parents were not making informed decisions about the program.
Greg Pfundstein, the executive director of the Chiaroscuro Foundation, an anti-abortion group in New York, said the program should be conducted on an opt-in basis so that parents had to actively give their consent.
He also said the health department had not done enough to show that the program would achieve its intended effect of reducing unwanted teenage pregnancies.
New York State Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, a Democrat who represents parts of the South Bronx, called on Mayor Michael Bloomberg to immediately kill the program.
'It is unconscionable for New York City's government to implement any program that gives medication to students without the prior authorization of parents,' he said in a letter to the mayor.
The program - known as CATCH for Connecting Adolescents to Comprehensive Healthcare - is an extension of services that already were available to about a quarter of all New York public school students through privately run health clinics.
The 13 public schools were chosen because such facilities were not available nearby.
In the past school year, 567 students received emergency contraception and 580 students received Reclipsen, a birth-control pill, through the program.
Some anti-abortion advocates object to the morning-after drugs, which work by preventing the release of an egg, preventing fertilization or stopping a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus.
The National Association of School Nurses, contacted by the Post, said it did not know of any similar program in the nation. (Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Bill Trott)
This news article is brought to you by INTERNET NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Morning-after pills made available to N.Y. high school students
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hundreds of New York City high schools students have received morning-after pills since the launch of a program that provides emergency contraception through public school nurses, the city's health department said on Monday.
Many schools around the nation have long made condoms available to students, but New York health officials said they believe the city is the first to make hormonal contraceptives available.
The program, launched in 13 high schools last year, gives students access to emergency contraceptive pills, designed to prevent pregnancy following unprotected sex or a contraceptive failure if taken within 72 hours, as well as condoms, birth- control pills and pregnancy testing.
The program is designed to battle the problem of unplanned pregnancies among teens, health officials said.
'In New York City over 7,000 young women become pregnant by age 17, 90 percent of which are unplanned,' Alexandra Waldhorn, a health department spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
'We are committed to trying new approaches, like this pilot program in place since January 2011, to improve a situation that can have lifelong consequences,' she said.
Parents were informed of the program from the start and given the choice of opting out of any or all of the services but have largely supported the program, Waldhorn said.
Between 1 and 2 percent of parents sent back an opt-out form, she said.
Although the program has been in place since early last year, it was thrust into the public spotlight over the weekend when it was first reported by the New York Post.
The program - known as CATCH for Connecting Adolescents to Comprehensive Healthcare - is an extension of services that already were available to about a quarter of all New York public school students through privately run health clinics.
The 13 public schools were chosen because such facilities were not available nearby.
In the last school year, 567 students received emergency contraception and 580 students received Reclipsen, a birth-control pill, through the program.
Some anti-abortion advocates object to the morning-after drugs, which work by preventing the release of an egg, preventing fertilization or stopping a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus.
The National Association of School Nurses, contacted by the Post, said it too did not know of any similar program in the nation.
(Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Philip Barbara)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
Many schools around the nation have long made condoms available to students, but New York health officials said they believe the city is the first to make hormonal contraceptives available.
The program, launched in 13 high schools last year, gives students access to emergency contraceptive pills, designed to prevent pregnancy following unprotected sex or a contraceptive failure if taken within 72 hours, as well as condoms, birth- control pills and pregnancy testing.
The program is designed to battle the problem of unplanned pregnancies among teens, health officials said.
'In New York City over 7,000 young women become pregnant by age 17, 90 percent of which are unplanned,' Alexandra Waldhorn, a health department spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
'We are committed to trying new approaches, like this pilot program in place since January 2011, to improve a situation that can have lifelong consequences,' she said.
Parents were informed of the program from the start and given the choice of opting out of any or all of the services but have largely supported the program, Waldhorn said.
Between 1 and 2 percent of parents sent back an opt-out form, she said.
Although the program has been in place since early last year, it was thrust into the public spotlight over the weekend when it was first reported by the New York Post.
The program - known as CATCH for Connecting Adolescents to Comprehensive Healthcare - is an extension of services that already were available to about a quarter of all New York public school students through privately run health clinics.
The 13 public schools were chosen because such facilities were not available nearby.
In the last school year, 567 students received emergency contraception and 580 students received Reclipsen, a birth-control pill, through the program.
Some anti-abortion advocates object to the morning-after drugs, which work by preventing the release of an egg, preventing fertilization or stopping a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus.
The National Association of School Nurses, contacted by the Post, said it too did not know of any similar program in the nation.
(Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Philip Barbara)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
Bollywood's Aishwarya Rai Bachchan named U.N. HIV/AIDS envoy
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations appointed Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan a goodwill ambassador on Monday, with a mission to help stop new HIV infections in children and promote increased access to anti-retroviral treatment.
Rai, who gave birth to her first child in November, will work with the U.N. program on HIV/AIDS, known as UNAIDS, advocating the 'Global plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children and keeping their mothers alive.'
'Spreading awareness on health issues, especially related to women and children, has always been a priority for me,' Rai said in a statement. 'And now, as a new mother, I can personally relate to this - the joys and concerns of every mother and the hopes that we have for our children.'
The plan Rai will be promoting focuses on 22 countries, including India, which account for more than 90 percent of new HIV infections among children. Of those, 21 are in sub-Saharan Africa, where the estimated number of children newly infected by HIV fell by 25 percent between 2009 and 2011, UNAIDS said.
Rai, who often features on 'most beautiful' lists and is married to actor Abhishek Bachchan, won the Miss World crown in 1994. She went on to build a successful Bollywood career with hits such as 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam' and 'Devdas.'
She has also worked in Hollywood films such as 'The Pink Panther 2' and is a regular at the Cannes film festival.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by David Brunnstrom and Todd Eastham)
This news article is brought to you by SPACE AND ASTRONOMY NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Rai, who gave birth to her first child in November, will work with the U.N. program on HIV/AIDS, known as UNAIDS, advocating the 'Global plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children and keeping their mothers alive.'
'Spreading awareness on health issues, especially related to women and children, has always been a priority for me,' Rai said in a statement. 'And now, as a new mother, I can personally relate to this - the joys and concerns of every mother and the hopes that we have for our children.'
The plan Rai will be promoting focuses on 22 countries, including India, which account for more than 90 percent of new HIV infections among children. Of those, 21 are in sub-Saharan Africa, where the estimated number of children newly infected by HIV fell by 25 percent between 2009 and 2011, UNAIDS said.
Rai, who often features on 'most beautiful' lists and is married to actor Abhishek Bachchan, won the Miss World crown in 1994. She went on to build a successful Bollywood career with hits such as 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam' and 'Devdas.'
She has also worked in Hollywood films such as 'The Pink Panther 2' and is a regular at the Cannes film festival.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by David Brunnstrom and Todd Eastham)
This news article is brought to you by SPACE AND ASTRONOMY NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
NYC Gives 'Morning After' Pill to Teens
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IUDs, implants encouraged for teenage girls
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Teenage girls looking for birth control should be encouraged to consider the long-lasting 'set and forget' methods, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
In new guidelines, ACOG says IUDs and contraceptive implants should be considered 'first-line' birth control options for teenagers. The group issued similar advice for adult women last year (see Reuters Health story of June 21, 2011).
IUDs, or intrauterine devices, are implanted in the uterus, where they release small amounts of either copper or the hormone progestin to prevent pregnancy. The contraceptive implant, about the size of a matchstick, is inserted under the skin of the arm, where it releases controlled amounts of progestin.
In the U.S., IUDs and implants are much less popular than birth control pills and condoms for contraception. Many experts would like to see that change, since IUDs and implants - known collectively as long-acting reversible contraceptives - are far more reliable.
'Nearly all women who are sexually active are good candidates for long-acting reversible contraception,' said Dr. David L. Eisenberg, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine.
'It's exciting that ACOG is being so declarative that we should be treating adolescents the same as adults' when it comes to birth control options, said Eisenberg, who was not involved in writing the new statement.
IUDs and implants are so effective because they are 'set and forget' contraceptives, and are not dependent on couples using them correctly.
That could make them especially good choices for teenagers, Eisenberg noted, since teens often use birth control inconsistently or not at all.
The hormonal IUD, sold under the brand name Mirena, can prevent pregnancy for five years, while the copper version, sold as ParaGard, is effective for about 10 years. The contraceptive implant (Implanon) works for three years.
Research shows that 0.8 percent of U.S. women using a copper IUD have an unplanned pregnancy within a year. The rate for those on the hormonal IUD was 0.2 percent.
Contraceptive implants, meanwhile, are even more effective - with a one-year pregnancy rate of just 0.05 percent.
In contrast, about nine out of every 100 women on birth control pills can expect to have an unintentional pregnancy in a year - owing largely to imperfect use. With condoms, about two percent of women will become pregnant, but that's only if a couple uses them correctly, every time they have sex.
SIDE EFFECTS, COSTS
Both IUDs and implants can have side effects, ACOG points out. With the implant, irregular menstrual bleeding is most common; some women stop having their periods altogether.
The Mirena IUD may also cause menstrual irregularities. But it generally makes periods lighter, which is why it is also approved as a treatment for heavy bleeding. The ParaGard IUD has the opposite effect: menstrual bleeding and cramping can increase, though that may go away over time.
In about one in 1,000 cases, ACOG says, the IUD can push through the wall of the uterus. It then needs to be removed, which sometimes requires surgery.
When they first came out, IUDs were considered an option mainly for women who'd already had children, as Reuters Health reported last year.
That was based on worries that IUDs raised the risk of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), which can cause infertility. So doctors were reluctant to place IUDs in younger women who had not yet had a baby.
That 'myth' might be one reason that health providers are even less likely to talk about IUDs and implants to teenagers than to adult women, according to Eisenberg.
But he said another barrier for teenagers is the type of health provider they typically see. Teens may see a family doctor or pediatrician - who may be less likely than an ob/gyn to be knowledgeable about IUDs and implants, or less comfortable placing them.
Cost could be another problem.
The upfront cost of the Mirena device itself is nearly $800. The ParaGard price tag is about $500. Then there are the doctor's charges for inserting them.
The Implanon implant costs between $400 and $800, with all charges considered.
Even if a teenager is covered by her parents' insurance, she might not want her parents finding out about her birth control payment. So, Eisenberg said, it may well seem easier to pay for condoms or birth control pills (generic pills run for about $10 a month.)
Healthcare providers, ACOG says, should do their best to make IUDs and implants available to young women who want them. The devices, the group writes in Obstetrics & Gynecology, 'are the best reversible methods for preventing unintended pregnancy, rapid repeat pregnancy, and abortion in young women.'
Eisenberg told Reuters Health that when providers don't know much about the contraceptives, they should refer their teen patients to someone who does.
'All adolescents should be educated on all their birth control options,' he said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/QrtS1u Obstetrics & Gynecology, October 2012.
This article is sponsored by build website.
In new guidelines, ACOG says IUDs and contraceptive implants should be considered 'first-line' birth control options for teenagers. The group issued similar advice for adult women last year (see Reuters Health story of June 21, 2011).
IUDs, or intrauterine devices, are implanted in the uterus, where they release small amounts of either copper or the hormone progestin to prevent pregnancy. The contraceptive implant, about the size of a matchstick, is inserted under the skin of the arm, where it releases controlled amounts of progestin.
In the U.S., IUDs and implants are much less popular than birth control pills and condoms for contraception. Many experts would like to see that change, since IUDs and implants - known collectively as long-acting reversible contraceptives - are far more reliable.
'Nearly all women who are sexually active are good candidates for long-acting reversible contraception,' said Dr. David L. Eisenberg, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine.
'It's exciting that ACOG is being so declarative that we should be treating adolescents the same as adults' when it comes to birth control options, said Eisenberg, who was not involved in writing the new statement.
IUDs and implants are so effective because they are 'set and forget' contraceptives, and are not dependent on couples using them correctly.
That could make them especially good choices for teenagers, Eisenberg noted, since teens often use birth control inconsistently or not at all.
The hormonal IUD, sold under the brand name Mirena, can prevent pregnancy for five years, while the copper version, sold as ParaGard, is effective for about 10 years. The contraceptive implant (Implanon) works for three years.
Research shows that 0.8 percent of U.S. women using a copper IUD have an unplanned pregnancy within a year. The rate for those on the hormonal IUD was 0.2 percent.
Contraceptive implants, meanwhile, are even more effective - with a one-year pregnancy rate of just 0.05 percent.
In contrast, about nine out of every 100 women on birth control pills can expect to have an unintentional pregnancy in a year - owing largely to imperfect use. With condoms, about two percent of women will become pregnant, but that's only if a couple uses them correctly, every time they have sex.
SIDE EFFECTS, COSTS
Both IUDs and implants can have side effects, ACOG points out. With the implant, irregular menstrual bleeding is most common; some women stop having their periods altogether.
The Mirena IUD may also cause menstrual irregularities. But it generally makes periods lighter, which is why it is also approved as a treatment for heavy bleeding. The ParaGard IUD has the opposite effect: menstrual bleeding and cramping can increase, though that may go away over time.
In about one in 1,000 cases, ACOG says, the IUD can push through the wall of the uterus. It then needs to be removed, which sometimes requires surgery.
When they first came out, IUDs were considered an option mainly for women who'd already had children, as Reuters Health reported last year.
That was based on worries that IUDs raised the risk of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), which can cause infertility. So doctors were reluctant to place IUDs in younger women who had not yet had a baby.
That 'myth' might be one reason that health providers are even less likely to talk about IUDs and implants to teenagers than to adult women, according to Eisenberg.
But he said another barrier for teenagers is the type of health provider they typically see. Teens may see a family doctor or pediatrician - who may be less likely than an ob/gyn to be knowledgeable about IUDs and implants, or less comfortable placing them.
Cost could be another problem.
The upfront cost of the Mirena device itself is nearly $800. The ParaGard price tag is about $500. Then there are the doctor's charges for inserting them.
The Implanon implant costs between $400 and $800, with all charges considered.
Even if a teenager is covered by her parents' insurance, she might not want her parents finding out about her birth control payment. So, Eisenberg said, it may well seem easier to pay for condoms or birth control pills (generic pills run for about $10 a month.)
Healthcare providers, ACOG says, should do their best to make IUDs and implants available to young women who want them. The devices, the group writes in Obstetrics & Gynecology, 'are the best reversible methods for preventing unintended pregnancy, rapid repeat pregnancy, and abortion in young women.'
Eisenberg told Reuters Health that when providers don't know much about the contraceptives, they should refer their teen patients to someone who does.
'All adolescents should be educated on all their birth control options,' he said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/QrtS1u Obstetrics & Gynecology, October 2012.
This article is sponsored by build website.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Scripps gets $20 million for HIV research
ad>Scripps gets $20 million for HIV research | UTSanDiego.com
IUDs, implants urged for teen girls' birth control
CHICAGO (AP) - Teenage girls may prefer the pill, the patch or even wishful thinking, but their doctors should be recommending IUDs or hormonal implants - long-lasting and more effective birth control that you don't have to remember to use every time, the nation's leading gynecologists group said Thursday.
The IUD and implants are safe and nearly 100 percent effective at preventing pregnancy, and should be 'first-line recommendations,' the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said in updating its guidance for teens.
Both types of contraception are more invasive than the pill, requiring a doctor to put them in place. That, and cost, are probably why the pill is still the most popular form of contraception in the U.S.
But birth control pills often must be taken at the very same time every day to be most potent. And forgetting to take even one can lead to pregnancy, which is why the pill is sometimes only 91 percent effective.
An IUD, or intrauterine device, is a small, T-shaped piece of plastic inserted in the uterus that can prevent pregnancy for up to 10 years. An implant is a matchstick-size plastic rod that releases hormones. It is placed under the skin of the upper arm and usually lasts three years.
The new guidelines don't tell teens not to use other methods, but 'if your goal is to prevent a pregnancy, then using an implant or an IUD would be the best way to do this,' said Dr. Tina Raine-Bennett, head of the committee that wrote the recommendations.
The organization's previous guidelines, issued in 2007, also encouraged the use of IUDs and implants among teenagers. The new guidelines go further in saying physicians should discuss the two types of birth control with sexually active teens at every doctor visit.
The gynecologists group said condoms should still be used at all times because no other birth control method protects against AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
While it may sound surprising that such invasive contraceptives are being endorsed for teenagers, 43 percent of girls ages 15 to 19 have had sex, a government survey found. Most are using some kind of effective birth control, but only about 5 percent use the long-lasting devices, the gynecologists group said.
In 21 states, all teenagers can get contraceptives without parental permission, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks laws affecting women's health. A few other states allow it under certain circumstances.
The IUD and implant cost hundreds of dollars. The new health reform law requires health insurance plans to cover birth control without co-payments. Also, some publicly funded health clinics offer birth control free or at a reduced cost.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has been more cautious and has not endorsed specific methods of birth control, but is updating its guidance. Some pediatricians have been reluctant to recommend IUDs for teens, partly because of concerns over infection risks; an older model was blamed for infertility.
Dr. Paula Braverman, a University of Cincinnati physician involved in updating the academy's position, said the gynecologists' advice does a good job of clarifying misconceptions about IUDs and implants.
An IUD called the Dalkon Shield that was sold in the 1970s was linked to dangerous and sometimes deadly infections. Newer IUDs have been found to be safe, and the gynecologists group said the risk of pelvic infections increases only slightly during the first three weeks after insertion.
The hormonal implant has been updated, too. The newest kind uses just one thin rod; an older type no longer sold in the U.S. used six rods that sometimes didn't stay in place. IUDs and implants can be removed at any time with no lasting effect on fertility, the gynecologists group said.
'The ones on the market today are extremely safe,' said Dr. Mary Fournier, an adolescent-medicine specialist at Chicago's Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital, who praised the new recommendations. 'That is what everybody should be telling their patients.'
She said she already recommends IUDs for her patients and is being trained in how to insert birth control implants.
Raine-Bennett, research director for women's health at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif., said she gets mixed reactions from her patients about both methods.
'Some of them say, 'Great! Something that I don't have to think about.' Others are, like, 'Hmmm, something in my body?' It really varies,' she said.
Doctors need to be sensitive to that and provide detailed information to dispel any myths and allow teens to make informed decisions, Raine-Bennett said.
___
Online:
ACOG: http://www.acog.org
CDC birth control information: http://tinyurl.com/nhrf9p
___
AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner
This news article is brought to you by GLAMOROUS FASHION NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
The IUD and implants are safe and nearly 100 percent effective at preventing pregnancy, and should be 'first-line recommendations,' the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said in updating its guidance for teens.
Both types of contraception are more invasive than the pill, requiring a doctor to put them in place. That, and cost, are probably why the pill is still the most popular form of contraception in the U.S.
But birth control pills often must be taken at the very same time every day to be most potent. And forgetting to take even one can lead to pregnancy, which is why the pill is sometimes only 91 percent effective.
An IUD, or intrauterine device, is a small, T-shaped piece of plastic inserted in the uterus that can prevent pregnancy for up to 10 years. An implant is a matchstick-size plastic rod that releases hormones. It is placed under the skin of the upper arm and usually lasts three years.
The new guidelines don't tell teens not to use other methods, but 'if your goal is to prevent a pregnancy, then using an implant or an IUD would be the best way to do this,' said Dr. Tina Raine-Bennett, head of the committee that wrote the recommendations.
The organization's previous guidelines, issued in 2007, also encouraged the use of IUDs and implants among teenagers. The new guidelines go further in saying physicians should discuss the two types of birth control with sexually active teens at every doctor visit.
The gynecologists group said condoms should still be used at all times because no other birth control method protects against AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
While it may sound surprising that such invasive contraceptives are being endorsed for teenagers, 43 percent of girls ages 15 to 19 have had sex, a government survey found. Most are using some kind of effective birth control, but only about 5 percent use the long-lasting devices, the gynecologists group said.
In 21 states, all teenagers can get contraceptives without parental permission, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks laws affecting women's health. A few other states allow it under certain circumstances.
The IUD and implant cost hundreds of dollars. The new health reform law requires health insurance plans to cover birth control without co-payments. Also, some publicly funded health clinics offer birth control free or at a reduced cost.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has been more cautious and has not endorsed specific methods of birth control, but is updating its guidance. Some pediatricians have been reluctant to recommend IUDs for teens, partly because of concerns over infection risks; an older model was blamed for infertility.
Dr. Paula Braverman, a University of Cincinnati physician involved in updating the academy's position, said the gynecologists' advice does a good job of clarifying misconceptions about IUDs and implants.
An IUD called the Dalkon Shield that was sold in the 1970s was linked to dangerous and sometimes deadly infections. Newer IUDs have been found to be safe, and the gynecologists group said the risk of pelvic infections increases only slightly during the first three weeks after insertion.
The hormonal implant has been updated, too. The newest kind uses just one thin rod; an older type no longer sold in the U.S. used six rods that sometimes didn't stay in place. IUDs and implants can be removed at any time with no lasting effect on fertility, the gynecologists group said.
'The ones on the market today are extremely safe,' said Dr. Mary Fournier, an adolescent-medicine specialist at Chicago's Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital, who praised the new recommendations. 'That is what everybody should be telling their patients.'
She said she already recommends IUDs for her patients and is being trained in how to insert birth control implants.
Raine-Bennett, research director for women's health at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif., said she gets mixed reactions from her patients about both methods.
'Some of them say, 'Great! Something that I don't have to think about.' Others are, like, 'Hmmm, something in my body?' It really varies,' she said.
Doctors need to be sensitive to that and provide detailed information to dispel any myths and allow teens to make informed decisions, Raine-Bennett said.
___
Online:
ACOG: http://www.acog.org
CDC birth control information: http://tinyurl.com/nhrf9p
___
AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner
This news article is brought to you by GLAMOROUS FASHION NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Bayer seeks EU approval for birth control patch
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German drugmaker Bayer requested European approval for a contraceptive skin patch as it seeks to broaden its birth-control business and challenge Johnson & Johnson's Evra patch.
The hormonal contraceptive, to be produced for Bayer by Swiss company Acino, was shown to be effective with a good safety profile in clinical trials involving 4,200 women, Bayer said on Thursday.
It added that detailed results will be presented at the FIGO World Congress of Gynecology and Obstetrics in Rome in October.
The transparent patch, which Bayer says could generate annual sales of 250-500 million euros ($325-$650 million), is applied once a week either to the abdomen, buttocks or outer upper arm, where it delivers a steady dose of hormones through the skin.
If successful, Bayer's product would offer an alternative to J&J's Ortho Evra birth control patch, which is approved in North America and Europe.
U.S. drug advisers have, however, recommended that the label of Ortho Evra patch be simplified to better explain the risk of blood clots.
A spokeswoman said Bayer was in talks with the Food and Drug Administration over a possible filing also in the U.S.
Bayer, is one of the largest players in the $8 billion global market for hormonal birth-control pills, competing with J&J, Teva's Barr Pharmaceuticals and Ireland-based Warner Chilcott.
Its main oral contraceptive brand Yasmin has also been subject to controversy over health risks. Bayer has agreed to pay a combined $400 million to settle almost one third of about 6,000 legal claims in the U.S. that Yasmin caused blood clots.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Mike Nesbit)
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The hormonal contraceptive, to be produced for Bayer by Swiss company Acino, was shown to be effective with a good safety profile in clinical trials involving 4,200 women, Bayer said on Thursday.
It added that detailed results will be presented at the FIGO World Congress of Gynecology and Obstetrics in Rome in October.
The transparent patch, which Bayer says could generate annual sales of 250-500 million euros ($325-$650 million), is applied once a week either to the abdomen, buttocks or outer upper arm, where it delivers a steady dose of hormones through the skin.
If successful, Bayer's product would offer an alternative to J&J's Ortho Evra birth control patch, which is approved in North America and Europe.
U.S. drug advisers have, however, recommended that the label of Ortho Evra patch be simplified to better explain the risk of blood clots.
A spokeswoman said Bayer was in talks with the Food and Drug Administration over a possible filing also in the U.S.
Bayer, is one of the largest players in the $8 billion global market for hormonal birth-control pills, competing with J&J, Teva's Barr Pharmaceuticals and Ireland-based Warner Chilcott.
Its main oral contraceptive brand Yasmin has also been subject to controversy over health risks. Bayer has agreed to pay a combined $400 million to settle almost one third of about 6,000 legal claims in the U.S. that Yasmin caused blood clots.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Mike Nesbit)
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Monday, September 17, 2012
Gilead's HIV pill could be market leader in 3-5 years: J.P. Morgan
(Reuters) - J.P. Morgan Securities raised its price target on Gilead Sciences Inc to $75 from $70, saying the company's HIV pill could emerge as a 'market leader' in three to five years, sending the drugmaker's shares to a life-high.
U.S. health regulators approved the four-drug combination pill, Stribild, on August 27.
Physicians said there were no major concerns with Stribild or with its cost, the brokerage said after a survey of 52 HIV specialists.
Analyst Geoff Meacham, who reiterated his 'overweight' rating on the stock, expects Stribild sales of about $2.9 billion in 2015, ahead of Wall Street consensus of $1.5 billion.
Gilead shares, which have risen 8 percent since the approval of the HIV pill, were up 6 percent at $65.68 on the Nasdaq on Monday. More than 16 million shares changed hands by 1454 ET, about 2.5 times their 10-day moving average volume.
(Reporting by Adithya Venkatesan in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian)
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U.S. health regulators approved the four-drug combination pill, Stribild, on August 27.
Physicians said there were no major concerns with Stribild or with its cost, the brokerage said after a survey of 52 HIV specialists.
Analyst Geoff Meacham, who reiterated his 'overweight' rating on the stock, expects Stribild sales of about $2.9 billion in 2015, ahead of Wall Street consensus of $1.5 billion.
Gilead shares, which have risen 8 percent since the approval of the HIV pill, were up 6 percent at $65.68 on the Nasdaq on Monday. More than 16 million shares changed hands by 1454 ET, about 2.5 times their 10-day moving average volume.
(Reporting by Adithya Venkatesan in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian)
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
People with shingles show no higher cancer risk
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who come down with shingles seem to have no higher-than-normal risk of developing cancer later on, a study published Monday confirms.
Researchers found that for nearly 36,000 Taiwanese adults with shingles, the chances of developing cancer over the next several years were on par with national statistics.
Shingles - formally known as herpes zoster - is a painful condition caused by a reactivation of the virus that causes chickenpox, which is known as varicella-zoster. Once you have chickenpox, the virus goes into a dormant state and dwells in the body's nerve fibers.
Varicella-zoster most often reactivates in the elderly or people with weakened immune systems, including some cancer patients.
Thus, years ago, doctors thought people with shingles might be at increased risk of having an undiagnosed cancer, or of developing cancer in the future. But research since then has indicated that's not the case.
The new findings, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, offer more reassurance.
The study is also one of the first to focus on an Asian population. In Taiwan, people with shingles still undergo more cancer testing than those without the condition, according to Dr. Yi-Tsung Lin, of Taipei Veterans General Hospital.
'Our findings suggest that the extensive cancer survey is not necessary,' Lin told Reuters Health in an email.
In the U.S., doctors have already stopped routinely looking for cancer in patients with shingles, according to Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society.
In theory, people with shingles could have an increased cancer risk: If having shingles is a sign that their immune defenses are down, then cancerous cells might be able to slip past the guards too.
And back in the 1970s, Lichtenfeld said, doctors thought people with shingles were more vulnerable to certain cancers. But then studies started to throw that idea into question.
'Now it's generally accepted that we should not be doing an extensive (cancer) workup on patients with shingles,' Lichtenfeld said.
The main new piece from this latest study is the fact that it was done in Asia, according to Lichtenfeld - since past research on shingles and cancer has mostly come out of Western countries.
The findings are based on records from 35,871 adults treated for shingles between 2000 and 2008.
During that time, 895 people were also diagnosed with cancer at some point after their shingles diagnosis. That was a bit lower than the number that would be expected in the general population (905 cases).
The findings were similar when Lin's team looked at men and women separately, and at different age groups.
Lichtenfeld said that if people with a history of shingles are concerned about any new symptoms they are having, they should talk to their doctors.
But there's no reason that people newly diagnosed with shingles should be routinely evaluated for cancer - or undergo standard cancer screenings any more often than other people do.
Studies suggest that about 25 percent of people suffer from shingles at some point in their lives. It usually begins with a burning pain or itch in one location on one side of the body, followed by a rash of fluid-filled blisters.
Most shingles cases go away with medication, but occasionally people continue to feel nerve pain for months afterwards.
In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a vaccine against shingles, made from a weakened form of the chickenpox virus, for adults older than 60.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/Qg0hbq CMAJ, online September 17, 2012.
This news article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE - where latest news are our top priority.
Researchers found that for nearly 36,000 Taiwanese adults with shingles, the chances of developing cancer over the next several years were on par with national statistics.
Shingles - formally known as herpes zoster - is a painful condition caused by a reactivation of the virus that causes chickenpox, which is known as varicella-zoster. Once you have chickenpox, the virus goes into a dormant state and dwells in the body's nerve fibers.
Varicella-zoster most often reactivates in the elderly or people with weakened immune systems, including some cancer patients.
Thus, years ago, doctors thought people with shingles might be at increased risk of having an undiagnosed cancer, or of developing cancer in the future. But research since then has indicated that's not the case.
The new findings, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, offer more reassurance.
The study is also one of the first to focus on an Asian population. In Taiwan, people with shingles still undergo more cancer testing than those without the condition, according to Dr. Yi-Tsung Lin, of Taipei Veterans General Hospital.
'Our findings suggest that the extensive cancer survey is not necessary,' Lin told Reuters Health in an email.
In the U.S., doctors have already stopped routinely looking for cancer in patients with shingles, according to Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society.
In theory, people with shingles could have an increased cancer risk: If having shingles is a sign that their immune defenses are down, then cancerous cells might be able to slip past the guards too.
And back in the 1970s, Lichtenfeld said, doctors thought people with shingles were more vulnerable to certain cancers. But then studies started to throw that idea into question.
'Now it's generally accepted that we should not be doing an extensive (cancer) workup on patients with shingles,' Lichtenfeld said.
The main new piece from this latest study is the fact that it was done in Asia, according to Lichtenfeld - since past research on shingles and cancer has mostly come out of Western countries.
The findings are based on records from 35,871 adults treated for shingles between 2000 and 2008.
During that time, 895 people were also diagnosed with cancer at some point after their shingles diagnosis. That was a bit lower than the number that would be expected in the general population (905 cases).
The findings were similar when Lin's team looked at men and women separately, and at different age groups.
Lichtenfeld said that if people with a history of shingles are concerned about any new symptoms they are having, they should talk to their doctors.
But there's no reason that people newly diagnosed with shingles should be routinely evaluated for cancer - or undergo standard cancer screenings any more often than other people do.
Studies suggest that about 25 percent of people suffer from shingles at some point in their lives. It usually begins with a burning pain or itch in one location on one side of the body, followed by a rash of fluid-filled blisters.
Most shingles cases go away with medication, but occasionally people continue to feel nerve pain for months afterwards.
In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a vaccine against shingles, made from a weakened form of the chickenpox virus, for adults older than 60.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/Qg0hbq CMAJ, online September 17, 2012.
This news article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE - where latest news are our top priority.
Alabama's segregation for inmates with HIV faces court scrutiny
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - Alabama, one of two U.S. states that segregate inmates with HIV from the rest of their prison population, will seek to defend the policy against a class action lawsuit headed to trial in federal court on Monday.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued Alabama in 2011 for what the group contends is a discriminatory practice that prevents most HIV-positive inmates from participating in rehabilitation and retraining programs important for their success after prison.
The state says the civil liberties group has failed to prove that there would be no significant risk of the infection being transmitted to other prisoners if inmates with HIV were fully integrated, according to court documents.
An appeals court upheld the segregated housing policy in 1999, but ACLU attorney Margaret Winter said advances in treatment for HIV infection warranted the court taking another look at the practice.
'It is based on an uneducated view on HIV and how it is transmitted, which really goes back to the dark ages of when it first started and there was hysteria,' she said.
South Carolina is the only other U.S. state that houses inmates with HIV away from other prisoners. Mississippi ceased a similar practice in March 2010 and has since integrated inmates with the infection, Winter said.
Two of Alabama's 29 prisons have dormitories set aside specifically for prisoners with HIV. A handful of prisoners have been allowed to live and work in non-segregated settings in two work-release programs, Winter said.
Approximately 270 inmates out of the 26,400 in the state prison system have tested positive for the virus and none has developed AIDS, according to Alabama Department of Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett.
The inmates with HIV live, eat and have their recreation time apart from the general population, according to court documents filed by the ACLU. Male inmates in the HIV dormitories are given white arm bands that signal their medical status and are to be worn at all times, the group said.
One HIV-positive prisoner received 21 disciplinary days and lost six months of good-behavior time off his sentence for sitting in the general population cafeteria, according to court documents.
'First, we are isolated ... like we are contagious animals,' Dana Harley, another prisoner who is a plaintiff in the case, said in a letter included in the court file. 'It is like punishment three times over.'
Restricting inmates with HIV from programs such as prison jobs and work release 'could harm their reentry into society,' Winter said.
At the trial, expected to last one month in Montgomery, Alabama, the ACLU will argue that Alabama's policy violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. The state of Alabama contends that HIV does not qualify as an impairment under federal law.
(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and David Brunnstrom)
This news article is brought to you by PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued Alabama in 2011 for what the group contends is a discriminatory practice that prevents most HIV-positive inmates from participating in rehabilitation and retraining programs important for their success after prison.
The state says the civil liberties group has failed to prove that there would be no significant risk of the infection being transmitted to other prisoners if inmates with HIV were fully integrated, according to court documents.
An appeals court upheld the segregated housing policy in 1999, but ACLU attorney Margaret Winter said advances in treatment for HIV infection warranted the court taking another look at the practice.
'It is based on an uneducated view on HIV and how it is transmitted, which really goes back to the dark ages of when it first started and there was hysteria,' she said.
South Carolina is the only other U.S. state that houses inmates with HIV away from other prisoners. Mississippi ceased a similar practice in March 2010 and has since integrated inmates with the infection, Winter said.
Two of Alabama's 29 prisons have dormitories set aside specifically for prisoners with HIV. A handful of prisoners have been allowed to live and work in non-segregated settings in two work-release programs, Winter said.
Approximately 270 inmates out of the 26,400 in the state prison system have tested positive for the virus and none has developed AIDS, according to Alabama Department of Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett.
The inmates with HIV live, eat and have their recreation time apart from the general population, according to court documents filed by the ACLU. Male inmates in the HIV dormitories are given white arm bands that signal their medical status and are to be worn at all times, the group said.
One HIV-positive prisoner received 21 disciplinary days and lost six months of good-behavior time off his sentence for sitting in the general population cafeteria, according to court documents.
'First, we are isolated ... like we are contagious animals,' Dana Harley, another prisoner who is a plaintiff in the case, said in a letter included in the court file. 'It is like punishment three times over.'
Restricting inmates with HIV from programs such as prison jobs and work release 'could harm their reentry into society,' Winter said.
At the trial, expected to last one month in Montgomery, Alabama, the ACLU will argue that Alabama's policy violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. The state of Alabama contends that HIV does not qualify as an impairment under federal law.
(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and David Brunnstrom)
This news article is brought to you by PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
New York approves tougher regulations on circumcision
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City's Jewish ritual circumcisers who use their mouths to draw away blood from the wound on a baby's penis must now get the parents to sign a consent form, health officials said on Thursday.
The New York City Board of Health voted unanimously in favor the new regulation, citing the risk that infants could catch a potentially deadly herpes infection through the ancient ritual.
The decision to amend the city's health code has angered some members of the city's Orthodox Jewish communities, who say it is an unwarranted intrusion by the government on religious freedom.
But city health officials say at least 11 infant boys contracted herpes between 2004 and 2011 in New York, most likely caused by a mohel, or ritual circumciser, using his mouth to suck away blood following circumcision.
The practice is common only in certain ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities.
Two of the boys died and two others suffered brain damage and that is what prompted the rule change, health officials said.
Under the amendment, the mohel must get a signed consent form from a parent or legal guardian of an infant before performing the circumcision. The form will state that the health department advises parents that 'direct oral suction should not be performed' because of the herpes risk.
Mohelim, as the circumcisers are called in Hebrew, who do not comply could receive a warning letter from the department or a fine of up to $2,000. The department said it would not actively monitor mohelim, and would investigate only if a parent complains or if it learned of cases of neonatal herpes that are believed to have followed a circumcision.
Speaking before the board voted, Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said it was 'a very difficult issue' but that the department had tried to be as un-intrusive as possible by leaving the ultimate decision about whether to follow the practice with mohelim and parents.
Opponents of the amendment say the department has not proven there is a higher incidence of neonatal herpes among boys who have received oral suction, saying its statistical analysis of the small sample of cases was flawed.
In August, about 200 Orthodox rabbis issued a decree accusing the department of spreading 'lies and misinformation.'
'We are decreeing that according to our opinion, it is forbidden according to the Torah to participate in the evil plans of the NYC Health Dept. in any form,' their statement said, according to a translation published by Yeshiva World News.
(Editing by Tom Brown and Richard Chang)
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The New York City Board of Health voted unanimously in favor the new regulation, citing the risk that infants could catch a potentially deadly herpes infection through the ancient ritual.
The decision to amend the city's health code has angered some members of the city's Orthodox Jewish communities, who say it is an unwarranted intrusion by the government on religious freedom.
But city health officials say at least 11 infant boys contracted herpes between 2004 and 2011 in New York, most likely caused by a mohel, or ritual circumciser, using his mouth to suck away blood following circumcision.
The practice is common only in certain ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities.
Two of the boys died and two others suffered brain damage and that is what prompted the rule change, health officials said.
Under the amendment, the mohel must get a signed consent form from a parent or legal guardian of an infant before performing the circumcision. The form will state that the health department advises parents that 'direct oral suction should not be performed' because of the herpes risk.
Mohelim, as the circumcisers are called in Hebrew, who do not comply could receive a warning letter from the department or a fine of up to $2,000. The department said it would not actively monitor mohelim, and would investigate only if a parent complains or if it learned of cases of neonatal herpes that are believed to have followed a circumcision.
Speaking before the board voted, Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said it was 'a very difficult issue' but that the department had tried to be as un-intrusive as possible by leaving the ultimate decision about whether to follow the practice with mohelim and parents.
Opponents of the amendment say the department has not proven there is a higher incidence of neonatal herpes among boys who have received oral suction, saying its statistical analysis of the small sample of cases was flawed.
In August, about 200 Orthodox rabbis issued a decree accusing the department of spreading 'lies and misinformation.'
'We are decreeing that according to our opinion, it is forbidden according to the Torah to participate in the evil plans of the NYC Health Dept. in any form,' their statement said, according to a translation published by Yeshiva World News.
(Editing by Tom Brown and Richard Chang)
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Wednesday, September 12, 2012
'Berlin Man,' doctor convinced HIV cure is real
ST. LOUIS (AP) - More than five years after a radical treatment, a San Francisco man and his German doctor are convinced that he remains the first person cured of infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Timothy Ray Brown, who is known as 'The Berlin Patient' because of where he was treated, and Dr. Gero Hutter made their first joint appearance in the U.S. on Wednesday when Hutter spoke at a symposium on gene therapy at Washington University in St. Louis. Scientists are studying whether gene therapy can be used to rid the body of HIV.
Brown, 46, was diagnosed with HIV in 1995. In 2006, he also developed leukemia while living in Germany. Hutter performed a blood stem cell transplant using a donor with a rare gene mutation that provides natural resistance to HIV. Hutter said that resistance transferred to Brown.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Brown said he feels great, has not needed HIV medication since the 2007 surgery, and is now active in a foundation named for him that seeks a cure for HIV.
Hutter said enough time has passed to say without hesitation that Brown is cured, citing the same five-year standard after which some cancer patients are said to be cured.
Brown, who now lives in San Francisco, grew up in Seattle and moved to Germany in 1993. After the HIV diagnosis he started on medication to prevent him from developing full-blown AIDS.
He was attending a wedding in New York in 2006 when he became unusually tired. An avid cyclist, within weeks he could barely ride the bike and eventually was diagnosed with leukemia.
Brown underwent chemotherapy but needed a blood stem cell transplant and turned to Hutter, a blood specialist at Heidelberg University.
Hutter suggested they seek a donor with a certain cell feature that gives them natural resistance to HIV infection. Only about 1 percent of the northern European population has this feature. Hutter theorized that a transplant from such a donor could make the recipient resistant to HIV.
Hutter said no one apparently had tried this, and his idea received mixed reaction from other doctors. 'Some were very excited, but many were skeptical,' he said.
But within weeks, Hutter said, tests showed promise that Brown was cured. His case was described in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2009.
'I don't know if I really believed it was cured' until the journal publication, Brown said.
Earlier this year, doctors in California found traces of HIV in Brown's tissue, leading to speculation that the disease had returned. But Hutter said the traces are remnants of the disease that can't replicate or cause a recurrence of the disease.
The symposium in St. Louis was hosted by the university's Biologic Therapeutics Center, which seeks to advance the use of gene therapy. Speakers said gene therapy has helped treat cancer, hemophilia and other diseases.
So far, Brown is the only person believed to have been cured of HIV. Hutter began procedures in 2008 with 12 other people who had both HIV and cancer, but some were too sick to undergo treatment, and others couldn't find matching donors or ran into other roadblocks.
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Timothy Ray Brown, who is known as 'The Berlin Patient' because of where he was treated, and Dr. Gero Hutter made their first joint appearance in the U.S. on Wednesday when Hutter spoke at a symposium on gene therapy at Washington University in St. Louis. Scientists are studying whether gene therapy can be used to rid the body of HIV.
Brown, 46, was diagnosed with HIV in 1995. In 2006, he also developed leukemia while living in Germany. Hutter performed a blood stem cell transplant using a donor with a rare gene mutation that provides natural resistance to HIV. Hutter said that resistance transferred to Brown.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Brown said he feels great, has not needed HIV medication since the 2007 surgery, and is now active in a foundation named for him that seeks a cure for HIV.
Hutter said enough time has passed to say without hesitation that Brown is cured, citing the same five-year standard after which some cancer patients are said to be cured.
Brown, who now lives in San Francisco, grew up in Seattle and moved to Germany in 1993. After the HIV diagnosis he started on medication to prevent him from developing full-blown AIDS.
He was attending a wedding in New York in 2006 when he became unusually tired. An avid cyclist, within weeks he could barely ride the bike and eventually was diagnosed with leukemia.
Brown underwent chemotherapy but needed a blood stem cell transplant and turned to Hutter, a blood specialist at Heidelberg University.
Hutter suggested they seek a donor with a certain cell feature that gives them natural resistance to HIV infection. Only about 1 percent of the northern European population has this feature. Hutter theorized that a transplant from such a donor could make the recipient resistant to HIV.
Hutter said no one apparently had tried this, and his idea received mixed reaction from other doctors. 'Some were very excited, but many were skeptical,' he said.
But within weeks, Hutter said, tests showed promise that Brown was cured. His case was described in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2009.
'I don't know if I really believed it was cured' until the journal publication, Brown said.
Earlier this year, doctors in California found traces of HIV in Brown's tissue, leading to speculation that the disease had returned. But Hutter said the traces are remnants of the disease that can't replicate or cause a recurrence of the disease.
The symposium in St. Louis was hosted by the university's Biologic Therapeutics Center, which seeks to advance the use of gene therapy. Speakers said gene therapy has helped treat cancer, hemophilia and other diseases.
So far, Brown is the only person believed to have been cured of HIV. Hutter began procedures in 2008 with 12 other people who had both HIV and cancer, but some were too sick to undergo treatment, and others couldn't find matching donors or ran into other roadblocks.
This news article is brought to you by GADGETS NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Friday, September 7, 2012
Analysis: Use of pill to prevent HIV may be limited in U.S
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The first preventive pill for HIV has been hailed as a landmark in the fight against AIDS in the United States, but experts say only a small percentage of those at risk will benefit from it.
U.S. health regulators last month approved Gilead Sciences Inc's Truvada -- already used globally to treat the human immunodeficiency virus -- for preventing the infection in healthy people at high risk of contracting the virus that causes AIDS.
A number of factors will limit the drug's use for preventing HIV, including the fact that in the United States many people most at risk of infection, as well as their sexual partners, do not have consistent access to healthcare. Even for those with coverage, insurance reimbursement for a $14,000-a-year drug is expected to be tricky.
In addition, therapy with the drug would require otherwise healthy young people to take a pill each day, plus show up for HIV testing every three months.
'There are a number of rather significant implementation challenges,' said Dr. Stephen Morin, director of the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California at San Francisco. 'Part of it has to do with the requirement to take a pill a day, which could be addressed by a more long-term administration of the drug.'
Scientists are exploring a variety of tactics for using AIDS drug formulations to prevent HIV infection, including long-acting injections, gels and vaginal rings.
About 50,000 new HIV infections are reported each year in the United States. The number of patients taking Truvada to prevent HIV will likely be 'a lot less' than that, said Howard Jaffe, head of the Gilead Foundation and a member of the company's senior management since 1991.
Gilead declined to give its own sales estimate.
'We are not expecting a meaningful increase or uptick in Truvada use from it,' Jaffe said, referring to the FDA prevention approval. 'We do expect it to enter into the conversation with regard to certain high-risk populations.'
He said use of Truvada to prevent HIV infection will likely be most important outside of the United States, as developing countries where AIDS remains an epidemic look for additional ways to curb transmission of the virus.
Gilead has deals, mainly with generic drugmakers in India, to produce low-cost versions of its drugs for use in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing regions.
Dr. Paul Volberding, director of the Center for AIDS Research at the University of California at San Francisco, says Truvada could become a valuable tool for 'a small fraction of people' who understand they have a high risk of exposure -- mainly female sex workers whose clients won't use condoms and gay men who decide they are going to engage in riskier sex.
'There is an easy consensus now that somebody that is on treatment and fully suppressed has either zero, or close to it, risk of transmitting the virus,' Volberding said.
He and others emphasized that wider testing for HIV -- and treatment of already infected patients -- are the keys to reducing HIV incidence.
Of the 1.2 million Americans estimated to be infected with human immunodeficiency virus, almost 20 percent of them do not know it, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
A recent study by the CDC found that 41 percent of U.S. HIV patients are under continual care of a doctor and just 28 percent had the viral infection under control.
PREVENTION THROUGH PREP
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July approved Truvada for adults who do not have the virus but may engage in sexual activity with HIV-infected partners, a concept known as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). The approval was for use in combination with safer sex practices, such as condoms.
The drug, which combines two anti-HIV drugs in one pill, was already approved for use with other antiretroviral agents to treat patients 12 and older who are infected with the virus. Antiretrovirals are designed to block various steps in replication of the virus.
Critics, including the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a non-profit provider of HIV/AIDS medical care, argue that Truvada was shown to be only partially effective in preventing HIV transmission, can cause side effects including kidney problems and may cause healthy people to become resistant to it.
No U.S. public money has been allocated for treating uninsured individuals who do not already have AIDS, and some doctors question the degree to which insured patients would be covered.
'I would find it very difficult for there to be a provision to support funding for such a program when we have (HIV-positive) patients on waiting lists,' said Murray Penner, deputy executive director at the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors, which represents public-health departments.
State AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs), which provide HIV treatment to low-income and uninsured patients, had 9,000 people on waiting lists a year ago. That number fell to 700 in mid-August after emergency federal funding was released, although many recession-battered states have tightened income criteria, reducing the number of eligible patients.
ADAPs generally have a total of more than 200,000 people enrolled in them over the course of a year, Penner said.
A ROUNDING ERROR IN SALES TERMS
Gilead, like other drugmakers, sells its HIV pills to ADAP programs at a significant discount.
'When we talk to our physician consultants who target HIV patients, they say they are not going to use much of it (Truvada) for prevention,' said Phil Nadeau, an analyst at Wall Street firm Cowen & Co.
Any use of Truvada for preventing HIV infection 'seems to be a rounding error in our estimates for treating HIV,' he said, projecting Gilead's 2012 sales from the drug at $3.1 billion.
RBC Capital Markets described the prevention indication as a 'niche' opportunity for Gilead, while Morgan Stanley said it 'looks like a modest opportunity but many questions remain.'
The CDC has recommended since early 2011 that high-risk gay and bisexual men should use the drug to protect against HIV.
Large insurers such as UnitedHealth Group Inc, WellPoint Inc and Aetna Inc say they cover Truvada for prevention as well as treatment of HIV, but are still deciding whether to institute rules about authorization.
Doctors remain skeptical that insurers will pay for Truvada without complicated documentation showing why a patient is high-risk and whether PrEP is the best preventive measure.
'It's not quite clear to me whether or not I'm going to be prescribing it,' said Dr. Mehri McKellar, an infectious disease expert at Duke University in North Carolina. She described one HIV-positive patient whose male partner had not been infected.
'They had read about PrEP, but they use condoms 100 percent of the time,' she said. 'This is not supposed to at all replace condom use. It's not clear whether we should be talking about PrEP.'
(Additional reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Douglas Royalty)
This news article is brought to you by GADGETS NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
U.S. health regulators last month approved Gilead Sciences Inc's Truvada -- already used globally to treat the human immunodeficiency virus -- for preventing the infection in healthy people at high risk of contracting the virus that causes AIDS.
A number of factors will limit the drug's use for preventing HIV, including the fact that in the United States many people most at risk of infection, as well as their sexual partners, do not have consistent access to healthcare. Even for those with coverage, insurance reimbursement for a $14,000-a-year drug is expected to be tricky.
In addition, therapy with the drug would require otherwise healthy young people to take a pill each day, plus show up for HIV testing every three months.
'There are a number of rather significant implementation challenges,' said Dr. Stephen Morin, director of the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California at San Francisco. 'Part of it has to do with the requirement to take a pill a day, which could be addressed by a more long-term administration of the drug.'
Scientists are exploring a variety of tactics for using AIDS drug formulations to prevent HIV infection, including long-acting injections, gels and vaginal rings.
About 50,000 new HIV infections are reported each year in the United States. The number of patients taking Truvada to prevent HIV will likely be 'a lot less' than that, said Howard Jaffe, head of the Gilead Foundation and a member of the company's senior management since 1991.
Gilead declined to give its own sales estimate.
'We are not expecting a meaningful increase or uptick in Truvada use from it,' Jaffe said, referring to the FDA prevention approval. 'We do expect it to enter into the conversation with regard to certain high-risk populations.'
He said use of Truvada to prevent HIV infection will likely be most important outside of the United States, as developing countries where AIDS remains an epidemic look for additional ways to curb transmission of the virus.
Gilead has deals, mainly with generic drugmakers in India, to produce low-cost versions of its drugs for use in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing regions.
Dr. Paul Volberding, director of the Center for AIDS Research at the University of California at San Francisco, says Truvada could become a valuable tool for 'a small fraction of people' who understand they have a high risk of exposure -- mainly female sex workers whose clients won't use condoms and gay men who decide they are going to engage in riskier sex.
'There is an easy consensus now that somebody that is on treatment and fully suppressed has either zero, or close to it, risk of transmitting the virus,' Volberding said.
He and others emphasized that wider testing for HIV -- and treatment of already infected patients -- are the keys to reducing HIV incidence.
Of the 1.2 million Americans estimated to be infected with human immunodeficiency virus, almost 20 percent of them do not know it, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
A recent study by the CDC found that 41 percent of U.S. HIV patients are under continual care of a doctor and just 28 percent had the viral infection under control.
PREVENTION THROUGH PREP
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July approved Truvada for adults who do not have the virus but may engage in sexual activity with HIV-infected partners, a concept known as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). The approval was for use in combination with safer sex practices, such as condoms.
The drug, which combines two anti-HIV drugs in one pill, was already approved for use with other antiretroviral agents to treat patients 12 and older who are infected with the virus. Antiretrovirals are designed to block various steps in replication of the virus.
Critics, including the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a non-profit provider of HIV/AIDS medical care, argue that Truvada was shown to be only partially effective in preventing HIV transmission, can cause side effects including kidney problems and may cause healthy people to become resistant to it.
No U.S. public money has been allocated for treating uninsured individuals who do not already have AIDS, and some doctors question the degree to which insured patients would be covered.
'I would find it very difficult for there to be a provision to support funding for such a program when we have (HIV-positive) patients on waiting lists,' said Murray Penner, deputy executive director at the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors, which represents public-health departments.
State AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs), which provide HIV treatment to low-income and uninsured patients, had 9,000 people on waiting lists a year ago. That number fell to 700 in mid-August after emergency federal funding was released, although many recession-battered states have tightened income criteria, reducing the number of eligible patients.
ADAPs generally have a total of more than 200,000 people enrolled in them over the course of a year, Penner said.
A ROUNDING ERROR IN SALES TERMS
Gilead, like other drugmakers, sells its HIV pills to ADAP programs at a significant discount.
'When we talk to our physician consultants who target HIV patients, they say they are not going to use much of it (Truvada) for prevention,' said Phil Nadeau, an analyst at Wall Street firm Cowen & Co.
Any use of Truvada for preventing HIV infection 'seems to be a rounding error in our estimates for treating HIV,' he said, projecting Gilead's 2012 sales from the drug at $3.1 billion.
RBC Capital Markets described the prevention indication as a 'niche' opportunity for Gilead, while Morgan Stanley said it 'looks like a modest opportunity but many questions remain.'
The CDC has recommended since early 2011 that high-risk gay and bisexual men should use the drug to protect against HIV.
Large insurers such as UnitedHealth Group Inc, WellPoint Inc and Aetna Inc say they cover Truvada for prevention as well as treatment of HIV, but are still deciding whether to institute rules about authorization.
Doctors remain skeptical that insurers will pay for Truvada without complicated documentation showing why a patient is high-risk and whether PrEP is the best preventive measure.
'It's not quite clear to me whether or not I'm going to be prescribing it,' said Dr. Mehri McKellar, an infectious disease expert at Duke University in North Carolina. She described one HIV-positive patient whose male partner had not been infected.
'They had read about PrEP, but they use condoms 100 percent of the time,' she said. 'This is not supposed to at all replace condom use. It's not clear whether we should be talking about PrEP.'
(Additional reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Douglas Royalty)
This news article is brought to you by GADGETS NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Condom company fined for using French town's name
BORDEAUX (Reuters) - A maker of condoms purported to be from the town of Condom in southwestern France has been ordered to pay 10,000 euros ($12,600) for false advertising after the provenance of its prophylactics was found to be Malaysia.
'The Original Condom Company' advertised its condoms as coming from the picturesque forested town on the river Baise.
However a court in the city of Bordeaux has ordered the firm, run by two Frenchmen, to remove references to the town from its advertising, as only an unoccupied address could be found there.
Condom's mayor, Bernard Gallardo, said the town of about 7,000 residents has 'other advantages' to boast of, besides its name that for years has famously caused English-speaking tourists to stop and pose for photos next to its main sign.
'We're not going to hide our heads in the sand, we won't prevent people from making a link with the name. But retreating into such notoriety can only compromise the tourism qualities of the town,' Gallardo told Reuters, citing its gastronomy and old mansions.
Unfortunately for the town, Francophile tourists passing through might also snigger at the name of the local river, which is French for the activity for which condoms are intended.
($1 = 0.7915 euros)
(Reporting By Claude Canellas and Jean Decotte; Writing by Alexandria Sage)
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'The Original Condom Company' advertised its condoms as coming from the picturesque forested town on the river Baise.
However a court in the city of Bordeaux has ordered the firm, run by two Frenchmen, to remove references to the town from its advertising, as only an unoccupied address could be found there.
Condom's mayor, Bernard Gallardo, said the town of about 7,000 residents has 'other advantages' to boast of, besides its name that for years has famously caused English-speaking tourists to stop and pose for photos next to its main sign.
'We're not going to hide our heads in the sand, we won't prevent people from making a link with the name. But retreating into such notoriety can only compromise the tourism qualities of the town,' Gallardo told Reuters, citing its gastronomy and old mansions.
Unfortunately for the town, Francophile tourists passing through might also snigger at the name of the local river, which is French for the activity for which condoms are intended.
($1 = 0.7915 euros)
(Reporting By Claude Canellas and Jean Decotte; Writing by Alexandria Sage)
This news article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE 201 - where latest news are our top priority.
Insight: AIDS science leaping ahead, but will the money follow?
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Last year, the HIV/AIDS community got some startling news.
Lifesaving drugs known as antiretrovirals that have brought millions of AIDS sufferers back from the brink also dramatically cut the risk that they will transmit the virus to their loved ones - by as much as 96 percent.
The landmark study, known as the HIV Prevention Trials Network 052 trial, proved that AIDS treatment was also a powerful form of prevention. Science magazine dubbed it the 2011 Breakthrough of the Year.
The findings - along with studies on the preventive benefits of circumcision and treating high-risk individuals before they are exposed to HIV - have been heralded as weapons that could finally break the back of the AIDS epidemic.
'What was unthinkable just three years ago is now in sight: an AIDS-free generation and the end of this epidemic,' Ambassador Mark Dybul, former U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator for President George W. Bush, said at the 2012 International AIDS Conference in July.
But fully rolling out treatment as prevention would mean more than doubling current HIV treatment goals, from the current United Nations target of treating 15 million by 2015 to 34 million, a staggering increase.
With some recession-strapped donor countries already struggling to meet their current commitments for treatment and prevention programs, AIDS activists worry that money, and not science, could hold up progress in the war on AIDS.
EARLIER TREATMENT GAINS TRACTION
'The benefits of early detection and treatment have never been more clear, but countries have never been more challenged to provide needed resources,' Kaiser Family Foundation Chief Drew Altman said in a statement.
Total funding for HIV prevention, care and treatment has been flat for the past three years, as countries balance the needs of their own struggling economies with their commitment to fighting AIDS.
Funding for low- and middle-income countries totaled $16.8 billion last year, the latest United Nations figures show. Rich donor nations provided $8.2 billion of that sum, nearly half from the United States.
An analysis by Kaiser and the United Nations found that United States and Britain - the two biggest donor nations - increased funding in 2011 over 2010. Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway and Sweden flatlined funding, and Ireland, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands made cuts.
'The funding environment is very tough,' billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates said at the AIDS conference last month.
'Some days it feels like we're going to have to fight just to keep the funding at the level it's at today, and yet we need to put new patients on treatment.'
One bright spot is that poor and middle-income countries increasingly are stepping up, according to the United Nations.
In 2011, low- and middle-income countries spent $8.6 billion last year on HIV/AIDS - the first time such nations have outspent rich donors. Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, as well as China and India, increased domestic spending on AIDS.
Altogether, that $16.8 billion helped cover HIV treatments for 8 million people in middle- and lower-income countries, up from 6.6 million in 2010. But that is still $7.2 billion a year short of what the United Nations says it needs to reach its goal of treating and caring for 15 million infected individuals by 2015.
That goal reflects World Health Organization recommendations that those diagnosed with HIV should start treatment when their infection-fighting cells fall below a certain level, a sign that their immune system is weakening.
But the 052 prevention study, which involved 1,763 couples across Africa, Asia and the Americas, argues for earlier treatment, before their immune system begins to fail.
'The study demonstrates tremendous benefit in early and probably immediate treatment of people who are tested positive for HIV, before their health is compromised, to render them non-infectious as well,' said Dr. Myron Cohen, an HIV/AIDS researcher at the University of North Carolina and leader of the trial.
The findings, published in August 2011 in the New England Journal of Medicine, made clear the need for a major expansion of treatment.
Nearly a year later, the World Health Organization recommended 'strategic use' of antiretrovirals, saying they should be offered to HIV-infected individuals with uninfected partners, to pregnant women and to high-risk populations, regardless of their immune status.
Those changes would increase the number of people eligible for treatment from 15 million to 23 million, WHO said.
That is still short of recommendations for treating all HIV-infected individuals, a position backed earlier this year by both the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the nonprofit International Antiviral Society-USA. WHO said it is considering universal treatment based on the findings, something Cohen thinks is ultimately inevitable.
'You will have several years to ratchet up, but if there are 34 million people who are infected, there are 34 million people who need to be treated,' Cohen said.
'We might as well just accept that.'
'SELLING' PREVENTION
For donor nations and resource-poor governments to embrace that new reality, however, it may take a lot more proof.
One hesitation is that the drugs work so well that people who take them can live basically a normal life, which means countries are on the hook for a lifetime of treatment.
'It frightens people,' Cohen said. 'They squirm and say, 'Oh my god; 34 million people for 50 years on these drugs. It's impossible.''
In 2000, the annual cost of antiretroviral treatment was $10,000, leading donor nations to talk about 'treatment mortgages.' Now, greater access to generics has cut the cost of treatment to less than $100 a year for the least-expensive WHO-recommended regimen.
But HIV patients often develop resistance to first-line therapies, forcing patients to move to more costly treatments to keep the virus under control.
Dr. Brian Williams, a Geneva-based epidemiologist at the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis, said many modeling studies suggest that universal treatment would be cost effective. He estimates overall costs for antiretroviral treatment at $500 per patient per year, putting the annual cost of treating 30 million HIV-infected individuals at roughly $15 billion.
Those figures do not include other HIV prevention efforts, nor do they include the cost of testing and caring for HIV-infected individuals.
Even so, Williams says it is feasible.
The challenge is trying to sell the prevention aspect of treatment as cost-effective.
As Williams put it: 'The science is the easy bit. The politics is the hard bit.'
Dr. José Zuniga, president of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care, said scientific advances have raised hope for an end to AIDS, but researchers need to temper that with the reality that it will be tough to translate the science into the potential benefit 'without some heavy lifting.' That includes making strong, fact-based arguments that help people think beyond the near-term.
In addition to treatment as prevention, Zuniga sees promise in studies showing that giving antiretrovirals to healthy people at high risk of HIV-infection can slow transmission, although many questions remain about this approach, called Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis or PrEP.
HIV/AIDS experts will test these efforts - along with less costly approaches, such as counseling, condom use and circumcision - in as many as 50 studies globally to see how well they work in real-world settings.
Dr. Sten Vermund of the HIV Medicine Association and an HIV/AIDS researcher at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, calls this 'operational research.'
He is part of a U.S.-backed trial that will study a combination of testing, counseling and early antiretroviral therapy among different populations in Zambia and South Africa.
Another study by Johns Hopkins will look at prevention strategies in Tanzania, and a third from Harvard will study prevention strategies in Botswana.
'While we believe the more people we treat, the more benefit we'll see, we are trying to prove that to ourselves so we can weigh the benefit at the public health level,' Cohen said.
Cohen says he appreciates the strain that vastly expanding HIV treatment will place on health systems, but he thinks countries 'should not look at it as a commitment forever.'
Instead, he sees it as a bridge to the next big breakthrough, and he calls on funding agencies to redouble their research efforts in finding a vaccine or even a cure, which would hasten the end of the epidemic.
Cohen draws on the past for proof, noting that in 1985, 14 percent of all patients admitted to his hospital in North Carolina were infected with HIV.
'They all died.'
Ten years later, Cohen was caring for a young woman whom he thought would die. She started taking AZT, the very first HIV drug. When she returned to the hospital later for a minor hand infection, she had gained 20 pounds.
'It was the most amazing thing I'd seen in my career.'
Having witnessed that, Cohen said, 'I wouldn't be very surprised to see something else tremendously different in 2025.'
(Editing by Michele Gershberg and Mary Milliken)
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
Lifesaving drugs known as antiretrovirals that have brought millions of AIDS sufferers back from the brink also dramatically cut the risk that they will transmit the virus to their loved ones - by as much as 96 percent.
The landmark study, known as the HIV Prevention Trials Network 052 trial, proved that AIDS treatment was also a powerful form of prevention. Science magazine dubbed it the 2011 Breakthrough of the Year.
The findings - along with studies on the preventive benefits of circumcision and treating high-risk individuals before they are exposed to HIV - have been heralded as weapons that could finally break the back of the AIDS epidemic.
'What was unthinkable just three years ago is now in sight: an AIDS-free generation and the end of this epidemic,' Ambassador Mark Dybul, former U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator for President George W. Bush, said at the 2012 International AIDS Conference in July.
But fully rolling out treatment as prevention would mean more than doubling current HIV treatment goals, from the current United Nations target of treating 15 million by 2015 to 34 million, a staggering increase.
With some recession-strapped donor countries already struggling to meet their current commitments for treatment and prevention programs, AIDS activists worry that money, and not science, could hold up progress in the war on AIDS.
EARLIER TREATMENT GAINS TRACTION
'The benefits of early detection and treatment have never been more clear, but countries have never been more challenged to provide needed resources,' Kaiser Family Foundation Chief Drew Altman said in a statement.
Total funding for HIV prevention, care and treatment has been flat for the past three years, as countries balance the needs of their own struggling economies with their commitment to fighting AIDS.
Funding for low- and middle-income countries totaled $16.8 billion last year, the latest United Nations figures show. Rich donor nations provided $8.2 billion of that sum, nearly half from the United States.
An analysis by Kaiser and the United Nations found that United States and Britain - the two biggest donor nations - increased funding in 2011 over 2010. Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway and Sweden flatlined funding, and Ireland, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands made cuts.
'The funding environment is very tough,' billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates said at the AIDS conference last month.
'Some days it feels like we're going to have to fight just to keep the funding at the level it's at today, and yet we need to put new patients on treatment.'
One bright spot is that poor and middle-income countries increasingly are stepping up, according to the United Nations.
In 2011, low- and middle-income countries spent $8.6 billion last year on HIV/AIDS - the first time such nations have outspent rich donors. Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, as well as China and India, increased domestic spending on AIDS.
Altogether, that $16.8 billion helped cover HIV treatments for 8 million people in middle- and lower-income countries, up from 6.6 million in 2010. But that is still $7.2 billion a year short of what the United Nations says it needs to reach its goal of treating and caring for 15 million infected individuals by 2015.
That goal reflects World Health Organization recommendations that those diagnosed with HIV should start treatment when their infection-fighting cells fall below a certain level, a sign that their immune system is weakening.
But the 052 prevention study, which involved 1,763 couples across Africa, Asia and the Americas, argues for earlier treatment, before their immune system begins to fail.
'The study demonstrates tremendous benefit in early and probably immediate treatment of people who are tested positive for HIV, before their health is compromised, to render them non-infectious as well,' said Dr. Myron Cohen, an HIV/AIDS researcher at the University of North Carolina and leader of the trial.
The findings, published in August 2011 in the New England Journal of Medicine, made clear the need for a major expansion of treatment.
Nearly a year later, the World Health Organization recommended 'strategic use' of antiretrovirals, saying they should be offered to HIV-infected individuals with uninfected partners, to pregnant women and to high-risk populations, regardless of their immune status.
Those changes would increase the number of people eligible for treatment from 15 million to 23 million, WHO said.
That is still short of recommendations for treating all HIV-infected individuals, a position backed earlier this year by both the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the nonprofit International Antiviral Society-USA. WHO said it is considering universal treatment based on the findings, something Cohen thinks is ultimately inevitable.
'You will have several years to ratchet up, but if there are 34 million people who are infected, there are 34 million people who need to be treated,' Cohen said.
'We might as well just accept that.'
'SELLING' PREVENTION
For donor nations and resource-poor governments to embrace that new reality, however, it may take a lot more proof.
One hesitation is that the drugs work so well that people who take them can live basically a normal life, which means countries are on the hook for a lifetime of treatment.
'It frightens people,' Cohen said. 'They squirm and say, 'Oh my god; 34 million people for 50 years on these drugs. It's impossible.''
In 2000, the annual cost of antiretroviral treatment was $10,000, leading donor nations to talk about 'treatment mortgages.' Now, greater access to generics has cut the cost of treatment to less than $100 a year for the least-expensive WHO-recommended regimen.
But HIV patients often develop resistance to first-line therapies, forcing patients to move to more costly treatments to keep the virus under control.
Dr. Brian Williams, a Geneva-based epidemiologist at the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis, said many modeling studies suggest that universal treatment would be cost effective. He estimates overall costs for antiretroviral treatment at $500 per patient per year, putting the annual cost of treating 30 million HIV-infected individuals at roughly $15 billion.
Those figures do not include other HIV prevention efforts, nor do they include the cost of testing and caring for HIV-infected individuals.
Even so, Williams says it is feasible.
The challenge is trying to sell the prevention aspect of treatment as cost-effective.
As Williams put it: 'The science is the easy bit. The politics is the hard bit.'
Dr. José Zuniga, president of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care, said scientific advances have raised hope for an end to AIDS, but researchers need to temper that with the reality that it will be tough to translate the science into the potential benefit 'without some heavy lifting.' That includes making strong, fact-based arguments that help people think beyond the near-term.
In addition to treatment as prevention, Zuniga sees promise in studies showing that giving antiretrovirals to healthy people at high risk of HIV-infection can slow transmission, although many questions remain about this approach, called Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis or PrEP.
HIV/AIDS experts will test these efforts - along with less costly approaches, such as counseling, condom use and circumcision - in as many as 50 studies globally to see how well they work in real-world settings.
Dr. Sten Vermund of the HIV Medicine Association and an HIV/AIDS researcher at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, calls this 'operational research.'
He is part of a U.S.-backed trial that will study a combination of testing, counseling and early antiretroviral therapy among different populations in Zambia and South Africa.
Another study by Johns Hopkins will look at prevention strategies in Tanzania, and a third from Harvard will study prevention strategies in Botswana.
'While we believe the more people we treat, the more benefit we'll see, we are trying to prove that to ourselves so we can weigh the benefit at the public health level,' Cohen said.
Cohen says he appreciates the strain that vastly expanding HIV treatment will place on health systems, but he thinks countries 'should not look at it as a commitment forever.'
Instead, he sees it as a bridge to the next big breakthrough, and he calls on funding agencies to redouble their research efforts in finding a vaccine or even a cure, which would hasten the end of the epidemic.
Cohen draws on the past for proof, noting that in 1985, 14 percent of all patients admitted to his hospital in North Carolina were infected with HIV.
'They all died.'
Ten years later, Cohen was caring for a young woman whom he thought would die. She started taking AZT, the very first HIV drug. When she returned to the hospital later for a minor hand infection, she had gained 20 pounds.
'It was the most amazing thing I'd seen in my career.'
Having witnessed that, Cohen said, 'I wouldn't be very surprised to see something else tremendously different in 2025.'
(Editing by Michele Gershberg and Mary Milliken)
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Wednesday, September 5, 2012
FDA delays decision on Salix's diarrhea drug
(Reuters) - Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would take more time to review the drugmaker's new treatment for HIV-related diarrhea and it now expects a regulatory decision by the end of the first quarter of 2013.
The drug crofelemer aims to provide symptomatic relief of non-infectious diarrhea in patients with HIV/AIDS on anti-retroviral therapy.
The FDA had earlier set Wednesday as the day to complete the review on the Salix drug.
'By taking no action at this time, the FDA has allowed for the currently ongoing dialogue between Salix and the FDA to continue,' Salix's Chief Development Officer Bill Forbes said in a statement.
Salix and the FDA were primarily discussing the production and control of the crofelemer active pharmaceutical ingredient - 'a complex mixture that is the first botanical product to be reviewed by the agency for oral use.'
About 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV/AIDS and about 40 percent of those patients suffer from either episodic or chronic diarrhea, Salix said.
Salix shares closed at $43.95 on Tuesday on the Nasdaq.
(Reporting by Esha Dey in Bangalore; Editing by Rodney Joyce)
This news article is brought to you by TECHNOLOGY NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
The drug crofelemer aims to provide symptomatic relief of non-infectious diarrhea in patients with HIV/AIDS on anti-retroviral therapy.
The FDA had earlier set Wednesday as the day to complete the review on the Salix drug.
'By taking no action at this time, the FDA has allowed for the currently ongoing dialogue between Salix and the FDA to continue,' Salix's Chief Development Officer Bill Forbes said in a statement.
Salix and the FDA were primarily discussing the production and control of the crofelemer active pharmaceutical ingredient - 'a complex mixture that is the first botanical product to be reviewed by the agency for oral use.'
About 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV/AIDS and about 40 percent of those patients suffer from either episodic or chronic diarrhea, Salix said.
Salix shares closed at $43.95 on Tuesday on the Nasdaq.
(Reporting by Esha Dey in Bangalore; Editing by Rodney Joyce)
This news article is brought to you by TECHNOLOGY NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Planned Parenthood asks court to reconsider Texas health ruling
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Planned Parenthood asked a federal appeals court on Tuesday to reconsider a ruling that would allow Texas to exclude it from a health program for low-income women, as opponents of the rule packed a public hearing to express their outrage.
A three-judge panel of a federal appeals court ruled last month that Texas may exclude groups affiliated with abortion providers from the Medicaid Women's Health Program, which provides cancer screenings, birth control and other health services to more than 100,000 Texas women.
In a filing with the court, Planned Parenthood asked the full court to rehear the matter, saying the rule violates its First Amendment rights to speech and association by barring it from participating in the program because it uses non-government money to engage in constitutionally protected conduct.
Planned Parenthood says it doesn't provide abortions at clinics that participate in the program. The state objects to the family planning group's affiliation with clinics that do provide abortions.
The federal government, which pays 90 percent of the $39 million-a-year program, has said it will stop sending the money because of Texas' new rule. Republican Governor Rick Perry has said the program will continue, relying on state funds.
A hiring freeze on state administrative health positions and reducing overtime in the food stamp and Medicaid enrollment division will help pay the bill, state officials say.
Texas held a hearing on Tuesday to gather public input on the transition from a federal to state program.
Alexis Lohse, 31, a program participant from Fort Worth, told officials on Tuesday that her choice of health care provider is not the business of state lawmakers.
Lohse said she has two small children, two part-time jobs, five college classes and 'no patience for stupid political maneuvering that's only going to make my life more difficult.'
DISPUTE OVER LAW
State officials said the hearing's aim was not to weigh the merits of excluding Planned Parenthood.
'The law is clear: Abortion providers and affiliates cannot be in the program,' state health and human services spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman said. 'As a state agency, we cannot change state law.'
Planned Parenthood disagrees that the law bars its participation, and Texans in the standing-room-only hearing at the Department of State Health Services saw it as a chance to share their concern on banning the program's largest provider.
Without Planned Parenthood, women will be forced to travel farther and wait longer to get care, delays that 'will have devastating health consequences for low-income women,' said State Senator Kirk Watson, an Austin Democrat.
But Goodman said that for every 'abortion affiliate' in the program, there were 80 other providers.
'We're confident that women will still have access to Women's Health Program services even after we've excluded abortion affiliates from the program,' she said.
Opponents of the plan weren't the only people to speak at the hearing. Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood staff member who is now an anti-abortion advocate, said the organization should not be included because it provides only a limited array of health services.
'They are not an organization that can be trusted with our tax dollars,' she said.
Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood clinics in Texas are still seeing Women's Health Program patients, though a dozen such clinics have closed since Texas slashed the state's family planning budget by two-thirds last year.
At a clinic in Austin, a huge blue sign makes an unusual announcement for a decades-old facility: 'This clinic is open.'
(Reporting By Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Cynthia Osterman)
This news article is brought to you by SAVING MONEY BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
A three-judge panel of a federal appeals court ruled last month that Texas may exclude groups affiliated with abortion providers from the Medicaid Women's Health Program, which provides cancer screenings, birth control and other health services to more than 100,000 Texas women.
In a filing with the court, Planned Parenthood asked the full court to rehear the matter, saying the rule violates its First Amendment rights to speech and association by barring it from participating in the program because it uses non-government money to engage in constitutionally protected conduct.
Planned Parenthood says it doesn't provide abortions at clinics that participate in the program. The state objects to the family planning group's affiliation with clinics that do provide abortions.
The federal government, which pays 90 percent of the $39 million-a-year program, has said it will stop sending the money because of Texas' new rule. Republican Governor Rick Perry has said the program will continue, relying on state funds.
A hiring freeze on state administrative health positions and reducing overtime in the food stamp and Medicaid enrollment division will help pay the bill, state officials say.
Texas held a hearing on Tuesday to gather public input on the transition from a federal to state program.
Alexis Lohse, 31, a program participant from Fort Worth, told officials on Tuesday that her choice of health care provider is not the business of state lawmakers.
Lohse said she has two small children, two part-time jobs, five college classes and 'no patience for stupid political maneuvering that's only going to make my life more difficult.'
DISPUTE OVER LAW
State officials said the hearing's aim was not to weigh the merits of excluding Planned Parenthood.
'The law is clear: Abortion providers and affiliates cannot be in the program,' state health and human services spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman said. 'As a state agency, we cannot change state law.'
Planned Parenthood disagrees that the law bars its participation, and Texans in the standing-room-only hearing at the Department of State Health Services saw it as a chance to share their concern on banning the program's largest provider.
Without Planned Parenthood, women will be forced to travel farther and wait longer to get care, delays that 'will have devastating health consequences for low-income women,' said State Senator Kirk Watson, an Austin Democrat.
But Goodman said that for every 'abortion affiliate' in the program, there were 80 other providers.
'We're confident that women will still have access to Women's Health Program services even after we've excluded abortion affiliates from the program,' she said.
Opponents of the plan weren't the only people to speak at the hearing. Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood staff member who is now an anti-abortion advocate, said the organization should not be included because it provides only a limited array of health services.
'They are not an organization that can be trusted with our tax dollars,' she said.
Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood clinics in Texas are still seeing Women's Health Program patients, though a dozen such clinics have closed since Texas slashed the state's family planning budget by two-thirds last year.
At a clinic in Austin, a huge blue sign makes an unusual announcement for a decades-old facility: 'This clinic is open.'
(Reporting By Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Cynthia Osterman)
This news article is brought to you by SAVING MONEY BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
EU advises all girls need cervical cancer vaccines
LONDON (Reuters) - All girls in Europe should be immunized against the human papillomavirus (HPV) that causes cervical cancer and current vaccine coverage rates are far too low, European Union health officials said on Wednesday.
In new advice about tackling the virus, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said that while 19 out of 29 countries in the region had introduced HPV vaccine programs, vaccination rates were as low as 17 percent in some.
Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide, with about 500,000 new cases and 250,000 deaths each year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Virtually all cases are linked to genital infection with HPV, the most common viral infection of the reproductive tract.
British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline and U.S. rival Merck & Co make the only two HPV vaccines licensed for use in Europe.
Merck's Gardasil targets four strains of HPV - two responsible for cervical cancer and two that cause the less serious condition of genital warts - while GSK's Cervarix shot targets only the two cancer strains.
The ECDC said that in 2010, only Portugal and Britain had vaccination coverage rates above 80 percent for the target groups of girls aged between about 10 and 14 years.
It urged health authorities to step up their efforts to get more girls vaccinated, saying recent research studies had shown the shots to be safe and effective, as well as cost-effective.
'We public health authorities, frontline healthcare workers and parents alike have a shared responsibility to protect thousands of women from cervical cancer,' said Marc Sprenger, the ECDC's director.
'European countries may need to examine why HPV vaccination coverage rates ... are not higher and strengthen their vaccination campaigns accordingly.'
A study published last year found that using Cervarix to protect girls against HPV virus is so effective that health authorities who get good coverage rates could start to reduce the need for later cervical screening.
While recent studies have also shown that HPV shots can also help protect boys from various types of cancer - including oral, anal and penile cancers - the ECDC said its recommendations did not as yet seek to include young men in vaccination programs.
'The personal benefit of the vaccine for men in terms of cancer prevention is very low,' it said in a statement. 'Including boys in the current HPV vaccination programs is unlikely to be cost-effective.'
U.S. health authorities advised late last year that all boys should also be routinely vaccinated against HPV. [ID:nN1E79O102]
(Editing by Ben Hirschler and Mark Potter)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIP ADVICE.
In new advice about tackling the virus, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said that while 19 out of 29 countries in the region had introduced HPV vaccine programs, vaccination rates were as low as 17 percent in some.
Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide, with about 500,000 new cases and 250,000 deaths each year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Virtually all cases are linked to genital infection with HPV, the most common viral infection of the reproductive tract.
British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline and U.S. rival Merck & Co make the only two HPV vaccines licensed for use in Europe.
Merck's Gardasil targets four strains of HPV - two responsible for cervical cancer and two that cause the less serious condition of genital warts - while GSK's Cervarix shot targets only the two cancer strains.
The ECDC said that in 2010, only Portugal and Britain had vaccination coverage rates above 80 percent for the target groups of girls aged between about 10 and 14 years.
It urged health authorities to step up their efforts to get more girls vaccinated, saying recent research studies had shown the shots to be safe and effective, as well as cost-effective.
'We public health authorities, frontline healthcare workers and parents alike have a shared responsibility to protect thousands of women from cervical cancer,' said Marc Sprenger, the ECDC's director.
'European countries may need to examine why HPV vaccination coverage rates ... are not higher and strengthen their vaccination campaigns accordingly.'
A study published last year found that using Cervarix to protect girls against HPV virus is so effective that health authorities who get good coverage rates could start to reduce the need for later cervical screening.
While recent studies have also shown that HPV shots can also help protect boys from various types of cancer - including oral, anal and penile cancers - the ECDC said its recommendations did not as yet seek to include young men in vaccination programs.
'The personal benefit of the vaccine for men in terms of cancer prevention is very low,' it said in a statement. 'Including boys in the current HPV vaccination programs is unlikely to be cost-effective.'
U.S. health authorities advised late last year that all boys should also be routinely vaccinated against HPV. [ID:nN1E79O102]
(Editing by Ben Hirschler and Mark Potter)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIP ADVICE.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Rabbis Will Defy Law on Circumcision Ritual
This news article is brought to you by CELEBRITY MUSIC NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
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