dmcanzi@watserv1.waterloo.edu (David Canzi) (03/08/91)
Medical News for Week Feb. 18, 1991 to Feb. 28, 1991 Copyright 1990: USA TODAY/Gannett National Information Network Reproduced with Permission --- Feb. 19, 1991 --- RISK OF HIV-1 EVALUATED: The results of a 6-year study indicated that the risk of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 transmission among health care workers appears to depend on the kind of exposure. The risk of HIV-1 transmission with skin exposure to blood from an infected patient is approximately 0.3 percent per exposure. The risk associated with mucous membrane cutaneous exposures is smaller. PUBLIC HOSPITALS OVERWHELMED: The nation's urban public hospitals are crumbling under the strain of treating AIDS, drug addictions, gunshot wounds and uninsured patients, according to a survey by the National Association of Public Hospitals. Public hospitals lost an average of $40 million to care that was not reimbursed by private insurance, Medicaid or Medicare. --- Feb. 20, 1991 --- HEARING FOCUSES ON INFECTIONS: The debate over what more should be done to protect patients from disease will reach its peak Thursday and Friday in Atlanta at a hearing called by the federal Centers for Disease Control. A decision - about how to improve infection control and whether to require regular HIV antibody testing for all health-care workers who risk blood-to-blood contact with patients will come in weeks. HBV POSES INFECTIOUS THREAT: The debate over how to prevent HIV infection in the operating room and dental office has focused new attention on another, more widespread infectious threat, the hepatitis B virus. HBV infection spreads in all of the same ways HIV does - sex, needle-sharing and other blood-to-blood contact. It leads to chronic liver disease and causes several hundred deaths in the USA each year. CDC RELEASES RISK FACTOR: According to CDC, the risks of: hepatitis B infection from an infected surgeon - 2,400 in 1 million; death from anesthesia - 100 in 1 million; HIV infection from a transfusion - 7 to 25 in 1 million; death from penicillin - 10 to 20 in 1 million; and HIV infection from an infected surgeon - 2.4 to 24 in 1 million. --- Feb. 21, 1991 --- DRUG ENHANCES IMMUNE RESPONSE: A new drug that enhances immune responses in one rare disease shows promise for more widespread use, researchers say. Injections of gamma interferon, a protein produced naturally in the body, reduce infections in children with a type of inherited immune deficiency, says a report in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. (For more, see special Disease package below.) SPECIAL PACKAGE ON DISEASE: DRUG HELPS INFECTIONS: Gamma interferon so far has not helped AIDS patients, but may yet prove useful in preventing or treating some of their infections, says Dr. R. Alan B. Ezekowitz of Harvard Medical School. "We know it clearly works in one disease but we are optimistic it will be useful in other diseases," says Dr. John I. Gallin, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. GENENTECH SEEKS FDA APPROVAL: New research has prompted the FDA to approve sales of the drug made by Genentech Inc., San Francisco. The study included 128 children with chronic granulomatous disease, a disorder in which immune system scavenger cells do not produce chemicals needed to kill most fungi and bacteria. Patients have frequent, sometimes life-threatening infections, and suffer from tumor-like growths. DRUG AFFECTS CHILDREN MORE: Gamma interferon is thought to improve production of the crucial microbe- killing chemicals and boost immunity in other ways. Those who took the drug had 70 percent fewer infections and spent less time hospitalized than those who took placebos. Results were most dramatic for children under age 10: 81 percent who took the drug had no severe infections for a year. (End of package.) --- Feb. 22-24, 1991 --- AIDS INFECTIONS OVERESTIMATED: Contracting the AIDS virus from an infected dentist is much less likely than federal health officials have estimated, the American Dental Association says. At worst, dentists may have infected seven patients in the past decade, says an ADA estimate presented Thursday at a meeting called by the federal Centers for Disease Control. (For more, see special AIDS package below.) SPECIAL PACKAGE ON AIDS: ADA REBUTS ESTIMATES: The ADA rebuttal of AIDS infection estimates was among dozens of darts thrown at a CDC draft report that estimated health professionals have infected up to 100 dental patients and 28 surgical patients. The dental estimate was too high, says the ADA's Enid Neidle, because officials wrongly assumed all dental work poses some risk of blood-to-blood contact. CDC ENCOURAGED NOT TO OVERREACT: Before CDC's meeting ends Friday, CDC officials will have heard from more than 100 health policy experts, dentists, physicians and activists - virtually all of whom are urging the agency not to overreact to a small risk by forcing all dentists and surgeons to take HIV tests and give up their work if they test positive. CDC GUESSES: CDC officials concede their estimates are based largely on educated guesswork. Current guidelines focus on measures such as use of gloves and masks and proper disposal of needles. Proposed changes could come next month. (End of package.) --- Feb. 26, 1991 --- INTERFERON GETS FDA APPROVAL: The Food and Drug Administration Monday approved the first treatment proven to be effective for a common form of viral hepatitis. The genetically engineered drug, interferon alpha, will be used for non-A and non-B hepatitis, which affects 150,000 people a year. Interferon-A already is approved for treating hairy cell leukemia, AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma and genital warts. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Volume 4, Number 4 March 3, 1991 +------------------------------------------------+ ! ! ! Health Info-Com Network ! ! Newsletter ! +------------------------------------------------+ Editor: David Dodell, D.M.D. St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center 10250 North 92nd Street, Suite 210, Scottsdale, Arizona 85258-4599 USA Telephone +1 (602) 860-1121 FAX +1 (602) 451-1165 Copyright 1991 - Distribution on Commercial/Pay Systems Prohibited without Prior Authorization The Health Info-Com Network Newsletter is distributed weekly. Articles on a medical nature are welcomed. If you have an article, please contact the editor for information on how to submit it. If you are interested in joining the automated distribution system, please contact the editor. E-Mail Address: Editor: FidoNet = 1:114/15 Bitnet = ATW1H @ ASUACAD Internet = ddodell@stjhmc.fidonet.org LISTSERV = MEDNEWS @ ASUACAD.BITNET (or internet: asuvm.inre.asu.edu) anonymous ftp = vm1.nodak.edu (Notification List/ftp = hicn-notify-request@stjhmc.fidonet.org) Associate Editors: o Dr. Bruce MacDougall, University of Massachusetts at Amherst (Bitnet: BRUCEMA@UMASS) o Dr. J. Martin Wehlou (Bitnet: WEHLOU@BGERUG51) -- David Canzi