Infection risk in kids living near landfills
Living near a hazardous waste site containing persistent pollutants such as dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and chlorinated pesticides, seems to increase the risk of hospitalization for respiratory infections and asthma in children, a study suggests.
Dr. David O. Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment, at the State University of New York at Albany, said these results are consistent with the hypothesis that simply living near a waste site constitutes a risk of exposure to contaminants, presumably by air transport, and that these chemicals can reduce immune system function and lead to more infections.
New York State has nearly 900 identified hazardous waste sites or highly contaminated bodies of water. Carpenter and colleagues examined rates of hospitalization in New York for acute respiratory infections and asthma by area of residence for children ages 0 to 9 years.
Diabetes risk down three times with newer hypertension drugs
According to researchers patients given a mix of modern blood pressure drugs are one-third less likely to develop diabetes than those on older pills.
The results from Europe’s biggest ever trial of hypertensive patients showed only 8 percent given the newer drugs developed diabetes after five years, compared to 11.4 percent of those on the older drugs.
The trial involved 19,257 participants, 14,120 did not have diabetes at the outset and because the results were so promising it was stopped in November 2004.
Indonesia reports 47th death from bird flu
A 14-year-old Indonesian girl who died in June was infected with bird flu, health officials said on Thursday.
The case took a long time to identify because it was from blood samples taken during routine surveillance of people with mild influenza symptoms.
Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said tests on the girl’s blood sample were completed late on Wednesday.
Test predicts chemotherapy benefit for lung cancer
The presence or absence of a protein in lung cancer cells can help doctors predict whether chemotherapy will help patients live longer after surgery, European researchers reported on Wednesday.
The study published in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine could help doctors determine which patients can benefit from a type of chemotherapy before treatment starts.
“The results suggest that we may have a tool that can distinguish between patients who can benefit from platinum-based chemotherapy and those who cannot,” said Eddie Reed of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, in an editorial that accompanies the study.
