Health Headlines - November 16

Drug companies to fight neglected diseasesOfficials at U.S. drug companies and non-profit organizations say they plan to develop new drugs for "neglected" diseases.The search for drugs to fight hard-to-treat diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and dengue fever had been largely abandoned a decade ago but concern about rapidly rising rates for the diseases has caused an about-face.An article published in Chemical & Engineering News describes how public-private partnerships among drug companies, non-profits and philanthropists are attempting to address the problems involved not only in producing drugs to treat the diseases but their distribution.Challenges include who will pay for the drugs and how the drugs will be transported. The article reports the drug companies can expect to profit little from these ventures.However, a growing number of companies now see it as good business and are excited about a steady stream of new drug candidates, the article notes.---Listeria causes illness at much lower dosePregnant women may get ill from Listeria at lower doses than previously thought, U.S. researchers found.The risk of fetal or infant mortality among pregnant women who consume food containing 1 million cells of the food-borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes in soft cheeses and other food is estimated at about 50 percent, suggesting five stillbirths potentially could occur when 10 pregnant women are exposed to that amount.A previous risk assessment estimated more than 10 trillion cells would result in stillbirths to 50 percent of pregnant women exposed, researchers said."We're not saying there's a new epidemic here, we're suggesting we've come up with a more accurate method of measuring the risk and how this deadly bacteria impacts humans, especially the most medically vulnerable among us," study co-author Mary Alice Smith of the University of Georgia said in a statement.When estimates are extrapolated from data in tests on laboratory animals, the results showed "Listeriosis is likely occurring from exposure to lower doses than previously estimated," Smith said.---CDC: 35 child H1N1 deaths in one weekFederal health officials said that 35 flu-related pediatric deaths were confirmed during the week ending Nov. 7, 2009.Officials of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said Friday that overall flu activity in the United Sates remained very high last week.Visits to doctors for symptoms of influenza-like illness nationally had decreased the week ending Nov. 1 over the week before. This is the second week of national decreases in influenza-like illness after four consecutive weeks of sharp increases.All regions but one showed declines in influenza-like illness. However, Region I -- Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont -- continued to show sharp increases in influenza-like illness activity, the CDC report said.Hospitalization rates continue to be highest in younger populations with the highest hospitalization rate reported in children ages infant to age 4.Since April, CDC has received reports of 156 laboratory-confirmed pediatric H1N1 deaths, one influenza B death, and another 23 pediatric deaths that were laboratory confirmed as influenza, but the flu virus subtype was not determined.Thursday, CDC officials said they estimated 540 children died from the pandemic in the first six months. While the smaller number of pediatric deaths are laboratory confirmed, the CDC is also using modeling to estimate the number of H1N1 deaths that occur outside the hospital where testing is not possible. ---Statins may reduce severe H1N1 death riskU.S. researchers are studying statins, drugs that lower cholesterol, as a way to reduce H1N1 virus-related deaths.Dr. Gordon Bernard, a critical care pulmonologist, said the statins may reduce flu-related deaths in the intensive care unit by as much as half."We know from studying infections that it's not always the bacteria that will kill you, but your own reaction to the bacteria can deal a lethal blow. We're learning that statins have an impact on the immune system and can dampen down that deleterious component of the immune response," Bernard said in a statement."Statins are extraordinarily efficient at lowering cholesterol by 30 percent to 50 percent. Like so many drugs, including aspirin, it has many additional potential benefits, which were initially unrecognized."Bernard said he hopes to enroll patients in Vanderbilt's intensive care units, who present with suspected H1N1 infection and randomize them into two groups. One group will receive the statin rosuvastatin, Crestor, every day for the duration of their hospital stay, and the other group will receive a placebo."Once a person with suspected H1N1 reaches the intensive care unit, their mortality can be 20 percent or higher, statins offer the potential to reduce it to 10 percent," Bernard said.---Statins may decrease gallstones riskSwiss researchers have linked long-term statin use -- a class of drugs that lower cholesterol -- with decreased risk of gallstones that require surgery.Dr. Michael Bodmer of University Hospital in Basel, Switzerland, and colleagues conducted a long-term observational study involving a total of 27,035 gallstone surgery patients and 106,531 matched controls and identified 2,396 patients and 8,868 controls using statins.The researchers found that compared with non-use, recent statin use did not reduce risk a great deal, but the odds ratio started to decrease after five prescriptions -- about 18 months of treatment."The risk estimate was consistent across age and sex groups. Adjustment for important risk factors for gallstone disease did not materially alter the results," the researchers said in a statement."The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggested taking statins decreased cholesterol biosynthesis in the liver and may therefore have lowered the risk of cholesterol gallstones.Health Headlines - November 16

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