Posts Tagged ‘Virus’
-
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010 at 03:12 | Comments Off
Google Flu Trends Good At Suggesting, Not Pinpointing, Flu CasesCategories: Wall Street Journal -
Thursday, April 8th, 2010 at 03:52 | Comments Off
So How Worried Are Public-Health Officials About XMRV?Categories: Wall Street Journal
A WSJ article Monday reported that a federally funded working group is trying to determine whether a virus known as XMRV poses a risk to the nation’s blood supply. So how worried are public-health experts about XMRV?
In August, the last time emerging threats were assessed and ranked by the AABB, XMRV hadn’t yet appeared on the group’s radar. (The AABB is an association that includes facilities that collect virtually all of the U.S. blood supply.) But Susan L. Stramer, executive ..read more
-
Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 10:09 | Comments Off
Putting 22 Million Cases of Swine Flu in ContextCategories: Wall Street Journal
The CDC put out new estimates today on the first six months of the swine flu (H1N1) pandemic in the U.S. A few quick numbers: 22 million cases, 98,000 hospitalizations, 3,900 deaths.
So what do those numbers mean?
First of all, because so many cases of swine flu go unreported — patients often don’t go to the doctor, and when they do, doctors often don’t test for H1N1 — there’s a lot of uncertainty around the figures. The CDC actually presents a ..read more
-
Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 08:40 | Comments Off
A Doc Warns of ‘Magical Thinking’ on Health ITCategories: Wall Street Journal
“There’s this incredible magical thinking about health-care IT,” Jack Cochran said. “Once you put it in, health care will be saved.”
Cochran is an M.D. who runs the national umbrella organization for groups of Kaiser docs, and he was a practicing plastic surgeon for years, so he’s seen his fair share of health-care IT implementations. The subject came up this week when he dropped by the Health Blog’s office.
“It is a disruptive technology,” he said. “When you put it in, it ..read more
-
Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 10:23 | Comments Off
Note to Cats: To Avoid Swine Flu, Stay Away from PeopleCategories: Wall Street Journal
A cat in Iowa got swine flu. It got better. The cat apparently caught the disease from a person who it lived with, the American Veterinary Medical Association said today.
The cat joins pigs, turkeys and a few ferrets that have been diagnosed with H1N1. In general, the disease appears to spread from people to animals, rather than the other way around.
Different strains of flu infect all sorts of animals — seals, whales, horses, tigers, dogs, chickens.
When ducks get ..read more
-
Saturday, October 17th, 2009 at 06:45 | Comments Off
FDA Approves Gardasil Vaccine for Boys, Cervarix for GirlsCategories: Wall Street Journal
The FDA approved Merck’s Gardasil vaccine for use in boys and men ages 9-26, the company said today. The vaccine protects against some strains of HPV, the virus that causes cervical cancer in women; today’s approval was for using the vaccine to prevent genital warts, which are also caused by HPV.
The vaccine is given in three doses, at $130 per dose — a price that may seem a bit high for reducing the risk of getting warts. But there are ..read more
-
Friday, October 9th, 2009 at 09:02 | Comments Off
The Virus That Links Prostate Cancer & Chronic Fatigue SyndromeCategories: Wall Street Journal
For a few years now, researchers have been looking at what role a virus called XMRV plays in prostate cancer. A study published today in Science suggests the virus may also be linked to chronic fatigue syndrome. But the picture is still cloudy, and it’s not clear whether the virus actually causes prostate cancer or CFS. Here’s the story from the WSJ.
A series of studies in recent years have suggested XMRV may be linked to at least some cases of ..read more
-
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 04:32 | Comments Off
Live Blog: Swine Flu Update from CDC ChiefCategories: Wall Street Journal
Americans started getting vaccinated against the swine flu yesterday. But millions of people may still have to wait weeks before there’s enough vaccine available for everyone in this country who wants it, the WSJ reports. At the same time, millions more who are at high risk for complications from the disease may choose to go without the vaccine.
Thomas Frieden, the head of the CDC, talking to the press today about the H1N1 flu and the vaccine roll-out. Here’s what he’s ..read more
-
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 04:00 | Comments Off
Court: Former Pharma Exec Must Forfeit Millions in Salary, BonusCategories: Wall Street Journal
Warning: If you get fired after a company investigation finds you harassed employees and used company money to fix your house, you could wind up having to repay millions of dollars you collected in salary and bonuses.
That’s what just happened to Lars Bildman, who was the CEO of Astra USA (which became part of AstraZeneca) in the 1990s, and who just lost a long-running legal case. The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that the “faithless servant” doctrine allows AstraZeneca to recover ..read more
-
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 05:16 | Comments Off
Cervical Cancer Vaccine: A Death in U.K., Delay at FDACategories: Wall Street Journal
A British schoolgirl died yesterday, a few hours after getting a shot of a vaccine designed to prevent cervical cancer. It’s still unclear whether the vaccine, GlaxoSmithKline’s Cervarix, contributed to the girl’s death.
More than 1.4 million people have been given the vaccine in the U.K. since an immunization program launched last year, and there have been no reports of deaths linked to the vaccine, the Times of London reports.
Cervarix isn’t approved for use in the U.S. Glaxo first applied ..read more

