Hand sanitizer found to pose abuse risk

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 14:45:33 GMT

BALTIMORE - Prison officials and poison control centers can add a new substance to their list of intoxicants — hand sanitizer. A usually calm 49-year-old prisoner prompted a call to the Maryland Poison Control Center after guards found him red-eyed, combative and "lecturing everyone about life." Other inmates and staff reported the unidentified prisoner had been drinking from a gallon container of hand sanitizer, which is more than 70 percent alcohol, or over 140 proof, the center's director wrote in an article appearing in the February issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
That call was one of about a half dozen the Maryland Poison Control Center has received involving hand sanitizers, said Dr. Suzanne Doyon, the poison center's director and co-author of the article. Doyon wrote the article along with Dr. Christopher Welsh, assistant professor in the University of Maryland School of Medicine, to raise awareness of the potential for abuse of hand sanitizers.

While the hand sanitizer contains other chemicals in smaller amounts, it is primarily the same type of alcohol found in liquor, and acts on the body in the same way, said Doyon.

"I don't think a lot of people realize these are ethanol containing, or alcohol containing. They are really no different than a really concentrated liquor," Doyon said.

However, other types of hand sanitizers contain isopropyl alcohol, which is metabolized differently by the body, and has different health effects, she said.

Alcohol-based sanitizers are credited with being more effective against germs and less irritating, but health-care providers and hospitals and correctional facility administrators should be aware of the potential misuse, the authors said in the article.

Oils may cause breast growth in boys

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 04:06:27 GMT
By JEFF DONN, Associated Press Writer
BOSTON - Lavender and tea tree oils found in some shampoos, soaps and lotions can temporarily leave boys with enlarged breasts in rare cases, apparently by disrupting their hormonal balance, a preliminary study suggests.
While advising parents to consider the possible risk, several hormone experts emphasized that the problem appears to happen infrequently and clears up when the oils are no longer used. None of those interviewed called for a ban on sales.

The study reported on the condition, gynecomastia, in three boys ages 4, 7 and 10. They all went back to normal when they stopped using skin lotions, hair gel, shampoo or soap with the natural oils.

It's unclear how often this problem might crop up in other young children.

These plant oils, sometimes called "essential oils," are added to many health-care products, usually for their scent. The oils are sometimes found in other household products or sold in purer forms. Tea tree oil is sometimes used in shampoos for head lice.

The suspected effect in this study is blamed on some chemical within the oils that the body processes like estrogen, the female hormone that promotes breast growth.

The findings were being reported Thursday in the http://content.nejm.org/

Study Polluted air raises heart risks

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 03:25:11 GMT
By JEFF DONN, Associated Press Writer
BOSTON - The fine grit in polluted air boosts the risk of heart disease in older women much more powerfully than scientists realized, a big federally funded study has found, raising questions of whether U.S. environmental standards are strict enough.
The http://media.nejm.org
EPA air quality statistics: http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/factbook.html

Studies of AIDS prevention gels halted

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:19:30 GMT
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer
Researchers have halted two studies of an anti- AIDS vaginal gel in Africa and India after early results suggested it might raise the risk of HIV infection instead of lowering it.
It was "a disappointing and unexpected setback" to efforts to get a simple tool to protect women from the risk of AIDS through sex, the World Health Organization said.

More than half of all new infections with the AIDS virus in Africa involve women and girls. Scientists and groups like the Gates Foundation have long sought a method of protection women could use, even without their partners' knowledge, since many men refuse to use condoms.

The studies were testing Ushercell, a gel containing cellulose sulfate, a cotton-based compound developed by Polydex Pharmaceuticals, based in Toronto.

One study involving 1,500 women in South Africa, Benin, Uganda, and India was stopped this week after an independent safety monitoring board saw more HIV infections among women using the gel than those given a dummy medication. The study was led by CONRAD, a Virginia-based health research group, and paid for by the United States Agency for International Development, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

"I cannot think of any biological basis for these findings, and I hope that further analysis of all of the data may shed further light on this important question," said a statement by USAID's research chief, Jeff Spieler.

The second study of Ushercell, by Family Health International, involving 1,700 women in Nigeria, was stopped as a precaution.

"We did not find any evidence of greater risk of HIV infection," said a statement from Dr. Vera Halpern, who led the Nigeria study. "But we also found no evidence that the product was effective."

Ushercell appeared safe and promising in 11 previous studies, mostly done in the United States.

Another study of a different microbicide, Carraguard, developed by the New York-based Population Council, is due to wrap up in March and to report results later this year. That product is seaweed-based, and no safety problems have been seen in three preliminary evaluations on 6,000 women in South Africa, said council spokeswoman Melissa May. The study is designed to test effectiveness.

The Gates Foundation is financing that experiment as well as research on a microbicide containing tenofovir, a drug already used to treat AIDS that is showing potential as an HIV preventive.

"We remain hopeful that a safe and effective microbicide will be developed," said a statement by Nicholas Hellmann, acting director of the Gates foundation's HIV program.

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