Deadly bird flu strain found near MoscowSun, 18 Feb 2007 12:15:47 GMTBy MIKE ECKEL, Associated Press Writer MOSCOW - A Russian official reported a fourth outbreak of dead domestic poultry in a suburban Moscow district Sunday as experts tightened quarantines following confirmation of the presence of the H5N1 bird flu strain. The presence of H5N1, confirmed by tests late Saturday, was the first such outbreak to be recorded so close to the Russian capital. Dead domestic fowl were reported Sunday in the Taldom district, north of the capital, Andrei Barkovsky, a spokesman for the Moscow regional governor, told Ekho Moskvy radio, though it was unclear exactly when the birds died occurred. Earlier, officials with the federal agricultural oversight agency Rosselkhoznadzor said that three districts west and south of Moscow had recorded bird deaths. Agency spokesman Alexei Alexeyenko said late Saturday that tests had confirmed H5N1 in poultry found dead in two districts, Odintsovo and Domodedovo, where two dozen birds died this week. Results of tests taken in the Podolsk district, where nearly four dozen birds died, were pending. Officials said several people who were in close contact with the dead poultry were taken in for medical observation, but no health problems had been reported. Russian television broadcast footage showing veterinary workers clad in protective suits checking homes in one district and spraying vehicle tires with disinfectant, while police began enforcing a quarantine in an effort to prevent the virus' spread. Regulators also shut down an outdoor poultry market in Moscow where some of the dead birds appeared to have been bought and Nikolai Vlasov, a senior Rosselkhoznadzor veterinary official, warned that more outbreaks were possible. No human cases of bird flu have been reported in Russia, which had its first reported cases of the H5N1 strain in Siberia in 2005. Outbreaks have since occurred farther west, but mostly in southern areas distant from the capital. Since it began ravaging Asian poultry farms in late 2003, the H5N1 strain has killed at least 167 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Though it remains difficult for humans to catch, health authorities across the globe are monitoring the H5N1 strain out of concern it could mutate into a form that easily spreads from person to person and spark a pandemic. Aging nation faces growing hearing lossSun, 18 Feb 2007 07:27:50 GMTBy RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer SAN FRANCISCO - An aging U.S. population faces a looming crisis in hearing loss, researchers said Saturday. Some research holds promise, but much is in the early stages. By 2050, there could be as many as 50 million people in the United States with impaired hearing, Steven Greenberg of Silicon Speech in Santa Venetia, Calif., told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Hearing loss results in social and psychological isolation, "which makes their life hell," Greenberg said. Thanks to loud music and a generally noisy environment, young people have a rate of impaired hearing 2 1/2 times that of their parents and grandparents, he said. Stefan Heller of Stanford University said research in restoring damaged hearing cells "is very much at the beginning and it's still a long, long road." Inner and outer hair cells in the ear pick up sound vibrations and send them to the brain. Damage to outer cells causes hearing impairment which can be helped by hearing aides, he said. Damage to the inner cells cannot be repaired and causes deafness. Heller said ear stem cells have been isolated in laboratory work and grown into cells that resembled hair cells. "They're not perfect," he said. When placed in the ear of chicken embryos, most of the cells died. A few survived and were implanted into the inner ear. The next step, he said, is to try the experiment in mice. Gene therapy is being tested in an effort to produce more hair cells in the ear. The result so far has been a type of hybrid cells and researchers are unsure whether they can get these cells to survive. Heller said scientists in Japan are experimenting with drugs that seem to help spur the growth of hearing cells in young mice. The results in older mice are far less promising. There seems to be something not yet understood that prevents new cell development in the inner ear. This is an area where cancer is not known to occur, he said, and an indication that something prevents cell development. ___ On the net: American Association for the Advancement of Science: http://www.aaas.org/ Hospital addresses soldiers complaintsSun, 18 Feb 2007 02:43:37 GMTWASHINGTON - The commander of the Army's leading medical facility acknowledges problems in outpatient treatment but said the hospital is working to address the concerns of patients and their families. Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, commanding general of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, said in an interview Friday that he knows some soldiers have complaints about the way their cases have been handled. Weightman spoke in advance of an article in Sunday's editions of The Washington Post detailing some of those issues. Some soldiers and their families have complained that it takes too long to get through an evaluation to determine whether the soldier will be returned to duty or be retired for medical reasons. That process begins once the soldier becomes an outpatient. According to Army standards, that evaluation process is supposed to be done in 140 days. At Walter Reed the process has taken an average of 209 days, Weightman said. Part of the reason, he said, is that Walter Reed receives the most complex cases of war wounded, including soldiers with brain trauma and post-traumatic stress syndrome, which make it harder to gauge recovery progress and prospects. "The family members get a little frustrated because, I mean, we're really disrupting their lives ... and their lives are on hold until we can get their son, their daughter, their husband back up to speed, so they're a little bit impatient sometimes," Weightman said. Also, some soldiers have complained that once they are no longer inpatients they feel as though they are being rushed through the system toward a discharge from the service, he said. "From our internal reviews of these perceptions, we have been modifying our policies and procedures as necessary to address these concerns," he said. The Post described "a frustrating mountain of paperwork," with the typical outpatient "required to file 22 documents with eight different commands." Within the last year, Weightman said, Walter Reed has increased from four to 17 the number of staff who act as liaisons between outpatients and the patient disability evaluation system in an effort to improve the flow of information to the soldiers and their families. The disability evaluation system also is being given more legal support so cases can be processed more quickly, he said. Politics plays role in disease researchSat, 17 Feb 2007 21:29:44 GMTBy MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer ATLANTA - The television spot shows a 40-year-old woman, in slow motion, as her family and co-workers rush by over the course of a day. It ends with her sitting alone, amid the remnants of a birthday party. "The worst part isn't even that everyone thinks the problem's in my head," a female voice intones. "The worst part of chronic fatigue syndrome is missing my life." The spot is the centerpiece of a remarkable $4.5 million public awareness campaign bankrolled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's remarkable, in part, because of the role advocacy and politics played in creating it. Chronic fatigue syndrome is not contagious or life-threatening, and medical skeptics continue to question its merits as a focus for public health. But the money is being spent, in part, thanks to strategic lobbying and congressional interest. It is not the only example, or the most successful. In 2000, the March of Dimes lobbied Congress to create a center on birth defects within the http://www.cdc.org CFIDS Association: http://www.cfids.org |
