Mom seeks better soldier health screens
Sat, 19 May 2007 18:12:04 GMT
By GLENN ADAMS, Associated Press Writer
AUGUSTA, Maine - Barbara Damon-Day, the mother of a Maine Army National Guard captain who died of unexplained causes while serving in
Afghanistan, has been on a mission of her own.
Carrying a thick notebook filled with information about soldiers' health issues — and pictures of her son, Capt. Patrick Damon — Damon-Day worked the halls of the state House to line up support for legislation inspired by her son's mysterious death last June.
The father of two collapsed after a recreational run in Bagram, his wife, Hildi Halley, said at the time. Damon-Day believes it was related to the extensive series of vaccinations soldiers undergo before deployment, and perhaps how the vaccinations interacted with each other.
She wants to create a commission to improve health screening for National Guard personnel, particularly for vaccinations.
Her bill has 155 co-sponsors in the 186-member Legislature, and is widely expected to be approved in the House and Senate. Damon had served as chief of staff for a former House speaker before becoming administrative director for the Public Utilities Commission.
The Maine National Guard did not return a call seeking comment. Gov. John Baldacci, who oversees the Guard, has endorsed the bill.
Damon, 41, had taken leave from the utilities commission when he was deployed to Afghanistan in January 2006 with the Maine Guard's 240th Engineer Group.
While the military lists the death as "sudden unexpected," Damon-Day believes it was "prolonged and preventable."
"In the military, you are vaccinated, literally, to death," she said.
Vaccine Healthcare Center at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington declined to release any information about Damon because of confidentially laws. Damon-Day said the center was investigating his death as possibly vaccine-related.
Her campaign has made waves outside Maine.
In Congress, an amendment calling for better medical screening of military personnel this month was attached to a federal defense spending bill. Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, said the amendment was inspired by Damon-Day, whom he credits for elevating the concern over military vaccinations.
The proposal in Augusta would create a nine-member commission to review all preventive health treatment practices and protocols, vaccinations and other medications administered to members of the Maine National Guard. It would also help propose recommendations for safer health care practices and medications to the U.S. military.
Viral disease sickens hundreds in China
Sat, 19 May 2007 13:51:28 GMT
BEIJING - An outbreak of a viral disease common in children has sickened almost 900 people in eastern China but the outbreak has been contained, state media said Saturday.
The outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease began in late April in the city of Linyi in Shandong province, the Xinhua News Agency said.
About 470 patients had recovered by Friday and another 393 people — mostly children — were still sick with more than half still in the hospital, Xinhua said, citing Bao Wenhui, the deputy director of the provincial health department.
The latest information was likely a response to media reports earlier this week that said more than two dozen children had died and that there had been a cover-up. The reports also said the true figures had not been released to prevent public panic. Local health officials dismissed those reports as rumors.
China has in the past been accused of foot-dragging in releasing information about outbreaks of diseases such as bird flu and severe acute respiratory syndrome, or
SARS.
A 2-year-old girl diagnosed as a probable hand, foot and mouth patient died on April 29, but no other deaths have been reported since, Xinhua said.
Hand, foot and mouth disease is common in young children and is characterized by fever, mouth sores and a rash with blisters. It is not related to foot and mouth disease, which infects cattle, sheep and swine.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes hand, foot and mouth disease as mild, and says nearly all patients recover in seven to 10 days without medical treatment. But one cause of the disease may also lead to more serious and fatal diseases such as encephalitis or a type of paralysis, according to the
CDC.
Xinhua said local health departments have launched a public awareness campaign and quarantined children who are sick.
Shandong reported 2,477 cases of hand, foot and mouth disease in 2005, including one death, and 3,030 cases in 2006, two of which were fatal, the report said.
FDA set to OK period suppression pill
Sat, 19 May 2007 03:32:41 GMT
By LINDA A. JOHNSON, AP Business Writer
TRENTON, N.J. - Women looking for a simple way to avoid their menstrual period could soon have access the first birth control pill designed to let women suppress monthly bleeding indefinitely.
The U.S.
http://www.wyeth.com
Association of Reproductive Health Professionals menstruation site: http://www.arhp.org/healthcareproviders/resources/menstruationresources
Dr. Miller's Web site: http://www.noperiod.com
WHO unveils life expectancy statistics
Fri, 18 May 2007 19:58:22 GMT
By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press Writer
GENEVA - A boy born in San Marino, a tiny republic surrounded by Italy, will likely live to age 80, the world's longest male life expectancy, but newborn girls in Japan and 30 other countries have even better prospects, the
http://www.who.int/whosis
