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FDA releases fraudulent H1N1 flu virus product list

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is enforcing the laws that protect consumers from illegal products marketed through the Internet that claim to diagnose, prevent, mitigate, treat or cure the 2009 H1N1 flu virus.

15 Jun 2009

Consumption of dairy products decreases as teens reach their twenties

Calcium and dairy products play major roles in health maintenance and the prevention of chronic disease. Because peak bone mass is not achieved until the third decade of life, it is particularly important for young adults to consume adequate amounts of calcium, protein and vitamin D found in dairy products to support health and prevent osteoporosis later in life.

15 Jun 2009

To flu experts, 'pandemic' confirms the obvious

"It came as no surprise on Thursday when the World Health Organization declared that the swine flu outbreak had become a pandemic," The New York Times reports.

13 Jun 2009

Recent releases: HIV prevention; clinical trials debate; definition of global health; drug resistant tuberculosis

In a Journal of the American Medical Association commentary piece, Anthony Fauci and Carl Dieffenbach of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases explore results from a WHO mathematical model study that found universal, voluntary, annual HIV testing followed up with immediate treatment for those testing positive -- the "test and treat model" -- could "reduce HIV incidence" and "end the [HIV] pandemic within 50 years."

13 Jun 2009

International scientists' network to map drug-resistant malaria

PTI/Hindu reports on the Worldwide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN) – an "international network of malaria scientists," which will be "established to map the emergence of resistance" to malaria drugs and "guide global efforts to control and eradicate the disease."

13 Jun 2009

Declaration of H1N1 pandemic to accelerate H1N1 vaccine production

The WHO's decision Thursday to declare H1N1 (swine) flu a pandemic will "speed the production of a vaccine against the new virus," however scientists continue to caution that "it will be fall at the earliest before the first doses are available," the Los Angeles Times reports.

13 Jun 2009

Appetite-stimulating hormone may protect muscle from atrophy

Researchers have found a potential new treatment for the common problem of muscle atrophy. Results of the animal study were presented at The Endocrine Society's 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

13 Jun 2009

90 per cent of the world's population won't have access to antivirals in pandemic - generic drugs may help though

Almost 90 per cent of the world's population will not have timely access to affordable supplies of vaccines and antiviral agents in the current influenza pandemic, but it is possible that inexpensive generic drugs that are readily available, even in developing countries, could save millions of lives.

13 Jun 2009

The Lancet to launch series on the state of public health in Southeast Asia

As the global health community confronts the threat of a major new influenza pandemic, The Lancet, in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation and the China Medical Board, will develop a major Series to assess the state of public health in southeast Asia.

12 Jun 2009

UK tops the list of countries at extreme risk to the spread of swine flu

A Warwick Business School professor and one of the founders of global risks specialist, Maplecroft, has released three new maps and indices revealing the countries most at risk from an influenza pandemic.

12 Jun 2009

How prepared are we? New study to investigate Australia’s pandemic preparedness

Public health experts have warned that a severe pandemic has the potential to cripple essential infrastructure and cause a catastrophic collapse of systems. A new study, to be undertaken by the University of New South Wales (UNSW), will assess how prepared Australia really is for a pandemic and identify 'weakest links'.

11 Jun 2009

Senate approves legislation to give the FDA power to regulate tobacco

The Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation today that gives the Food and Drug Administration regulatory power to limit nicotine in cigarettes, "drastically curtail" advertising and "ban candied tobacco products" aimed at the young, The Associated Press reports.

11 Jun 2009

Unique study into the health and wellbeing of seniors

A unique Network studying the health and wellbeing of older people is bringing together health, social science and mathematics experts in a revolutionary project which will help shape the long-term provision of health and social care services across the UK and ultimately benefit older people.

11 Jun 2009

Cancer screening fear is fuelled by lack of information

Fear plays a major role in whether women decide to go for cancer screening or not, but healthcare providers underestimate how much women need to know and wrongly assume that they will ask for information if they want it.

11 Jun 2009

New report looks at cigarette smoking rates and policies throughout the U.S.

The United States is becoming a nation of haves and have-nots when it comes to tobacco control, according to a comprehensive publication on cigarette smoking prevalence and policies in the U.S. that was released today.

10 Jun 2009

House health bill to include public plan, insurers resisting

On Monday, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D- N.Y., told reporters that the House bill will include a new public insurance plan, Reuters/The Boston Globe reports.

9 Jun 2009

California Restaurant Association asks U.S. Supreme Court to weigh employer mandate question

A California Restaurant Association has asked the Supreme Court to rule on the legality of San Francisco's mandate that employers pay for health care coverage for employees, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

9 Jun 2009

WHO, UNICEF say vitamin A, deworming interventions safe, in response to alleged deaths, sickness in Bangladesh

The WHO and UNICEF on Tuesday said that vitamin A supplements and deworming tablets are safe, after two deaths and the "sickness of hundreds" were alleged among the children who received the interventions during a nationwide campaign in Bangladesh, Bernama.com reports (Bernama.com, 6/9).

9 Jun 2009

New York Times examines varying definitions of 'pandemic'

"The new swine influenza virus [H1N1], which appeared suddenly after years of warning about a potential pandemic of avian influenza, upset the WHO's assumptions that most people have the same understanding of the word pandemic," says the New York Times in a report that examines the difficultly health experts have had when attempting to agree upon what constitutes a pandemic.

9 Jun 2009

Times of Zambia/allAfrica.com examines maternal mortality

The Times of Zambia/allAfrica.com examines abortion in Zambia and efforts to reduce maternal mortality. "Unsafe abortions are one of the top five causes of maternal mortality in Zambia," writes the newspaper, which adds they are one factor keeping the country from meeting the U.N. Millennium Development Goal target of reducing maternal mortality.

9 Jun 2009