C M G Buttery

From the Lancet on Feb 25th: With US health expenditure rising past 16% of the country’s total economic output—a level almost 50% higher than in any other country—politicians and business executives are scrambling to avoid the bills for America’s ragged patchwork of public and private health systems. Opinion polls indicate that healthcare bills are now [...]

From Promed today – Several years ago, there was a case of human tularemia in Wisconsin in the summer. The state epidemiologist’s office determined that a cat had brought a tularemia-infected cottontail rabbit (_Sylvilagus floridanus_) into the patient’s home. With the widespread tularemia epizootic going on in Texas, it would seem that the risk of [...]

According to the newsmedia the ACIP is about to recommend another vaccine, Rotateq, (against Rotavirus) for all children, as though the current schedule was not enough of a challenge. However no-one says who will pay for the vaccine, made by Merck, which is tagged at $187.50 wholesale, for the three dose series. The CDC has [...]

From UCLA this first study of its kind focusing on newly homeless youth, UCLA researchers have found that high-risk sexual behavior did not predict whether these youths were tested for sexually transmitted diseases. Instead, they were tested only when someone became pregnant or got someone pregnant. The findings, to be published in the May issue [...]

One of the TV vacuum cleaner salesmen pushes the value of his HEPA Filter. This new study from the University of Manchester shows that “High efficiency” vacuum cleaners no better at protecting against dust mites. Researchers at the North West Lung Centre, run by The University of Manchester and based at Wythenshawe Hospital, have discovered [...]

Kissing may not only lead to an STD, but also to meningitis. I doubt this news will stop teens from kissing. Making the news today are the results of a research project funded by Meningitis Research Foundation which looked at why teenagers and young adults are the second most at risk group of contracting meningitis [...]

From the American Physiological Society: There is a lot of good advice to help us avoid becoming obese, such as “Eat less,� and “Exercise.� But here’s a new and surprising piece of advice based on a promising area of obesity research: “Wash your hands.� There is accumulating evidence that certain viruses may cause obesity, in [...]

02/02/2006 – A handheld sensor could help food companies quickly detect within 10 minutes whether their products are laden with Escherichia coli or listeria — before they are shipped out of the plant. Industry news shows that there is an Increasing regulatory emphasis on food safety in plants and the cost of recalls has spurred [...]

One more reason to urge women to breast feed their children. Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center have found another reason to keep those fancy baby spoons in the drawer until infants reach 6 months old. Babies who are breastfed – exclusively – for the first six months have fewer cases of pneumonia [...]