The vaccine for whooping cough, a highly contagious disease that reached epidemic levels in California last year, begins to lose effectiveness after three years, according to a preliminary study conducted in Marin County. The diminished protection was most evident in children ages eight through 12. David Witt, MD, chief of infectious diseases at Kaiser Permanente Medical center in San Rafael and the lead on the study, told colleagues and reporters at a conference in Chicago this week that the vaccine still offers strong protection to those recently immunized. A KPBS-Watchdog Institute joint investigation last year questioned the efficacy of the whooping cough vaccine. The report found the majority of people diagnosed with whooping cough in San Diego County had been immunized. Statewide, many county health departments reported high numbers of cases of whooping cough in people who had been immunized. Witt, speaking on a panel at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, said he and his researchers expected to find many of the cases in his county in the unvaccinated population. But that was not the case.
Propelled by an increase in prescription narcotic overdoses, drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in the United States, a Times analysis of government data has found. Drugs exceeded motor vehicle accidents as a cause of death in 2009, killing at least 37,485 people nationwide, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While most major causes of preventable death are declining, drugs are an exception. The death toll has doubled in the last decade, now claiming a life every 14 minutes. By contrast, traffic accidents have been dropping for decades because of huge investments in auto safety.
Parents who need a little extra incentive to get their kids a flu shot this year should take a look at a new report issued today by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency documented 115 pediatric deaths related to influenza over the past 12 months and found that at least half could have been prevented with a vaccine. Only 23% of those children over six months of age who died -- for whom vaccine information was available -- had been given a flu vaccine. The others hadn't been vaccinated. (14% of the children who died were infants under 6 months who can't get the vaccine.) Nearly half of the deaths were in children who weren't at higher risk due to certain medical conditions like asthma, obesity, diabetes, or cerebral palsy.
Poverty levels are up in the U.S., the Census Bureau reports, with the percentage of Americans living in poverty at its highest point since 1993. That will likely translate into increasing health issues for those people, since being poor seems inexorably linked to poor health. A number of studies have linked poverty to higher levels of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other diseases and conditions. While the association may seem obvious, the reasons can be complex: having little access to healthcare, less education about disease treatment and prevention, a scarce supply of healthful foods, fewer opportunities to exercise and embarrassment about one's condition. Adults aren't the only ones affected; some research focuses on children as well. A study released this week in the Canadian Medical Assn. Journal found that those living in poorer neighborhoods may be at greater risk for having sudden cardiac arrest.
David A. Smith, MD, of St. Louis County told his patients that the man performing their Botox injections last year was a physician's assistant. But the man, identified as "G.M.," was not licensed in any medical field and was unqualified to give the injections, according to a disciplinary settlement released this week by the Missouri Board of Registration for the Healing Arts. Smith passed the man off as a physician's assistant to patients, sales representatives and office staff, a violation of Missouri's medical codes. Smith also gave patients half-doses of flu vaccine under the skin instead of a full dose into the muscle, according to the settlement. The healing arts board placed Smith on probation for three years. He can continue to practice medicine but agreed to unannounced visits from board staff to check on his compliance. Smith works for the Visiting Physicians Association in Brentwood and Reflections medical spa at Mario Anthony's salon in Chesterfield.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder plans to direct doctors in Michigan to begin monitoring the body weight of their young patients and provide the data to a new state registry, in one of the most extensive government efforts to address the growing problem of pediatric obesity, the Associated Press has learned. The move would help track the state's growing obesity problem while opening the way for doctors to be more proactive in offering advice, Snyder spokeswoman Sara Wurfel told The Associated Press on Tuesday. The Republican governor will announce the initiative Wednesday as part of his proposal for improving Michigan residents' health. The body mass index statistics for patients under 18 would be reported to the Michigan Care Improvement Registry but the children's identity would remain anonymous. The state already requires doctors to report how many children are immunized.