The Obama Administration's Global Health Initiative

08/24/10 (People Port) Secretary Clinton outlined this bold expansion of America's commitment to global health. Our nation has fought polio, HIV, infant mortality, immunizations, a huge number of tropical diseases, smallpox, malnutrition, SARS, H1NI, Avian flu... a very long list. Our budget is over 60 billion when all is totaled.

You may want to read: War Breeds Disease

The Obama Administration, with Secretary Clinton in the lead is shapening our Global Health Initiative (GHI) its focus, while giving this positive American message to the world, and keeping score of what works the best. There are baby kits that help normal pregnancies arrive (twine, sheet of plastic, razor). No rose colored lenses. An example of the successful implamentation, 16 year olds will not be delivering babies.

All measurers are being simplified, made easier to understand. The focus is on America's caregiver network, the NGOs, foundations, service clubs, that have been doing the heavy lifting for years. Not so much specialization, as bringing more help to more people in more places. Wtih the help of global tracking, a comprehinsive look at these complicated problems underlying our neighbors' health. We all understand poverty leads to poor health outcomes.

Is costs very little to prevent many of the diseases that quickly runup a nations cost of recovering from natural disasters. This leads to more, longer, and expensive commitments to our global problems and easily spill from the affect region into our commerce and trading partners. Our Nation normally prefers to stop these diseases where they occur, not here at home. Vaccine shortages make haedlines here.

The Secretary outlined a simple well informed measures in her speach at School of Advanced International Studies this month. Making our money go farther is a very good idea.

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Comments: PeoplePort@gmail.com Copyrighted, 2010, J John Swanko, All rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. Cite PeoplePort-Editorial.com web address.

What Foods Are Making Your Family Sick

08/12/2010 (People Port) The CDC looked into 235 outbreaks where one food commodity was identified, the largest number of illnesses listed poultry (691 illnesses), beef (667 illnesses), and leafy vegetables (590 illnesses) as the cause. The CDC tracks 17 food commodity categories.

Some 1,097 foodborne disease outbreaks were reported in 2007, according to a CDC analysis. State investigators reported 21,244 illnesses and 18 deaths as a result of these outbreaks. The report also provides the most recent data on how many illnesses were linked to specific types of foods.

Foodborne disease outbreaks due to norovirus occur most often when infected food handlers do not wash their hands well after using the toilet; outbreaks due to salmonella occur most often when foods are contaminated with animal feces. Contaminated foods are often of animal origin, such as beef, poultry, milk, or eggs. But any food, including vegetables, may become contaminated. Thorough cooking kills Salmonella.

To prevent foodborne illnesses, CDC recommends that consumers and food handlers appropriately clean, separate, cook and chill foods.

Fungus Attacking People

07/27/10 (People Port) A fungus linked to people with T-cell deficiencies, Cryptococcus neoformans (C.neoformans ), Cousin C gattii is infecting people with good T-cells. The CDC report points out, It is rear, 60 infections since 2004, it can kill. It gets into the lungs, brain, tissue giving you a cough.

Shortness of breath, headache, fever, weight loss. You would need to see a doctor. It is turning up in the Pacific Nortwest. Cryptococcus is a pest of stump water, pigeon, chicken droppings. Not part of man's normal microbial flora. Cryptococcal meningoencephalitis can cause 100% fatalities. 

Some cases of unexplained meningoencephalitis Have been traced back to mosquitoes. In out break in Missouri among boys, La Crosse virus (LACV), delivered by Aedes Triseriatus misquote showed up again. CDC's testing confirmed the rare disease.

$500 Million Cost For Preventable Waterborne Diseases

07/16/2010 (People Port) Waterborne Diseases Could Cost over $500 Million Annually in U.S. Hospitalizations for three common waterborne diseases cost the health care system as much as $539 million annually, according to research presented today at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases.

"These cost data highlight that water-related diseases pose not only a physical burden to the thousands of people sickened by them each year, but also a substantial burden in health care costs, including direct government payments through Medicare and Medicaid," says Michael Beach of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an author of the study.

Currently, there are no well-documented data on total health care costs for all, waterborne diseases. Using data from a large insurance claims database between 2004 and 2007, Beach and his colleagues estimated the hospitalization cost of three common waterborne diseases in the United States: Legionnaires' disease, cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis. For each case of disease, they calculated the cost paid by the insurer, the out-of-pocket cost to the patient, and the total amount paid.

Inpatient hospitalization costs per case averaged more than $34,000 for Legionnaires' disease, approximately $9,000 for giardiasis and more than $21,000 for cryptosporidiosis.

"When people think about these diseases, they usually think of a simple case of diarrhea, which is a nuisance but quickly goes away. However, these infections can cause severe illness that often result in hospital stays of more than a week, which can quickly drive up health care costs," Beach says.

Other symptoms can include rashes, eye and ear infections and respiratory or neurological symptoms and can even be fatal.

Modest investments in preventing these diseases could lead to reduced disease and significant healthcare cost savings, Beach says. Some examples of possible, low-cost interventions include public education campaigns, appropriate maintenance of building water systems, and regular inspection of pools and other recreational water facilities.

Scientists Close In On Alzheimers

07/13/2010 (People Port) Scientists discovered a compound that restores the capacity to form new memories in aging rats, likely by improving the survival of newborn neurons in the brain's memory hub. The research, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, has turned up clues to a neuroprotective mechanism that could lead to a treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

The researchers report on their findings July 9, 2010 in the journal Cell.

"This striking demonstration of a treatment that stems age-related cognitive decline in living animals points the way to potential development of the first cures that will address the core illness process in Alzheimer’s disease," said NIMH Director Thomas Insel, M.D.

Physical activity, social, or other enriching experiences promote neurogenesis — the birth and maturation of new neurons. This growth takes place in the dentate gyrus, a key area of the brain’s memory hub, the hippocampus. But even in the normal adult brain, most of these newborn neurons die during the month it takes to develop and get wired into brain circuitry. To survive, the cells must run a gauntlet of challenges. Newborn hippocampus neurons fare much worse in aging-related disorders like Alzheimer’s, marked by runaway cell death.

The neuroprotective compound P7C3 was discovered by testing more than 1000 small molecules in living mice. Source: Andrew Pieper, M.D., Ph.D., UT Southwestern Medical Center.

To find out if P7C3 could similarly stem aging-associated neuronal death and cognitive decline, the researchers gave the compound to aged rats. Rodents treated with P7C3 for two months significantly outperformed their placebo-treated peers on a water maze task, a standard assay of hippocampus-dependent learning. This was traced to a threefold higher-than-normal level of newborn neurons in the dentate gyrus of the treated animals. Rats were used instead of mice for this phase of the study because the genetically engineered mice could not swim.

Aged rats treated with P7C3 performed significantly better on a memory test than control rats treated with an inactive substance.

The researchers pinpointed a derivative of P7C3, called A20, which is even more protective than the parent compound. They also produced evidence suggesting that two other neuroprotective compounds eyed as possible Alzheimer's cures may work through the same mechanism as P7C3. The A20 derivative proved 300 times more potent than one of these compounds currently in clinical trials for Alzheimer's disease.

This suggested that even more potent neuroprotective agents could potentially be discovered using the same methods. Following up on these leads, the researchers are now searching for the molecular target of P7C3 — key to discovering the underlying neuroprotective mechanism.

Preterm Births Decline, Eighth Grade Math, Reading Scores Up

07/13/2010 (People Port) Preterm births have declined again. Eighth Grader's Math and Reading scores increased, as did the number of children not working or in school. Births to Adolescents declined. More Children had health insurance, as one would expect in this economic decline, secure parental employment is down, poverty and food insecurity are up.

A federal inter-agency working group, published their report, America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being. The numbers represent the most recent available to the twenty-two participating federal agencies.

The report is designed to inform policy makers, providers, and the public. The report is available on line. Visit Childstats.gov

For advertising opportunities or Comments: PeoplePort@gmail.com Copyrighted, 2010, J John Swanko, All rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

School Kids Still Smoking

School children are still smoking. The new CDC report out today suggests the decline slowed in 2003. We failed to meet our goal of sixteen percent. Our black females have not slowed or leveled off since 1999.

The WMMR gives some insight into the problem. We need to once again refocus our attention on what has worked, the counter ads and the like.

Smoking and Tobacco Use Widget

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