Fish Oil Supplements Linked to Lower Risk of Breast Cancer, 40 Million Expired Swine Flu Vaccine Doses to Be Destroyed Named “Best, Worst Prevention Ideas of the Week”

A new study by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle showing that postmenopausal women who take fish oil supplements may reduce their breast cancer risk was named the “Best Prevention Idea of the Week,” while the recent news from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that about 40 million doses of swine flu vaccine worth about $260 million will be destroyed because it's past the expiration date was named the “Worst Prevention Idea of the Week."

The “Best/Worst” awards are announced each week in “Prevention Matters,” the blog of Partnership for Prevention. Nominees are submitted by Partnership staff as well as the general public, and are voted on by the staff. Partnership for Prevention is a nonpartisan organization of business, nonprofit and government leaders who are working to make evidence-based disease prevention and health promotion a national priority. More information is available at http://www.prevent.org/.

BEST

Study Finds Fish Oil Supplements Linked to Lower Risk of Breast Cancer

Postmenopausal women who take fish oil supplements may reduce their breast cancer risk, a new study suggests.

The study focused on the potential health benefits of 15 different so-called "specialty" supplements to see if they affect breast cancer risk, said study senior author Emily White, an epidemiologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Fish oil supplements, made from fatty fish such as salmon, contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids.

In the study, White and her colleagues asked more than 35,000 Washington state women who were between the ages of 50 and 76 and all past menopause to answer questions about their use of "non-vitamin, non-mineral supplements." All were participants in the Vitamins and Lifestyle (VITAL) cohort study, and none had a history of breast cancer.

After six years of follow up, 880 cases of breast cancer were identified.

WORST

40 Million Expired Swine Flu Vaccine Doses to Be Destroyed

About 40 million doses of swine flu vaccine worth about $260 million will be destroyed because it's past the expiration date, says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The amount of the outdated vaccine, which will be incinerated, is more than twice the usual surplus and likely sets a record, according to the Associated Press.

One government estimate suggests that about 30 million more swine flu vaccine doses could expire and have to be destroyed. If that's the case, it means that more than 43 percent of the total supply of swine flu vaccine for the U.S. public will have gone to waste, the AP reported.

PBS to Air "Anatomy of a Pandemic"

PBS is airing a special entitled the “Anatomy of a Pandemic” which will explore the science and policy of this year’s swine flu pandemic, from federal vaccination headquarters to big city hospital emergency rooms. Please visit the web site at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/pandemic/ for more information and local listings.

Among those listed who will be interviewed include:
Anthony Fauci

o   Fauci, a director at the National Institutes of Health, relates his greatest disease fears, and what health officials are watching for in the future.

·         Barbara Ferrer

o   Ferrer, head of the Boston Public Health Commission, says minorities and the poor are seeing the worst of H1N1.

·         Anne Schuchat

o   Schuchat, director of CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, talks about the challenges of the H1N1 pandemic.

·         Michael Osterholm

o   Flu expert Dr. Michael Osterholm grades the U.S. response to the pandemic so far.

·         Barbara Loe Fisher

o   Fisher, of the National Vaccine Information Center, urges parents to take an active role in learning about vaccines.

Two of the stories featured on the web site include:

·         A pregnant pediatrician who continues to see flu patients.

·         Tough choices for the mother of an H1N1 patient.

Email Scam Asks for H1N1 Profile at CDC.gov

The CDC has received reports of email phishing scams referencing state sponsored vaccination programs, but the agency says no such program has been implemented requiring registration on CDC.gov. The email tells users they must create a personal H1N1 (swine flu) vaccination profile on the CDC.gov website. The message then says anyone age 18 or older must have his/her personal vaccination profile on CDC.gov. Users that click on the email risk having malicious code installed on their computer.

HHS to Review Its Disaster Preparedness Plan

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says her department will review its approach to disaster preparedness in the wake of difficulties it has faced in producing vaccine to protect the public against the swine flu epidemic. She says the goal will be streamlined regulations that will speed the approval of new technologies that are promoted through government contracts with private companies.

H1N1 Rapper, Dirty Cruise Ship Restrooms Named "Best, Worst Prevention Ideas of the Week"

A rap video for swine flu prevention was named Partnership for Prevention’s “Best Prevention Idea of the Week,” while the widespread presence of dirty restrooms on cruise ships and their link to norovirus outbreaks was named “Worst Prevention Idea of the Week.”

The Best/Worst Idea awards are a regular feature of Prevention Matters, the blog of Partnership for Prevention. Each week, Partnership for Prevention's staff will choose the designees based on nominations of items in the previous week's news submitted by members, staff and the public at large. To submit a nomination or for more information, contact Damon Thompson at dthompson@prevent.org.

BEST

Cigna Enlists Rapper on H1N1 Prevention

http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news10832.html

Health care provider Cigna Corp. has produced a rap video to teach kids how to avoid getting "swine" flu. The video, featuring University of Massachusetts physican Mache Seibel, a.k.a. DocRock, teaching five prevention steps, such as sneeze into your sleeve, wash your hands and "keep you fingers outta your eyes, mouth and nose, cuz that the places H1N1 goes." The 30-second video is free on YouTube at www.youtube.com/cignatv.

WORST

Dirty Restrooms on Cruise Ships "Widespread," Linked to Norovirus Outbreaks
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/cruises/item.aspx?type=blog&ak=620000957.blog

A team of researchers from several Boston-area institutions report in the current issue of the medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases that they found "widespread poor compliance" with regular cleaning during unannounced inspections of dozens of cruise ships. Moreover, the researchers found a link between the dirty restrooms on ships and outbreaks of norovirus -- a common gastrointestinal illness that has caused problems for the industry.

Benjamin Confirmed as Surgeon General

By voice vote, the U.S. Senate Thursday night confirmed Dr. Regina Benjamin to serve as Surgeon General. Benjamin, 53, was the first black woman to head a state medical society, received the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights and just last fall received a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant." In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, she rebuilt her rural health clinic in Bayou La Batre, Ala., which serves 4,400 patients who would be hard-pressed to find care elsewhere.

Benjamin was nominated by President Barack Obama in July, but a month later Republicans put a hold on all health nominees because the administration had imposed a "gag rule" on companies offering Medicare Advantage to seniors. Those companies were sending out information to customers telling them that a Democratic healthcare reform proposal would cut benefits. The Department of Health and Human Services issued a memo in mid-October telling companies they can provide information about legislation that affects them if their customers agree to receive such information.

But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blasted Republicans on Thursday for holding up the nomination of Benjamin and other nominees for reasons "completely unrelated to their qualification." In Benjamin's case, concern had been expressed about holding up the confirmation of one of the nation's leading spokespersons on public health when the H1N1 epidemic was spreading.

Using Google to Track the Flu Epidemic

Could an Internet search engine be used to improve early detection of the flu epidemic? The folks at Google say the answer appears to be "yes." That's because there are more flu-related searches during flu season, more allergy-related searches during allergy season, and more sunburn-related searches during the summer. Below is an overlay of how past flu activity has tracked with Google's estimates based on flu-information seeking on the web:

United States Flu Activity

United States DataGoogle Flu Trends estimate

United States: Influenza-like illness (ILI) data provided

publicly by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

Internet the "Mother Lode" of H1N1 Flu Scams, Says FDA

The Internet can be a great source of information about the pandemic H1N1 flu, but it's also the mother lode of swine flu scams, the FDA is warning.In a news release, the agency said it recently purchased and analyzed several products that purported to be oseltamivir (Tamiflu), one of two antiviral drugs thought to be effective against the pandemic flu.

"One of the orders, which arrived in an unmarked envelope with a postmark from India, consisted of unlabeled, white tablets taped between two pieces of paper," the agency said. Analysis showed the tablets contained talc and acetaminophen, but no oseltamivir, the FDA said. The Web site disappeared shortly after the order was placed. The agency said it bought four similarly advertised products from other Web sites. These did contain some oseltamivir, but were not approved for use in the U.S. Several Web merchants did not require a prescription, and none of the drugs arrived quickly enough to treat someone infected with the pandemic flu or with an immediate exposure to the virus.

Drive-Through Flu Shots, Fake Malaria Drugs Named "Best, Worst Prevention Ideas of the Week"

A Virginia program offering “Drive-through” flu shots were named Partnership for Prevention's "Best Prevention Idea of the Week," while the spread of fake malaria drugs was named “Worst Prevention Idea of the Week.”

The Best/Worst Idea awards are a regular feature of Prevention Matters, the blog of Partnership for Prevention. Each week, Partnership for Prevention's staff will choose the designees based on nominations of items in the previous week's news submitted by members, staff and the public at large. To submit a nomination or for more information, contact Damon Thompson at dthompson@prevent.org.

BEST

People Roll In for “Drive-Through” Flu Shots

http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/virginia/300_Get_Drive_Through_Flu_Shots_092609

About 300 people got drive-through flu shots at a medical clinic in Ashburn, Virginia, on a recent Saturday. Cars started rolling through the parking lot of the Nova Medical and Urgent Care Center around 10:00 a.m. Customers filled out a form, got a quick check of their temperature, paid $25, and were vaccinated; all that happened in about eight minutes. Patient Robert Beasley loved it. “Normally, you have to wait in the waiting room… wait to be called, go into the office… wait for them to get the vaccine… and give you the shot,” gushed Beasley. “Here, you just drive up. You give ‘em your paperwork, and you get your shot and you’re gone.”

WORST

Fake Malaria Drugs Spread, Breed Resistance

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=aWdXQmrHzLxA

Fake malaria drugs from China are breeding resistance to life-saving medications in Cambodia and threatening to derail global efforts to eradicate the disease, a study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation found. Among more than 700 packets of pills sold at private drugstores in Cambodia and Thailand, 60 percent were found to be substandard or counterfeit around the border, compared with less than 5 percent in other areas in Thailand, said Patrick Lukulay, director of drug quality and information for U.S. Pharmacopeia, a Rockville, Maryland-based organization that tracks fake drugs.

Web Site Tells Whether Your Flu Is Bad Enough to Visit the Doctor

Wondering if swine flu's bad enough to require a doctor's attention? An interactive Web site may help you decide, using the same type of triage calculations that doctors at Emory University use. Microsoft Corp. unveiled the site Wednesday at http://www.h1n1responsecenter.com . Type in your age - it's only for people over 12 - and answer questions about fever, other symptoms and your underlying health. Microsoft licensed the self-assessment tool from Emory, which based it on what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has determined are key risks factors for a bad flu outcome. A large insurer tested the tool against more than 2,500 records of patient visits for flulike symptoms in Colorado, and only two people deemed low-risk were hospitalized within the following two weeks.

U.S. Government Launches Swine Flu Vaccine Campaign

The Washington Post's Rob Stein writes: "Doctors, nurses and other health-care workers in Indiana and Tennessee will receive the first doses of swine flu vaccine Monday as the federal government launches the most ambitious vaccination campaign in U.S. history."

The campaign's goal is to inoculate at least half the U.S. population against the new H1N1 virus. The federal government has spent $2 billion to purchase about 250 million doses of vaccine and has pledged to buy enough to immunize every American if there is enough demand. But public opinion surveys indicate that Americans are undecided about the vaccine.

 

Rappin' Doctor Wins HHS' Flu PSA Contest

Dr. John Clarke of Baldwin, New York, rapped his way to victory in the Department of Health and Human Service's flu prevention PSA contest. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that Clarke's "H1N1 Rap" was named the winner after a tally of more than 50,000 v0tes from more than 200 entries from across the country.

Americans were called to create a 15, 30, or 60 second video promoting good hygienic practices and submit this video over YouTube. This video was to inform people about the flu and motivate them to take steps that help prevent the spread of the flu. The winner received $2500 in cash and will be featured on national television.

A panel of 12 video communication and public health experts determined the top 10 entries. These were put on the HHS YouTube Channel and put to a public vote. Over 50 thousand votes were cast in the 18 days that voting was open, and these votes determined the overall winner.

CDC Offers Text Message Update Service for H1N1 Info

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched a three-month text messaging campaign pilot to share important, timely health information on the H1N1 virus directly to users.
To subscribe to the pilot, text HEALTH to 87000. Once you sign up for this pilot, you will be asked a few questions and begin receiving short health tips from CDC. Subscribers can expect to receive about three health messages a week during the three-month pilot. Standard text messaging rates will apply. You can opt out at any time by simply replying HEALTH QUIT.

Chamber Offers H1N1 Prepardedness Guide to Businesses

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is offering companies new guidelines for coping with the H1N1 swine flu pandemic amid concerns that employers could face crippling absenteeism as the U.S. flu season takes hold. The 16-page guide, entitled "It's Not Flu as Usual: An H1N1 Business Preparedness Guide," offers scenarios in which more than 10 percent of staff are too sick to come to work on any given day over the course of several months to a year.

Companies Concerned Swine Flu Could Affect Their Business

A new survey shows that most U.S. businesses are concerned that swine flu will have a negative effect on business if cases are widespread and severe this fall and winter. Most companies said they could handle some swine flu absenteeism, but not without major problems if a lot of workers were affected.

For instance, 73% of participants said their company could avoid severe operational problems if 20% of their workers were absent for two weeks. But if a third of their employees were out for that long, only 44% of companies said they could handle that without having severe operational problems, and only 33% were as confident about their ability to cope if half of their workers were out for two weeks.

NYC's Free H1N1 Vaccines, Media's Lack of Health Reform Explanations Named "Best, Worst Prevention Ideas of the Week"

New York City’s plan to provide free H1N1 vaccinations to elementary students was named Partnership for Prevention's "Best Prevention Idea of the Week," while the media’s lack of explanatory coverage of the health reform debate was named “Worst Prevention Idea of the Week.”

The Best/Worst Idea awards are a regular feature of Prevention Matters, the blog of Partnership for Prevention. Each week, Partnership for Prevention's staff will choose the designees based on nominations of items in the previous week's news submitted by members, staff and the public at large. To submit a nomination or for more information, contact Damon Thompson at dthompson@prevent.org.


BEST

NYC Offers Kids Free H1N1 Vaccines
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/22070/

Any elementary school-age child in New York City can get a free swine flu vaccination under Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to contain the deadly virus this fall and winter. Bloomberg and other city officials announced a multi-pronged strategy to fight a second, more serious wave of the virus that sickened hundreds of thousands, many in schools. Other elements of the city's plan include tracking influenza at emergency rooms and posting that and other data on a new flu Web site. The city will also produce a daily report on public school absenteeism and schools reporting five or more cases of flu-like illness.


WORST

Missing: Actual Explanation of Health Reform Issues
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/missing-actual-explanation-of-the-health-care-issue.php

A month-long review of The Washington Post’s front pages by The Pew Foundation’s Project for Excellence in Journalism found 72 percent of health-care stories were about politics, process or protests, rather than an explanation of proposals.

NYC Offers Kids Free H1N1 Vaccines

Any school-age child in New York City can get a free swine flu vaccination under Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to contain the deadly virus this fall and winter.

Bloomberg and other city officials were set to announce the multi-pronged strategy later Tuesday to fight a second, more serious wave of the virus that sickened hundreds of thousands, many in schools.

Other elements of the city's plan include tracking influenza at emergency rooms and posting that and other data on a new flu Web site. The city will also produce a daily report on public school absenteeism and schools reporting five or more cases of flu-like illness.

Vaccines Main Defense against H1N1, Says Sebelius

Vaccinations will be the main defense against the swine flu epidemic in the US, says HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

"I think it's important that people begin to anticipate that we will have a vaccine," Sebeilus said in a "TODAY Show" interview. "We think it's likely that we're going to need two shots for the vaccine."

She said people should plan ahead for this, particularly those with pre-existing medical conditions, pregnant women and health care industry workers. Sebelius said federal health authorities also are recommending that people should immediately get their regular "seasonal" flu vaccine to bolster their health for the scenario yet to play out later this year regarding the swine flu virus.

"What we learned last spring is that shutting a school down sort of pre-emptively doesn't stop the virus from spreading," Sebelius added.

School Nurse Shortage Spurs Flu Fears

A USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Census data from 2005 to 2007 suggests that an American school nurse cares, on average, for 971 students. In 13 states, the ratio is more than 2,000 to 1. That falls short of federally recommended standards. It also could leave some schools ill-equipped to deal with the swine flu epidemic when their doors open this fall.

CER Recommendations, "Swine Flu" Parties Named "Best, Worst Prevention Ideas of the Week"

The recommendation that prevention be a priority in the administration’s Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) efforts was named Partnership for Prevention's "Best Prevention Idea of the Week," while reports of “swine flu parties” being held in the UK was named the "Worst Prevention Idea of the week."

The Best/Worst Idea awards are a regular feature of Prevention Matters, the blog of Partnership for Prevention. Each week, Partnership for Prevention's staff will choose the designees based on nominations of items in the previous week's news submitted by members, staff and the public at large. To submit a nomination or for more information, contact Damon Thompson at dthompson@prevent.org.

BEST

Prevention named a priority for Comparative Effectiveness Research

Prevention was named a priority area by a federal panel in its recommendations as to how the Secretary of Health and Human Services should spend $400 million in stimulus-bill funding for comparative effectiveness research. "Many effective interventions for improving health are likely to involve prevention and community intervention, but these areas are currently understudied," the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) concluded.

WORST

'Swine flu parties' reported in UK

British doctors cite reports of people intentionally mixing with friends who have flu. Their reasoning is that it is best to be infected before the winter when the virus could become more deadly. But public health expert Dr Richard Jarvis said such behavior could undermine the fight against swine flu. He also stressed while it was a mild flu, people would still be putting their health and the health of their children at risk.