Richard Knox

Vaccine Against HPV Has Cut Infections in Teenage Girls

Richard Knox — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:46:00 +0000

A vaccine against human papillomavirus — the most common sexually transmitted infection and the cause of almost all cervical cancer — is dramatically reducing the prevalence of HPV in teenage girls.

The first vaccine against HPV, Merck's Gardasil, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2006.

Triple Threat: Middle East Respiratory Virus And 2 Bird Flus

Richard Knox — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 20:31:00 +0000

The World Health Organization is warning health care workers everywhere to suspect a disease called Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, whenever they see a case of unexplained pneumonia.

Monday's warning comes at the end of a six-day WHO investigation in Saudi Arabia, where 40 of the 55 cases of the respiratory disease have occurred.

Obama Administration Seeks To Loosen Antibiotic Approvals

Richard Knox — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 06:19:00 +0000

Every day in hospitals all over America, thousands of patients die of infections that used to be curable. But the antibiotics used to treat them aren't working anymore.

It's called drug resistance, and it's largely a consequence of antibiotics overuse.

A Boston Family's Struggle With TB Reveals A Stubborn Foe

Richard Knox — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 07:34:00 +0000

Thanks to gold-standard tuberculosis treatment and prevention programs, cases of TB in the United States have declined every year for the past two decades — to the lowest level ever.

But TB's course through the Williams family in Boston shows that no nation can afford to relax its efforts to find, treat and prevent TB.

Young Women With Breast Cancer Opting For Mastectomy

Richard Knox — Fri, 31 May 2013 18:15:00 +0000

Most women diagnosed with breast cancer when they're 40 or younger are choosing mastectomy rather than more limited and breast-conserving lumpectomy plus radiation, a study of women in Massachusetts finds.

Moreover, most of those choosing mastectomy elect to have the other, noncancerous breast removed, too.

These findings will be presented Monday at the American Society Clinical Oncology's a

Middle East Virus Spreads Between Hospitalized Patients

Richard Knox — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:06:00 +0000

It's been eight months since a Saudi Arabian doctor described a previously unknown virus related to SARS.

Officials Prepare For Another Flu Pandemic — Just In Case

Richard Knox — Wed, 08 May 2013 06:49:00 +0000

There's been a buzz of activity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta since scientists got their first samples of a new bird flu virus from China four weeks ago.

Already they've prepared "seed strains" of the virus, called H7N9, and distributed them to vaccine manufacturers so the companies can grow them up and make them into experimental flu vaccine.

They've also come up

Recovery Begins For Mother, Daughter Injured In Boston

Richard Knox — Thu, 02 May 2013 07:03:00 +0000

The number of Boston bombing victims still in the hospital dropped to 19 as of Wednesday evening.

Mother And Daughter Injured In Boston Bombing Face New Future

Richard Knox — Wed, 01 May 2013 07:17:00 +0000

Forty-seven-year-old Celeste Corcoran is propped up in her hospital bed. In a nearby window is a forest of blooming white orchids from well-wishers. On the opposite wall, a big banner proclaims "Corcoran Strong."

She's recalling how thrilled she was to be near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, waiting for her sister Carmen Accabo to run by. "I just remember standing there, wanting to be as close as I could to catch her," Corcoran says. "I really just needed to see her face."

And then the first of the two bombs went off, throwing Celeste Corcoran off her feet.

With Bird Flu, "Right Now, Anything Is Possible"

Richard Knox — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:42:00 +0000

An international dream team of flu experts assembled in China today.

Underscoring the urgency that public health agencies feel about the emergence of a new kind of bird flu, the team is headed by Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the World Health Organization's top influenza scientist.

Before he left Geneva, Fukuda explained the wide-open nature of the investigation in an interview with NPR.

"The biggest question is just what's going to happen," he told Shots. "We've had a lot of experience in the last decade with new animal influenza viruses. But ...

Boston Doctors Compare Marathon Bomb Injuries To War Wounds

Richard Knox — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:23:00 +0000

Boston hospitals always staff up their emergency rooms on Marathon Day to care for runners with cramps, dehydration and the occasional heart attack.

But Monday, those hospitals suddenly found themselves with more than 100 traumatized patients — many of them with the kinds of injuries seen more often on a battlefield than a marathon.

Like most big-city hospitals these days, Tufts Medical Center runs regular disaster drills, featuring simulated patients smeared with fake blood.

So when word came Monday afternoon that there had been died last Tuesday of respiratory and kidney failure.

The package was addressed to the CDC's top flu virologist, Nancy Cox.

Human Cases Of Bird Flu In China Draw Scrutiny

Richard Knox — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 22:04:00 +0000

Sixteen cases of a new flu around Shanghai have touched off a major effort to determine what kind of threat this new bug might be.

The victims range in age from 4 to 87 years old. Six have died. It is a tragedy for them and their families, but is it a global crisis?

To understand why so few cases are generating so much concern, the first thing to know is that no flu virus like this one — called H7N9 — has ever been known to infect humans before.

That immediately grabs the attention of flu pros.

Novartis Ruling Reverberates Past India's Borders

Richard Knox — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 09:28:00 +0000

India's Supreme Court says drug maker Novartis can't hold onto its patent for the pricey cancer drug Gleevec simply by tweaking its chemical formula. That means generic drug makers can keep making a form of the drug at a tenth of Novartis's price — for the Indian market and for other low- and middle-income markets. Consumer advocates call it a major advance for access to generic drugs. Novartis and drug industry allies say it will chill companies' willingness to produce innovative products.

As Stroke Risk Rises Among Younger Adults, So Does Early Death

Richard Knox — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 07:21:00 +0000

Most people (including a lot of doctors) think of a stroke as something that happens to old people. But the rate is increasing among those in their 50s, 40s and even younger.

In one recent 10-year period, the rate of strokes in Americans younger than 55 went up 84 percent among whites and 54 percent among blacks.

Sorting Out The Mammogram Debate: Who Should Get Screened When?

Richard Knox — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 16:39:00 +0000

Mammography outcomes from nearly a million U.S.

To Control Asthma, Start With The Home Instead Of The Child

Richard Knox — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 07:22:00 +0000

Nothing sends more kids to the hospital than asthma.

So when doctors at Children's Hospital in Boston noticed they kept seeing an unusually high number of asthmatic kids from certain low-income neighborhoods, they wondered if they could do something about the environment these kids were living in.

It's well-known that asthma attacks are triggered by dust,

More Patients Keep HIV At Bay Without Antiviral Drugs

Richard Knox — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 16:57:00 +0000

Just last week AIDS researchers were excited about a Mississippi toddler whose blood has remained free of HIV many months after she stopped getting antiviral drugs – what doctors call a "functional cure."

Now French researchers confirm they've found 14 adults whose immune systems are apparently controlling HIV without medication.

Cardiac Arrest Survivors Have Better Outlook Than Doctors Think

Richard Knox — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:04:00 +0000

Every day something like 550 hospitalized Americans suffer cardiac arrest. That's bad news. Only about one in five will live to leave the hospital.

But for the lucky 44,000 a year who are resuscitated and survive, the outlook is much better than expected, authors of a new study say.

A year later, 60 percent of these survivors will still be alive, the study finds – substantially more than most doctors probably think.

Why Relatives Should Be Allowed To Watch CPR On Loved Ones

Richard Knox — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 22:24:00 +0000

Picture this: Your spouse or child has collapsed and isn't breathing. You call 911, and the paramedics rush in and take charge. But you are banished to another room while the medical people try to bring your loved one back to life.

It's about the most stressful scene imaginable. And it's what usually happens.

But now comes the most rigorous study so far on allowing family members to witness CPR — its impact on them, on the medical team, on the CPR itself.

Aspirin Vs. Melanoma: Study Suggests Headache Pill Prevents Deadly Skin Cancer

Richard Knox — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 09:10:00 +0000

It's not the first study that finds the lowly aspirin may protect against the deadliest kind of skin cancer, but it is one of the largest.

And it adds to a mounting pile of studies suggesting that cheap, common aspirin lowers the risk of many cancers — of the colon, breast, esophagus, stomach, prostate, bladder and ovary.

The new study, in the journal Cancer, looked at melanoma in 60,000 post-menopausal Caucasian women.

Mississippi Toddler Could Be First Child Cured Of HIV

Richard Knox — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:43:00 +0000

A child born with HIV has been cured of the virus, researchers say. Audie Cornish talks to Richard Knox about what was different about this child among the millions who've been treated in the past and what it means for the prospect of an HIV cure in adults.

Scientists Report First Cure of HIV In A Child, Say It's A Game-Changer

Richard Knox — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 21:41:00 +0000

Scientists believe a little girl born with HIV has been cured of the infection.

She's the first child and only the second person in the world known to have been cured since the virus touched off a global pandemic nearly 32 years ago.

Doctors aren't releasing the child's name, but we know she was born in Mississippi and is now 2 1/2 years old — and healthy. Scientists presented details of the case Sunday at a scientific conference in Atlanta.

The case has big implications.

Younger Women Have Rising Rate Of Advanced Breast Cancer, Study Says

Richard Knox — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 08:35:00 +0000

Researchers say more young American women are being diagnosed with advanced breast cancer.

It's a newly recognized trend. The numbers are small, but it's been going on for a generation. And the trend has accelerated in recent years.

The discovery had unusual origins in a Houston book group about seven years ago. Three of the women in the group were diagnosed with breast cancer.

Medical Waste: 90 More Don'ts For Your Doctor

Richard Knox — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 14:23:00 +0000

Doctors do stuff — tests, procedures, drug regimens and operations. It's what they're trained to do, what they're paid to do and often what they fear not doing.

So it's pretty significant that a broad array of medical specialty groups is issuing an expanding list of don'ts for physicians.

Don't induce labor or perform a cesarean section for a baby who's less than full term unless there's a valid medical reason, say the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Targeted Cancer Drugs Keep Myeloma Patients Up And Running

Richard Knox — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 08:34:00 +0000

Don Wright got diagnosed with multiple myeloma at what turned out to be the right time. It was 10 years ago, when he was 62.

That was at the beginning of a revolution in treating this once-fearsome blood cell cancer, which strikes around 20,000 Americans every year.

World's Most Popular Painkiller Raises Heart Attack Risk

Richard Knox — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 23:13:00 +0000

The painkiller diclofenac isn't very popular in the U.S., but it's by far the most widely used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, or NSAID, in the world.

A slew of studies, though, show diclofenac — sold under the brand names Voltaren, Cambia, Cataflam and Zipsor — is just as likely to cause a heart attack as the discredited painkiller Vioxx (rofecoxib), which was pulled from the U.S.

Experimental Tuberculosis Vaccine Fails To Protect Infants

Richard Knox — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 15:37:00 +0000

Researchers are disappointed in the results of a long-awaited study of the leading candidate vaccine against tuberculosis, one of humankind's most elusive scourges.

But, pointing to more than a dozen other TB vaccines in the pipeline, they say they're not discouraged.

The results show that an experimental vaccine known as MVA85A didn't provide much protection for South African infants against either infection with TB or development of the disease.

Earlier,

Female Smokers Face Greater Risk Than Previously Thought

Richard Knox — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 08:40:00 +0000

There's still more to learn about the risks of smoking and the benefits of quitting.

Studies in this week's New England Journal of Medicine show that the risk for women has been under-appreciated for decades. New data also quantify the surprising payoffs of smoking cessation — especially under the age of 40.

Dr. Prabhat Jha of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, an author of one study, says before now it hasn't been possible to gauge female smokers' true risks.

Old Drug Extends Life For Pancreatic Cancer Patients

Richard Knox — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:55:00 +0000

A large study is providing a rare glimmer of hope for patients with pancreatic cancer, perhaps the deadliest of all malignancies.

By the time they're diagnosed, most patients with pancreatic cancer have advanced disease that's spread to the liver and lung. And the primary tumor may be inoperable because it's wrapped around vital blood vessels and nerves.

A two-drug combination extends life for such patients compared to standard chemotherapy.