Medication errors happen. They can and do occur at every step of the way from calculating dosages to prescribing, dispensing and giving drugs not only to adults but to children. Take one of the more famous cases: Actor Dennis Quaid's newborn twins who somehow survived being given a blood-thinner at 1,000 times the proper dose.

A study published this week in the journal Pediatrics looked at medication errors specifically involving heart drugs dispensed to children. What they found was, er, heart-stopping. They found that in a single year, half of the errors made were in children under the age of 1 and 90 percent of those were in children younger than six months. The littlest seem to be most vulnerable because health care providers may miscalculate and give them more medication than someone of their weight can handle or they may prescribe a drug not meant for someone so young. ...

Continue reading "Infants and medication errors" »

Posted by Stephanie Desmon at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Pediatrics
        

See the guy on the far right? The one decked out in aviator shades rocking out next to Aerosmith’s Joe Perry? President Barack Obama just picked him to lead the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Francis S. Collins, who led the government’s successful effort to decode the human genome (he also happens to play the guitar) is among a handful of preeminent researchers featured in a slick six-page photo spread in the June issue of GQ. The photos are part of a larger ad campaign called “Rock Stars of Science” designed to celebrate scientists, highlight the importance of their research and draw attention to the funding needed to make their work possible.

Collins did his groundbreaking work while as director of the National Human Genome Institute in Bethesda. He’s featured with such other notables as Dr. Harold Varmus, the former director of NIH, who won the Nobel Prize for his discovery of cancer genes, and Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

By featuring some of the nation’s renowned researchers alongside the likes of rockers Sheryl Crow and Seal, the hope is to make these science gurus more accessible and dare we say, cool, to the average American.

As Collins says in an interview on the Rock Stars of Science site, “I think it's a great idea to show that scientists are not all a bunch of oddball nerds.”

Continue reading "Rockin' out for science" »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 6:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: General Health
        

With all of the talk about kidney transplants in recent days, one thing has been left unsaid: Many kidney transplants don't last forever.

About 50 percent of kidney transplants from live donors are still working at 20 years, which means many people will need repeat transplants. With more transplants being done than ever before, and being done so successfully, the number of repeat transplants has been on the rise in recent years.

I wrote this story last year. In talking with some pediatric nephrologists (kidney docs), they mentioned something I never knew, that kidney transplants, especially in younger people, are a wonderful long-term fix but not necessarily a permanent one. And that's not always because patients may reject a new kidney or get some other severe illness.

"We can't get the grafts to last forever," Dr. Alicia M. Neu, a pediatric nephrologist at Johns Hopkins Children's Center, told me at the time. "We've kind of hit a wall. People live with one kidney all the time. They donate one, and they're fine. ...

Continue reading "Unlike diamonds, kidneys don't last forever" »

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Categories: General Health
        

When it comes to HIV/AIDS the mantra has always been: get tested.

But some doctors warn that not all tests are created equal. Sometimes a negative test can give a false sense of security to both doctors and patients, particularly for risk-taking teenagers, said Dr. Allison Agwu, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

Rapid HIV tests are designed to pick up antibodies to the virus, not the virus itself. It can take weeks or months for someone to produce antibodies. So a rapid test can come up negative the first time, but positive some weeks or months later. False negatives often happen during the earliest and most contagious stages of the infection.

And with teens, those crucial months matter.

“The test is only as good as when you get the test,” said Agwu. “I can’t tell you the number of times I spoke to a patient, and they say, ‘Well I’m negative. And they go on to doing whatever risky behaviors they’ve been doing.”

Of the 53,000 new HIV infections diagnosed each year in the United States, 14 percent of those occurred in 13 to 25-year-olds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Continue reading "Keepings teens safe from HIV" »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Pediatrics
        

It all started with a Virginia man who offered his kidney to a woman from his parish who needed one. They had never met but Thomas F. Koontz thought the donation would be a good way to give back to God, whom he credited with saving his teenage daughter's brain cancer. The woman from church ended up finding a different donor. So Koontz called Johns Hopkins. He offered his kidney to anyone who might needed it,

His completely selfless act started a chain of events that would allow not just one person to get a desperately needed kidney, but eight people who needed new organs to keep them alive.

Surgeons at Johns Hopkins Hospital this morning held a press conference to announce that they -- along with doctors from hospitals in Oklahoma City, St. Louis and Detroit -- had performed a record feat. They completed an eight-way, multi-hospital, domino kidney transplant. This swap required seven pairs of people -- each made up of one person in need of a kidney and one willing to donate, but whose blood or tissue type was incompatible with the intended recipient. A computer program was fed all of the potential donor pairs and devised a complicated exchange that took place over the course of three weeks and involved several kidneys being flown around the country. At the end of the line was someone who didn't have a live donor offering a kidney, a woman who received her kidney at Hopkins last night. She was the ultimate recipient of Koontz's largesse.

Continue reading "One kidney saves eight lives" »

Posted by Stephanie Desmon at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: General Health
        

Long-distance travel may increase the risk of potentially deadly blood clots, a new study published today suggests, and the longer the trip, the greater risk of danger.

The relationship between venous thromboembolism -- clots that form in the veins, typically the leg, and can be deadly if they move to the lungs -- and travel has long been suggested. But previous studies have yielded contradictory findings. The study, published in this week's issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, looks back at previous data and finds that travel by any means is associated with a three-fold higher risk of these blood clots. And when limited to air travel, that relationship was even stronger: For every two additional hours on a plane was associated with a 26 percent increase in risk for blood clots.

Still, don't panic. These clots are still relatively uncommon. ...

Continue reading "Can long trips be bad for your health?" »

Posted by Stephanie Desmon at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: General Health
        

 My friend Rebecca posted something about her toe Friday night on her Facebook page. Rebecca wrote that she thought "it's broken; my husband thinks it's just bruised. Either way, my toe hurts."

What struck me about this was the response that came from her friend Tracy less than an hour later: "Post pix and let your FB MDs decide."

I loved this reply. Health topics that were once taboo (OK, maybe not broken toes) are now open for discussion -- on Facebook, no less. As a medical reporter, I've had more than one man start a conversation with me about his prostate exam and PSA numbers. But more often, in talking to friends, we discuss ours ailments or our kids' maladies and try to make armchair diagnoses. A lot of them figure our combined knowledge could be (nearly) as good as any docs. I wouldn't go that far, but that doesn't mean I don't engage in a little informal doctoring of my own.

Do you and your friends "play doctor," trying to diagnose one another? Do you use Facebook to do it? Twitter?

Photo/Getty Images

Posted by Stephanie Desmon at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: General Health
        

 "If you've seen one influenza season, you've seen one influenza season," Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious diseases expert at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, has told me more than once. It's an attempt at some medical humor, I guess, but there may be plenty of truth in his quip.

Researchers and public health officials have been trying to pin down this H1N1 virus since it hit the U.S. in April. They don't know if it will stay mild (it has sickened an estimated 1 million in the U.S. but killed 170 at last count). They thought it would go away over the summer since flu usually does, but in many places, more people keep coming down with it. The official number of new confirmed cases in Maryland, for example, has risen every week since the first case was confirmed here in May (and, officials say, those numbers are likely much higher since most people who get sick don't visit the doctor and most people who go to the doctor aren't getting tested for flu). Experts predict the virus could come back worse for flu season this fall and winter, like the Spanish Influenza of 1918 did. That remains to be seen, of course. ...

Continue reading "The strange summer of flu" »

Posted by Stephanie Desmon at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Swine flu
        

If you're anything like me, you had a super hectic week leading to this holiday weekend. Now that we've made it -- whew -- here are some great health and medicine stories you might have missed.

Fascinating read from Sunday about how the grant system for cancer research awards small projects unlikely to make huge strides in finding a cure.

On the healthcare debate front, here's a great piece that looks at the big ticket issue: costs. So what happens to costs when you expand health care? Do they really go down? Or do they go up?

Two anti-smoking drugs will carry the Food and Drug Administration's most serious warnings after reports of people exerpiencing mental health problems, including suicidal thoughts.

A big picture look at the FDA's new powers to regulate tobacco.

Here are a couple of the many takes on the medical details behind Michael Jackson's death and whether Steve Jobs should talk publically about his pancreatic cancer.

And here's one for all the nurses out there who are tired of stereotypes about their profession -- I know my Mom is reading, so it goes out to her too. ;)

Have a great weekend!

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: News roundup
        

Stephanie’s post below about making a vaccine for swine flu got me thinking about how the medical community is trying to treat this virus in the meantime.

This week, Danish health officials reported the first case of Tamiflu-resistant swine flu. The World Health Organization called it an isolated incident and Roche, the company that makes the drug, said the medicine is still effective in treating the virus, known as H1N1.

Still, the case begs an interesting question of state health officials and doctors everywhere: when is the right time to give someone Tamiflu?

So far, Tamiflu is the most prescribed antiviral to help fight the symptoms of the virus. Medical experts agree prescribing Tamiflu to someone who tests positive for the H1N1 virus is a no brainer. It’s the best treatment out there. But whether to use the drug in an effort to prevent the virus is tricky.

Giving Tamiflu as prevention doesn’t guarantee you won’t get the disease and it could make it more likely that the virus adapts and becomes resistant to drugs, said Dr. Clifford Mitchell, director of environmental health coordination for the Maryland health department.

“When you give out a medicine, you run the risk that if you don’t kill every bug, the bugs that are able to survive are those that are able to resist that particular medication,” he said. “You don’t want to give this to everyone in the population.”

Continue reading "When to prescribe Tamiflu?" »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 1:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Swine flu
        

Long known to be a concern of aging women, osteoporosis turns out to be nearly as common in older men, a new study suggests.

Doctors routinely screen women in their sixties for thinning bones. But there are no guidelines for checking the bones of male patients. Physicians tend to look for osteoporosis in men only after a problem -- like a suspicious fracture -- occurs.

Dr. Sherita H. Golden, a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist and the author of the new study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Matabolism, said she and her colleagues were surprised by the findings.

Falling estrogen levels contribute to thinning bones in women and low testosterone levels have been linked to bone loss, Golden said, so it does make sense that the hormonal changes of aging, regardless of gender, could lead to osteoporosis. Osteoporosis makes bones fragile and more likely to break, which can leave sufferers debilitated and deformed.

Another surprising finding: Osteopenia, a less severe form of bone loss, is actually more prevalent in aging men than in aging women.

Golden would like to see the study of men duplicated. If the results match up, she thinks the answer is clear: Men should be screened just as carefully for bone loss as women.

Image courtesy of answers.com

Posted by Stephanie Desmon at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: General Health
        

A federal advisory panel’s vote Tuesday to pull two popular prescription drugs off the market has shed light on a problem with a common ingredient in over-the-counter painkillers: acetaminophen.

The Food and Drug Administration panel recommends banning drugs like Vicodin and Percocet which combine a stronger narcotic with acetaminophen – the key ingredient in medicine cabinet staples like Tylenol and Excedrin. (It’s unclear if will happen, though. The FDA isn’t required to follow the panel’s advice, but it often does).

The reason for the recommendation? Big concerns about overdoses related to acetaminophen.  A New York Times story explains not only can the painkiller cause liver damage, more than 400 people die and 42,000 are hospitalized every year in the United States from overdoses.

In an effort to confront such problems, the panel made a slew of other decisions about the painkiller. Experts voted to lower the maximum daily dosage to less than 4 grams, or eight tablets of Extra Strength Tylenol. Another vote recommended a prescription for a 1,000 milligram dose – or two tablets of Extra Strength Tylenol.

Continue reading "How much is too much?" »

Posted by Kelly Brewington at 1:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: General Health
        

Flu is not usually something summer camps have to worry about. Welcome to the Summer of '09.

An outbreak of swine flu led the directors of Sandy Hill Camp in Cecil County this week to send roughly 200 campers home about halfway through a two-week session. (Flu is seasonal and usually hits in the winter.) The new virus swept quickly through the overnight camp. During the first few days, six campers came down with flu-like symptoms (later confirmed as swine flu in two kids) and were sent home. On Saturday, six more campers got sick. All campers and staff on the two-week session had their temperatures taken the next morning and four had fevers. Nine more campers developed symptoms by Sunday night. With 10 percent of the kids sick and who knows how many others exposed, the session was called off and everyone went home Monday.

Not to worry, reads a letter sent to parents planning on sending their children to later sessions at Sandy Hill this summer. No one was seriously ill, the directors wrote. And the rest of the sessions this summer will go on. In fact, a one-week session that began Sunday is underway and so far no campers have gotten sick.

Continue reading "Swine flu sends campers home early" »

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Categories: Swine flu
        

Ten days ago, Johns Hopkins Hospital exec Pamela Paulk had two kidneys. Today, she has one -- and a co-worker she barely knew three years ago also has one, thanks to Paulk's decision to donate one of hers. Just because she could. 

She has been blogging the entire experience. She is even tweeting it.

Her story begins about 10 years ago after she observed a transplant surgery and started thinking about becoming a kidney donor herself. About five years ago, she decided she was ready to give, but she wanted her kidney to go to someone she was connected to in some way. Then, a few years later, she ran into Robert Imes. A painter and mechanic at the hospital who Paulk knew well enough to say "Hello" to, Imes had been out sick for 10 months with kidney disease.

"I said, 'Robert, I really missed you. Is there anything I can do for you?' He said, 'I need a kidney.' And I said, 'You can have mine,'" Paulk recalled. ...

Continue reading "Hopkins exec blogs kidney donation" »

Posted by Stephanie Desmon at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: General Health
        

 So officials are saying an immunization campaign to protect against the swine flu pandemic could involve as many as 600 million doses of vaccine.

Fortunately, the government has been counting its chickens.

The traditional way of making flu vaccine involves using eggs. Lots of eggs. Tens of millions of eggs. The virus is injected into the eggs and is grown inside for three days to produce large quantities to be used in vaccine production.

But these are not just any eggs and government scientists have long known that. These are eggs laid by special breeds of hens, eggs carefully guarded to be kept free of pathogens, eggs chosen to be more oval than round to fit properly in the machines at the Sanofi-Aventis production plant in Swiftwater, Penn.

"The chicken eggs you find on your grocery shelf won't work," Dr. Robin Robinson, director of the Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority at HHS, told me last month.

When the avian flu outbreak started hitting Asia nearly six years ago, officials in the U.S. took notice. Sure they had enough eggs to produce seasonal flu. But would they have enough if there was an emergency and they needed to manufacture more vaccine? The answer was no. ...

Continue reading "Making a swine flu vaccine" »

Posted by Stephanie Desmon at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Swine flu