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Health Highlights: Jan. 1, 2009

Health Highlights: Jan. 1, 2009

Here are some of the latest health as well as health examination news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Recent Immunization Recommendations for Children Unveiled

Updated immunization recommendations for flu shots for children possess been unveiled by three leading U.S. health groups.

The revised 2009 schedule calls for routine annual flu shots forchildren aged 6 months through 18 years. The previous recommendation applied to children from 6 months to 59 months of age. The recent recommendation increases the number of eligible children by approximately 30 million.

"Vaccination is the best protection against influenza," Dr. AnneSchuchat, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control as well as Prevention's National Center for Immunization as well as Respiratory Disease, said in a news release issued Wednesday. "This substantial update to the childhood immunization schedule helps us extend protection from influenza as well as its complications to all children between the ages of 6 months as well as 18 years, not just those at highest risk of complications from influenza."

The other health groups announcing the recent vaccination schedule were the American Academy of Pediatrics as well as the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Recommendations for inoculation against rotavirus -- a disease that causes diarrhea in immature children -- include changes for the maximum ages for vaccination. The earliest dose should be given by 15 weeks of age. The latest age any dose may be given is 15 months. Incase the vaccine Rotarixis administered at ages 2 as well as 4 months, a dose at 6 months is notneeded, the news release said.

The revised schedule as well as clarifies vaccination against human papillomavirus, the leading cause of cervical cancer in women. Routinedosing intervals should be used for series catch-up -- i.e., the secondand third doses should be administered two as well as six months after the firstdose. The third dose should be given at least 24 weeks after the firstdose, the release said.

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Recent Year's Resolution: Restock That Medicine Cabinet

To get the recent year off to a protected as well as wholesome start, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) suggests cleaning out as well as then restocking your medicine cabinet.

Actually, a bathroom medicine cabinet isn't always the best place to keep medications, whether prescription or over-the-counter. Instead, keep them in a linen closet or a not light area, especially away from children, the release said.

According to ACEP, here are some essentials for your medicine cabinet:

• Up-to-date prescription as well as over-the-counter drugs.
• Adhesive bandages of assorted sizes for minor cuts as well as scrapes .
• Gauze pads for larger cuts as well as scrapes. As well as adhesive tape to keep gauze in place.
• Alcohol wipes as well as hydrogen peroxide to disinfect wounds. Antibiotic ointment to disinfect as well as protect wounds from infection.
• A thermometer -- but not a mercury-based thermometer.
• Antihistamine -- for allergic reactions.
• Hydrocortisone cream to relieve irritation from rashes.
• Acetaminophen, ibuprofen as well as aspirin, but aspirin should not be used by children or teens under age 19.

For more health as well as safety information, visit emergencycareforyou.org.

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Drug Companies Agree to Voluntary Ban on Doctor 'Freebies'

The pharmaceutical industry has agreed to a voluntary moratorium on giving doctors branded items that advertise some of the country's most prescribed drugs, The Recent York Times reported.

Starting Jan. 1, doctors will see supplies of trinkets such as Viagra pens, Zoloft soap dispensers as well as Lipitor mugs incision off in a move that proponents of the moratorium say is a step toward eliminating influencing doctors' prescribing habits. But skeptics say the move is only a superficial measure, doing little to curb the far larger amounts of money that big drug companies spend to try to influence physicians.

About 40 drug makers, including Eli Lilly & Company, Johnson & Johnson, as well as Pfizer possess signed on to the code, the Times reported.

Drawn up by the Pharmaceutical Research as well as Manufacturers of America, the recent code bars companies from giving doctors branded pens, staplers, flash drives, paperweights, calculators as well as the similar, the Times said. The recent guidelines reiterate the group's 2002 code, which prohibited firms from giving physicians expensive gifts such as tickets to sporting events or resort stays, as well as asked drug companies that finance health examination courses, conferences or scholarships to let independent experts choose study materials as well as scholarship recipients.

In a statement, Diane Bieri, executive vice president of the manufacturers' group, said the updated guidelines were not an admission that gifts could influence doctors, but were meant to emphasize the educational nature of the industry-doctor relationship, the newspaper said.

According to the Times, big firms final year gave away almost $16 billion in without charge drug samples to doctors as well as spent an estimated $6 billion more on sales visits as well as other promotions.

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Firm Says FDA Approves Its Generic Version of Nicotine Gum

Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Wednesday that the U.S. Food as well as Drug Administration had approved its generic version of the nicotine gum Nicorette, as well as it will begin selling the mint-flavored gum in beginning January.

The FDA approved the firm's over-the-counter nicotine polacrilex gum in 2 milligram as well as 4 milligram strengths. Nicorette , made by British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC, is sold by Johnson & Johnson Healthcare. The agency approved Nicorette gum, available in six flavors, in February 1996, the Associated Press reported.

Watson said the market for over-the-counter nicotine gum was more than $300 million in the year ended September 2008. Perrigo Co. as well as makes a generic version of fruit-flavored Nicorette, AP said.

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Smoking Ban Incision City's Heart Attack Hospital Admissions

A comprehensive municipal smoking ban in effect in Pueblo, Colo., incision that city's heart attack hospital admissions rate by 41 percent over a three-year period, according to a study released Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control as well as Prevention.

Before the ordinance took effect July 1, 2003, the study said, there were 399 hospital admissions for heart attacks in Pueblo in the 18 months before the law, compared to 237 heart attack hospitalizations from 18 months to three years after implementation, the CDC reported in its publication Morbidity as well as Mortality Weekly Report.

"These findings provide support for considering smoke-free policies an substantial component of interventions to halt heart disease morbidity as well as mortality," the report said.

The study as well as said evidence indicates that secondhand smoke exposure produces rapid adverse effects on heart function, blood, as well as vascular systems that boost the risk of a cardiac event. Eliminating smoking in indoor spaces is the only way to fully protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke exposure, the study concluded.

The findings echo previous analyses that found "secondhand smoke exposure decreases substantially among nonsmoking employees of restaurants as well as bars as well as among nonsmoking adults in the common community after implementation of smoke-free laws," the study said.

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