HPV vaccine creates protective immunity in the community against virus even for those who were not vaccinated; investigation finds huge numbers of severe Black Lung cases in miners; scientists believe an AIDS-free generation is coming soon; study finds a disturbing number of children experience pain in hospitals. These stories and more topping public health headlines today, Monday, July 9, 2012.
ABC News – HPV Vaccine Protects Even Those Who Skip It
The vaccine against the human papilloma virus (HPV) is not only effective in decreasing the rate of high risk types of HPV infections in girls and women, but it also shows evidence of bestowing what is known as “herd immunity” — an indirect protection against the virus for those who have not been vaccinated — in a community at large, researchers said Monday.
NPR – As Mine Protections Fail, Black Lung Cases Surge
It wasn’t supposed to happen to coal miners in Mark McCowan’s generation. It wasn’t supposed to strike so early and so hard. At age 47 and just seven years after his first diagnosis, McCowan shouldn’t have a chest X-ray that looks this bad. McCowan went from a clean X-ray at age 35 to progressive massive fibrosis — an advanced stage of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, or black lung — in just five years. A joint investigation by NPR and the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) has found that McCowan is not alone. Incidence of the disease that steals the breath of coal miners doubled in the last decade, according to data analyzed by epidemiologist Scott Laney at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
USA Today – New optimism about stemming spread of AIDS virus
An AIDS-free generation: It seems an audacious goal, considering how the HIV epidemic still is raging around the world. Yet more than 20,000 international HIV researchers and activists will gather in the nation’s capital later this month with a sense of optimism not seen in many years — hope that it finally may be possible to dramatically stem the spread of the AIDS virus.
NPR – GOP To Make 31st Attempt To Repeal Obamacare Act
The House Rules Committee takes up a bill Monday called the “Repeal of Obamacare Act.” And just like it says, the bill would wipe away the president’s Affordable Care Act. A vote of the full House is planned for Wednesday. It’s the first legislative response from House Republicans after the Supreme Court upheld the law. But it is far from the first time the GOP has voted for repeal. Over the past 18 months, the House has taken 30 floor votes to try to repeal, defund or dismantle the health care law
Johns Hopkins – Study: Persistent Pain Still Common in Hospitalized Children
Despite advances in the understanding and treatment of pediatric pain, many hospitalized children continue to experience serious pain, according to a Johns Hopkins Children’s Center study published online ahead of print in the journal Pain Management Nursing. The research — a survey and medical chart review of 199 patients, aged seven days to 21 years, treated at Johns Hopkins between 2007 and 2008 — found that 86 percent of the children experienced pain. For 40 percent of them, the pain was moderate or severe. The study revealed that most patients received appropriate and timely therapy, but that even with aggressive treatment, some children continued to experience persistent pain.
