Health Highlights: Jan. 24, 2009
HealthDay – Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:
Fourth Human Avian Flu Victim Dies in China
Avian flu has claimed a fourth death in China this year.
The Associated Press reports that a 31-year-old woman from a far western region in China died Friday from the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the same strain that has caused the deaths of 251 people since the World Health Organization (WHO) started keeping statistics in 2003. [...]
Obama Overturns International Abortion Funding Ban: Report
President Barack Obama signed an executive order Friday overturning the ban on using federal funds for international groups promoting or performing abortion, CNN reported.
[...]
Drug Maker to Seek Approval for MS Pill
The first pill to treat multiple sclerosis shows promise, and drug maker Merck Serono says it will submit cladribine tablets for registration in the United States and Europe later this year. [...]
CDC Gets New Acting Director
The Obama administration on Friday named Dr. Richard Besser, who headed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s public health emergency preparedness and response functions, acting director of the CDC. He succeeds Dr. Julie Gerberding, who stepped down after six years heading the agency, The Wall Street Journal reported. [...]
More Americans Unable to Afford Prescription Drugs
The number of Americans under age 65 who went without prescribed medicines because they couldn’t afford them increased from one in 10 in 2003 to one in seven in 2007, according to a study released Thursday by the nonprofit Center for Studying Health System Change. [...]
Source: Yahoo News – click here for full article
