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Fresh fruit in winter has become the norm in supermarkets around the country. A significant amount of buyers seeks out organic produce for the lack of potentially noxious spray residues.
In the quest to combat insects that feast on their vines, growers of organic grapes nurture the black widow spider variety, which will prey on the vineyard pests in the sense of a biological pest control. Despite checks and handling measures to rid the grape bunches of spiders, more consumers have been spotting black widows on imported grapes. A Canadian Food Inspection Agency spokesman reported, that the numbers have been going up. The good news, however, is that bites have been infrequent, and more importantly, fatalities are extremely rare. Centers of the American Association of Poison Control recorded 13,000 bites in 1997 of which less than 1 % were fatal.
Nevertheless, the hazard is real, and people who are most at risk of suffering a fatal bite are children. Also the older patients who have a heart condition are at a high risk of severe complications. According to a recent study authored by Dr. A. Stibich, a dermatologist from the Newark-based University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey, key signs of the toxin from a black widow bite are excessive saliva flow, tear flow, sweating, muscle tremors, a rapid heart beat and shock. Medical treatment to deal with the symptoms and the pain is necessary. Most symptoms subside within two or three days.
For the consumer the most important message is caution. Black widows don't only occupy fruit from the tropics, check out your organic grapes and look before you touch!

The Medical Post, December 14,2004, page5

Stress Incontinence Stopped with Stem Cells

About 30% of people over 60 suffer from urinary stress incontinence, a frustrating and embarrassing condition. It tends to occur, when the sphincter muscles that open and close the urethra become weak and diminished or when the urethra becomes narrowed. Urine leakage will occur, if a person coughs, sneezes, lifts heavy objects, exercises or laughs. For the patient it is no laughing matter, and neither surgery nor incontinence pads have proven to be the solution to the problem. Medication has been available, however with any medication, side effects remain a reality.

According to new research from The University of Innsbruck, Austria, a revolutionary treatment for stress incontinence has been developed. Dr. Ferdinand Frauscher presented findings at a meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago, which look very promising. The treatment involves the removal of stem cells from a patient's arm, which are cultured for six weeks and then injected into the sphincter muscle and the wall of the urethra. To achieve this stem cell therapy a special three-dimensional transurethral ultrasound had to be developed, so researchers could see exactly where the new cells had to be placed. The therapy is minimally invasive and can be done under local anesthesia. The initial study involved 20 women with minor to severe stress incontinence. Many reported an improvement after only one day, and 18 remained continent one year after injection. Ultrasound findings showed a significant increase in the thickness of the urethra and the sphincter muscle. The muscle also showed an improvement in contractibility. The cost of the procedure was comparable to other popular incontinence treatments, such as collagen injections and the long-term purchase of adult diapers.
At this point it is not known, when this treatment will become widely available in North America.

The Medical Post, January 4,2005, page 18

Public Strategies Help Quit Smoking

Quitting to smoke has been a New Year's resolution for many, and in view of the health care dollars spent for diseases related to smoking and the approximately 440,000 deaths in the United States per year alone, it should be a priority to implement comprehensive tobacco-control programs.
Smoking was more common among men (an average of 24.8 % nationally), whereas a national average of 20.3% of women lit up. There are also considerable differences between various states. In Kentucky 33.8% of men and 28.1% of women were smokers. Utah had the lowest prevalence with 14% men and 9.9% women. The national health objective is a goal for 2010 is to reduce the numbers to 12% smokers, which underscores the need for increased efforts to reduce tobacco use. Strategies include a clean air act to ensure clean indoor air laws, media campaigns, telephone support quit lines, insurance coverage for cessation counseling and pharmaceuticals are effective, but there are substantial variations across the states. In addition there are significant differences in the cost of cigarettes. It comes as no surprise, that Kentucky, which has the lowest price at $3.10 per pack, also has the highest number of smokers. Telephone support lines are available in the majority of states, but in 2002 only 2 states offered Medicaid coverage for medication treatment or counseling, and only six states (California, Conneticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, and New York) have comprehensive statewide smoking bans in effect on indoor workplaces and public places. Too few states have public smoking bans in effect. Only four states (Arkansas, Delaware, Maine, and Mississippi) were investing at least the minimum per capita amount that the CDC recommends for tobacco-control. There is obviously the need to expand efforts and resources, to achieve the goal to reduce the smoking habit to 12% in the population by 2010.

Journal Of The American Medical Society, December 22/29,2004,Vol.292, No.24

The Shot That Treats Asthma

Approximately 150 million people worldwide suffer of severe asthma, and some of them do not respond optimally to the treatment with inhaled corticosteroids. A new asthma cure has been released recently.
It is a biological treatment that will help patients with moderate to severe allergic asthma. The medication by the name of Xolair (omalizumab), which is manufactured by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc., has been approved in the US. by the FDA, and by October 2004 clinical trials with Xolair for treating peanut allergies were underway. The medication differs from older treatments because it addresses the dysfunctional immune processes, which are at the root of allergic asthma. It is administered as a subcutaneous injection, and it has to be given only every two to four weeks. Health Canada has approved the drug for the treatment of adults and adolescents (12 years of age and older), and it is anticipated that respirologists and allergists will treat patients who have moderate to severe persistent asthma and whose asthma symptoms are inadequately controlled with the inhaled corticosteroids.

Comments: Some of the more severe asthma reactions are mediated by Ig-E antibodies , which in a person with a ragweed allergy, are significantly elevated with respect to specific antibodies against ragweed pollen. In patients with a severe peanut allergy specific antibodies against peanut antigens are found. With exposure to the allergic substance severe asthma reactions (status asthmaticus) can be caused in these patients. The significance of this new therapy is that the hyperreactive immune response of the patient gets modified and the cascade of inflammatory sustances is being toned down. The results are less airway hyper-reactivity and less likelihood for severe asthma attacks in those patients who need it most. Discuss with your doctor whether or not this medication would be useful for you.

The Medical Post, January 18, 2005, page 4

News About The Flu

Every couple of years new influenza strains seem to develop in Asia and spread thru the rest of the world. When summer comes, the flu season is forgotten and the cycle repeats itself in fall and winter.

Recently there were local outbreaks of two avian influenza strains that according to the name should only affect birds (the "asian bird flu"). Based on research from these two bird flu experiences there seems to be a new way of looking at the development of human influenzas. It appears that new strains of human influenza are born in the bird population of Asia where the virus mutates into new strains. From there it spreads into human care takers (bird-to-human spread) and their contacts. Eventually the virus adapts to the human host and effective human-to-human transmission is incorporated into the DNA of the virus. Now the time is ready for a flu epidemic. It is not clear yet how long this human-to-human transmission switch takes (how many months or years). Here are more details regarding the recent two local outbreaks of asian bird flus:

1. Recently Dr. Arnold Bosman published a study in Holland. He was the health officer in charge of investigating an outbreak of influenza A, type H7N7, affecting a number of chicken farms in Holland between March and May 2003. This was the time of the SARS epidemic that caught all of the media attention at that time. About 86 poultry workers had been infected with flu like illness that caused a viral conjunctivitis of the eyes. However, one veterinarian who was in close contact with the infected birds died from respiratory distress syndrome. Using very sensitive PCR facilitated DNA test they were able to show that these infected people had all the same bird flu with the influenza strain A (type H7N7). When contacts of these people were tested a surprisingly large number, about 1000 with an estimated total of about 2000, people were also positive for antibodies to this particular more harmless strain of bird influenza.

2. The second development is regarding the recent infection of a bird flu in Vietnam that has caused many deaths. Here is a summary by the WHO regarding the chronological development of this much more aggressive influenza A (H5N1), which is the other bird flu that is of concern for the rest of the world. In Vietnam this bird flu type has a mortality of 76%, in other words with this new type of flu 3 out of 4 people die who get it. It all started in December of 2003 and here are the details of this story.

With the new study from Holland the concern among infection specialists is that there likely are a lot more healthy appearing people who become carriers of the disease (like the 2000 contacts in Holland). Experts feel that this type of flu presently might be in the stage of adapting to the human-to-human transmission mode (so far mostly bird-to-human transmission has taken place, which is still a barrier to mass transmission). When the virus has learnt to adapt to human-to-human transmission, there could be a flu pandemic with a new human strain of influenza A (type H5N1) that would rapidly sweep the world.

A Quebec/Canada company (ID Biomedical) is working on an influenza vaccine for the H5N1 virus, in preparation for a possible pandemic. The demand will be so great when a pandemic would happen, that the company is thinking of stockpiling this vaccine so that it would be available when bad news should strike.

In the meantime antiviral antibiotics such as Tamiflu (=oseltamivir) at a dose of 75 mg twice per day for 5 days started within the first two days of the flu aborts the flu effectively according to the experts. Unfortunately this antiviral antibiotic directed against the N1 component of the virus is expensive.

The Medical Post, Jan. 18, 2005, P. 2 and 56

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