Category: Public Health

Time to Go Long on Fig Newtons

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The American Medical Association has decided to reclassify marijuana.

It is currently a schedule 1 controlled substance, meaning dangerous, with no medical use, and the AMA, bowing to reality, has decided that it should be legal to at least test the stuff:

The American Medical Assn. on Tuesday urged the federal government to reconsider its classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug with no accepted medical use, a significant shift that puts the prestigious group behind calls for more research.

The nation’s largest physicians organization, with about 250,000 member doctors, the AMA has maintained since 1997 that marijuana should remain a Schedule I controlled substance, the most restrictive category, which also includes heroin and LSD.

In changing its policy, the group said its goal was to clear the way to conduct clinical research, develop cannabis-based medicines and devise alternative ways to deliver the drug.

Hopefully, the progress towards sanity involving THC will continue, and perhaps, I could then go back to one of the activities of my college days.

Not Enough Bullets

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With the H1N1 vaccine in short supplies , it now appears that there will be priority will be given pregnant women, infants and children and those up to 24 years, those who care for infants, health and emergency services personnel, adults with compromised immune systems or other chronic health problems, and the employees of large Wall Street banks:

CREW ASKS FOR INVESTIGATION INTO WHY WALL STREET IS GETTING H1N1 VACCINE AHEAD OF THOSE WHO MOST NEED IT

November 5, 2009

Contact: Naomi Seligman // 202.408.5565

5 Nov 2009 // Washington, D.C. – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) asked Health and Human Service (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to investigate why the Center for Disease Control (CDC) approved the distribution of the H1NI vaccine to Wall Street firms at a time when the vaccine is unavailable to most Americans.

Recent news reports indicate 13 companies, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Time Warner, have been cleared to receive the vaccine.

The CDC is distributing the much sought-after vaccine to Wall Street firms despite reports of vast shortages. In fact, just yesterday CDC Director Thomas Frieden informed Congress that only 32.3 million doses are available, far less than the 159 million needed to cover those at the highest risk. Given the scarce supply, the CDC has recommended the vaccine be directed only to those at highest risk: pregnant women, infants and children and those up to 24 years, those who care for infants, health and emergency services personnel, and adults with compromised immune systems or other chronic health problems.

(emphasis mine)
Kathleen Sebelus should be fired for this, but Geithner needs to go first.

And you that little Timmy Geithner had a say in doing this. It smells of Geithner.

The rest of the press release after the flip.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW said today, “Although CREW has been unable to uncover the demographic makeup of Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and JP Morgan Chase, it seems safe to assume the vast majority of their employees are not pregnant women, infants and children, young adults up to 24 years old, and healthcare workers.”

State officials are concerned about the shortages. The head of Alabama’s Department of Public Health testified that 62% of the vaccines ordered by the state will not be available until after December 1, 2009 and the director of Minnesota’s St. Paul Ramsey County Department of Public Health said he is expecting only 7,800 doses for more than 20,000 children. Los Angeles County’s three public hospitals ordered 110,000 vaccines, but have received only about 18,000 doses, and UCLA’s two hospitals received 1,000 doses for 10,000 staff and 35,000 patients.

This situation is echoed around the country, leaving most of those seeking the vaccine unable to receive it with no remedy in sight. Frieden admitted, “It is quite likely the current wave of influenza will peak, crest and begin to decline before there are ample supplies of the vaccine.”

Sloan said, “In what world do Wall Street employees deserve to be vaccinated ahead of high-risk children, pregnant women and health care workers? Unfortunately, for the thousands being turned away in clinics across America, the CDC has decided to prioritize the millionaires over the masses. The public has a right to know how and why this has happened and when it will stop.” Sloan continued, “First, the bailout, then the bonuses, now the vaccine. When will Washington start putting the needs of Main Street above those of Wall Street?”

An Idea So Good It Will Never Pass

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George Miller (D CA-7) has introduced a law requiring employers to pay workers for up to 5 days if they send them home because they are sick:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. employers who tell workers to stay home when they are sick will have to give them paid time off for up to five days under new federal legislation proposed on Tuesday.

The emergency law would cover pandemic H1N1 flu or any other infectious disease, said California Representative George Miller, a Democrat who chairs the House Education and Labor Committee and who introduced the bill.

“Sick workers advised to stay home by their employers shouldn’t have to choose between their livelihood, and their co-workers’ or customers’ health,” Miller said.

<George Herbert Walker Bush>Not Gonna Happen.</George Herbert Walker Bush>

It makes sense from a business perspective, a public health perspective, and a moral perspective, but there is no way that the Congress is going to pass this because….Because they are a bunch of wankers.

H1N1 Update

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I had to drop my son off at school today, because the buses were running so late.

It appears that there are a sh%$ load of drivers who are out sick, so they are scrambling with substitute drivers, who are not only getting last minute calls to show up, but are unfamiliar with the routes.

They are not saying that it’s Influenza, but I’m thinking that it’s likely.

Oh My God!

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KFC’s Double Down Sandwich:

Contents:

  • 1 fried chicken patty
  • 2 slices of cheese
  • 2 slices of bacon
  • Yet another fried chicken patty.

Yep, the fried chicken fillets are in place of the bread, which means, I guess, that it is cool for Atkins folks.

According to the KFC PR flaks, the nutritive…..Value? Is as follows:

  • Calories: 590
  • Calories from fat: 280
  • Total fat: 31g
  • Saturated fat: 10g
  • Trans fat: 0g
  • Cholesterol: 190mg

Great googly moogly. If I ever get one, I will have to wash it down with a can of Jolt Cola.

This Ain’t Good

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Lung damage appears to be far more common in H1N1 cases than it is in normal influenza, which is troubling, because the Spanish Influenza epidemic was characterized by fatal rapid onset pneumonia:

Study of about 70 fatal H1N1 cases so far also reveals there may be more incidences of co-infections with bacteria than was earlier thought, Dr. Sherif Zaki told The Canadian Press in an interview.

The damage to lung tissue is consistent with that inflicted by ARDS or acute respiratory distress symptom, Zaki says, referring to an often-fatal, difficult-to-treat syndrome that can have a number of causes. The U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute estimates about 30 per cent of people who develop ARDS die.

“In terms of the disease, yes, it (H1N1) is remarkably different than seasonal flu,” Zaki says. “The pathology looks very similar to H5(N1).”

This winter will not be pretty.

That Whole “No Paid Leave Laws” Thing: H1N1 Edition

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It turns out that the place hit worst by H1N1 right now is the good old USA.

Why? Because of our antediluvian workplace and worker protections.

We are the only industrial nation that does not require paid sick and vacation time, so, “infections among healthcare workers suggest that people are showing up at work sick — meaning that workplace policies may be contributing to its spread.”

You think that the American workplace, with its inducements to come in sick might contribute to the spread of disease?

Who would have thunk it?

The Collapse of Chinese Rural Healthcare

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I remember reading about the “Barefoot Doctors“, paramedics sent out by Mao Zedong to address the lack of healthcare in the the rural regions, and now, with the Chinese Communist Party’s aggressive focus on economic development in urban areas, their rural healthcare system has been systematically dismantled:

Tan Zhengrui serves some 700 people in China’s rural Miyun county, making doctor’s rounds on his motorcycle with a stethoscope, thermometer and blood-pressure gauge — the sum total of his medical equipment.

Just 80 kilometers (50 miles) from central Beijing, Tan’s clinic in Peng He Yan village consists of a bed, a bench and a couple of desks. He doesn’t even have a scale to weigh patients.

The focus of the article is on the worries that if Swine Flu “goes viral”* in the rural areas, there will be nothing to arrest its spread.

Note that Tan Zhengrui, who started his career as one of Mao’s “Barefoot Doctors,” is due to retire, and there is no replacement in sight, and he suggests a return to the old ways, “We need a policy like Mao’s, to order people out to the countryside.”

Certainly, requiring a year of internship in the rural areas as a part of a doctor’s education would not be a bad thing.

*Sorry for the pun.†
†OK, I’m not really sorry for the pun, I’m an invertebrate punster, so slug me.‡
†Not sorry for that one either.