Health Care Tuesday

[Joanne98]

by DemFromCT

Tue Mar 03, 2009 at 07:00:05 AM PST

Public health expert to run Dartmouth.

Dartmouth has tapped Jim Yong Kim, a leader in global health, to become its next president. Kim, 49, currently heads the department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he earlier received an MD and a PhD in medical anthropology. He co-founded Partners in Health with Harvard classmate Paul Farmer, and then went on to head the HIV/AIDS program at the World Health Organization in 2004-2005.



Now that Sebelius is at HHS, here's some informed speculation about FDA.

From the American Thoracic Society:

The Washington Post (2/28, C5, Huget) covered the influenza deaths of two apparently healthy Maryland teenagers, reported in the 2/27 HHS Briefing, saying it "calls attention to the flu's unpredictable nature." While noting that 92 percent of last year's pediatric flu death-victims were unvaccinated, even the recommended flu shot, the Post adds, "is no guarantee, especially because this year's formulation appears much less effective against some of the circulating strains than against this season's predominant one, against which it appears to confer strong protection. Even among healthy people it might only confer 90 percent protection; among those with chronic conditions, the elderly and the very young, protection can dip far lower."

Flu cases reported. The Tennessean (3/2) reports, "Davidson County health officials are offering half-price flu shots as the number of influenza cases continues to rise." Officials say it is still "not too late to get a flu shot."

California's Fresno Bee (3/2) reports, "A Fresno County boy and Riverside County girl are the first children in California to die of complications from the flu this year" Through February this year, "17 children had died of influenza-related illnesses this season" nationwide, according to the CDC. County health officials stressed that "people who have not received a flu shot can still get one."



Speaking of flu, here's yet another in novel approaches to vaccine:

Scientists in Hong Kong and the United States have developed an experimental H5N1 bird flu vaccine for people by piggybacking it on the well-tested and highly successful smallpox vaccine.

Initial tests on mice showed the vaccine to be highly effective, they told a news conference in Hong Kong on Sunday.

You can get anything to work in mice. Ferrets are another story (the preferred flu animal model.)


From Drum Major Institute in Aug '08, a reminder of what middle-class voters want:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/3/3/1003/18603/233/703541