Health Highlights: July 8, 2009

• Drug-Resistant Swine Flu Case Leads to Increased U.S. Testing
• U.S. Doctors Complete Largest Kidney Transplant Chain
• Sperm From Stem Cells Claim Challenged
• CDC's Internet Tool Combines Data on Pollutants/Health
• Insomnia Patients May Benefit From Web-Based Therapy

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Drug-Resistant Swine Flu Case Leads to Increased U.S. Testing

The case of a California teen with Tamiflu-resistant swine flu has prompted U.S. officials to increase their testing of swine flu infections. Tamiflu is the primary drug treatment for the new swine flu virus.

The 16-year-old San Francisco girl is only the third person in the world to be diagnosed with a swine flu strain resistant to Tamiflu. She was diagnosed June 11 and has since recovered, the Associated Press reported.

The two other cases involved patients in Denmark and Japan who were taking Tamiflu after coming into contact with people infected with swine flu. But the American girl hadn't taken Tamiflu, which means she was infected by an already-circulating Tamiflu-resistant strain.

U.S. health officials say they're not alarmed because they've been expecting to see some Tamiflu-resistant cases of swine flu, the AP reported. Resistance to the drug is seen in other types of flu viruses.

Cases of Tamiflu-resistant swine flu are likely to be sporadic, "but it's very important to monitor them," said Dr. Tim Uyeki, a flu expert at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC has asked health departments across the country to submit more swine flu virus samples for testing, the AP reported.

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U.S. Doctors Complete Largest Kidney Transplant Chain

In what's believed to be the largest chain of organ donations in history, U.S. doctors at four hospitals in four states completed eight kidney transplants over three weeks.

For this kidney swap, 10 doctors performed 16 surgeries on eight living donors and eight recipients at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, and INTEGRIS Baptist Memorial Hospital in Oklahoma, the Associated Press reported.

This type of kidney transplant chain is arranged when a number of people who need transplants have relatives or friends who are willing to donate kidneys but aren't compatible. Each donor in the chain is matched with a compatible recipient they don't know.

The kind of multistate exchange performed in recent weeks could greatly reduce the number of kidney patients waiting for eligible donors, said Dr. Robert Montgomery, chief transplant surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

"We hope this creates a movement that encourages other transplant centers to adopt the model we used," he said at a news conference held a few hours after the last transplant was performed Monday night, the AP reported.

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Sperm From Stem Cells Claim Challenged

Claims by British scientists that they used a new technique to create human sperm from embryonic stem cells are being challenged by other experts.

The technique would enable researchers to study sperm development and possibly lead to treatments for male infertility, Karim Nayernia, of Newcastle University, said in a statement Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. The NorthEast England Stem Cell Institute was also involved in the research.

However, other British scientists are skeptical about the research and note that the sperm cells created in the laboratory were abnormal.

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CDC's Internet Tool Combines Data on Pollutants/Health

A Internet-based tool that will enable members of the public, scientists and health professionals to track environmental exposures and chronic health conditions was unveiled Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Environmental Public Health Tracking Network offers environmental information from across the nation, including data on water and air pollutants, and details about chronic conditions such as asthma, cancer, heart disease, and childhood lead poisoning.

It's known that exposure to such things as lead and air particle pollution contribute to health problems, but many links between pollutants and illness can't be proven because detailed health and environmental data were kept separate until now, according to the CDC.

"The ability to examine many data sets together for the first time has already resulted in faster responses to environmental health issues. We believe the Tracking Network holds the potential to shed new light on some of our biggest environmental health questions," Dr. Howard Frumkin, director of the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health, said in a news release.

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Insomnia Patients May Benefit From Web-Based Therapy

Web-based therapy may be able to help people with insomnia, a small U.S. study suggests.

The study included 22 adults with moderate insomnia who used Internet software designed to change patterns that contribute to sleep problems. For example, the Sleep Healthy Using the Internet (SHUTi) software offers advice about specific bedtimes and teaches patients better sleep habits, such as avoiding daytime naps. No human therapist was involved, the Associated Press reported.

After nine weeks of using SHUTi, the 22 participants woke up fewer times and spent fewer minutes awake during the night, compared to a control group. The findings were published Monday in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.

"This is a very interactive, tailored, personalized program," study co-author Frances Thorndike, of the University of Virginia Health System, told the AP. She helped design the software, which could offer a low-cost alternative to face-to-face behavioral therapy.