Health Highlights: July 20, 2010

July 20, 2010 RSS Feed Print

California Whooping Cough Outbreak May Be Worst In 50 Years
More People Receiving AIDS Drugs: WHO
Caribbean Hard Hit By Dengue Fever

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

California Whooping Cough Outbreak May Be Worst In 50 Years

Children, pregnant women and elderly people in California should get vaccinated against whooping cough in order to protect them against what may be the worst epidemic of the contagious disease in the state in 50 years, warn health officials.

So far this year, nearly 1,500 whooping cough (pertussis) cases have been reported in California, nearly five times the number of cases last year, said state epidemiologist Dr. Gil Chavez, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Five infants, all under three months old, have died of whooping cough so far this year and a sixth infant death was still being investigated Monday.

Chavez said that babies younger than six months are at greatest risk because even those who've been vaccinated against whooping cough have yet to develop immunity, the Times reported.

Three-quarters of infants who get whooping cough are infected by someone in their home, said Dr. Dean Blumberg, an associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis.

"That's why it's important to make sure their siblings and caregivers are protected," he told the Times.

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More People Receiving AIDS Drugs: WHO

The number of people worldwide taking life-saving AIDS drugs increased 12-fold between 2003 and 2010, says the World Health Organization.

Last year alone, there was a 1.2 million increase, bringing to 5.2 million the total number of people receiving antiretroviral treatment, the Associated Press reported.

That large boost in 2009 was due to improved access to treatment globally, but especially in sub-Saharan Africa, according to Gottfried Hirnschall, director of WHO's HIV/AIDS department.

"That's obviously where the greatest need is in terms of numbers is, but that's really where we have seen the most impressive scale-up in terms of treatment access," Hirnschall told the AP.

The new figures were presented at an international AIDS conference in Vienna, Austria.

While the increase is significant, many more people still need access to antiretroviral treatment, Bill Clinton said in a keynote address, the AP reported.

"Five million people on treatment is a lot compared to where we started but still a third of those who need treatment today," the former U.S. president said. "We cannot get to the end of this epidemic without both more money and real changes in the way we spend it."

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Caribbean Hard Hit By Dengue Fever

Dozens of deaths have been reported as mosquito-borne dengue fever reaches epidemic levels in the Caribbean.

Warm weather and an unusually early rainy season that led to an explosion in mosquito populations are being blamed for the situation, which is straining the capacity of hospitals in some countries, the Associated Press reported.

There have been 27 deaths reported in the Dominican Republic and at least five have died and another 6,300 cases have been reported in Puerto Rico, which faces what may be its worst dengue outbreak in more than a decade, according to officials.

"We are having a really large epidemic," Kay Tomashek, epidemiology section chief of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's dengue branch in Puerto Rico, told the AP.

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