There have been so many important stories in the news this week that I need to do a news roundup just to keep up with it! If you have flu in your household, H1N1 or seasonal, two of the links below will be of great interest. And, more studies to prove BPA is toxic to humans (no surprise there).
Now that BPA is being linked to erectile dysfunction in men, maybe it will get some real national attention and legislative action! A new study on men working with BPA in China (probably making dollar store gadgets for the U.S.) links BPA exposure with male sexual problems. For more on this visit The Washington Post. Exactly how many studies do we need to see and report on before BPA is banned?
Swine Flu news from Europe: The most vulnerable don’t have to wait in long lines, but are invited to make appointments to receive their shots.
Dr. Steve Field, president of the Royal College of General Physicians, “said Britain's socialized health care system allows the country to target people who need to be vaccinated quickly: "It's not like the U.S., where it's the survival of the fittest and the richest."”
This is in response to the Wall Street firms getting their vaccinations before most of the nation’s children and high risk individuals.
To read more about other countries different approach and mindset about the Swine Flu vaccine, check out this story from the Washington Post.
Speaking of the flu, when doctors are to prescribe Tamiflu has been recently questioned. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states “antivirals should be given in the most severe cases of the flu, or when a patient is in a high-risk group, which includes pregnant women and children under 2.”
But I know of a friend, a healthy male of 38 years old, who has been prescribed Tamiflu with no underlying health conditions. The article discusses some side effects of Tamiflu that parents should know about before deciding with their doctor whether to use the medication. Read more about it at The New York Times.
4 comments:
I am not sure if you can call the fittest or the richest, but so far in my state of Illinois the people that got the flushots for H1N1 are the poorest. My state is offering free flushots in the worst neighborhoods and I mean the hoods possible. I live in a community that can afford anything in this recession and so far we were complaining that it is the poor and the homeless that is being taken care of first than the people that can afford these shots and can go anywhere around here but cannot find them. To me all the ghetto communities are considered first above the rest. Maybe it is just here in my state. I refuse to get mugged standing for a flushot.
The fam and I just battled H1N1 and honestly, it wasn't much of a battle. No one had a fever over 102, the worst was my daughter with the awful sounding cough. Lots of D, C and some homeopathic flu remedy and even my son, who has asthma and is most at risk for complications, has come through unscathed.
In my hometown they gave my niece the Tamiflu without even doing a nasal swab to find out if she really had the flu. They have got everyone so worked up about the H1N11 virus that every sniffle is sending people here to the ER and the docs are handing out Tamiflu like it's candy. Thanks for posting the links it's always good to get more information on things.
Thanks for the comments Jessica, Dani and Anonymous!
Jessica- same here. They gave my friend Tamiflu without even seeing him!
Danipoppins- glad to hear your flu wasn't awful. It seems like a mild flu is in our area-- my girls had a cold this week, with a hacking cough, and I am wondering. It didn't seem bad enough to be H1N1, but of course I can't be sure.
What a different experience, Anonymous! I haven't heard of this at all. I think your comment proves how different the vaccination is being handled state to state. Good luck and I hope you are able to get the vaccine in a safe environment. Thanks for sharing your experience.
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