Archives: Morning Breakouts

"The cholera epidemic in Haiti is gathering pace and some violence is expected when the country holds elections this week, U.N. officials warned Tuesday," Agence France-Presse reports. The official death toll from cholera is now above 1,400, but "experts believe that the real toll is close to 2,000 dead and the number of cases is between 60,000 and 70,000 rather than the 50,000 given by the authorities, Nigel Fisher, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Haiti said," according to the news service (11/23).

USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah announced on Monday the creation of a Bureau for Food Security within the agency "to manage the Obama administration's Feed the Future initiative, which Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to turn over to USAID," National Journal Daily reports. According to the article, Shah said, "This bureau will lead a whole-of-government effort to implement President Obama's Feed the Future initiative, a multibillion-dollar international effort led by USAID to develop the agricultural sectors of a number of countries throughout the developing world."

Some experts consider developments Tuesday to make that the most hopeful day during the epidemic's 30-year run.

A new study suggests dialysis six days a week may result in better health.

A study that included nearly 2,500 HIV-negative men and transgender women who have sex with men has shown that a daily dose of Truvada, a pill containing the AIDS drugs emtricitabine and tenofovir, "can reduce risk of contracting [HIV] by an average of 44%

The Associated Press/Washington Post reports that after questions arose about Pope Benedict XVI's comments on the use of condoms to prevent HIV, which one translation "implied that he was referring primarily to homosexual sex, when condoms aren't being used as a form of contraception," Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi "told reporters Tuesday that he asked the pope whether he intended his comments to only apply to male prostitutes. Benedict replied that it really didn't matter, that the important thing was the person in question took into consideration the life of the other, Lombardi said."

The number of new HIV infections "has dropped by about one-fifth over the past decade but millions of people are still missing out on major progress in prevention and treatment," according to the annual UNAIDS report released Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reports. "In 2009, 2.6 million people contracted the HIV virus that causes AIDS, a decline of 19 percent over the 3.1 million recorded in" 1999 the report found, according to the news service (11/23).

At a press conference in London, health officials said that the anticipated roll-out of the MenAfriVac for meningitis in three African countries will start on Dec. 6, the BBC reports. "The vaccine, which has been developed in India, costs less than fifty U.S. cents a dose and clinical tests suggest it could offer protection for between 10 and 15 years," the news service writes (Bowdler, 11/22).

Research published in the November issue of the journal Vaccine found that a global campaign to eliminate polio could save between $40 billion and $50 billion "over the next few decades if the crippling disease is wiped out within five years," Bloomberg reports (Gale, 11/22).

The Wall Street Journal reports that health spending cut proposals by President Barack Obama's deficit-reduction commission are drawing opposition from health companies, doctors and some consumer groups.