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Health plans that did not cover over-the-counter (OTC) Claritin and moved other prescription non-sedating antihistamine (NSA) drugs to third tier status realized additional 7% to 16% cost savings
Health plan sponsors that did not cover over-the-counter (OTC) Claritin® (loratadine) and moved other prescription non-sedating antihistamine (NSA) drugs to third tier status under a three-tier drug benefit design realized an additional 7% to 16% in cost savings for all covered anti-allergy drugs compared to sponsors using other strategies, according to a study by Express Scripts. Reader's are invited to comment on this story. more
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Avian influenza A(H5N1) update
WHO issued guidelines for global surveillance aimed at monitoring the spread of H5N1 infection in human and animal populations. The guidelines include the definition of a laboratory-confirmed case of human H5N1 infection, and describe procedures for reporting cases to WHO. The guidelines also provide recommended procedures to monitor changes in transmission patterns and to detect potential human-to-human transmission and are avialable in today's issue of Vidyya.
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WHO guidelines for global surveillance of influenza A/H5 (PDF)
For close global monitoring of the situation and coordination of the global response, the World Health Organization (WHO) is recommending enhanced surveillance for influenza A/H5 until further notice. As the epidemiological situation evolves, WHO will review these surveillance guidelines and update them as necessary.
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U.S. officials find bird flu virus on another Delaware farm
U.S. officials have reported a second case of bird flu on another farm in the state of Delaware, prompting the killing of 72,000 chickens and the quarantining of 80 farms in the region. more
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Information for patients: Question and answers about ricin
Initial symptoms of ricin poisoning by inhalation (breathing in the ricin) may occur within 8 hours of exposure. Following ingestion (swallowing) of ricin, initial symptoms typically occur in less than 6 hours. Within a few hours of inhaling significant amounts of ricin, the likely symptoms would be respiratory distress (difficulty breathing), fever, cough, nausea, and tightness in the chest. Heavy sweating may follow as well as fluid building up in the lungs (pulmonary edema). more
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Estimating cancer risk from X-rays
Using a new calculation to estimate the risk of cancer from exposure to diagnostic X-rays, Amy Berrington de González, of the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, and Sarah Darby, of Cancer Research UK, suggested in a recent article that in the UK around 700 of the 124,000 cases of cancer diagnosed annually could be attributable to exposure to diagnostic X-rays.
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NCI to put partial-breast irradiation to the test
A clinical trial of partial-breast irradiation (PBI), slated to start in late summer 2004, will test whether this technique is equivalent to radiation treatment of the whole breast. more
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