Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:
Polio Outbreak Reported in Northern Nigeria
It may be nothing more than a bad memory in Western society, but polio continues to ravage areas of the world where the vaccine is either unavailable, or in one case, rejected.
The Associated Press reports a "suspected large-scale polio outbreak" in a province of the African nation of Nigeria, where its leaders had boycotted children receiving the polio vaccine.
The heavily Muslim state of Kano is one of several in northern Nigeria that had rejected the polio vaccine, which is almost universally accepted as a foolproof deterrant to polio. According to the wire service, Kano leaders believed the vaccine was part of a U.S.-led plot to cause Muslim girls to become sterile.
The A.P. says dozens of polio cases were reported Friday in the city of Rogo, about 60 miles southeast of the capital city, also called Kano. At least one local official is calling for the Kano state's top official to intervene.
The cases showed classic polio symptoms -- fever, fatigue, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs -- and some had already resulted in paralysis.
The World Health Organization has told Kano's leaders that the polio vaccine is safe, but so far there has been no official response.
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No Evidence of Mad Cow Disease in Suspected Animal
There's good news for all of those Americans firing up their barbecues for the Independence Day cookouts.
The second of two cows whose initial tests for mad cow disease had originally been inconclusive does not have the dangerous ailment, government officials say. The first cow was given a clean bill of health July 1.
According to the Associated Press, officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture cleared the animal from having bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the scientific name for mad cow disease. There has been only one confirmed case of mad cow in the United States -- last December, in a Holstein living on a farm in the state of Washington.
Mad cow disease's fatal effects on cattle can also transfer to humans. The disease affects the brain and nervous system, and people who eat meat containing the BSE protein can get Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which also is fatal.
In the 1990s and into the 21st century, hundreds of thousands of animals were destroyed in England and Europe to stem a BSE outbreak. In the United States, more than 8,500 animals have been tested under a new program designed to catch any cases before they become widespread.
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FDA Warns About 'Permanent' Makeup
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a consumer alert about "permanent makeup" that can cause infection,
scarring, and serious disfigurement.
The reactions have been reported in people who've had certain
micropigmentation procedures, a form of tattooing, used to apply permanent
makeup for lip liner, eyeliner, or eyebrow color.
These adverse events are associated with certain ink shades of the Premier Pigment brand of permanent makeup inks, made by the American Institute of Intradermal Cosmetics, doing business as Premier Products, in Arlington, Tex.
So far, the FDA has been alerted to about 50 reported cases of adverse events connected with these inks. Swelling, cracking, peeling, blistering, scarring, and serious infection in the areas of the eyes and lips are among the side effects reported to date.
Some people have suffered serious disfigurement.
The agency urged consumers to report adverse reactions from tattoos,
including permanent makeup, to the FDA and to state and local health
authorities.
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WHO Urges Tighter SARS Controls
China and other countries must tighten controls on the SARS virus, says
the World Health Organization (WHO).
The demand for more stringent control of the SARS virus was made after Chinese investigators on Thursday revealed that shoddy controls at a Beijing laboratory resulted in an April SARS outbreak that infected nine people, killing one.
The investigation found that two workers at the lab fell ill in February
with SARS-like illnesses. But the workers weren't tested for SARS and they
returned to work after they recovered, the Melbourne Herald Sun
reported.
The two workers were tested only after the start of the April outbreak.
They tested positive for SARS antibodies.
"The fact that these cases weren't found sooner suggests that the
detection system isn't fully in place throughout the Chinese health system,"
Roy Wadia, a WHO spokesperson in Beijing, told the Sun.
One of the two lab workers who became sick in February oversaw
inactivation of the SARS virus. That should have made her a prime suspect for SARS when she became ill, Wadia said.
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Hopkins Ranked Top U.S. Hospital
For the 14th year in a row, the Johns Hopkins Hospital is the best in the
United States, according to a U.S. News & World Report ranking released Friday.
The magazine's rankings are based on a survey of doctors across the U.S. about hospital reputations in 17 medical specialties. The rankings also
factor in indicators such as nurse staffing levels, death rates, and medical
technology at the hospitals, the Associated Press reported.
Hopkins was among the top 10 hospitals in 16 of the 17 categories. Among those categories, it ranked first in gynecology, otolaryngology, and
urology.
Overall, the second-ranked hospital was the Mayo Clinic, followed at third by Massachusetts General Hospital. Rounding out the top five were the
Cleveland Clinic and UCLA Medical Center.
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Feds Consider Screening Donor Organs for Rabies
The U.S. government is considering whether to screen donated organs for the rabies virus, following disclosure that three people died after receiving organs from a single donor who showed no signs of the disease when he died.
Thursday's announcement of the three deaths by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention marked the first time that the deadly disease had been spread through solid organ donation, according to HealthDay.
The donor was not screened for rabies upon his death, the CDC said. Rabies is always fatal once symptoms occur, but is treatable if a person is vaccinated soon after being exposed to a rabid animal.
The lungs, kidneys, and liver of an Arkansas man who died in May were donated to four people in Texas, Oklahoma, and Alabama. Three of them died from rabies, while the fourth succumbed on the operating table before developing the disease, the CDC said.
The agency said it is working furiously to track down family members, health-care workers, and others who may have come in contact with the victims. Anyone suspected to have been exposed to the virus will be urged to get shots immediately, HealthDay reported.
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