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Lupus Foundation Of America Web Chat Explores "Your Skin And Lupus"
Approximately two-thirds of the 1.5 million Americans living with lupus will develop some type of skin disease. Lupus is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system is unbalanced causing it to become destructive to any organ and tissue in the body. Skin disease in lupus can cause rashes or sores (lesions), most of which will appear on sun-exposed areas, such as a person"s face, ears, neck, arms, and legs. In addition, 40-70 percent of people with systemic lupus will find that their disease is made worse by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays from sunlight or artificial light. For this and other reasons, people with lupus are advised to take steps to protect themselves from exposure to UV light.
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Many U.S. Hospitals Fail To Report Physician Disciplinary Cases To National Databank
Many U.S. hospitals do not take sufficient disciplinary action against physicians for poor conduct or medical incompetence and fail to report such cases to the National Practitioner Data Bank, according to a report released Wednesday by Public Citizen, the Contra Costa Times reports. Congress established the databank in 1990 as a central repository for information about physicians whose hospital privileges had been withdrawn or limited for more than 30 days. The bank is closed to the public (Kleffman, Contra Costa Times, 5/27).For the report, Public Citizen"s Health Research Group analyzed studies by the HHS Office of Inspector General and the Citizen Advocacy Center, as well as medical journal articles and recommendations made during an October 1996 meeting on under-reporting by hospitals (Stark/Hallihan, ABCNews.com, 5/27). According to the report, nearly half of U.S. hospitals did not submit one physician"s name in 17 years to the databank. One purpose of the databank is to provide hospitals with background information about physicians they were considering hiring at their facilities. Under the initial expectations of the databank, federal officials estimated that at least 5,000 disciplinary cases would be reported annually. However, on average, about 650 reports have been made annually since the databank was created, the report found (Contra Costa Times, 5/27). The group on Wednesday sent a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that included recommendations to improve the efficacy of the databank. The letter said that the reporting numbers are "unreasonably low, compared with what would be expected if hospitals pursued disciplinary actions aggressively and reported all such actions." The letter urged Sebelius to ensure that hospitals are conducting necessary peer reviews and oversight of physicians, taking proper disciplinary actions and reporting them to the databank so that physicians" track records are available to all hospital administrators. Penalties also should be established for hospitals that fail to comply with the reporting requirements, the group said.Al Levine, the author of the report, said some hospitals had found ways to avoid their physician reporting responsibilities, such as by limiting restrictions on hospital privileges to fewer than 30 days or giving physicians a "leave of absence" in place of suspending their privileges. Levine said, "Even in states with high levels of reporting," it "seems to be concentrated in a few facilities" (Contra Costa Times, 5/27).In a statement responding to the report, the American Hospital Association said, "The premise that the number of reports received by the National Practitioner Data Bank correlates to jeopardized patient care is inaccurate," adding, "Hospitals are actively involved in a wide variety of efforts to continuously improve care and talk publicly about the care we provide" (ABCNews.com, 5/27).
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Swine Flu Cases In The USA, Breakdown By State, 17th May, 2009
According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and WHO (World Health Organization), the total number of swine flu A(H1N1) cases stood at 4,714, plus four deaths, on 17th May, 2009. Non-essential travel to Mexico has been downgraded from a "Warning" to a "Precaution"; meaning authorities consider travel to Mexico as not being dangerous for people who are not at high risk of normal flu complications.
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IAS Conference Begins, Report Says Economic Crisis Forcing Africans Living With HIV/AIDS Off Life-Saving Medications

At a news conference opening the 5th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention on Sunday in Cape Town, South Africa, Julio Montaner, president of the International AIDS Society, expressed disappointment that the "G8 ignored the HIV-AIDS issue at its annual summit this month," which was "just four years after pledging at the 2005 Gleneagles [G8] summit to fight for universal access to AIDS treatment by 2010," the Globe and Mail reports. "The silence of the G8 leaders is not just pathetic, it is criminal," Montaner said. The Global and Mail writes, "Cutting back on HIV-AIDS treatment programs during the recession will mean billions or even trillions of dollars in additional costs over the long term, especially because of growing scientific evidence that anti-retroviral medicine for AIDS patients can be crucial in preventing the transmission of the AIDS virus, Dr. Montaner said" (York, 7/20). More than 5,000 AIDS experts from around the world are gathered in Cape Town to discuss progress in the global fight against HIV/AIDS, Health24.com reports (Stassen, 7/20). "HIV and AIDS is indeed a challenge that has distinguished the last two decades of the last century and, unless we redouble our efforts to conquer this disease, it will continue to define the 21st century as well as for sub-Saharan Africa in particular," South African Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said at the conference opening, adding, "This is one challenge we must overcome as soon as humanly possible in order to produce an HIV and AIDS-free generation," reports Health-e/allAfrica.com (Thom, 7/19). On the eve of the conference, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said that a shortage of life-saving HIV/AIDS drugs in Zimbabwe, Uganda, Congo, Malawi, Guinea and South Africa would cost the lives of thousands and reverse a decade of gains in HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, the AP/Google.com reports. Eric Goemaere, medical coordinator in South Africa of MSF, "said apathy of governments, donors and the organizations they work with, as well as the global economic crisis, were to blame," according to AP/Google.com. The article examines the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and PEPFAR funding as well as cases in Africa where HIV-positive patients have been forced to halt their medications (Faul, 7/19). "About 9.5 million people from the countries concerned are HIV positive, and shortages are already threatening their supply of drugs," risking the patients" lives and forcing MSF doctors to decide who receives treatment first, BBC/ABC NEWS reports (7/19). MSF appealed for drug companies to submit their AIDS drug patents to a "patent pool," set up by the international drug financing agency UNITAID, so that developing countries have access critically-needed drugs at affordable prices, the SAPA/Weekend Post writes (7/20). "It is a question of choice for national and donor governments: will they give poor people just a few extra years of life, or the same chance for long-term survival as people with HIV/AIDS in rich countries?" Tido von Schoen-Angerer, director of MSF"s Access to Essential Medicines Campaign, said in a MSF press release (7/20). In a separate article, the AP/Google.com reports on a "yet-to-be published analysis" of PEPFAR, which shows a drop in the incidence of HIV in countries that receive PEPFAR funds compared to those that do not receive funds. Montaner spoke of the findings at the conference, saying, "My research team was able to document a decrease in HIV incidence among PEPFAR focus countries, when compared with non-focus countries, in Africa" (7/19). The International AIDS Society is providing regular updates on the latest conference developments and res along with featured guest posts on the IAS 2009 Live blog. This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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