Here are some of the latest health and medical news
developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:
Global Effort to Reduce Infectious Disease Risk Announced
An international effort to reduce the risk of infectious disease
was announced Thursday.
Over the next five years, the United States will work with at
least 30 other countries and three global groups -- the World
Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the
World Organization for Animal Health -- to prevent, detect and
respond to infectious disease threats worldwide.
The Global Health Security Agenda seeks to counter natural
threats and those caused by accidental or intentional releases of
"While we have made great progress in fighting and treating diseases, biological threats can emerge anywhere, travel quickly, and take lives," Lisa Monaco, assistant to the president for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, said in a U.S. government news release.
"The recent outbreaks of H7N9 influenza and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome are reminders of the need to step up our efforts as a global community. The Global Health Security Agenda is about accelerating progress toward a world safe and secure from infectious disease threats," she explained.
Vaccine Pellets for Mice Show Promise in Curbing Lyme
An experimental vaccine to control Lyme disease in mice shows
promise, according to researchers.
Controlling Lyme disease in mice would reduce its spread to
people. Mice carry the bacteria that cause the condition and infect
ticks who bite them. Ticks infect new mice when they feed on them,
and ticks also transmit the disease to people,
The vaccine created by a company called U.S. Biologic was
contained in pellets eaten by mice in a wooded area of New York
over five years, the researchers reported in the
Journal of Infectious Diseases.
"Over a few years we saw a 75 percent reduction in the number of infected ticks," Dr. Tom Monath, a member of the board of U.S. Biologic, told NBC News. "That would almost certainly result in a reduction of human infections."
The company is seeking U.S. Department of Agriculture approval
for the vaccine, which would be distributed in places where people
are at risk of getting infected with Lyme disease, such as hiking
paths and parks.
About 300,000 people in the United States are infected with Lyme
disease every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control
FDA Approves Imbruvica for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
The drug Imbruvica (ibrutinib) has been approved to treat
chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in patients who have undergone
at least one previous type of treatment, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration said Wednesday.
This is an expanded approval for Imbruvica, which was approved
in 2013 to treat mantle cell lymphoma in patients who'd had at
least one previous type of treatment.
"Today's approval provides an important new treatment option for CLL patients whose cancer has progressed despite having undergone previous therapy," Dr. Richard Pazdur, director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in an agency news release.
CLL is a rare blood and bone marrow disease. About 15,680
Americans were diagnosed with CLL and 4,580 died from the disease
in 2013, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Approval of the drug, made by Pharmacyclics of California, was
based on a clinical trial of 48 patients with CLL who'd had
previous therapy. It showed that the cancer shrank in nearly 58
percent of the patients who received Imbruvica, and that the length
of the response ranged from about six to 24 months.
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