Drug-Resistant TB in US Latest Evidence of Soaring Global Challenge

The recent revelation of the first U.S. case of an especially drug-resistant form of tuberculosis is the result of a six-month study by the Associated Press of the "soaring global challenge of drug resistance."

"Today, all the leading killer infectious diseases on the planet — TB, malaria and HIV among them — are mutating at an alarming rate, hitchhiking their way in and out of countries," write AP reporters Margie Mason and Martha Mendoza. "The reason: Overuse and misuse of the very drugs that were supposed to save us."

FDA Tobacco Czar to Work with Tobacco Co's to Review New Products

The nation's first-ever "tobacco czar" says his office will be working with tobacco manufacturers to evaluate new products and possibly block them from the marketplace.

"Congress has set a new standard based on the public health and population impact," Lawrence Deyton, Director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, said in an interview with Congressional Quarterly. We have to work with tobacco companies to evaluate the pros and cons of every new product, and a lot of smart people will be working on figuring out how we do that."

P4P Twitter Page Gets 200th Follower

After nearly three months and 284 tweets, Partnership for Prevention's Twitter site has attracted its 200th follower. Our Twitter site provides a quick digest of prevention policy news and updates on our activities and initiatives. Hope you'll check us out!

Former CDC Director to Head Merck's Vaccine Unit

Former CDC Director Julie Gerberding has been hired by Merck to head up its vaccine unit, the Wall Street Journal's Jacob Goldstein reports. Vaccines are a $5 billion business for Merck. Gerberdmg ran the CDC from 2002 until early this year.

Researchers to Study Nicotine Vaccine for Smokers

USA TODAY's Rita Rubin reports that researchers are investigating whether the same approach used to prevent infectious diseases could treat addictions to such drugs as nicotine.

Nabi Pharmaceuticals has gotten a $10-million grant to study the effectiveness and to monitor the side effects of a smoking-cessation vaccine. Nabi, based in Rockville, Md., expects to begin enrolling patients in the NicVax study by year's end.

Commission to Build A Healthier America's Term Comes to a Close

The Robert Wood Johnson's Commission to Build a Healthier America was launched in February 2008 to find out why Americans aren’t as healthy as they could be and to suggest ways outside the health care system to improve health for everyone.

The commission is wrapping up its duties and closing its doors after two years in which it has issued two major, held regional field hearings, national events and more than 50 meetings with public and private sector leaders.

"This Commission was not the first time this country has addressed health disparities or the social determinants of health – but it’s the first time in a long time that we have been able to look at these issues squarely in the face and have hope," says RWJF President/CEO Risa Lavizza-Mourey.

"The Commission crystallized for all of us that health is more than health care. Health is where and how we live, learn, work and play," she says. "So, reaching beyond traditional health care communities is essential if we are going to make any headway in improving the health of all Americans."

Lavizza-Mourey further discusses the closing of the commission and the importance of its work in a recent podcast.

Massachusetts Tobacco Cessation Results "Shocking," Says CDC Expert

The success of a recent Massachusetts program hat provides virtually free access to tobacco cessation treatments has left CDC officials shocked and encouraged lawmakers to look at expanding the approach nationwide.

When the program was launched two years ago, about 38 percent of poor Massachusetts residents smoked. By 2008, the smoking rate for poor residents had dropped to about 28 percent, a decrease of about 30,000 people in two and a half years, or one in six smokers. There are also indications that the drop has lowered rates of hospitalization for heart attacks and emergency room visits for asthma attacks, she said.

Senators Richard J. Durbin of Illinois and Bernard Sanders of Vermont have introduced an amendment that would provide similar new Medicaid coverage for tobacco addiction as nationwide, and the Senate could vote on it by the weekend. If the amendment fails, Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa said he would try another avenue: seeking an expansion through a conference committee that will ultimately reconcile the House and Senate bills.

"We should be able to find an opening," Mr. Harkin said in an interview. "This is one demonstrable way we can actually bend the cost curve and keep people healthy."

Terry F. Pechacek, associate director for science for the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health, told the New York Times that he found the numbers “shocking,” since smoking rates around the nation have barely budged since 2004. He said the U.S. smoking rate has only decreased from 20.9 percent in 2004 to 20.6 percent in 2008, while smoking-related illnesses cost the Medicaid system more than $22 billion a year - or about 11 percent of overall Medicaid expenditures.

Pechacek says if the federal health care overhaul includes smoking-cessation coverage, publicizing it will be as crucial to its success as the cessation tools themselves.

"Even in the some of the states that offer wider coverage,” he said, “there’s been minimal promotion. People have to know about a benefit for it to have an effect.”