Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Canada Probably Won't Ease Flu Shot Shortfall

Don't expect flu vaccines from Canada and overseas to fill the void left by the British government's decision to shut down a major U.S. supplier, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson said Thursday.

Though Thompson said the government has located a few million unsold doses from other international suppliers, they aren't licensed for sale in the United States and probably couldn't be approved in time to be made available this flu season, the Associated Press reported.

Thompson's comments to reporters came after President Bush suggested during Wednesday night's presidential debate that Canadian supplies might help ease the U.S. shortage. "We're working with Canada to hopefully help us realize the vaccine necessary to make sure our citizens have got flu vaccinations during this upcoming season," Bush said.

Ironically, the president made the suggestion despite his administration's efforts to quash a growing trend among municipalities and private citizens to import less expensive Canadian drugs.

As a sign of how bad the vaccine shortage already is perceived, Colorado health officials are warning residents to avoid black market flu shots following the theft of 620 doses of vaccine from an Aurora pediatrician's office, the Rocky Mountain News reported.

The immunizations had arrived at the office on Friday and were stolen sometime over the three-day Columbus Day weekend, according to police in Aurora, a Denver suburb.

Experts doubt that hospitals or doctors will buy the stolen inoculations from the black market, the newspaper said, since the vaccine can lose its effectiveness if it isn't stored at precisely the right temperature. Health officials said it was dangerous to buy flu vaccine over the Internet or to obtain a shot at an unfamiliar clinic for more than about $30, the News reported.

As is the case nationwide, Colorado faces a severe vaccine shortage; the newspaper cited reports of the vaccine selling for as much as $100 per dose.

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Half of Older Americans May Be at Risk of Osteoporosis

If older Americans don't start getting lots of calcium, vitamin D, and exercise soon, more than half will be at risk for the brittle bone disease osteoporosis, the U.S. Surgeon General warned in a report released Thursday.

Half of Americans older than 50 will run the risk of bone fractures from osteoporosis by 2020 unless they do the right things, Dr. Richard H. Carmona said in the report titled, Bone Health and Osteoporosis: A Report of the Surgeon General.

The report included ominous statistics: 10 million Americans over the age of 50 have osteoporosis, another 34 million are at risk of developing the condition, and 1.5 million Americans suffer an osteoporosis-related bone fracture every year, HealthDay reported.

The cost of those fractures is high in money and lives. About 20 percent of older people who have hip fractures die within a year, some 300,000 people with hip fractures are hospitalized annually, and the direct annual costs of such fractures is $18 billion, the report said.

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Detroit Ranked as U.S. Sex Disease Capital

Detroit is the sexual disease capital of the United States, according to new rankings from Men's Health magazine.

The October issue primarily tracked cases of gonorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Next in the worst-ranked order were the cities of Newark, N.J.; Baltimore; and Atlanta.

Cities rankest safest from sexually transmitted diseases were Anaheim, Calif; Santa Ana, Calif., and Spokane, Wash.

According to the Detroit Free Press, Men's Fitness magazine in January awarded Detroit the dubious distinction as the nation's fattest metropolis.

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Cola Choice May Be All in Your Mind

Coke or Pepsi?

What determines your choice may lie in your brain as much as in your tongue, Texas researchers say.

Using MRI imaging technology, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston found that some cola-lovers' brains responded differently when they knew which brand they were drinking, versus when they drank their colas in a blind taste test.

If marketing efforts could be measured by this raw neurological response, it seems Coke has done a better job of implanting its appeal in people's minds, the researchers suggested. An image of a Coke can flashed on a screen while subjects were drinking the beverage elicited much more of a brain response than the image of a Pepsi can did among Pepsi drinkers.

Results of the research were published Thursday in the journal Neuron.

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Health of Hispanics Lags in U.S.

American Hispanics are in much poorer health than other racial groups, especially whites, according to several new government studies to be published Friday.

"For certain health conditions, Hispanics bear a disproportionate burden of disease, injury, death, and disability when compared with non-Hispanic whites," said a report in the Oct. 15 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Among the findings, Hispanics under 65 were 21 percent less likely to carry health insurance than whites; Hispanics of all ages were likelier to be overweight or obese; they were likelier to die of stroke, cirrhosis, HIV, and homicide; they had higher smoking rates than whites; and Hispanic children were less likely to be vaccinated against childhood diseases.

According to the CDC, cultural barriers often prevent Hispanics from getting the screenings they need to prevent disease.

A separate report found that Hispanics, overall, were nearly twice as likely as whites to develop diabetes. They also had higher mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and had the highest rate of teen births of any racial or ethnic group.

"Eliminating these disparities will require culturally appropriate public health initiatives, community support, and equitable access to quality health care," the report concluded.

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Cell Phones Raise Risk of Ear Tumors: Study

Use of a cell phone for 10 years or more almost doubles a person's risk of developing a benign tumor on the auditory nerve that allows us to hear, Swedish scientists concluded from a new study.

The risk of developing a noncancerous acoustic neuroma was up to four times higher on the same side as the phone was held, and virtually normal on the other side, according to scientists at the Swedish Institute of Environmental Medicine. The three-year study, focusing on 750 Swedes who had used cell phones for at least 10 years, was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

Since only analog phones had been available for at least 10 years prior to the study, the researchers said they couldn't draw conclusions about long-term use of more modern digital phones, according to the Agence France-Presse news service.

Acoustic neuromas generally aren't life-threatening, although they can become so if they grow too large and cause pressure on the brain, AFP reported.

Last Updated: Oct-14-2004