Health Highlights: Feb. 26, 2006

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

Deadly Bird Flu Strain Confirmed on French Turkey Farm

Bird flu has been found on a turkey farm in France, and officials confirmed Saturday that it was the deadly H5N1 strain, the New York Times reports.

This is the first outbreak of the virus in poultry stocks in France, which is the largest poultry producer in the European Union (EU). The H5N1 virus has been found in wild birds in France, and now that that the avian flus virus has been confirmed, thousands of birds are being killed, the newspaper says.

It''s ironic that avian flu has spread to France at this time of year, just when the country is hosting its annual international agricultural fair. The newspaper says President Jacques Chirac met with farmers and veterinarians and urged calm as Europe now tries to bring the avian flu under control.

There is no "absolutely no danger in eating poultry and eggs," the Times quotes Chirac as saying. He ate a chicken dish to emphasize his confidence in the poultry industry, the newspaper reported, and it quoted the French president as saying that the poultry industry had been "profoundly hurt and disrupted," and that "a completely unjustified sort of total panic" was developing.

Since it first appeared in 2003, the H5N1 virus has devastated poultry flocks and killed 92 people, all believed to have come into contact with the birds. Experts fear it may mutate into a form that''s transmitted between humans and spark a pandemic.

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Testosterone Deprivation Doesn''t Stop Prostate Cancer Spread, Study Says

A treatment that deprives men with localized prostate cancer of testosterone in hopes that the cancer''s spread will be significantly slowed doesn''t appear to work as well as hoped.

Researchers from Oregon Health and Science University Cancer Institute conducted an analysis of 3,486 with prostate cancer in 1994 and 1995 and a subgroup of 276 who were being treated with androgen deprivation. Androgen is a male hormone, and androgen deprivation therapy is often used as treatment for patients whose prostate cancer has already spread throughout the body.

It has some significant side effects as it wipes out most male hormones, including erectile dysfunction, hot flashes, fatigue, osteoporosis, high cholesterol, anemia, forgetfulness and insomnia.

The study of the 276 men with localized prostate cancer being treated with androgen deprivation showed "overall survival was predicted only by age and certain features of prostate cancer," a news release from Oregon Health and Science University Cancer Institute said.

"The notion that androgen deprivation therapy will hold prostate cancer at bay while you die of something else is not proving to be entirely true," said Dr. Tomasz Beer, M.D., director of the institutes prostate cancer research program.

Results of the study were presented Saturday at the Prostate Cancer Symposium in San Francisco.

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Diet Drug Maker Hopes to Convince FDA to Allow U.S. Sales This Year

The maker of the diet drug Acomplia, whose application to market it in the United States was delayed last week, says it''s still pushing to sell the drug in America this year.

The Bloomberg news service reports that French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis plans to meet with regulators from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration next month in an attempt to answer questions the FDA had required before it would approve Acomplia.

The wire service said that the FDA had not requested any news studies for Acomplis, so company chief executive Jean-Francois Dehecq said he believed the FDA''s questions could be answered within months.

Acomplia has shown siginificant weight loss results in trials in addition to its already proven effectiveness in helping people quit smoking.

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Sheryl Crow Recovering From Breast Cancer Surgery Spray Sales

Speaking through her publicist, singer Sheryl Crow says she is recuperating from breast cancer surgery and that her doctors tell her she should recovery fully.

The Associated Press reports that Crow, 44, says she underwent minimally invasive surgery for breast cancer in a Los Angeles hospital Feb. 22 and will have follow-up radiation treatment. "Her doctors think her prognosis is excellent," Crow''s publicist Dave Tomberlin told the wire service.

The singer, who recently amicably ended her engagement to champion bicyclist Lance Armstrong -- himself a cancer survivor -- also posted a statement on her Web site, emphasizing that she benefited from early detection and urged women to have regularly scheduled mammograms.

The A.P. quotes Armstrong as saying he was "devastated" by the news of Crow''s illness. "Once again I''m reminded of just how pervasive this illness is, as it has now touched someone I love deeply," he said.

On her Web site Crow cited a cancer survivor group founded by Armstrong -- the LIVESTRONG Survivor Care group -- as a good source for information about the disease.

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Glaxo Blocks Generic Nasal Spray Sales

GlaxoSmithKline has obtained a temporary restraining order blocking the shipment and sales of the just-approved generic competitor to its Flonase nasal spray for allergies.

A federal judge in Baltimore granted the 10-day order late Thursday, GlaxoSmithKline spokeswoman Mary Anne Rhyne said Friday, according to an Associated Press report.

The order covers Roxane Laboratories Inc.''s Fluticasone Propionate Nasal Spray, which the Food and Drug Administration approved Wednesday, as well as Par Pharmaceutical Companies Inc.''s own generic version of Flonase, which GlaxoSmithKline authorized.

Par said in a statement that it would comply with the order. Roxane Laboratories spokeswoman Dawn Plante said her company also ceased shipments, which had begun the day it received FDA approval.

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Last Updated: Feb. 26, 2006