Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 23, 1995 TAG: 9502230078
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It's a major investment to catch the estimated 80,000 heterosexual women of childbearing age who have HIV, 7,000 of whom give birth each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged.
But doctors recently discovered the drug AZT cuts by two-thirds the chance a mother will infect her unborn child - if she knows to take it. Thus, CDC argued, mass HIV testing should pay for itself both by saving babies' lives and their medical bills.
CDC wouldn't provide specific figures. But the Pediatric AIDS Foundation estimated the nation could save at least $350 million a year - after subtracting 4 million of the $25-30 HIV tests and $1,000 worth of AZT for each infected woman. The average hospital bill alone for every baby born with HIV is $35,000 a year for the eight to 10 years the child lives, the foundation reported.
About 2,000 babies are born each year with HIV, the AIDS-causing virus.
- Associated Press
W.Va. county gets Air Force to pay
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The Air Force has surrendered to a small Appalachian county that voted to close its airspace in protest over an unpaid bill.
The federal government will reimburse Morgan County $10,900 for responding to the crash of an Air National Guard C-130 in October 1992, Rep. Bob Wise said Wednesday.
The County Commission had voted to close its airspace to all federal aircraft until it received the money. The vote carried no authority because airspace is controlled by the federal government.
- Associated Press
FDA approves 1st hepatitis A vaccine
WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration has approved the nation's first vaccine for hepatitis A, a liver virus that typically plagues international travelers but has also been found around day-care centers and even salad bars.
Americans should be able to buy the new vaccine, called Havrix, within a few weeks, manufacturer SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals said Wednesday.
Hepatitis A is a highly contagious liver infection that hits between 100,000 and 150,000 Americans a year, mostly travelers and military personnel. Patients typically suffer flu-like symptoms, including diarrhea and vomiting, and occasionally jaundice, for about a month.
- Associated Press
Shots given babies linked to polio cases
BOSTON - Giving multiple shots of antibiotics to babies within a month of their polio vaccinations may trigger an outbreak of polio itself, a study finds.
Doctors made the discovery after investigating a lingering medical mystery - the relatively high rate of polio among vaccinated children in Romania.
The polio vaccine uses a weakened version of the polio virus. Doctors have long known that in extremely rare cases, the vaccine actually can cause polio.
While this complication is unusual in Romania, too, it is still more common there than elsewhere. Experts estimate that in Romania, there is one case of polio for every 178,000 doses of vaccine.
The new study, published in today's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, concludes this is due to the common Romanian practice of giving multiple injections of antibiotics to treat infant fevers.
- Associated Press
by CNB