The World Health Organization Wednesday raised its swine flu pandemic alert to the second highest of its six levels. UW infection disease specialist Dennis Maki says a pandemic refers to a new strain of a virus that no one has a natural immunity to, meaning everyone is susceptible.
Dr. Maki predicts if rates continue at their current levels, 500 people may be infected worldwide by the end of the week.
More cases of Swine Flu are detected as the governor declares an emergency in the state. Governor Jim Doyle declared a Public Health Emergency in Wisconsin on Thursday, in response to the presence of Swine Influenza A , or H1N1, in the state.
Here is some more news related to the swine flu — and this time there is a local hook. University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin sent an e-mail to members of the university community asking faculty, staff and students to “cancel all nonessential planned travel to Mexico until further notice.”
Wisconsin’s tourism industry and low-income workers would likely be the hardest hit by pandemic that could damage the state’s economy, according to a University of Wisconsin-Madison study.
As the World Health Organization raised its infectious disease alert level Wednesday and health officials confirmed the first death linked to swine flu inside U.S. borders, scientists studying the virus are coming to the consensus that this hybrid strain of influenza — at least in its current form — isn’t shaping up to be as fatal as the strains that caused some previous pandemics.
In fact, the current outbreak of the H1N1 virus, which emerged in San Diego and southern Mexico late last month, may not even do as much damage as the run-of-the-mill flu outbreaks that occur each winter without much fanfare.
Quoted: Dr. Christopher Olsen, a molecular virologist who studies swine flu at UW-Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine.
Quoted: Dr. Christopher Olsen, professor of public health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The 1990s was a heady time for the pharmaceutical industry, which had just embarked on what would become known as the Statin Wars. And James Stein, an up-and-coming heart doctor, was ripe to be hooked as a drug company speaker.
Stein, now a professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, was a 29-year-old cardiology fellow in Chicago in 1994 when his faculty mentor asked him to fill in for him at a drug company-funded lecture to a large group of doctors.
With the integrity of the medical field at stake, the influential Institute of Medicine said financial deals between the drug industry and doctors, medical schools and the medical profession need to be restricted.
The institute’s sweeping recommendations call on medical professionals â?? from university professors to family doctors â?? to shun financial arrangements with companies that flourished over the past three decades.
There have been no confirmed cases of swine flu reported in Wisconsin as of Tuesday afternoon, but 30 possible cases have been referred to the state lab for testing.
The Wisconsin Division of Public Health and local health departments are working with clinical providers (hospitals, clinics, etc.) to identify and test suspect cases.
The division set up its emergency operations center on Sunday, and is planning to staff its phone bank 24/7 in response to the swine flu outbreak.
On the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, officials are monitoring local, national and international developments.
The pandemic has had no immediate impact on the university.
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) — The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire has canceled its study abroad program to Mexico because of swine flu.
Karl Markgraf, the director of the Center for International Education, says staff decided Tuesday to pull the six-week program involving 23 students starting May 26.
Instead, staff is working on a comparable program to Costa Rica.
Five UW-Eau Claire students studying in Mexico now are so far healthy.
SOUTH BEND (FOX 28 – WSJV) – FOX 28 News was the first news organization to confirm that a Notre Dame student has the first confirmed case of the swine flu in Indiana. The Indiana Health Department says the case was found in St. Joseph County.
The Indiana health commissioner said Tuesday that the Notre Dame student is “doing well.” According to the University’s news and information department, the student sought treatment at the student health center on April 22nd.
The latest international health scare, the swine flu, has begun to spread through the United States, with the number of reported cases mounting, but it has yet to hit Wisconsin.
MEXICO CITY — World health officials raised a global alert to an unprecedented level as swine flu was blamed for more deaths in Mexico and the epidemic crossed new borders, with the first cases confirmed Tuesday in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific regions.
With the swine flu having already spread to at least six other countries, authorities around the globe are like firefighters battling a blaze without knowing how far it extends.
Local public health officials and government leaders are in contact with state health officials and plan to monitor the ongoing swine flu pandemic so the public can be informed of any changes as quickly as possible.
….As of 8 a.m. Tuesday, the number of cases in the United States went up to 45, according to the Washington Post.
No cases have been reported in Wisconsin.
The state’s leading infectious disease expert is warning of a possible flu pandemic because of the swine flu outbreak.
Mexico is the hardest hit with about 149 deaths in that country. Twenty of those are confirmed to be the swine flu. Meanwhile, nearly 2,000 have been hospitalized since the first report on April 13.
Dr. Dennis Maki, of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health, said that all signs are pointing toward a large outbreak, rivaling the worldwide flu pandemic of 1918.
Maki said that there are many reasons this situation might be even worse than the 1918 flu pandemic. He said that this is because of the preliminary mortality rate associated with this particular strain.
The latest international health scare, the swine flu, has begun to spread through the United States, with the number of reported cases mounting, but it has yet to hit Wisconsin.
According to Seth Boffeli, communications director for the state Department of Health Services, there have been no positive cases for the swine flu in Wisconsin so far. Ten Wisconsin residents have undergone tests for it, but the results were negative.
â??Itâ??s important to recognize that we donâ??t have an actual pandemic right now, weâ??re still in that preparation phase,â? said Sarah Van Orman, director of University Health Services.
Although there have been no confirmed cases of swine flu in Wisconsin, state and University of Wisconsin officials are taking measures to prepare in the event of an outbreak.
According to Seth Foldy, state health officer, there have been 10 suspected cases of the flu around Wisconsin. A majority of the people suspected of having the virus recently traveled to Mexico for spring break, however, none of them tested positive for the flu as of Monday morning.
The University of Wisconsin officials said that they have set plans in motion to do the same as their state counterparts.
“We’ve spent a lot of time over the last few days getting our (pandemic) plan reactivated, and we called together key campus leaders today,” said Sarah Van Orman, executive director of University Health Services.
Those campus leaders said that they’re encouraging the community to be vigilant about their health, especially in the densely populated residence halls. They remind that it has been weeks since many UW students hit Mexican beaches for spring break.
“We’ve had lots of good questions, calls from parents and other students,” said Van Orman. “We do know we had a lot of students who were traveling in Mexico over the spring break time, which was several weeks ago. So, we wouldn’t recommend any evaluation for those folks right now if they were to become ill other than we might ordinarily do.” (Second item.)
Wisconsin remained free of swine flu Monday, but the state health officer said he wouldnâ??t be surprised if cases hit here.
“Itâ??s possible the outbreak could grow to affect many people in this state,” said Dr. Seth Foldy of the state Department of Health Services.
A Mexico-based outbreak of the disease, which erupted last week, has expanded to five U.S states and other countries, with school closures in New York and other states.
Health experts at the UW School of Veterinary Medicine say the current strain of pig swine virus is something the world’s never seen before.
“It primarily causes pneumonia — people with the flu will have a fever, muscle aches, body aches, sore throat, runny eyes, runny nose,” said Dr. Christopher Olsen.
Olsen oversees a laboratory at the UW devoted to studying why swine influenza spreads to humans. He says while the illness originated with pigs, it’s now spreading from human to human.
State health officials say they are closely watching for the arrival of Swine Flu in Wisconsin.
So far, there have been no cases of Swine Flu in Wisconsin. Still, State Health Officer Dr. Seth Foldy says it would not be a surprise if cases were to appear in the near future and the state is planning accordingly.
College health officials across the country are preparing for potential outbreaks of swine flu on their campuses. In the process, they are also keeping students and faculty and staff members up to date with e-mail messages and health bulletins on campus Web sites.
Much of information is common-sense advice about preventing the spread of disease. The most frequent refrain: â??Wash your hands.â?
College officials in the United States have not yet moved to pull students and faculty members out of Mexico, but they say they are closely monitoring the deadly outbreak of swine flu in that country.
“We’re on very high alert,” said Susan B. Sutton, associate vice chancellor for international affairs at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, just hours before the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Monday afternoon that it would recommend forgoing unnecessary travel to Mexico.
About 10 people in Wisconsin have been tested for swine flu since Saturday â?? most of them recent travelers to Mexico â?? and none have tested positive, Dr. Seth Foldy, state health officer, said at a news conference today.
The state will get a shipment of drugs that can treat the flu today from a national stockpile, said Karen Timberlake, secretary of the Department of Health Services.
The establishment by the Government of a neo-natal screening programme for cystic fibrosis will have a major impact on the quality and longevity of Irish people with the disease, a leading international pioneer of the technique has said.
American expert Prof Philip Farrell said the establishment of a neo-natal programme in Ireland would lead to a marked improvement in the quality of life as it would help people suffering to lead healthier and longer lives.
Before delivering his paper at the conference, Prof Farrell, from the school of medicine and public health at the University of Wisconsin, explained how the introduction of neo-natal screening for the CF gene has had a huge impact on the lives of American CF sufferers.
Almost a year after a fatal medical helicopter crash near La Crosse took the lives of its three-member crew, a national debate is brewing over how much the air-ambulance industry should be regulated and by whom.
The Flight Safety Foundation has released a report that says oversight of the medical helicopter industry is lacking and that the vague role state, county, and federal agencies serve makes operations risky. It highlights nine crashes over a one-year period that killed 35 people, including the May 10, 2008 Medflight crash near La Crosse. Causes for that crash remain inconclusive.
Although anti-abortion activists have spoken out strongly against three pro-abortion rights members serving on the UW Hospitals and Clinics Authority Board, the state Senate voted Thursday to reappoint them.
Nearly one year ago, Mark Coyne, a registered nurse, was one of the three people killed in a University of Wisconsin Hospital Med Flight helicopter crash near La Crosse.
On Thursday, with Coyne’s widow, Ann, by her side, the first Mark Coyne Scholarship was awarded to Kristy Schnabel, of Madison.
Controversy over a Madison abortion clinic reemerged on the state Senate floor Thursday. West Bend Republican Glenn Grothman explained his no votes on the appointment of Roger Axtell of Beloit and Mike Weiden of Madison to UW Hospital and Clinics Authority Board. “In February, these gentlemen voted to have the Madison Surgery Center . . . begin to do abortions all the way through the fifth month,” said Grothman. “This is a total disgrace, it’s a barbarity.”
MADISON (WKOW)– The National Institutes of Health has released funding the economic stimulus to Madison and Milwaukee for biomedical research.
The Board of Regents of the UW System in Madison will receive $449,000 in stimulus funding to support a research project on molecular and cellular mechanisms in many different types of diseases. The stimulus funding can be used to help maintain or add research positions on the projects or for materials needed for the
A new clinical services director has been named to UW-Madisonâ??s University Health Services.
MADISON (WKOW) — The University of Wisconsin Madison announced on Wednesday that David DeMets, professor and chair of the Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, has been named the 2009 recipient of the Marvin Zelen Leadership Award in Statistical Science.
The award recognizes a person in government, industry or acadamia who, through his or her outstanding leadership, has greatly impacted the theory and practice of statistical science.
After they took an important state exam last fall, some of the students at Marquette Elementary rolled off the post-test stress with a little â??completion yoga.â?
Teachers in Marquetteâ??s nine classrooms now integrate the occasional yoga move into their curriculum, thanks to a contact the schoolâ??s principal made last year at Healthy Classrooms, a symposium on public health in education put together by a team of UW-Madison medical students.
The University of Wisconsin plans to cut its lab technologists program at a time when health care officials say the profession is in growing demand.
The UW School of Medicine and Public Health said the program will end as part of reductions required under Gov. Jim Doyleâ??s proposed budget, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
John Whittier works in a lab at the Health Science building during a class in the Western Technical College clinical laboratory technician program. Erik Daily
Yet the decision comes as clinical lab work employment is expected to rise by 14 percent from 2006 to 2016, faster than the average for all occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
UW-Madison is putting the â??public healthâ? in the School of Medicine and Public Health.
Dr. Patrick L. Remington has been appointed the first ever associate dean for public health at the school.
A statewide coalition aimed at curbing alcohol abuse has chosen to hold its first public forum in Wausau, a city it considers ready to tackle the issue.
Leaders also hope their initiative attracts the attention of Wausau-area lawmakers, including state Senate Majority leader Russ Decker of Weston, who will play key roles in debating legislation the coalition is promoting.
All Wisconsin Alcohol Risk Education will bring a panel of five state and local experts to Wausau on May 28 to speak about Wisconsin’s culture surrounding alcohol. The forum is one of as many as four planned throughout the state, said Lisa Maroney, the coalition’s coordinator and UW-Health legislative liaison.
From poverty and drug addiction to maternal depression and a parent’s incarceration, the environments young children grow up in can make them especially vulnerable, says brain researcher Julie Poehlmann.
But in her research into how high-risk infants and children develop, she has also observed their resilience in the face of such challenges, often tied to the response of adults who provide their early care.
“I look at the conditions and risks that can lead to less optimal development, but I also look at what factors promote positive development despite those risks,” said Poehlmann, an associate professor of human development and family studies and educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and director of Waisman Center’s Infant-Parent Interaction Lab.
UW Hospital officials are joining other groups in fighting a proposed change in the way livers are distributed for transplants nationally that could favor states with major urban centers, such as Illinois and Minnesota, over states with smaller cities, such as Wisconsin.
Patients in Wisconsin who need a liver transplant would have to compete against longer lists of patients in Illinois and Minnesota for organs, hospital officials said.
The University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison is fighting a national proposal that it says could have a detrimental impact on its transplant program.
Soon, liver transplant patients in Wisconsin might have to compete with patients in neighboring states for a chance at a new liver. UW Hospital is working to make sure that doesn’t happen.
UW Hospital officials are joining other groups in fighting a proposed change in the way livers are distributed for transplants nationally that could favor states with major urban centers, such as Illinois and Minnesota, over states with smaller cities, such as Wisconsin.
Patients in Wisconsin who need a liver transplant would have to compete against longer lists of patients in Illinois and Minnesota for organs, hospital officials said.
The UW School of Public Health is in the process of phasing out its Clinical Laboratory Sciences program by the end of 2012. The UW School of Public Health will no longer be accepting students into the Clinical Laboratory Sciences program.
Quoted: “There are no data to show these programs are having an impact on the problem they were created to address,” said June Dahl, director of the Alliance of State Pain Initiatives, a pain-management advocacy group. The program, part of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, has raised concern that the scrutiny of monitoring programs could discourage doctors from prescribing drugs to patients who need them for pain control.
The UW School of Medicine and Public Health is ending its long-standing program that trains medical lab technologists, in cuts required by Gov. Jim Doyleâ??s proposed budget, university officials said Tuesday.
The Clinical Laboratory Sciences program will train existing students until they finish the four-year undergraduate curriculum but will no longer enroll new students, said Dr. Robert Golden, medical school dean. The program, which started in 1925, has about 80 students.
Individuals and organizations who are making a difference in improving public health are being honored Wednesday.
The 2009 public health awards ceremony will be at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Warner Park Community Recreation Center on the city’s north side.
(Among the recipients are Dr. Dennis Maki, UW-Madison clinical professor of medicine, and Bill Buckingham, Dan Veroff, and David Long of the UW-Madison Applied Population Laboratory.)
MENOMONIE, Wis. — Students at the University of Wisconsin-Stout have voted to ban smoking anywhere on campus.
Stout Student Association President Michael Lubke said students were concerned about “walking through clouds of smoke and having cigarette butts littered around campus.”
Samantha Green-Milonâ??s life was ruled by drugs.
She couldnâ??t control her drinking. She smoked pot several times a day. Five years ago, she landed in jail â?? for the second time â?? for selling cocaine.
After drug treatment, she became sober and got married. Now she is studying to be a substance abuse counselor.
….Part of the challenge, scientists say, is that addiction, like heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, is a chronic condition; it changes the chemistry of the brain.
But thereâ??s another hurdle thatâ??s getting attention: treatment programs, with their voice-mail systems and multiple forms to fill out, arenâ??t very patient-friendly, especially to people whose lives present many barriers to staying in treatment.
A national program, based at UW-Madison, is trying to change that by bringing process improvements to drug treatment. The Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment, or NIATx, attempts to get addicts into treatment quicker and retain more of them by making the programs more appealing.
It was just a tumble down a couple of steps. But the bump on her head nearly killed Samarah Morrison, a Madison toddler now recovering from the same kind of brain injury that led to the recent death of actress Natasha Richardson after a fall on a beginner’s ski slope in Canada.
Research studies get underway all the time in Wisconsin. But as far we can tell, only one will have asthma sufferers carry an inhaler with a GPS device attached to it.
A UW-Madison researcher is looking for fifty adults from around Wisconsin , who suffer from asthma. He wants them to attach a global positioning device ….about the size of a deck of cards– to the inhaler that the people use during breathing difficulties. David van sickle is a health scholar in the department of population health sciences. He says the study will try to map when and where the environment triggers asthma symptoms. (Fourth item.)
Two state legislators have called for the creation of an academic detailing program in Wisconsin that would give doctors unbiased information about cost-effective prescription drugs.
The program would help counter one-sided presentations offered by drug company representatives in their visits to doctors, information that is designed to sell a company’s higher-cost, brand-name drug rather than a cheaper generic that might be just as effective, said Rep. Chuck Benedict (D-Beloit), a retired physician and chairman of the Assembly Committee on Public Health.
The legislators cited recent Journal Sentinel stories about drug company funding of doctor education courses at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in realizing there was a need for academic detailing here.
Noted: There has been a national call for all medical colleges to increase class size by 30 percent, which the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine is gradually doing.
But to address the shortage more specifically, the school developed the Wisconsin Academy for Rural Medicine program.
Through WARM, the UW tries to identify students that may be a good candidate to work in a more rural setting.
“Some of that is coming from rural communities, some of that is students that really engage in community life and community support. Even back in their junior high and high school eras, we find that who really engages in the community, things like that will help predict who returns to rural practice,” said Dr. Crouse.
Television is usually way off the mark when it comes to showing the realities of organ donation. But a recent episode of “ER” was an exception, said one of the world’s leading transplant surgeons.
“It was quite realistic. It was quite good,” said Dr. Hans Sollinger, who will give a presentation on organ donation and transplantation Tuesday night in Menasha.
Drug company funding of continuing medical education raises conflicts for the University of Wisconsin. The school should set strict guidelines.
Quoted: “Sometimes the biggest scientific achievements are the simplest,” says James Stein of the University of Wisconsin. “It’s a pill for the masses.”
Do your legs feel tingly? Do you suffer from mood swings before your period? Would you take a mind-altering drug to quit smoking?
If so, the pharmaceutical industry and the University of Wisconsin-Madison want to teach your doctor a lesson.
Drug companies have largely taken over the field of doctor education, in part by bankrolling physician education courses at medical schools.
Critics say the practice increases medical costs by encouraging doctors to write prescriptions for expensive brand-name drugs and by exaggerating the frequency and prevalence of rare conditions. It also promotes the use of drugs not approved for the ailments.
A Journal Sentinel investigation found that industry-funded doctor education courses offered at UW often present a slanted view by favoring prescription medications over non-drug therapies and by failing to mention important side effects.
Officials and student leaders from UW-Madison are gearing up to participate in a month-long campaign to promote sexual assault awareness on campus, set to begin April 2.
UW-Madison was first in the nation to establish a Tibetan language and culture program, and Wisconsin played an active role in resettling Tibetan refugees. The Dalai Lama has visited us seven times, including right after the Nobel Prize. And I have been personally involved in the Tibetan plight since 1968 when I was UW student.
It is in all of our best interest to stop TB.
The Dalai Lama has recognized the great challenge that TB poses to his people and is committed to helping fight the disease. The global community and the Tibetan government-in-exile must join forces to control TB in the Tibetan community.
You can help reinforce the commitment to fight this disease by writing to Congress and stressing the importance of acting now.
Paster is professor of family medicine at UW-Madison.
Even in light of current economic turmoil, Wisconsin hospitals have remained strong and benefit the stateâ??s economy, according to a study released Thursday by UW-Extension and the Wisconsin Hospital Association.
A team of UW-Madison researchers made a breakthrough in stem-cell research by discovering a way to increase purification of certain adult stem cells.
University of Wisconsin scientists published findings Thursday that make use of a new method to induce human pluripotent stem cells that are significantly safer and more useful for research.
