People’s Pharmacy: Milk of magnesia praised as antiperspirant. 2D
Today
T H U R S D A Y , M A R C H 9, 2006
SECTION D
WWW.TUSCALOOSANEWS.COM
-TALK TUSCALOOSA RECEIVES AWARD The board of the Japan-
America Society of Alabama has
selected the Tuscaloosa Sister
Cities Commission as the
Alabama recipient of the Samuel
Ullman Award this year. JASA ini-
tiated the award in 1992 to rec-
ognize individuals and organiza-
tions that have made significant
contributions toward the
advancement of the relationship
between Japan and Alabama. It
was named in honor of Samuel
Ullman who lived most of his 84
years in Birmingham. Late in his
life, he wrote a poem, “Youth,”
which was later displayed by Gen.
Douglas MacArthur on his office
wall at General Headquarters in
Tokyo. The poem has come to
symbolize the business, cultural
and educational ties between
Japan and Alabama. The award will be presented at
JASA’s annual dinner at Ross
Bridge Resort on April 27.
GOVERNMENT BUYS MORE TAMIFLU The government is buying more
Tamiflu, a drug that can lessen
the severity of bird flu, for the
nation’s stockpile. Already on hand is enough of
the drug to treat about 5 million
people. On Wednesday, the gov-
ernment ordered from the manu-
facturer enough to treat 12.4 mil-
lion more. That’s still well shy of the Bush
administration’s ultimate goal of
stockpiling enough medication to
treat a quarter of the U.S. popu-
ST AF F AN ILL TH UST ON RA TI Y O BR AT N | IN A
lation — a plan that depends
heavily on states eventually buy-
ing up the drug, too, with their
own money. The purchases are part of gov-
By Sarah Bruyn Jones Staff Writer
ernment preparations in case the
bird flu, or some other super-
strain of influenza, one day
sparks a worldwide epidemic.
MS DRUG RESTRICTIONS The government should let a
promising drug for multiple scle-
rosis return to the market despite
concern that users could develop
a rare and life-threatening side
effect — but only with strong
restrictions on sales, advisers to
the government recommended on
Wednesday. The unanimous vote came after
dozens of tearful patients urged
T
he improper use of antibiotics has caused some bacterial infections to develop resistance to a drug used to fight staph infection, said physicians at DCH Regional Medical Center, leading to an increase in people contracting the illness. Five years ago, an average of 60 patients a month came to DCH with Community-Acquired Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus. That number has since jumped to about 160 people a month, said Dr. Albert White, chair of the infections control committee at DCH. Community acquired MRSA is a staph infection that is obtained outside of a hospital and is resistant to common antibiotics like penicillin and amoxicillin. For a person to be diagnosed with MRSA, he or she must have not been hospitalized or had a medical procedure within the past year. The infection is often found among people on sports teams, in prisons and other places where there is close contact, White said. It is not an airborn bacterium and can only be acquired by touching on coming into contact with someone who has it. “We’ve definitely seen an increase in community
acquired MRSA,” said Dr. David Rice, DCH vice president for medical affairs. The prevalence of community staph infections is not only growing at DCH. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the prevalence of MRSA is also a growing national concern. Additionally, MRSA is not the only disease linked to overuse or improper use of antibiotics. In fact, the CDC suggests that antibiotic resistance is one of the world’s most pressing public health problems and that nearly all significant bacterial infections in the world are becoming resistant to the most commonly prescribed antibiotic treatments. Resistance to antibiotics has also been seen in e. coli, pneumonia, urinary tract infections and tuberculosis, Rice said. But the increase in patients with those infections has not grown like it has with community-acquired MRSA. “The community-acquired MRSA seems to be a little different than the ones seen in the past,” he said. “It seems to be more of a problem than some of the other MRSAs.” While there has been a notable increase of community-acquired staph infections, Rice said he is not aware of a similar increase in hospitalacquired MRSA infections.
In 1995 the CDC launched a public awareness campaign to educate the public and physicians on the proper use of antibiotics. Still, White said, there needs to be more public awareness. “Patients should not be pressuring doctors to give them antibiotics,” White said, adding that some people will “shop around” for a doctor who will prescribe antibiotics when they are not needed. “We decided, let’s do an awareness to our community that this is ongoing. Our community is not spared,” he said.
Antibiotics won’t cure a cold There are several types of infections including viral, bacterial, fugal and parasitic. The only infection that requires antibiotics is bacterial. Viruses, however, are the most common form of infection. Viruses include things like the common cold, most sore throats and the flu. One of the CDC’s campaign slogans is “Snort. Sniffle. Sneeze. No Antibiotics Please.” Antibiotics will only effectively cure bacterial infections. When people take antibiotics for non-bacterial infections they help to promote resistance to antibiotics, White said. SEE BACTERIA | 3D
the Food and Drug Administration
to let them take a chance on the
drug, Tysabri. It was pulled off the
market a year ago when it was
linked to a fatal brain disease. Citing evidence that Tysabri is
effective at fighting nerve -
damaging multiple sclerosis, the
FDA’s advisers decided that
patients should get that option.
Patients must enroll in a registry
that will limit where they receive
the once -a-month drug infusions
and ensure they are checked
aggressively for the side effect.
Museum opens gallery devoted to ancient Nubia By F.N. D’Alessio The Associated Press
CHICAGO | As the Field Museum in downtown Chicago geared up for another blockbuster visit this spring by the golden treasures of King Tutankhamun, the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago quietly opened a new gallery devoted to ancient Nubia, the mysterious land from where all that gold came. “Egypt didn’t have any gold,” explained Oriental Institute researcher Emily Teeter. “So when
you look at the Tutankhamun art, you’re seeing gold from Nubia, obtained either through trade or by conquest.” There’s not much gold in the 600 artifacts on display in the new permanent gallery, but the collection contains treasure of a rarer kind: the fruits of 100 years of exploration and research into the poorly understood region that straddles the southern third of modern Egypt and the northAP
ern third of present-day Sudan. Some of the works on display, culled from the museum’s 15,000-piece Nubian collection, are solemn and ceremonial. Others are utilitarian, such as a leather quiver, still glossy and supple-looking, that dates from the time of Christ. But a surprising number, particularly among the ceramic pieces, use animal images in a surprisingly whimsical way. A smiling frog (“a symbol of rebirth,” Teeter said) gazes heavenward. Cartoonish crocodiles march around one pot, and friendly looking cobras dance around another.
What at first seem to be limp flowers in the snakes’ mouths prove on a second look to be Egyptian religious symbols. The liveliness of the Nubian pots couldn’t be further from the stiff religious art of Egypt. They hint at the strange relationship between the two civilizations. For several millennia, Nubia served as the conduit through which the riches of sub-Saharan Africa — precious metals, animal hides, spices and incense — reached Egypt and the Mediterranean world. SEE NUBIA | 3D