Good Morning All!(Soon to be afternoon)

Potential World Population issue or just a current

event in Japan?

One of the only drugs in the world that fights the Bird Flu… “Tamiflu”

• Over 100 new cases and most of them are coming from Japan

• These cases involve children experiencing hallucinations, unusual psychiatric behavior, and leads them to a state of delirium.

• 103 new cases occurred between August 29, 2005 and July 6, 2006.

FDA to parents: Watch for 'abnormal behavior' on Tamiflu

FDA to parents: Watch for 'abnormal behavior' on Tamiflu

But Joe… didn’t the FDA place notice of the affects of this drug on the label? Seriously!? What’s going on here?• Yes the FDA did initially place a notice of what side affects could be

expected but what was initially expected was “seizure and confusion.”

• They have updated the label since this situation has occurred. According to the FDA, “severe cases of the flu can spark the abnormal behavior.”

• On the other hand, US and Canadian studies have shown that death rates of influenza patients who took Tamiflu were lower than patients who did not.

• The FDA does not want to dissuade folks from using this drug because although it is a problem there is an even bigger potential problem.

If the bird flu were to mutate into a form where it could be transmitted from person to person we would have a pandemic on hand which could potentially decrease the size of the earth’s population on a large scale.

FDA to parents: Watch for 'abnormal behavior' on Tamiflu

How does this relate to the world Joe?

Health Issues: Crackdown on industry drives

STDs through the Roof.

• According to Mainichi Daily News, an estimated 6.5 million folks in Japan are believed to have contracted one type of venereal disease. Statistics are showing that the people contracting the diseases are getting younger.

• The crackdown on the sex industry is forcing the sex business underground and this makes it difficult to tackle the STD problems folks are getting before they spread them or get any worse.

sex

• Head of Japanese Foundation for Sexual Health Medicine, Seji Matsuda, reports that some part time female sex workers don’t get checked up since it will show up on their insurance records or their parents will find out since some of the women are school girls.

• When this line of work was permitted to operate openly there was encouragement from sex service managers to get checked up. Now that the option is gone, fewer people are getting checked up, when less clients are around there is less money (hence “I can do without a checkup this time around”), and/or some workers know that they have a disease yet they keep working while being treated.

Health Issues: Crackdown on industry drives

STDs through the Roof. sex

• Urologists say that the pattern for STD contraction has been changing over the past 10 years to where folks are contracting from their friends and lovers rather than sex workers.

• Many students are losing their virginity in high school or college and then spread it once they get into the workforce.

• It has been documented in a study that girls as young as 10 years of age contracted chlamydia.

There was a forum on this article and one of the online users stated that the Japanese are now catching up to the US. What do you think?

Health Issues: Crackdown on industry drives

STDs through the Roof. sex

Hibakushameaning: “Explosion affected people”

The burns you see is from the kimono (Japanese traditional female dress) she was wearing on the day of the bombing. It has etched into her skin.

There are a series of articles dating back to October 2006 that tells the story of some of the survivors from the atom bomb attack in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The survivors who are sharing their stories are doing this to educate the world on the known affects of radiation. This is in light of the current events dealing with nuclear testing by North Korea.

This article dealt with the health of the cohort population of folkswho are now in their 60s, 70s, and 80s. Also the article shows the effects of nuclear war aside from increased death rates.

(I’m surprised they are still alive although Japan has a high life expectancy.)

Hibakusha

Many of the Hibakusha deal with discrimination since the consequences of radiation exposure are not truly known. They receive government monthly allowance but as you will see, some have a hard time just living.

Hibakusha

What’s life like after

Atom?

HibakushaProb

lem:

SOCIALLY

ISOLATE

D

Sunao Tsuboi

He was 20 when the a bomb was dropped and suffered massive burns to the body but survived. He became a math teacher and married one of his former students.

Her family was against this because they felt that he would die soon. Either way, they had 3 children and their second daughter continuously keeps having miscarriages.

Although he fell ill 3 times over the cycle of their marriage, he outlived his wife. She died at the age of 59. Currently he is 81.

Currently he furthers the cause of the Hibakusha Project.

Her mother was 3 months pregnant with her when the bomb fell.

Side affects? Her toes curve inward, she has a dislocated groin (which is now an artificial one), and she has microphaly (being born with an abnormally small head).

Like many survivors she takes many pills a day to deal with medical issues. She takes 20 pills every day.

Hibakusha: “Lifelong agony borne from the womb”

Problem:

Abnormal

Physica

l

Ailments

Kimie Kishi, 60

Hibakusha: “Don’t Turn your Eyes Away”

"Living," he says, "is a burden."He cannot sleep on his back without waking up in pain.

Sumiteru Taniguchi, 77

“The photo was taken by U.S. army personnel six months after the Nagasaki bombing, and under it is printed, "I want you to understand, if only a little, the horror of nuclear weapons."”

3,000-degree heat emanating from the bomb seared the skin of his back.

Warning this next slide is graphic. It shows the

skin of person’s back burned worse than the lady with the

kimono burns or Tsuboi.

Problem:

Physical

Ailments

Race and Health Issues Among the Population

Oklahoma Hispanics Face Greater Health Care

Barriers in New Growth• Only 43% of Hispanics in “new growth communities” live

within 5 miles of a community health center, compared with 71% in major Hispanic centers.

• Hispanics have a very high uninsured rate and also face language barriers and other cultural barriers to their care.

• Major reasons for their moves out of these Hispanic centers are to pursue employment and other opportunities.

• However, health care is rarely called into account when deciding to move.

• Of 60 communities surveyed, findings indicated that between 1996 and 2003 the Hispanic population grew by 3.7 million, up from about 4 million, a 93% increase.

Continued

• This means that the share of the total U.S. Hispanic population living in “new growth” communities increased from about 14% in 1996 to about 20% in 2003.

• About 31% are uninsured, compared with 30% in major Hispanic centers.

• This was up from 25% in 1996 reflecting a drop in private insurance coverage among Hispanics sue to higher poverty and lack of health coverage among recent immigrants.

• This was said to be due to Hispanics working for employers that are less likely to offer health insurance and more likely to visit emergency rooms for care.

Source: ProQuest Information and Learning Company

The 10 Biggest Killers of Blacks

• Heart disease, cancer, stroke, AIDS, accidents, homicide, diabetes, pneumonia and influenza, chronic pulmonary disease (asthma and bronchitis) and infant mortality.

• Many of these health threats can be prevented with regular checkups and simple changes in lifestyle.

• The top 3 diseases are the same leading health threats among Whites as well. However, by the time Blacks are diagnosed, they are more likely to die.

• The top killers vary by gender and age. • For the age group 25-44 the leading threat is AIDS, a

disease this group contracts 4 times more often than Whites.

• The death-rate of middle aged to elderly African-American women from coronary heart disease is more than 70% than that for White women.

• Blacks have twice as many strokes than as Whites.• Black men have the highest rate of prostate cancer in the

world.

Continued

• As for life expectancy, the average African-American is living to an all-time high of age 70.

• Whereas, Whites live an average of 6 years more. • Regular examinations and honest communication with the doctor

could reduce the number of deaths by disease Blacks face.• In addition, education is the best cure, to prevent growing

ills among African-Americans.• Starting to exercise and eating healthier are also proactive

measures one can take to improve their health status as well.

Source: Gale Group, 2006.

Asian Americans: Not Necessarily a Model-Minority for Health

• When a Harvard study on life expectancy made the news last month, headline proclaimed that “Asians are the Most Healthy” and “Asian women Live the Longest.”

• While true in some cases, these headlines are also misleading.

• The Asian population was then split into 8 categories based on region and analyzed for health.

• Research found that Asian women’s life expectancy was 86.7 years which is an extraordinary advantage over other “Americas” for mortality.

• However, other research found that in specific areas of health relating to gender and age Asians did not have the same advantage.

• These fluctuations varied depending upon their level of English, diet, and lifestyle which affect their health care, risk of cancer and diabetes, and unhealthy habits such as smoking.

The Non-English Disadvantage

– Resulted in fewer preventive services.– They were less likely to follow directions for

medications.– Children with language barriers were more likely

to require breathing tubes ad be placed into intensive care.

– Less communication is also a barrier to better health and disease prevention and can contribute to the continuation of risky behaviors.

Cancer Among Asians• Asians and Pacific Islanders are the only group in

the U.S. for which cancer is the leading cause of death.

• Japanese have the highest incidence and death rates from colorectal cancer as well as uterine cancer.

• Japanese women have the highest number of new cases of breast cancer.

• For lung and bronchial cancers, Vietnamese have the highest prevalence but Chinese have the highest death rates.

Diabetes High Among Asians

• Asian Americans have type 2 diabetes at a rate that is 50% to 200% higher than for the general population in the U.S.

• What is so strange for the Asian population is the idea that they can become diabetic even without excess weight or obesity, the typical precursors to diabetes in other groups.

• As Asians eat more saturated fats they may have higher incidences of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Source: Sampan News Report, 2006.