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| Vol. 21, No. 22 |
| December 1, 1999 |
 Study Shows Drug Effective in Preventing Flu Baylor College of Medicine was one of six medical institutions in the U.S. to take part in a research effort that studied the effectiveness and safety of the drug oseltamivir for the prevention of influenza. The results of the study were published in the Oct. 28 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. "We found that more than 74 percent of the volunteers, ages 18 to 65, who took oseltamivir were less likely to develop flu symptoms than those who were given a sugar pill," says Dr. Robert Atmar with Baylor's Influenza Research Center and one of the study's principal investigators. Marketed under the name Tamiflu™, oseltamivir has recently received approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use as a treatment for influenza but not yet as a means of prevention. If given within 48 hours after the onset of symptoms, oseltamivir has shown to be effective in decreasing the severity and length of time a person is ill. Like zanamivir, another anti-viral agent recently approved by the FDA for treatment of influenza, oseltamivir treats both the A and B influenza strains. While these drugs are effective in treating influenza, they should not replace an annual flu shot for flu prevention. - From Baylor College of Medicine Why Use Hormone Replacement Therapy? Believe it or not, heart disease, not breast cancer, is the number one killer of women in the U.S. American Heart Association statistics show approximately one in 27 women die of breast cancer each year, while nearly one out of every two women succumb to cardiovascular disease. Most women do not experience heart problems until after menopause, usually around age 55. Up until that time, the female hormone estrogen, which is produced in the body, is thought to protect women against heart disease. After menopause, hormone levels decrease. This is why many physicians encourage women to go on hormone replacement therapy at menopause. There is some question as to whether or not all women will benefit from hormonal therapy. A recent study placed women with known heart disease on estrogen and progesterone and compared them to patients given placebos. At four years, there was no difference in their heart events, such as heart attack, death, or need for bypass, although there was a trend toward less events at four years after starting the hormone than at one year. "According to scientific information available, it would seem proper and beneficial for a menopausal woman who is not a candidate for breast or uterine cancer, or recurrent phlebitis, to be placed on hormone replacement therapy. The physiological benefits of raising HDL (good cholesterol), lowering LDL (bad cholesterol), relaxing arteries, and the clinically observed reduced incidence of heart disease in women treated since menopause, all seem to show the benefit outweighs the risk," says Dr. Arthur Springer, a Texas Heart Institute cardiologist. Other risk factors for heart disease include obesity, a high fat diet, a lack of exercise, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, and diabetes. "Post-menopausal women who control their risk factors and use hormone replacement therapy could significantly increase their chances of a good quality of life at an older age," says Dr. Springer. "They are not only helping to protect themselves against heart disease, but also they are likely to be guarding themselves against osteoporosis and stroke." - From Texas Heart Institute Consider the Source If you search the Internet for health information, check the source of the information you are reading. Is the web site produced by a credible medical center, association, organization or governmental agency? Does the web site give you contact names and addresses? Be crticial in your reading on the Internet. A group of researchers from the University of Michigan Health System reported in the August 1 issue of Cancer that much of the health information on the Internet is inaccurate, misleading or not reviewed by doctors. When searching for information on a type of cancer called Ewing's sarcoma, the researchers discovered that almost half the sites had information that had not been reviewed by doctors, and 6 percent of the sites had wrong information and other sites were misleading.
- From The University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center's
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