Consumerist

diseases

Reminder: Studies Posted On ClinicalTrials.gov Are Not Government-Approved Or Screened

When facing an illness, you might turn to a clinical trial for treatment that isn’t available eleswhere. The best place for patients to find trials is the site ClinicalTrials.gov, which is a site administered by the National Institutes of Health and is exactly what it sounds like. The site has trials where researchers are testing experimental drugs or procedures that may help them. The problem is that not all “clinical trials” are exactly what they seem. [More]

diseases

Vaccine-Resistant Bird Flu Takes Flight

By Phil Villarreal 8.30.11

Avian flu won’t seem to go away, and there’s a particularly nasty, vaccine-resistant strain of the virus popping up in China and Vietnam. The Food and Agriculture Organization says the virus poses “unpredictable risks to human health.” [More]

sanitizers

Hmm, This Hand Sanitizer Is Full Of Bacteria

By cwalters 6.10.09

Clarcon manufactures skin protectants and sanitizers marketed under several different brand names, including CitruShield, Dermassentials, Magic Touch, and Pure Effect. …One such product, Magic Touch, is marketed as a lotion, an antibacterial, an antibiotic, and a germicide that is “great to apply open wounds because it helps heal the skin without scars.”

communicable diseases

By alexchasick 5.7.09

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Can You Get Swine Flu From A Dollar Bill? “A study published by Swiss researchers shows that an infectious virus can survive for three days on bank notes, and 17 days ‘in the presence of respiratory mucus.'” [Consumer Reports Money]

contagious

Passenger On Northwest Last Week Had Tuberculosis

By cwalters 3.16.09

If you happened to be on Northwest Airlines Flight 51 from Frankfurt to Detroit last Tuesday, and you were one of the 17 unlucky passengers who sat near enough to Mr. Fancypants Lung Disease Person, you can look forward to a call from the CDC telling you that you need to get tested for tuberculosis. The risk of catching the disease is low, but the CDC is contacting passengers as a “cautionary move” according to the Associated Press. And if for some reason you do end up with TB, please do not get on any airplanes.

deadly