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Aussie Abortion Procedure 'Uncomplicated'
Australia is one of the safest countries in the world to have an abortion but "sidelining" the field has halted further improvements, a new report published in the November edition of Australian Health Review claims. The study - the nation's largest into complications during abortion - has named the unavailability of abortion pill RU486 as one of the biggest obstructions facing doctors who perform the procedure. The research evaluates the 34,000 abortions performed at the Pregnancy Advisory Centre in South Australia since 1993. It shows that the most common complications occur far less frequently in Australia than in other western countries. Only 0.2 of every 1000 abortions failed at the Australian clinic - 10 times lower than the US and UK rates.

Triage Rethink Cuts Hospital Wait Times
Hospitals can drastically reduce waiting times in emergency departments by treating the less urgent cases first according to a report published in the November edition of Australian Health Review. The controversial trial, at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth, resulted in a 20% drop in waiting times for all emergency department patients and an 18% reduction in the average length of stay. Triage nurses usually prioritise patients by the seriousness of their injury or illness, with the most critically ill treated first. In the trial, nurses triaged patients as soon as they arrived, separating those who were likely to be admitted from those with minor ailments who could be discharged after a quick consultation. The less critical patients were moved to a "fast-track" area, where they were immediately treated by a medical team specifically employed to treat only the minor cases.

Waiting times dropped 20% over the 12-week trial compared to the same period the previous year, despite a 7% increase in the number of people showing up in emergency. George Jelinek, professor of emergency medicine at the hospital, said the system required staff to rethink the way emergency departments were run.

Congress Highlights
- Karen Struthers MP, Parliamentary Secretary for QLD Health, Opening address: 9.00am Thursday 9 November
- Professor Ian Frazer, Australian of the Year, Keynote address: 9.30am Thursday 9 November
- Sue Pieters-Hawke: author, carer and advocate, Presentation: 1.30pm Thursday 9 November
- AHA/Baxter Awards for excellence in health care, Presentation: 7.30pm, The Tivoli, Thursday 9 November
- Norman Swan Panel - Out of the Maze - with Professors Ian Hickie, Ian Frazer and many other expert panelists: Friday 10 November

This Congress is a must attend for all those working in healthcare: Senior executives, hospital managers and clinicians, community and primary health care providers, government policy makers and advisers as well as academics, will all profit from the event. Most importantly, the Congress also welcomes consumers to participate.

Meanwhile, according to advice paid for by the Government and released this Wednesday, Medibank Private's 2.8 million members could see their premiums drop 5% if the fund was privatised. The advice, from CRA International, suggested reduced premiums would be the result of a privatised Medibank being free to pursue cost savings through measures such as firing staff and reducing the cost of benefits paid to members, either through tougher contracts with hospitals or reduced member demand. But the Department of Health and Ageing appeared to contradict this advice when it suggested attempts to predict how premiums would react to Medibank's privatisation were no more than speculation.

Yesterday (2 November), the Federal Government rushed laws through paving the way for the sale – despite delaying the Medibank Private float until 2008. The Government used its numbers in the House of Representatives to pass a motion calling the Medibank Private legislation "urgent", effectively gagging the second day of debate, forcing a vote. The legislation now goes to the Senate, where it is expected to pass after key Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce made a deal with the Government to cap foreign ownership at 15% for five years. Shadow Health Minister, Julia Gillard, said the Government had gagged debate and rammed the legislation through leaving no doubt the health fund would be sold off if the government was re-elected. She said Labor would rip up the Medibank Private Bill if it was elected and keep Medibank Private in public ownership.

PBS Cost Slowdown
Growth in the cost of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme has slowed to below the inflation rate. But Health Minister Tony Abbott said yesterday he would press ahead with reforms of the system to find more savings so new drugs could be added to the list of government-subsidised medicines. A Senate estimates committee heard this week that although the cost of the PBS had been forecast to grow by 7.8% in the year to 30 June, the scheme cost $6.2 billion, up only 2.7%.

Senate Committee Recommends Support For Therapeutic Cloning
The Senate committee investigating somatic nuclear cell transfer (therapeutic cloning) has recommended senators support legislation to allow the practice. The committee considered legislation to allow embryos to be created specifically for research. The author of one of the Bills to be debated in Parliament next week, Liberal Senator Kay Patterson, says she is pleased with the majority report. The committee came down five to three in support of her private member's bill to legalise therapeutic cloning. The majority said that "the overwhelming weight of evidence" presented to the committee led them to accept the recommendations of the Lockhart committee of experts which recommended lifting the ban on therapeutic cloning last year. The result points to a close conscience vote in the Senate on the legislation to be introduced next week.

New Bird Flu Strain Detected
Scientists in Hong Kong and the US have detected a new strain of H5N1 bird flu virus in China and warned it might have started another wave of outbreaks in poultry in South-East Asia and move deeper into Eurasia. The strain, called the "Fujian-like virus" because it was first isolated in China's southern Fujian province in March 2005, has increasingly been detected since October 2005 in poultry in six provinces in China, displacing other H5N1 strains. The strain might also have become resistant to vaccines, which China began using on a large scale from September 2005 to protect poultry from H5N1, said the scientists. The researchers are from the University of Hong Kong, including virologists Guan Yi and Malik Peiris, and Rob Webster of St Jude Children's Research Hospital in the United States.

Meanwhile, a Gold Coast scientist will study new strains of the bird flu virus over the next few weeks. Griffith University Professor Mark von Itzstein will fly to Asia where the new strains of the virus have been found in birds, animals and people. Professor von Itzstein says it is difficult to get information about the viruses out of Asia, but collaboration with research organisations in Cambodia and Hong Kong will make his work easier.

Genetics May Cause Human Bird Flu: WHO
In more news about bird flu, scientists suspect some people have a "genetic disposition" for bird flu infection, which may explain why some get it and others don't, and why it remains relatively rare, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said. The main evidence comes from a family cluster of cases last May in North Sumatra, Indonesia, where seven people in an extended family died. Only blood relatives were infected "despite multiple opportunities for the virus to spread to spouses or into the general community," WHO said in a report from a closed-door meeting of 35 scientific experts held in late September.

Authorities Caution Against Mosquito Infections
Hunter New England Population Health says, with the onset of the warmer weather, it has received notification of barmah forest and ross river virus infections. Dr David Durrheim says while not fatal, both viruses can cause a debilitating flu-like illness, so people should take steps to avoid being bitten. "People need to protect themselves against mosquito bites", he said.

Smokers To Face New Graphic Warnings On Tobacco Products
Smokers will soon be confronted with a new set of graphic warnings on their cigarette packets, with seven gruesome pictures to be added to those already on display. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing, Christopher Pyne, said seven images had been on display on cigarette packs since 1 March this year. The images will be rotated annually to keep the message fresh.

Simple Swab To Detect Cystic Fibrosis Carriers
A simple cheek swab that identifies carriers of the cystic fibrosis gene will be available in GP surgeries within weeks. GPs across Victoria will receive information about the test, which can identify 82% of carriers, this month from Genetic Health Services Victoria. The test can be used at home by couples who are planning a pregnancy or who are already pregnant. The swab is then sent to be tested for the 12 most common gene mutations known to be associated with cystic fibrosis. The test will cost patients $200. If both members of a couple are identified as carriers, they have a one in four chance with each pregnancy of having a child with the disease.

Drug-Addicted Women 'Die At Alarming Rate'
Women addicted to hard drugs die at 20 times the rate of other women, according to Australia's first comprehensive review of the illicit drug death toll. The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre study, released this week, paints an alarming picture of death rates among Australians hooked on heroin, cocaine, methamphetamines, party drugs and cannabis. Heroin kills more than 350 Australians each year, with cocaine and methamphetamines responsible for a further 100 deaths. Male abusers die at ten times the rate in the general community, but for women the rate is doubled. University of NSW academic Professor Shane Darke, author of the 200-page national review, Mortality Amongst Illicit Drug Users: Epidemiology, Causes And Intervention, found that dependent users of these hard drugs die at 15 times the rate of the general population - with half dead by the age of 50. Half of all premature deaths are caused by overdose, with another 30% caused by disease associated with the addiction. Ten percent commit suicide and a further 10% per cent die of trauma.

Researchers Trial Meningococcal B Disease Vaccine
Researchers in Perth say they are excited about a new vaccine that could lead to a cure for meningococcal B disease. The vaccine will be trialled for 12 months on 80 children aged between 10 and 12 and 36 toddlers aged between 18 and 36 months. Study leader Peter Richmond from Princess Margaret Hospital for Children says meningococcal B disease claims about 12 lives a year in Australia. The vaccine has been developed by an American company that has decided to do all the early trials of this vaccine in Australia.

Anticholinergics And Confusion In The Elderly
A study in France, published in the British Medical Journal (Feb 2006) has found that anticholinergics block the actions of acetyl choline, a nerve transmitter affected in Alzheimer’s disease. The study was an eight year follow-up of the mental state of several hundred older people who did not have dementia when the research began. Those on anticholinergic medications were more likely to develop the early signs of dementia – called cognitive impairment – affecting memory, thinking and the ability to carry out various tasks. This decline though didn’t actually progress to full blown dementia, suggesting it was a drug effect rather than early Alzheimer’s. There’s a long list of medications and some natural therapies which have anti cholinergic effects including sedatives, painkillers and some antihistamines. For reference: Ancelin ML et al. Non-degenerative mild cognitive impairment in elderly people and use of anticholinergic drugs: longitudinal cohort study.

Serotonin Linked To SIDS
A link between sudden infant death and abnormal development of the unconscious part of the brain has been made by a team from the Harvard Medical School and the Children's Hospital in Boston, USA. Their study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggests babies who die of SIDS have trouble producing serotonin, a chemical transmitter in the brain. In the SIDS infants, a look at the lowest part of the brainstem, the medulla oblongata, found abnormalities in nerve cells that make and use serotonin. Serotonin and how it is processed in the brainstem may help coordinate breathing, blood pressure, sensitivity to carbon dioxide and temperature, the report says. This might explain why some babies who lie on their stomachs or are deprived of oxygen during sleep are unable to arouse themselves. They found the serotonin problem was more pronounced in boys. The study was based on autopsy data from 31 infants who had died from SIDS and 10 who had died from other causes between 1997 and 2005 in California.

Colon Cancer 'More Common In Men'
A Polish study of more than 50,000 volunteers screened for colon cancer has found far more cases among men than women, suggesting that colonoscopy guidelines may need to be revised. The rate of advanced neoplasia, a description that includes actual tumours and large growths that could lead to cancer, was 73% higher for men than women regardless of age, the researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine said. The team was led by Jaroslaw Regula of the Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Centre in Warsaw. The study defies conventional wisdom among cancer experts. The American Cancer Society, for example, says that colorectal cancer is just as common among women as men.

Coffee Reduces Type 2 Diabetes Risk
Coffee drinkers have a substantially lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than people who abstain from the beverage, a new study shows. This "striking" protective effect was seen in former coffee drinkers as well, Besa Smith and co-investigators at the University of California San Diego in La Jolla report. Ms Smith and her colleagues investigated 910 men and women, all of whom were 50 or older and free of diabetes when the study began. When the subjects were followed-up about 8 years later, the former and current coffee drinkers were about 60% less likely to have developed type 2 diabetes.