BETHESDA, MD—Even drugs that have been on the market for years, sometimes decades, are not immune from reexamination and relabeling brought about by new scientific discoveries. In the field of pharmacogenomics especially, new opportunities are presenting themselves to use new science to improve drug safety and dosing protocols.

WASHINGTON, DC— Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) swept across the globe in 2003 with a near 10% mortality rate. VA patients over the age of 65 were particularly vulnerable, and faced a 50% mortality rate.

BETHESDA, MD—Drug-resistant malaria strikes the hardest in countries with fragile economies and fractured healthcare infrastructures. Fighting the disease in these countries requires a complex solution, which includes the development of new drugs.

WASHINGTON, DC—Foodborne illnesses continue to be a problem in the US. According to CDC, about one in six Americans get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die each year from foodborne illnesses.

WASHINGTON, DC—Diarrheal illnesses are among the most common nonbattle-related illnesses that troops experience when they go overseas, yet there is no vaccine against Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), a common cause of bacterial diarrhea.

WASHINGTON, DC—Preventing the spread of infection from multidrug resistant organisms (MDROs) is a battle being fought, not just in civilian healthcare settings worldwide, but in the military healthcare system as well.

WASHINGTON, DC—Hospitalized children in the US are becoming infected with the bacteria Clostridium difficile (CDI) more frequently, according to researchers from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

Most Hospitals and Doctors Plan to Adopt Electronic Records

Four-fifths of the nation’s hospitals, and 41% of office-based physicians, currently intend to take advantage of federal incentive payments for adoption and meaningful use of certified electronic health records (EHR) technology, according to survey data released last month by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology.

Graham Nixon arrived on US shores 30 years ago from Britain as a newly minted RN. Now, Nixon is a clinical informatics specialist, playing an instrumental role in the development and implementation of virtual lifetime electronic records.

WASHINGTON, DC—IHS, SAMHSA, and the Department of the Interior’s Indian Affairs have been holding tribal listening sessions across Indian country to seek input on how the agencies can most effectively work within American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities to prevent suicide.