Steve Anthony: True Canadian Pharmacy

APhA provides useful summary as number of cases jumps to
40.
The number of reported cases of swine influenza A (H1N1) has doubled
to 40,
officials said during a news conference today. While more cases and
involvement of more states are expected, agenc y personnel emphasized
that these 20 new cases are the result of testing among students in a
New York school who recently went to Cancun, Mexico, for spring break
and not additional outbreaks (more…)

Warnings beefed up on OTC analges ics, antipyretics
 on new, more stringent packaging and warning label
requirement s for OTC pain relievers and fever reducers containing
acetaminophen and NSAIDs at a briefing today. Internal analgesics,
antipyretics and antirheumatic drug products are all affected by this
ruling. Matthew Holman, PhD, Deputy Director, Division of
Nonprescription Regulation Development, Office of Nonprescription
Products, (more…)

A P.E.I. man has raised the alarm about the rising cost of prescription drugs after the drug he uses to treat depression more than doubled in price this month.
Tom Clark of Murray Harbour, in eastern P.E.I., has been taking trimipramine for 19 years, but he got a shock Thursday when he tried to refill the prescription.
“It went from $45 to $105 in less than a month,” said Clark.
Trimipramine is made by Canadian drug maker Apotex. The company (more…)

Canada.com:
To vaccinate or not to vaccinate.
That is one of a host of difficult questions that Canadian public-health officials will face if the swine-flu outbreak escalates into a full-blown pandemic.
In 1976, then U.S. president Gerald Ford ordered a national vaccination campaign in response to an outbreak of swine flu at a military base in New Jersey. In the end, only one person died from swine flu, while roughly 25 people died from a rare (more…)

Both were told to try to isolate themselves, Corriveau said. Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. All the confirmed Canadian cases have been mild. Both individuals in Alberta are male and have a mild form of the illness. So we now have the capacity,” he said. In Mexico, at least 152 people are suspected to have died from a new strain of the swine flu virus. André Corriveau, says neither of the two Alberta males confirmed to have contracted (more…)

Pharmacists in the Northern Territory would have to report any 15-year-old buying condoms under new underage sex laws, the Territory’s Minister for Child Protection has confirmed.
The Australian Medical Association has described the legislation as unworkable because it makes it illegal not to report teenagers under 16 years of age who are sexually active.
The AMA warns the laws could increase teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (more…)

In Wednesday’s issue of the journal Nature, researchers say the variant is carried by about 65 per cent of people with autism — a neurological condition that interferes with communication and social skills. The variant was found between cadherin 10 and cadherin 9 — cell surface proteins that enable cells to adhere to each other. A newly identified genetic variant could account for up to 15 per cent of autism cases, say researchers who studied (more…)

Currently it can take days to confirm if someone suspected of having the H1N1 form of swine flu actually has the virus. “This is a result that was done in Alberta so we now have that capacity,” said Dr. S. “Alberta and British Columbia have rapidly put in place the ability to do confirmatory testing, so we’re not repeating that,” said the laboratory’s scientific director general, Frank Plummer. If the results are reliable, it could give scientists (more…)

Canada’s chief public health officer expressed deep concern about a swine influenza outbreak gripping Mexico and the southwestern United States as health officials around the world went on high alert for a potential global flu pandemic.
“This is very concerning, clearly. That’s why we’re all paying attention,” David Butler-Jones said yesterday. “What it will lead to is impossible to predict.”
Mexico shut down schools, museums and libraries in (more…)

Michelle Bossi says doctors should have diagnosed her swine flu sooner and that her case proves the need for more awareness of the disease at local hospitals. ‘s third case of swine flu. ”
Bossi said the doctors sent her home with antibiotics, without telling her to wear a mask, and it wasn’t until two days after that she was informed she had swine flu. Ryan Windsor, 26, of Richmond, says Tuesday he’s doing fine and is no longer contagious. (more…)