News in brief - March 17, 2003

Mummy has modern maladies - Rapid test for West Nile in humans due soon - Few deaths are linked to oxycodone abuse by itself - HHS contracting for safer smallpox vaccines

Mummy has modern maladies

An ice-encased mummy discovered in the Tyrolean Alps in 1991 and probably dating back 5,300 years had health issues similar to modern man, according to a paper published in the March Radiology.

An international research team used modern spiral computed tomography as well as traditional computed tomography to analyze the iceman without damaging or defrosting him.

They found that his teeth were healthy, although worn down from wear, and his bones were strong. The carotid artery, however, was partially blocked and showed signs of cardiovascular disease, and he had arthritis in his joints and spine.

"The research confirmed that 5,000 years in human evolutionary terms is not much more than a blink of an eye, because the iceman's anatomy and evidence of medical conditions are substantially similar to those of modern humans," said William A. Murphy Jr., MD, the paper's lead author and professor of radiology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

But, although his health status was comparable to a modern man of his estimated age of 40 or 50 years, his cause of death was quite characteristic of his own time. One scan revealed an arrowhead between the rib cage and left scapula. Researchers concluded that this probably caused his demise.

Rapid test for West Nile in humans due soon

Medical Services International Inc., a Canadian medical supply company, expects to make available by the end of March a quick test kit for the presence of the West Nile virus in people. A test kit for animals also may be available by the end of April, according to statements issued by the company in February.

Surveillance for the disease has long been complicated by the fact that it can take two to three weeks to get results from tests.

VScan Rapid Test Kits are currently available for HIV, hepatitis and tuberculosis and give results on-site in 20 minutes. They utilize a combination of high specific recombinant antigens combined with an immunoassay and do not have to be sent off to a lab. "Preliminary results have been encouraging," according to a company release. Availability will be subject to regulatory approval.

Few deaths are linked to oxycodone abuse by itself

A large study of drug-abuse deaths involving oxycodone found that most of the deaths were related to the ingestion of multiple drugs, not oxycodone alone. Of the 1,014 deaths in 23 states that were analyzed for the study, 12 were found to involve Oxycontin, the timed-release version of oxycodone.

Oxycodone is a morphine-like pain medication found in many analgesics.

"While the abuse of any medication is dangerous, abuse of multiple drugs may be a cause for even greater concern, as there is little recognition of the added risks of abusing opioids with other drugs, such as alcohol and depressants," said Bruce Goldberger, MD, director of toxicology and associate professor at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville.

Dr. Goldberger is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Analytical Toxicology, which published the study in its March issue.

The study found that the vast majority of deaths -- 919 out of 1,014 -- involved drug abuse, while the remaining deaths were due to other causes, such as cancer. Of the drug-abuse cases, 30 deaths involved oxycodone only; the remaining 889 had multiple drugs present at autopsy.

HHS contracting for safer smallpox vaccines

The Dept. of Health and Human Services has awarded two contracts totaling up to $20 million in first-year funding to develop safer smallpox vaccines. The three-year contracts were awarded to Bavarian Nordic A/S of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Acambis Inc. of Cambridge, Mass.

The two companies are to develop, manufacture and conduct safety trials of modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) vaccine candidates. Vaccinia virus, a close relative of smallpox virus, is used in traditional smallpox vaccines.

As a live, replicating virus, vaccinia can cause side effects that pose a safety risk, particularly to people with compromised immune systems.

MVA is a strain of vaccinia that cannot replicate inside human cells and therefore cannot cause dispersed infection, according to HHS.

An MVA-based vaccine given to more than 120,000 people during the smallpox eradication campaign in Germany in the 1970s had an excellent safety record, noted the agency. When smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980, however, the need for smallpox vaccine vanished, and research on MVA ended.