News in brief - Nov. 6, 2006

FDA, manufacturer warns of fake glucose test strips - Moderate drinking may lower heart attack risk for men - Alzheimer's trials under way - Patients with one STD at high risk for second

FDA, manufacturer warns of fake glucose test strips

Some patients with diabetes could be using counterfeit test strips to assess their blood sugar, and these may be giving inaccurate readings, according to statements issued by the Food and Drug Administration and LifeScan Inc., which manufactures testing strips.

The counterfeit strips were sold in 50-count packages for use with the LifeScan OneTouch blood glucose monitors. They were available around the country, although most appear to have originated at pharmacies and other retail outlets in Florida, Maryland, Missouri, New York and Ohio.

Patients who are using the OneTouch Basic/Profile strips from lots 272894A, 2619932 or 2606340 or the OneTouch Ultra strips from lot 2691191 are being advised to discard them and contact their physicians.

No adverse events have been reported, but officials are concerned that this counterfeit product may lead patients to take too much or too little insulin. The FDA is investigating this incident, and LifeScan intends to pursue legal action.

Moderate drinking may lower heart attack risk for men

A study of nearly 9,000 male health care professionals who led healthy lifestyles and maintained an appropriate weight found that consuming about two alcoholic drinks per day lowered their risk for heart attacks.

The study is in the Oct. 23 Archives of Internal Medicine.

Although physicians have been reluctant to encourage drinking as a healthy behavior, the authors suggest that moderate drinking could be viewed as a complement to advice that covers smoking cessation, adequate exercise and weight reduction.

Previous studies have found that adults who drink moderate amounts of alcohol have a lower risk of myocardial infarction than those who do not drink at all, but whether the association held for adults who had a healthy lifestyle was unknown and was the reason for the study, said the researchers.

Alzheimer's trials under way

Several new trials to test drugs to combat Alzheimer's disease and to investigate new methods for conducting dementia research are getting under way at 70 sites in the United States and Canada.

The Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study, a federal consortium, will receive $52 million over six years to carry out the trials.

Docosahexaenoic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid found in fish, will be examined to see if it will slow decline. Additionally, intravenous immunoglobulin, which contains naturally occurring antibodies against beta-amyloid, will be studied to see if it improves cognition. Lithium's biologic action, which has been shown in animals to block abnormal changes in the tau protein, will be studied for safety and efficacy, and home-based assessments will be tried to see if elderly, frail people will be more likely to participate in trials if telephones and computers are employed rather than visits to clinical centers.

Patients with one STD at high risk for second

People diagnosed with chlamydiosis, gonorrhea or vaginosis are at high risk of a second infection within a year, says a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study in the Oct. 17 Annals of Internal Medicine.

Researchers analyzed data on 2,419 patients participating in an HIV prevention counseling trial at three urban STD clinics. Nearly 26% of the women and about 15% of the men acquired an infection during the course of the study. Those with an initial case had more than double the risk of having a second one within a year.

The authors note that this study may have limited generalizability outside of the STD clinic setting, but are advocating rescreening to catch subsequent infections -- the majority of which occur without symptoms.

"Although single-dose therapy may adequately treat the infection, it often does not adequately treat the patient," they wrote.