Harvard Health Content API

Crews in Alamosa, Colo., began flushing out the city’s water system with chlorine March 25, the Associated Press (AP) said. The purpose was to kill salmonella bacteria. Nearly 250 people have become ill from salmonella in the last couple of weeks. The bacteria can cause diarrhea, fever and stomach pain. Officials are not sure of the cause. They have ruled out contamination with wastewater. They also say the water was not tainted on purpose. People shouldn’t drink city water until the chlorine washes away, AP reported. This may take a few weeks. Bathing may be allowed in a few days.

People who get free drug samples may spend more, not less, on prescriptions, a study finds. The study used data on 5,709 people from a U.S. health survey. In two years, 14% received at least one free drug sample. In the six months before this, they spent an average of $166 on prescription drugs. They spent about $244 during the six months they got the sample and $212 in the next six months. People who didn’t get free samples spent about $178 in six months. HealthDay News reported on the study March 24. It was in the journal Medical Care.

Health officials no longer recommend that preference be given to the four-vaccine combination called MMRV (measles, mumps, rubella, varicella). Although it requires two separate injections, rather than just one, the parents of children should first be offered the MMR vaccine and a separate varicella (chicken pox) shot. That’s because fever-related seizures are seen more often in children who receive MMRV instead of the two separate shots. The change was published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on March 14.

A researcher who found gene mutations related to bipolar disorder now is selling a home test for the genes. This is the latest of more than 1,000 home gene tests for various conditions. The Associated Press reported on the home tests March 22. The new test looks for mutations in two genes. A person spits into a cup and sends the saliva to a laboratory. Results are sent to the person’s doctor. A positive result does not mean that someone has bipolar disorder. It means the risk of this disease is two to three times higher than average.

Prostate cancer treatment affects each man differently. It also affects spouses and partners. Researchers studied 1,201 men and 625 of their spouses or partners. They found that certain treatments caused more quality-of-life issues. These included problems with sexual function, urination, mood/energy, and bowel function. These quality-of-life issues also often affected spouses and partners. The study is published in the March 20 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease. It has become so rare in the United States that many younger doctors have never seen it. But a government report says that syphilis is becoming more common. Cases of the disease have increased every year since 2000. Last year, 20,000 people were diagnosed with syphilis. Doctors may need to be retrained to recognize symptoms. The report is published in the April issue of the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.

An advisory committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has new recommendations about who should receive drugs that increase red blood cells. The group said that only people with incurable cancers should get these drugs. Some studies have reported lower survival rates and more tumor growth in people who are given these medicines. The drugs include Aranesp, Epogen and Procrit. The Associated Press reported March 17 on the FDA recommendations.

About 1 in 4 U.S. teenage girls has a sexually transmitted disease, a study has found. About half the girls in the study said they had had sexual intercourse. The rate of STDs was about 4 in 10 for those girls. The study was conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It included 838 teen girls who had taken part in a national health survey. They were tested for four infections. About 18% had human papillomavirus. This infection can cause cervical cancer. Chlamydia affected 4%. About 2.5% had trichomoniasis, and 2% had herpes simplex virus. The Associated Press wrote about the study March 11.

Monthly personal counseling helped people keep off about half of the weight they lost for 2½ years, a study has found. A group that received Web-based counseling did almost as well, but results fell off by the end of the study. More than 1,000 people were in the study. They began with a six-month weight loss program. They lost an average of 18.7 pounds. Then they were randomly assigned to personal, Web-based or no counseling. After 2½ years, those who got personal counseling had kept off an average of 9.2 pounds. The average was 7.3 pounds for the Web program and 6.4 pounds for the other group. The study was published March 12 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.