European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 15, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 16 stars and stripes sunday april 152007 oddest Book title the stray shopping carts of Eastern North America a guide to held identification was named the Winner of the diagram prize for oddest boo Kvitte the Book offers a mock scientific taxonomy of the varieties of lost shopping carts from the simply discarded to the elaborately vandalized Harry n Abrams a a guide to Field identification panel gives thumbs Down to Viox successor Arcoria by Andrew Bridges the associated press painkiller proposed As a successor to Viox should not be approved a panel of Federal health advisers overwhelmingly recommended thurs Day the nonbinding 201 vote was on the prescription drug Arcoria made by Merck co inc a food and drug administration drug safety expert had told the panel the drug May increase substantially the risk of stroke and heart attack and is no More effective for pain Relief than other medicines in the same class what youre talking about is a potential Public health disaster or David Graham told the out Side experts before the vote Gra Ham was a leading critic of Viox a related drug also known As Rofe Coxin we could have a replay of what we had with Rofe Coxin Gra Ham said Merck is seeking the fads approval to sell Arcoria also known As Etori Coxin to treat the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis Merck based in Whitehouse station no withdrew Viox in 2004 after the drug was linked to a higher risk of stroke and heart attack when compared with Dummy pills the Fra is not required to Fol Low the recommendations of its advisory committees but the Agency usually does Merck expects the Fra will make a final decision by april 27 mercks disappointed we continue to believe Arcoria has the potential to become a valuable treatment option for Many Ameri cans suffering from osteoarthritis company spokeswoman Kyra Lundemann said panel member or Richard Cannon said the decision came Down to whether patients needed another nonsteroidal Antii Flam Matory drug or a said there Are about 20 drugs in this class and they Are common treatments for osteoarthritis which affects an estimated 21 million people in the United states we dont have Strong data that there is a need for this drug com pared to whats already Avail Able said Cannon a cardiologist with the National heart lung and blood Institute fellow panellist or James Fries a Stanford University Rheu mat Logist called it a weak argument that there was a crying need for More treatment options Arcoria is the first drug of its class to go before the Fra for approval since Merck withdrew Viox we continue to believe the Overall risk Benefit profile is favourable to support approval of a Coria or Scott Korn executive director of regulatory affairs for mercks research laboratories said after the meeting Merck has compiled More lon term safety data for the experimental drug than for any other said said Peter Kim president of mercks research lab oratories Arcoria and Viox Are types of a Sands called cox2 inhibitors developed to be gentler on the stomach the Fra said this week that new Naids that increase the risk of stroke and heart attack should not win approval if safer alternatives Are available rsm Stein office space m exclusive office space directly outside Marnstein air base 24o Square meters appropriate for All professional business uses Call o1 71 777 6544 resistant gonorrhoea spreading across the us by Rob Stein the Washington Post Washington anti Biot i resistant gonorrhoea is spread ing rapidly across the United states Federal health officials re ported thursday raising alarm about doctors ability to treat the common sexually transmitted infection new data from 26 us cities found the number of resistant gon or Rhea cases is increasing dramatically jumping from less than 1 percent of All gonorrhoea cases to More than 13 percent in less than five years the centers for Dis ease control and prevention re ported the spread of resistant Gonor Rhea prompted the cd to advise doctors to immediately Stop using cipro and other antibiotics in its class which have been the first line of defense against gonorrhoea and resort to an older class of drugs to ensure patients Are cured and do not spread the stub born infection weve lost the ability to use what had been the most reliable class of antibiotics said John m Douglas or who Heads the cacs division of sexually transmitted diseases prevention this is Nec Essary to protect both Public and private health the development is alarming Douglas and other experts said because gonorrhoea tends to develop resistance to antibiotics quickly and doctors will be powerless if that happens with the remaining class of drugs we still have one effective class but now if s the Only one weve got Douglas said this raises the possibility that we May slip into a situation where we have no highly reliable reme Dies the emergence of resistant gon or Rhea Marks the latest common Pathogen to have shifted from an easily treated infection to a Resis Tant form that is suddenly far More dangerous gonorrhoea has now joined the list of other superbugs for which treatment options have become dangerously few said Henry Masur president of the infectious disease society of America gonorrhoea a resistance was probably caused by the same problem that led to resistance of other casual use of antibiotics in the United states and overseas which cause Patho Gens to mutate Douglas and oth ers said Well have a major problem on our hands if we dont develop new antibiotics Douglas said gonorrhoea is the second most common sexually transmitted Dis ease in the United states after chlamydia infecting More than 700000 americans each year if untreated it can Lead to sterility and other potentially life threat ening complications resistant strains of the bacteria that cause gonorrhoea were first detected in Asia resistant gonorrhoea then apparently spread to Hawaii and California before emerging elsewhere around the United states first among Gay men in response the cd recommended doctors Stop using cipro and other drugs in its class known As Fluor Quinonones in California and Hawaii and among Gay men nationwide the Agency expanded that recommendation to everyone nation wide after detecting a Sharp Rise in resistant gonorrhoea among heterosexual males the rate in creased from 6 percent of All cases in 2001 to 67 percent in the first half of 2006 the resistance appears to be widespread around the country with particularly Sharp increases occurring in some cities in Philadelphia the rate jumped from 12 to 266 per cent in Miami it increased from 21 to 153 percent at the same time the rate continued to Rise rapidly among Gay men increasing from 16 percent to 38 per cent the news comes As the rate of new gonorrhoea infections has started rising in some Western states Public health experts warned the recommendation to change the Standard care will make it More difficult to Stem the spread of the disease because the main weapon is to diagnose and treat patients quickly before they can infect someone else