NATION
Saturday, August 27, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 9A
FDA expands Zika screening to all U.S. blood centers
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
government told all U.S. blood
banks Friday to start screening for
Zika, a major expansion intended
to protect the nation’s blood supply
from the mosquito-borne virus.
Previously, blood testing was
mostly limited to parts of Florida
and Puerto Rico, where Zika is
spreading. Screening will initially
extend to states along the Gulf
Coast and a few others.
“There is still much uncertainty
regarding the nature and extent
of Zika virus transmission,” Dr.
Peter Marks said in a Food and
Drug Administration release. “At
this time, the recommendation for
testing the entire blood supply will
help ensure that safe blood is avail-
able for all individuals who might
need transfusion.”
Blood banks already test dona-
tions for HIV, hepatitis, West Nile
and other blood-borne viruses. The
Zika virus stays in the blood for
about one week, but is thought to
remain in other bodily luids longer.
While Zika is primarily spread
through mosquito bites, there have
been reports in Brazil of Zika
transmission through transfusion.
Current evidence suggests that
infected men can spread the virus
for several months through sex, and
women can transmit it for several
weeks.
Adding to the challenge is that
4 out of 5 people infected never
develop symptoms, such as fever,
joint pain and rash.
The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention on Friday reported
the irst U.S. case of a man
spreading Zika through sex even
though he never had any symptoms.
The Maryland man had traveled to
the Dominican Republic, one of the
many countries in the Caribbean
and Latin America hit with a Zika
outbreak.
There have been nearly 2,500
cases of Zika in the U.S. linked
to travel to outbreak areas. Since
February, blood banks have turned
away people who had recently
visited those regions, under a
previous FDA directive.
While the virus causes only a
mild illness in most people, infec-
tion during pregnancy can lead to
severe brain-related birth defects.
Blood testing began last month
in parts of Florida after the irst
Cynthia Goldsmith/CDC via AP
This 2016 colorized electron
microscope image made avail-
able by the CDC shows the Zika
virus, in red.
No such cases have been reported
in the United States. One Zika-pos-
itive blood donation, though, was
recently intercepted in Florida,
Marks said Friday.
“The donation was identiied
while the blood bag was still in
quarantine, before it was released,”
Marks told reporters on a media call.
“The system worked correctly.”
Zika can also be spread through
sex, and Marks said that played
into the decision to expand testing.
U.S. wants to force lower
speeds on truck and bus drivers
DETROIT (AP) — The
U.S. is seeking to forcibly
limit how fast trucks, buses
and other large vehicles can
travel on the nation’s high-
ways.
A new proposal Friday
would impose a nationwide
limit
by
electronically
capping speeds with a device
on newly made U.S. vehi-
cles that weigh more than
26,000 pounds. Regulators
are considering a cap of 60,
65 or 68 mph, though that
could change. Whatever the
speed limit, drivers would
be physically prevented from
exceeding it. The proposal,
which comes from the
National Highway Trafic
Safety Administration and
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration, does not
force older heavy vehicles
to add the speed-limiting
technology, but the regulators
are still considering it.
The government said
capping speeds for new large
vehicles will reduce the 1,115
fatal crashes involving heavy
trucks that occur each year
and save $1 billion in fuel
costs.
While the news is being
welcomed by some safety
advocates and non-profes-
sional drivers, many truckers
said that such changes could
lead to dangerous scenarios
where they are traveling
at much lower speeds than
everyone else.
The rule has been ensnared
in a regulatory maze in the
decade since the nonproit
group Roadsafe America
issued its irst petition in
2006. The group was founded
by Atlanta inancial adviser
Steve Owings and his wife
Susan, whose son Cullum
was killed by a speeding trac-
tor-trailer during a trip back
to school in Virginia after
Thanksgiving in 2002. The
nonproit was later joined by
the American Trucking Asso-
ciations, the nation’s largest
trucking industry group.
Owings said he will
continue to push NHTSA to
force older heavy vehicles to
limit their speeds.
“We
are
dismayed
and outraged to learn the
proposed rule will be for
newly manufactured trucks
and will not apply to the
millions of trucks with which
we continue to share the
roads today,” he said.
NHTSA said retroitting
vehicles made after 1990
with the speed-limiting
technology could be too
costly, and it is still seeking
comments and additional
information. NHTSA said
it could cost anywhere from
$100 to $2,000 per vehicle,
depending on when the
vehicle was made. Changes
to some engines could also
be required, increasing the
costs, NHTSA said. Heavy
vehicles made before 1990
don’t have the capacity to
add the technology.
The government agencies
involved will take public
comment for 60 days, then
determine the inal limit
and decide if the regulation
should be put in place.
To James Chapman, a big
rig driver from Spartanburg,
South Carolina, 68 mph
would be the best option and
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
In this Wednesday photo, truck and automobile trafic
mix on Interstate 5, headed north through Fife, Wash.,
near the Port of Tacoma.
he’d accept 65. But 60 would
be too big of a difference
from cars that go 75 or more.
“To me it would be a
safety hazard unless it slowed
everybody else down,” he
said while refueling his truck
Friday along interstate 75
near Findlay, Ohio.
The agencies said that
limiting the speed of heavy
vehicles to 60 mph could
save as many as 498 lives
annually. Limiting it to 65
mph could save as many
as 214 lives, and limiting
it to 68 mph could save as
many as 96 lives. There are
3.6 million big rigs on U.S.
roads.
The agencies said the
proposal is based on avail-
able safety data and the
additional beneit of better
fuel economy.
But
Norita
Taylor,
spokeswoman
for
the
157,000-member
Owner
Operator
Independent
Drivers Association, said
her group has opposed the
speed limiters because they
create dangerous interactions
between vehicles as faster
cars slow down for trucks.
“Differentials in speed
increase interactions between
vehicles, which increases the
likelihood of crashes,” Taylor
said.
Yet there is another
compelling reason to limit
truck speeds. An inves-
tigation last year by The
Associated Press found that
14 states have speed limits
for big trucks that are equal to
or higher than their tires were
designed to handle. Most
truck tires aren’t designed
to go faster than 75 mph,
and tire manufacturers say
traveling faster than that can
cause tires to fail and blow
out, creating safety issues.
Most of the states with
the higher speed limits are
west of the Mississippi River.
Of the 14, ive have speed
limits of 80 mph or more
and allow trucks to exceed
the capability of their tires.
NHTSA has said the speed
limiters should take care of
the discrepancy between
state speed limits and truck
tire capabilities.
Most of the states with
speed limits of 80 or above
either didn’t know about
the truck tire speed ratings
or didn’t consider them.
States set their own speed
limits, having been given
sole authority to do so by
Congress in the mid-1990s.
cases of homegrown Zika occurred
in Miami. So far, there have been
about 40 cases of Zika caused by
mosquito bites in Florida. Health
oficials, however, don’t expect
widespread outbreaks to occur in
the U.S.
The FDA has authorized use of
two experimental blood screening
tests for Zika, one made by Roche
and another from Hologic Inc.
and Grifols. Several testing sites
are already voluntarily using the
technology, including blood centers
in Texas.
The cost of adding Zika testing
to the screening process is less than
$10 per blood donation, according
to oficials at South Texas Blood
and Tissue Center.
FDA oficials said they do not
anticipate any problems supplying
the tests throughout the U.S.
The tropical mosquito that
spreads Zika and other viruses
is found along the southern U.S.
Friday’s directive lists 11 states that
will need to begin screening blood
in the next month because of their
location or because of the inlux
of travelers from Zika outbreak
countries.
On the list: Alabama, Arizona,
California, Georgia, Hawaii, Loui-
siana, Mississippi, New Mexico,
New York, South Carolina and
Texas.
All other U.S. states and terri-
tories will have three months to
comply.
An executive for America’s
Blood Centers, which has more
than 600 locations in the U.S. and
Canada, warned that the amount of
work needed to comply with the
FDA’s timeline is “titanic.”
“Testing labs and the test vendors
are working feverishly to allow
testing to start on time in the areas
subject to the 12 week timeline,”
said Dr. Louis Katz, in an email.
The FDA works with other
federal agencies to set standards
for screening, testing and handling
blood donations. Blood banks and
donation centers adhere to those
guidelines.
Friday’s announcement follows
recent pressure from members of
Congress to expand Zika screening.
The move is “a strong step forward
in protecting our nation’s blood
supply,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro,
D-Conn., said in a statement.
BRIEFLY
Lawmakers call
Maine governor
unhinged after
obscene tirade
PORTLAND, Maine
(AP) — Maine’s bombastic
Republican governor’s
obscene tirade unleashed
on a liberal lawmaker
prompted Democratic
lawmakers Friday to
warn that the governor
was coming unhinged
and to call for a political
intervention.
Gov. Paul LePage
apologized to “the people
of Maine” — but not to
the legislator — after he
left a voicemail message
for Democratic Rep. Drew
Gattine that said “I am
after you” and then told
reporters he wished he
could challenge Gattine to a
duel and point a gun “right
between his eyes.”
LePage said the angry
outburst was justiied
because Gattine had called
him racist — something
Gattine denied.
The voicemail followed
a controversy that bubbled
up Wednesday when
LePage, who is white, said
at a town hall in North
Berwick that photos he
has collected in a binder
of drug dealers arrested in
the state showed that 90
percent of them “are black
and Hispanic people” He
displayed the binder at a
Friday news conference.
“I want you to prove that
I’m a racist,” LePage told
Gattine in the voicemail
Thursday, adding that he
had spent his life helping
black people and calling
Gattine a vulgar name
related to oral sex. “I want
you to record this and make
it public because I am after
you.”
After leaving the
voicemail, LePage invited
reporters to the governor’s
mansion, where he said he
wished he could turn back
the clock so he and Gattine
could face off in a duel.
“When a snot-nosed
little guy from Westbrook
calls me a racist, now I’d
like him to come up here
because, tell you right
now, I wish it were 1825,”
LePage said, according to
the Portland Press Herald.
“And we would have a
duel, that’s how angry I am,
and I would not put my gun
in the air, I guarantee you,
I would not be (Alexander)
Hamilton. I would point it
right between his eyes.”
Central Texas
man stung to
death by bees
WACO, Texas (AP) — A
68-year-old Central Texas
man is dead after he was
attacked by a swarm of bees
while riding a lawn mower
on his rural property.
Authorities say Donald
Williams was mowing
grass late Friday morning
when he was attacked at
his rural property about 8
miles northwest of Waco.
McLennan County Sheriff
Parnell McNamara says
when the man’s wife looked
outside when the lawn
mower motor stopped, she
saw her husband lying on
the ground covered in bees.
SUPPORT FOR FAMILY CAREGIVERS
Are you caring
for an aging
loved one?
Free classes funded through the
State of Oregon can help.
BABYSITTING BASICS
For babysitters ages 10-15. Learn childcare
techniques, children's developmental stages and
what to expect, basic first aid and infant and child
CPR. $35, includes lunch & all class materials.
9:00am - 3:00pm
Sept. 10, Oct. 8 or Nov. 5
Must pre-register and pre-pay, call 541-667-3509
LIVING WELL WITH
CHRONIC CONDITIONS
Find positive and practical ways to deal with
chronic health issues and make a step-by-
step plan to improve your health. Six weekly
classes. FREE but please pre-register.
Starts Oct. 11
3:00 - 5:00pm
Call 541-667-3509 to pre-register
FREE HELP WITH MEDICARE:
The Hermiston SHIBA (Senior Health
Insurance Benefits Assistance) Office
has certified volunteers to help you with
Medicare questions.
Call 541-667-3507
to schedule an appointment.
HEALTHY FRIDAYS
FREE health screenings & health coaching: Blood pressure
checks, weigh-ins, body mass index, cholesterol
and glucose. For best results, fast for 8-10 hours
prior to blood draw.
First & Third Friday of each month
9:30 - 11:30am
Oregon Care Partners ofers free classes for caregivers – both online
and in-person. Classes on a wide variety of topics can help you
handle common caregiving issues like:
• Forgetfulness
• Alzheimer’s & dementia
• Anger & aggression • Managing medications
In-person classes are held around the state and
taught by caring professionals who understand
the needs of family caregivers. Online classes are
also available, and most take only an hour or two.
Classes
ofered online
and in-person at
NO COST to you
Free classes are available to anyone living or working in Oregon.
For class listings and registration, visit OregonCarePartners.com
COMING SOON TO PENDLETON
Challenging Behaviors:
Efective Approaches to Common Behaviors
September 12, 8:30am-1:00pm
Wildhorse Casino & Resort
Learn more and register for this free class at OregonCarePartners.com. Family members,
all levels of caregivers and walk-ins welcome. CEUs ofered for professionals.
GSMC Conference Center 7 (by Education Dept)
Information or to register
call
(541) 667-3509
or email
healthinfo@gshealth.org
www.gshealth.org
www.OregonCarePartners.com
1-800-930-6851 • info@oregoncarepartners.com