Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:
French Health Officials Urge Women to Remove Faulty Breast Implant
Women with a type of French-made breast implant prone to leakage should have them removed as a safety precaution, French health officials said Friday.
No increased cancer risk has been detected from rupture of the devices, which were implanted in thousands of women in Europe, but leakage can cause inflammation, the French health ministry said in a statement, the Wall Street Journal reported. Leakage also makes removal difficult, the newspaper said.
Women with the implants should have them removed in a “non urgent manner,” the officials advised. Those who decide to keep the implants should undergo breast scans twice a year, the Journal said.
“Implant failures” have been reported for about 5 percent of women in France with the devices, made by Poly Implant Prosthese (PIP), according to the Journal. The company went into bankruptcy last year because of the ruptures.
In Britain, where 1 percent of women with PIP implants have experienced such “failures,” health officials said several days ago they saw no reason to call for routine removal of the devices.
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Wal-Mart Pulls Infant Formula From Stores After Newborn’s Death
A batch of Enfamil Newborn powdered infant formula has been removed from more than 3,000 Wal-Mart stores in the United States after a newborn who consumed the formula died.
Health officials have not yet determined if the infant’s death is linked to the formula and there is no recall. But Wal-Mart decided to remove 12.5-ounce cans of the powdered infant formula with the lot number ZP1K7G from its shelves “out of an abundance of caution,” company spokeswoman Dianna Gee told the Associated Press.
The 10-day-old Missouri boy became seriously ill with a suspected bacterial infection and died after he was taken off life support. Samples of the formula consumed by the infant were sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration for testing. The manufacturer said tests showed no traces of the bacteria in the batch before it was shipped, the news service said.
“At this point it has not been determined whether the illness is linked to the formula or an outside source,” Gena Terlizzi, spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, said in a statement, the AP reported.
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Motrin Coated Caplets Recalled
Batches of Motrin coated caplets that were distributed in the United States and a number of other countries have been recalled, Johnson & Johnson announced Wednesday.
The company said “testing of product samples showed that some caplets may not dissolve as quickly as intended when nearing their expiration date,” CNN reported.
The pain reliever caplets were distributed in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Belize, Fiji, Jamaica and St. Lucia.
“This is not a consumer level recall, which means that consumers do not need to dispose of or return the product,” according to a news release from J&J’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare Division, CNN reported.
“There is no safety concern if consumers continue taking the product in accordance with its label; however, it is possible there may be a delay in experiencing relief,” the company said.
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