TWC News Update

HBOT To Be Used Against Ebola?

  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed the first case of Ebola to be diagnosed in the US. Through laboratory tests a person who had traveled to Dallas, TX, from Liberia was diagnosed Sept. 30 and died Oct. 8. The patient did not have symptoms when leaving West Africa, but developed symptoms approximately four days after arriving to the US on Sept. 20 and sought care at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Sept. 26. After developing symptoms consistent with Ebola, he was admitted to the hospital Sept. 28. Based on the person’s travel history and symptoms, CDC recommended testing for Ebola and the patient was isolated. A CDC team was also reportedly dispatched to Dallas to assist with the investigation.

  This past summer, two American medical missionaries who contracted the virus while in West Africa were treated and cured at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta with use of an experimental drug ZMapp. The US Food and Drug Administration does not approve of the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) as a treatment option, despite some medical professionals considering its usefulness. Symptoms of Ebola that all healthcare providers should be aware of and on watch for include fever (>38.6°C or 101.5°F), severe headache, muscle pain, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and/or unexplained hemorrhage (bleeding or bruising). Symptoms may appear anywhere from 2-21 days after exposure, but the average is 8-10 days, according to the CDC.

Diabetes Prevalence Not Worse, CDC Says

  Newly reported trends by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show incidence and prevalence of diabetes types 1 and 2 have been flat from 2008-12.

  Slowing obesity rates may be playing a role, researchers suggest.

   “Following a doubling of the incidence and prevalence of diagnosed diabetes during 1990-2008, our nationally representative data suggest a potential slowing in the diabetes epidemic,” a recent study published in JAMA claims.

  Diabetes incidence does still continue to grow among certain populations, including Hispanics and blacks.

  The study reportedly included diabetes data from a National Health Interview Survey on 664,969 adults ages 20-79. In 1990, diabetes prevalence was said to be 3.5 per 100 people, a number that rose to 7.9 per 100 by 2008, but remained there per 100 in 2012. Diabetes incidence was 3.2 per 1,000 people in 1990, 8.8 per 1,000 in 2008, and 7.1 per 1,000 in 2012.

  Diabetes prevalence did continued to grow, however, among patients without a college education, and incidence rates are said to be still rising in Hispanics and blacks (P=0.01 and P=0.03, respectively).

TWC Author Tops on Twitter

  Nancy Collins, PhD, RDN, LD, FAPWCA, FAND, has been recognized by the Eco Friendly Foods Initiative (EFFI®) among the top nutritionists to follow on the social media site Twitter.

  Collins, a regular author of Today’s Wound Clinic and founder/executive director of Nutrition411.com, an online resource center designed for healthcare professionals who integrate diet and nutrition into patient consultations, ranked No. 9 in the top 30 listing recently released by EFFI, a company that produces organic food, holistic food, and nutraceuticals.

  Also a frequent columnist with TWC’s sister publication Ostomy Wound Management, Collins and nutrition411.com recently joined the HMP Communications LLC family of publications. She tweets as @RD411.

  Among the other professionals acknowledged by EFFI are Joy Bauer, the health and nutrition expert for NBC’s TODAY Show; Mehmet C. Oz, MD, FACS (); and Andrew Weil, MD, an internationally recognized expert on integrative medicine.

TWC Earns APEX Award For Publication Excellence

  Today’s Wound Clinic has earned a 2014 Award for Publication Excellence (APEX) for its feature series “Facility In Focus,” a collection of articles launched with the January/February 2013 issue of TWC that profiles wound clinics nationwide as well as their healthcare providers and patients.

  Now in their 26th year, APEX Awards are given across more than 100 categories including editorial content, writing, graphic design, illustration, marketing, public relations, and overall publication excellence among print and online media.

  TWC was among nearly 2,100 entries overall considered by an outside panel of judges and one of four winners in its category of “Health and Medical Publications.”

   “Facility In Focus” articles can be found in the print journal on a recurring basis as well as online at www.todayswoundclinic.com/category/section/facility-focus.