An interesting piece of campaigning from Maryland’s own MedImmune. The Gaithersburg-based biotech has started a new Web site to push the importance of taking the flu vaccine. More specifically, it’s pushing the importance of taking its version of the vaccine, which is delivered with a nasal spray instead of through a needle.

The “interesting” part is that the Web site is set up like a campaign Web site — campaign buttons, a call to cast your “fluvote” and a string of red, white and blue banners.

I suppose it’s a timely piece of advertising, and a good way for the company to get its message out. Still, just thinking about campaigning and politics gives me a little eye twitch — the same one I get whenever I see a political ad on television.

Thanks to the WSJ blog for seeing it first.

JOE BACCHUS, Web Specialist

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If you believe the results of a new MedImmune-sponsored survey, most parents believe that giving their kids a flu vaccine isn’t all that important. At least not in comparison with taking their vitamins and dressing appropriately for the weather.

That might not be stellar news for Gaithersburg-based MedImmune (producer of inhaled flu vaccine FluMist), but here’s a finding that tips the scales back its way: Two out of three parents surveyed said they wish their child could get a flu vaccine without having to get a shot.

Gee, if only one was available on the open market.

Here’s more good news for MedImmune:

• Of those parents who have previously had their child vaccinated against the flu, nearly 4 out of 5 (78 percent) say they would be extremely or very willing to try a needle-free flu vaccine for their child if their doctor said it was OK.

• Three out of four school-age children (77 percent) would be willing to get the flu vaccine if the experience was injection-free.

In February, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices expanded its annual flu vaccination recommendations to include children six months to 18 years of age.

The survey’s findings seem to show that parents overwhelmingly rely on their healthcare provider’s recommendation for vaccination decisions. But lobbying doctors’ offices is about to get even harder for pharmaceutical reps, thanks to new ethics guidelines for the industry.

Do you think FluMist’s parent company needs to generate more awareness of its product? Would you as a parent feel comfortable giving your child an inhaled vaccine?

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

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Health officials who are preparing for the next flu pandemic through vaccine prevention might want to consider another approach, suggest the authors of a new study on 1918 pandemic.

A team of microbiologists in Silver Spring has concluded that most people who perished during the 1918 flu pandemic died of bacterial infections — not from the flu itself.

Instead, they venture that bacterial pneumonia was the likely cause of death for most of the 20-to-100 million victims of the so-called Spanish flu — though the flu virus did have a significant role.

Records from ’18 and ’19 show that most victims lasted more than a week after showing symptoms – a hallmark of pneumonia. Few people died within three days, which would indicate the flu. Researchers also found new military recruits (those not exposed to resident bacteria) died in droves, while most lifelong soldiers survived.

Medical experts think that the flu strain paved the way for the bacteria to take hold by placing stress on the immune system and killing cells in the respiratory tract, making a home for invading bacteria.

“The 1918 pandemic is considered to be – and clearly is – something unique, and it’s widely understood to be the most lethal natural event that has occurred in recent human history,” said John Brundage, a medical microbiologist for the Armed Forces in Silver Spring.

And whether it originates from birds or other sources, Brundage suggests the government consider preparing for the next flu pandemic by stocking up on antibiotics – just in case.

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

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On Monday afternoon, before the rain came pouring down, a burial service was held for Marylanders who donated their bodies to science last year.

The service is an annual occasion, held to recognize the vital donations – and unclaimed bodies – that are used by Maryland’s medical and dental students for education and research. The service was held at Springfield Hospital Center in Sykesville.

A proclamation from the Governor’s Office declared June 16 to be “Anatomical Donor Appreciation Day” in Maryland.

Friends and family of the donors were invited to attend the interdenominational service, which was coordinated by the State Anatomy Board and Springfield Hospital Center’s Office of Volunteer Services.

Multimedia Reporter Richard Simon caught up with a number of medical students and family members at the service.

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“Serious Games” sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s the best way to describe what’s going on at the Baltimore Convention Center today.

More than 300 people are in town for the fourth annual Games for Health conference – a group that is serious about the use of video games for health benefit.

For instance, they’ll reveal a new version of the popular video game Guitar Hero that’s designed to be used by an arm amputee, for rehabilitation. They’ll examine how the use of “PD Wii” is aiding balance and mobility in Parkinson’s patients. One panel will discuss how exercise games (or “exergaming”) in gyms can be used to make physical activity more fun.

And video games are even being used to train medical professionals. Physicians and EMTs are immersed in a 3D simulation of an emergency situation or a patient interaction to practice responding.

Parents will appreciate this one: a team of graduate students at Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center are working on an “interactivity kiosk” originally titled Project ER that is aimed to lower stress for the 60,000 children who visit Pittsburgh Medial Centers ER each year.

And this year, for the first time, a health insurance company is participating. Humana is a conference sponsor.

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

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Aptly enough, JHU President Bill Brody will be on Retirement Living TV.

He’s conducting the interviews for a special on health care.

“Healthcare ’08: Search for Solution” is being produced by RLTV and Maryland Public Television, with help from Johns Hopkins University and the National Coalition on Health Care.

The program will feature Brody having “in-depth conversations” with public figures about the present and future state of health care.

“This series presents an insight into both how our health care system really works and what needs to be done to fix it. Dr. Brody does an exceptional job at challenging conventional wisdom in these interviews,” said Elliot Jacobson, VP of programming and production, RLTV.

Here’s the schedule:

MPT – 8 p.m. EDT

May 1: Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City

May 8: John Erickson, CEO, Erickson Retirement Communities

May 15: Bill Novelli, CEO, AARP

May 22: Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House

TBA: Elias A. Zerhouni, MD, Director, NIH

If Brody asked you, what would you say about the future of health care?

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

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Is a firefighter bachelor auction held at a bar an appropriate fundraiser for the Red Cross?

This seems to be the question that’s led to a purge of employees from the Frederick County Red Cross – both resignations and terminations.

The group’s executive director was fired March 19 after objecting to the plans, according to a story in the Frederick News-Post. Two more longtime employees resigned this week.

Here’s the crux of the “inappropriate” argument: The Red Cross organization advises its workers and volunteers to avoid bars and taverns while representing the Red Cross.

However, there is no such language in the organization’s written code of conduct.

In this situation, once the Frederick chapter was told there were no legal concerns over the event, it was up to the board members to make the final decision.

And on Wednesday, the bachelor auction was held at the Greene Turtle Sports Bar and Grille. The event raised more than $4,000.

Do you think a bachelor auction is appropriate for an esteemed NPO? Or should nonprofits steer away from mixing business and pleasure?

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

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Do you remember back in Sept. 2006 when Wal-Mart announced its plan to provide $4, 30-day prescriptions for a number of generic drugs? Well, the company has crunched the numbers and says it’s saved Americans more than $1 billion. $1,032,573,012.61, to be exact.

About $13.7 million of that is for Maryland alone. Florida leads the way with $72.4 million in savings.

I’ll admit I don’t know much about this program, or how Wal-Mart reached these numbers. But it is interesting to hear, especially considering the state of health care in the country. What do you think? Have you used the program, or know someone who has? Let us know.

JOE BACCHUS, Web Specialist

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While the practice of “bundling” services is commonplace in many industries, such as food service (think McDonald’s Happy Meal) or the new car industry, where various options are thrown together for one price instead of sold separately, I never thought that the plastic surgery business was an industry where I would find services bundled.

I was wrong.

A news release issued by Dr. Eric Chang, owner of Columbia Aesthetic Plastic Surgery LLC, in Columbia, though touts a bundling of surgical services “popularly known” as a “Mommy Makeover.” The service is aimed at mothers looking to restore to “restore a woman’s pre-pregnancy body.”

“Mommy Makeovers are tailored to the individual needs of each patient, but usually combine tummy tuck with a breast enhancement surgery like breast lift, breast enlargement, or breast reduction to recontour women’s bodies that have begun to stretch and sag after pregnancy,” Chang said in the release.

According to Chang, the procedures are making up an increasing share of his practice.

Do you think this is a valid response to an underserved market?

Should he bundle a selection of services for male clients as well? Why not have men tag along and go for something like a “pre-wedding makeover?”

Or, why not target both and make a “parent makeover” bundle?

BEN MOOK, Assistant Business Editor

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Americans may not be the sleep-deprived victims we’re often made out to be, say researchers at the University of Maryland in a new report today.

In sharp contrast with estimates recently given by the National Sleep Foundation, the UMD report says we’re averaging 8 hours, 12 minutes of sleep on workdays (NSF: 6 hours, 40 minutes) and 9 hours, 12 minutes of sleep on weekends (NSF: 7 hours, 25 minutes).

So how do the UMD researchers explain the difference between their findings and those of the NSF? Basically, “everybody lies.”

The NSF sleep poll asks Americans to estimate how much sleep they get. The Maryland analysts used “time-use” data collected by the U.S. Census that accounts for every minute of a person’s day.

“It’s a status symbol,” UMD sociologist John Robinson told The Washington Post. “If you are a good American, you work all hours. It’s virtuous in American society to not get enough sleep.”

It must be a whopping fib: while UMD says Americans total 59 hours of sleep a week in 2005, the NSF poll claims only 48 hours per week. That’s more than one full night’s difference.

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

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