healthway, healthy?

The era of antibiotics is coming to a close.

Cooperation from all is needed to stop germs from spreading. We can help by having good personal hygiene practices such as proper and frequent hand washing, and observing the strict visitation policy of hospitals to prevent cross infection.”— A Belgian man died from a drug-resistant “superbug” originating in South Asia, a doctor said on Friday. It is the first reported death from the bacteria, as fears it could spread worldwide were reinforced after three Australians who travelled to India were reportedly infected.RTBF, it was the second reported case of the bacteria in the country this year.

AFP, wi th addi tional rep orting by Esthe r Ng

BREATH TEST can identify different types of CANCER, say scientists

LONDON

Their preliminary results, printed in the

The sensor used gold nanoparticles to detect levels of so-called volatile organic compounds, measured in a few parts per billion, that became more elevated in cancer patients.

The device could provide an early warning system that flags the disease before tumours become visible in X-rays.

The study examined the breath of 177 volunteers, including healthy people and patients already diagnosed with different stages of the four types of cancer.

However, further tests with larger samples will be needed to determine the strength of the link between breath and cancer detection.

“These results are interesting and show that there is the potential to develop a single breath test to detect these cancers,” said Dr Lesley Walker of the CancerActive charity in the United Kingdom.

“Strengthening the methods for early diagnosis of cancer, as well as improved treatments will have a significant impact on cutting death rates,” she added.— Scientists working on a breath test to detect cancer said in research published yesterday that they are now able to identify different types of the disease.British Journal of Cancer monthly, showed that the sensors could distinguish whether a patient had lung, breast, bowel or prostate cancer, irrespective of age, gender or lifestyle.

AFP

Superbugs in UK

New bacteria from South Asia could spread worldwide, study warns

LONDON

Many hospital infections that were already difficult to treat have become even more impervious to drugs due to a recently-discovered gene that can jump across different species of bacteria.

Worryingly, the New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase- 1 bacteria (NDM-1) are resistant even to carbapenems, a group of antibiotics often reserved as a last resort for treatment for multi-drug resistant bugs.

Researchers said the bugs had been brought into Britain by patients who travelled to India or Pakistan for cosmetic surgery.

In the new study, led by Cardiff University’s Timothy Walsh and Madras University’s Karthikeyan Kumarasamy, researchers set out to determine how common NDM-1 was in South Asia and Britain, where several cases had turned up.

They found 44 cases — 1.5 per cent of those screened — in Chennai, and 26 in Haryana, both in India. They also found the superbug in Bangladesh and Pakistan, as well as 37 cases in Britain.

NDM-1 was mostly found in E coli and K pneumoniae.

It was impervious to all antibiotics except two — tigecycline and colistin.

Crucially, the NDM-1 gene was found on DNA structures, called plasmids, that can be easily copied and transferred between bacteria, giving the bug “an alarming potential to spread and diversify”.

“Unprecedented air travel and migration allow bacterial plasmids and clones to be transported rapidly between countries and continents,” the authors said.

The emergence of these new strains could become a serious global health problem as the major threat shifts towards a broad class of bacteria, they warned.

Professor Walsh said “there are no new antibiotics that are going to be available in 10 years’ time”.— “Health tourists” flocking to South Asia have carried a new class of antibiotic-resistant superbugs to Britain, researchers reported yesterday, warning that the bacteria could spread worldwide.

AGENCIES

Another PILL that could cause a revolution

That seems possible, for these pills are beginning to revolutionise abortion around the world, especially in poor countries. One result may be tens of thousands of women’s lives saved each year.

Five-sixths of abortions take place in developing countries, where poor sterilisation and training often make the procedure dangerous. Up to 70,000 women die a year from complications from abortions, according to the World Health Organisation.

But researchers are finding an alternative that is safe, cheap and very difficult for governments to restrict — misoprostol, a medication originally intended to prevent stomach ulcers.

“I feel like people must have felt when they discovered the nuclear bomb,” says Dr Beverly Winikoff, president of Gynuity Health Projects, a non-profit research institution on reproductive health. “This technology is world-shaking.”

This pharmaceutical approach is called “medical abortion”.

In the United States and Europe it typically consists of two sets of “M” pills. The first is mifepristone, formerly known as RU486, and then a day or two later the misoprostol.

Using the drugs in combination produces a miscarriage more than 95 per cent of the time in early pregnancy. But mifepristone is difficult to obtain in much of the world, because it is used only to induce abortions.

In contrast, misoprostol is very widely available and cannot easily be banned because it is also used for ulcers and can save the lives of women with postpartum haemorrhages.

Whatever one thinks of misoprostol for abortions, it also is a potential lifesaver for women who haemorrhage after childbirth.Could the decades-long global impasse over abortion worldwide be overcome — by little white pills costing less than US$1 ($1.35) each?

DMG, has “Buy” call with 30 cents target, saying outlook favourable as healthcare group continues to make inroads in China using proceeds from placement of shares to World Bank’s International Finance Corp, other investors carried out earlier this year.

His interest in Healthway came under the spotlight after open market purchases via investment vehicle Kestrel Capital on 2 Jun bumped his deemed stake above 5%.

Latest purchases in the owner of Singapore’s largest network of private medical centers and clinics upped his deemed stake to 7.21% as at 10 Jun.

Never mind that Heathway’s net profits contracted 63.9% year on year for the first quarter of FY2010 --- its trading volumes surged tenfold overnight thanks to investor interest spurred by the smart money move.

128 million shares changed hands today, the highest since Jan this year.

The company generated net profits of S$1.36 million for 1Q2010.

Revenues for 1Q2010 were S$22.2 million, down 6.3% year-on-year. However, net margins fell due to an increase in operating costs, which include overheads, new doctors hires and start-up expenses in its new centres.
In the past 6 months, Healthway started several new centres offering family medicine and specialist services, namely ear, nose and throat surgery, eye surgery, general surgery, cardiology, sports medicine, psychiatry, paediatric pulmonology, paediatric endocrinology, paediatric neurology and child psychology.

The stock last closed at 20 cents, up 25% on steady trend compared to two weeks ago when Peter Lim's interest was made public.

The stock may already be at an estimated 22x PE for the current year (compared to 19x sector average), but DMG’s Lynette Tan has a ‘Buy’ call on the stock with target price at 30 cents.

Analysts like Healthway for its expansion plans.

It aims to double the total number of clinics in Singapore (including 60 specialist clinics) in the next 5 years to 200.  Of this total, the number of primary healthcare clinics (including 20 dental practices) is expected to grow from 70 to 140.

It also plans to have a total of 8 medical centers in Shanghai, of which 6 are operational by this year.

Ernest Lim, CFA, CPA