Recall for infant formula spreads. The finding that laboratory tests have detected traces of contamination in several major brands of infant formula in the United States caused concern and confusion Wednesday, with a national consumer’s group and the Illinois attorney general demanding a Food and Drug Administration recall. But the federal agency says it had released inaccurate information on what chemicals were found in which top selling products. As worried parents called manufacturers looking for guidance about the presence of melamine, which had sickened thousands of Chinese babies this year, the FDA reiterated its position that the baby food is safe and parents should continue feeding it to their babies, contending the extremely low levels of contamination do not present a health danger.
South African lives could have been saved. The South African government would have prevented the premature deaths of 365,000 people earlier this decade if it had provided antiretroviral drugs to AIDS patients and widely administered drugs to help prevent pregnant women from infecting their babies, a Harvard researchers says. The policies,  which included rejecting antiretroviral drug help from foreign agencies, grew out of President Thabo Mbeki’s denial of the well-established scientific consensus that the HIV virus was the cause of AIDS and the essential role of antiretroviral drugs in treating it.

Nobody knows why a family’s two pit bulls blasted through the back door, mauled an infant girl to death and chewed up her grandmother, who tried to get her to safety. The grandmother, who survived the attack, had been baby-sitting at the time, she told Las Vegas Police. It appears that the dogs burst through a screen door of the North Las Vegas house and began attacking the 4-month-old, who was sitting in a stroller, police said.  “They just went right for the little girl,” North Las Vegas police Chief Joseph Forti told The Las Vegas Review-Journal. Grandma said she tried to “take the girl into another room, but the dogs forced their way in before she could close the door.” When police arrived, the dogs were still acting viciously, they said. Police shot and killed the pit bulls.

Oprah stays political. In recent weeks, rumors have surfaced that there’s an Oprah rebellion afoot. Word is that Oprah Winfrey’s announcement that she would not be allowing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to appear on her show, has sparked a backlash from women who say the Barack Obama supporter should provide equal time. But an impending insurrection doesn’t seem to be causing the talk-show diva to be less political. Today, Oprah will dedicate her show to a Senate bill targeting child predators, according to a release issued Friday by Chicago-based Harpo Productions. “What you are going to see is going to shock you to the core, but I’m asking you to please not turn away because this is happening in our country, to our children, in the United States every day,” said Winfrey, who says that show will highlight the “extent and pervasiveness of child pornography trafficking in America.”  The release says that Winfrey will ask viewers to contact their senators about U.S. Senate Bill 1738, the Protect Our Children Act. The top is nothing new for Winfrey, herself a victim of child abuse. In 1991, she testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in support of a national database of convicted child abusers. The hearing led to the signing of the so-called “Oprah Bill” in 1993. Her “Oprah’s Child Predator Watch List” has resulted in the capture of nine child predators, according to Harpo.

Jordin Sparks is to be praise, and criticized for her stand on abstinence. Jordin Sparks made a bold statement when she stood up at MTV’s Video Music Awards on Monday for the Jonas Brothers’ right to wear promise rings, a symbol of their pledge to abstain from sex until marriage. But she also unwittingly chastised any teenager who happens to be sexually active. How? Vital Signs has the details. 

New York City shows largest decline in infant deaths. New York City has made the biggest improvement of all major cities in lowering its infant death rate, according to new numbers from the city’s Health Department. New York’s infant mortality rate fell again in 2007, reaching the lowest level ever recorded. The 2007 rate – 5.4 deaths per 1,000 live births, down from 5.9 in 2006 – marked the sharpest one-year decline since 2001, when the city’s rate dropped to 6.1 from 6.7 per 1,000 live births. Of the 128,961 babies born in New York City in 2007, 697 died before reaching a year old, 43 fewer than in 2006. The city’s infant mortality rate remained significantly lower than that of the nation, which was 6.7 deaths per 1,00 live births in 2006, the most recent year on record. The number of local births surged by 3,455 during 2007, and births to Asian women accounted for half of the increase. News reports suggest that many Chinese couples timed their pregnancies to coincide with the Year of the Golden Pig, a particularly auspicious year in the Chinese lunar calendar. Here’s how the numbers break down by ethnic group: The infant mortality rate was 9.8 per 1,000 live births among Blacks, 6.3 among Puerto Ricans, 4.3 among other Hispanics, 3.9 among Whites, and 3.1 among Asian/Pacific Islanders. “We are heading in the right direction, but substantial disparities remain,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, New York City health commissioner. “Infant death rates remain unacceptably high among Blacks and Puerto Ricans and in low-income neighborhoods. We need to expand services for these groups and communities, and we also need to work to reduce inequities that persist in income, education, health care, safe neighborhoods and access to healthy affordable food and regular physical activity.” How did the city improve its numbers? Health officials say the department has been working on many fronts to help women stay as healthy as possible before pregnancy, obtain quality health care during pregnancy, and provide the care and support their babies need to thrive. Its key initiatives include breastfeeding education, safe-sleep education, cribs for families that can’t afford them, and nurse home-visiting during pregnancy and early childhood.

The Ohio officer was acquitted by an all-White jury on Monday.
Two days after an all-White jury in Ohio acquitted a policeman who shot and killed an unarmed Black woman and wounded her infant son in front of her five other children, U.S. Justice Department officials say they might bring civil rights charges against the officer. The shooting, which took place in early January, drew national attention, as community activists and civil rights leaders, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, spoke out about the racial implications in the case. Lima Police Sgt. Joseph Chavalia, who fired the shot, is White; the victims, Tarika Wilson and her 13-month-old son, Sincere Wilson, are Black. Get more details at BET.com/News.

More have HIV/AIDS than previously reported.

There are more Americans newly infected with HIV/AIDS than previously thought, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Saturday. About 56,000 people became infected with HIV in the past year, which is roughly 40 percent more cases than officials had estimated, said Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. Previous CDC estimates suggested about 40,000 new people were infected each year. But those estimates used “limited data and less precise methods,” said the center, which is now using technology capable of determining when someone was infected. The new method can indicate whether someone has been infected with HIV during the past five months, rather than relying on statistical models. Diagnosis of HIV can occur years after infection, he said. “The fact that 56,000 Americans each year are contracting HIV for the first time is a wake-up call for all of us in the U.S.,” Fenton said. “These numbers are a scathing indictment of how profoundly U.S. and CDC HIV prevention efforts have failed,” said Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which calls itself “the nation’s largest provider of HIV/AIDS medical care.” Weinstein called on the United States to put up $200 million for the testing of 10 million people over the next three years. According to the report, 53 percent of new HIV infections occur in homosexual or bisexual men. African Americans account for 45 percent or 25,000 new cases annually, meaning they are seven times more likely to contract HIV than Whites.

Infant deaths level off nationally, except for among African Americans.

The rate of infant deaths nationwide has leveled off after a nearly decade-long decline. However, Black infants continue to die at disproportionately high rates, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Blacks are more than twice as likely to die as infants than White babies. In Florida, for instance, the Black infant-mortality rate was 12.36 in 2005, compared with 5.63 for White babies, according to the report. California Health Department figures show that from 2000 to 2006, the number of Black-infant deaths in Orange County increased from 41 to 61 a year. In 2000, a Black baby died every 11 days. In 2006, it was every six days. And in Kenosha, Wis., for every White baby that dies in Kenosha, 5.2 Black infants die. The CDC report cited congenital malformations as the leading cause of infant deaths in 2005. Disorders related to short gestation and low birthweight was second, followed by Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Miami’s Hatian Women less likely to get a pelvic exam. Only 44 percent of Haitians over age 18 who live in the Little Haiti neighborhood in Miami have had a Pap test, compared with 84 percent of Black and White women, according to a study by researchers at the University of Miami, The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. According to experts, the findings could signal a trend of how Haitian women in other areas of the United States approach preventive health care. Marlene Cesar, president of the Haitian American Nurses Association, said, “Culturally, many Haitians don’t believe in preventive health. They only go when they have a crisis.” Economic and cultural barriers, such as being uninsured, preferring traditional healing methods and distrusting Western medicine, affect screening rates among Haitian women, the Sun-Sentinel reports. In addition, women who are not U.S. citizens often fear going to a doctor or hospital for preventive care, some community leaders said. Study researcher Erin Kobetz, a professor at the University of Miami, said, “When you have underserved and marginalized individuals with inadequate access, it’s not shocking that those individuals would be screened in lower percentages than others.” To address the issue, community leaders suggested that health-care providers work more closely with traditional healers to spread messages about preventive care among Haitian immigrants. Pascale Auguste, project coordinator with the Haitian American Association Against Cancer, added, “When you’re working with the Haitian community, you have to bring it to them in their language”