AACCA - American Association of Certified Coders and Auditors

AACCA Coding Newswire
June, 2006
To automatically receive our newsletter and other AACCA information via email, please sign up here.

Click here to access our Coding Newswire archives and check out previous issues.

Panel Okays Cervical Cancer Vaccine

A vaccine that blocks viruses that cause most cervical cancer is safe and effective and should be approved, a federal panel recommended Thursday. The drug maker said the vaccine could slash global deaths from the No. 2 cancer in women by more than two-thirds.

A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee voted 13-0 on five separate times to endorse Merck and Co.'s Gardasil. The anticipated cost of the vaccine, administered in three shots over six months, is $300 to $500, a possible impediment to widespread vaccination campaigns.

Find out more information at the CBS News website.

Hair Loss May be Caused by Iron Deficiency

If you're losing hair, you may have an iron deficiency.

A review of 40 years of research shows that iron deficiency has a much closer link to hair loss than most doctors realize. It may be the key to restoring hair growth, Cleveland Clinic dermatologists find.

Learn more at the Fox News website.

Scientists Disagree on Safety of Abortion Pill

Scientists disagreed Thursday over whether the abortion pill RU-486 played any role in the deaths of four California women who died from a rare bacterial infection.

One researcher said he believes RU-486 enabled the deadly bacteria, and another scientist recommended use of the pill be reduced or eliminated. But other experts at a scientific meeting exploring the cases emphatically challenged those conclusions, calling them at best premature.

Learn more about this potential concern, as well as how it may begin impacting current use at the MSNBC website.

FDA Rejects Health Claim for Green Tea

There is no credible scientific evidence that drinking green tea reduces the risk of heart disease, federal regulators said Tuesday in rejecting a petition that sought to allow tea labels to make that claim.

Learn more about specific reasons for the FDA's rejection by reading CNN's complete coverage.

New Antibiotic May Fight Resistant Germs

Researchers have found a potentially valuable new antibiotic in a scoop of soil from South Africa.

Using a novel screening technique, scientists from Merck & Co. have found a chemical compound that is effective against germs that have developed resistance to existing antibiotics. The discovery could provide a vital weapon in the ongoing battle against infectious bacteria, which are constantly evolving defenses to the drugs used against them.

Learn more about this potential discovery at the MSNBC website.

Great-Grandmother Gives Birth at 62

Janise Wulf is 62 years old and the mother of 10, grandmother of 20 and great-grandmother of three. But she decided that she wanted to have more children, and on Friday gave birth to a boy through in vitro fertilization.

Adam Charles Wulf weighed 6 pounds, 9 ounces and was born via C-section.

Learn more about Janise's amazing birth by reading ABC News' online coverage.