Public Health

Los Angeles County has lacked permanent leadership for its extensive network of public hospitals and clinics for more than a year, and that appears unlikely to change any time soon. A lengthy search for a new Department of Health Services head resulted in a single finalist -- Bob Sillen, former leader of the state prison healthcare system -- but county supervisors have rejected him, aides to two supervisors said this week. Sillen arrived in Los Angeles last week for his final interviews backed by William T Fujioka, the county's chief executive.

The British government said Friday that it plans to ban private organ transplants from dead donors to allay fears that prospective recipients can buy their way to the front of the line. A government-commissioned report recommended that organs donated within the state-run National Health Service stay within the public health system, which provides universal care to everyone who lives in Britain. Though transplants are free, there often are be long waiting lists. Few Britons have private transplants, so in practice the new rules will stop foreigners from coming to Britain and paying privately for a transplant.

In the early stages of the pandemic H1N1 flu outbreak in Chicago, blacks and Latinos were about four times more likely than non-Latino whites to contract the virus. The finding, from the Chicago Department of Public Health, was published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. CDC officials said it was unlikely that genetic factors explained the increased susceptibility. Rather, both groups have higher rates of diabetes and other conditions that make them more susceptible.

Re: David Lazarus' consumer column: "Reform is vital; public plan isn't," Aug. 19: Your column about whether we need a public health insurance option as part of healthcare reform sounds logical and seems to offer a middle road through a political minefield. Your sources are knowledgeable and your thesis about achieving reform without clinging to competition from the government appears rational. But you are deluded if you think both parties are seriously searching for effective healthcare legislation.

Public health officials in Riverside County are urging residents to steer clear of bats acting strangely after a 15-year-old Hemet boy was bitten. The bat was rabid and the teenager was treated by a doctor last week after the bite. The boy found the bat flopping around on the ground during the day, according to the county Department of Animal Services. When he tried to pick it up, it bit him. His condition was not known. "If you see a bat during the day, something is not right with that bat," said Sharon Fortino, assistant nurse manager for the county Department of Public Health.

A one-mile stretch of Will Rogers State Beach reopened Saturday, two days after sanitation workers capped a storm drain that had leaked nearly 10,000 gallons of raw sewage into the ocean. At 1 p.m., lifeguards began removing signs warning visitors away from the ocean water, said Bernard Franklin, chief environmental health specialist for the recreational waters program at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. The closed section of the beach stretched from about half a mile north to about half a mile south of the storm drain, which is about 100 yards south of the Will Rogers Lifeguard Headquarters at 15100 Pacific Coast Highway.

Los Angeles County residents without health insurance or a personal doctor will be eligible for free H1N1 flu vaccines at county-sponsored clinics starting next Friday. The county's first shipment of H1N1 nasal spray vaccines arrived last week, and public health officials said they expect to receive further supplies every two weeks until at least December. The federal government is buying and distributing the vaccines to states in proportion to their populations. The county-sponsored clinics will be held at area parks, churches, schools and community centers, and will offer both H1N1 FluMist nasal spray and vaccines (including preservative-free versions)

Glynndana Shevlin awoke Oct. 30 with a runny nose and scratchy throat, worried she might have the flu. But the full-time food and beverage concierge at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim has no paid sick days, and if her absences stack up, she faces discipline. So like many others in the service industry, Shevlin, 49, weighed her options and reported to work sick. "I thought I could make it," said Shevlin, who has worked at the hotel for 21 years. Four hours into her shift -- and after several trips to the bathroom to retch -- Shevlin asked to leave early.

Americans entering their 70s today are experiencing more disabilities in old age than did the previous generation, researchers announced Thursday. The shift in health fortunes comes as a surprise and predicts future high disability rates for the baby boomers as well. The study is the first to foretell the end of a two-decade trend in which people appeared to be functioning better in old age than those who came before, said lead author Teresa E. Seeman, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine.

Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop said any money from congressional action against tobacco companies should be spent fighting smoking and the diseases it causes rather than research, as President Clinton has proposed. Clinton has suggested boosting science and health research, in particular cancer research. Koop welcomed the prospect of money from tobacco companies to make up for what he said are $100 billion a year in costs to society from smoking, but he urged caution in spending it.