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Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

FDA: Remicade Users May Suffer Blood Disorders

People who use the drug Remicade for rheumatoid arthritis may be at increased risk of a serious blood disorder, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned.

The drug's maker, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary called Centocor, has 580 reports of adverse reactions, a company spokesperson told the Associated Press. Forty-four of those reports involved a serious blood disorder, and included 12 patients who ultimately died, the wire service account said.

But an FDA spokeswoman said "It was unclear whether these deaths were caused by this product."

The Pennsylvania company has revised its product label and sent a warning to doctors, advising that some patients have suffered reductions in blood cell and platelet counts, making them more vulnerable to infections and abnormal bleeding, the AP reported. In rare cases, users contracted central nervous system problems that led to decaying blood vessels, according to the wire service.

The company is warning doctors to be cautious when prescribing the drug to people with a history of blood problems. It's also warning that Remicade users who have persistent fevers should seek immediate medical care, the AP said.

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WHO Official Seeks More Money for Bird Flu

The world's wealthier nations must contribute more money and intellectual power to fighting bird flu or risk a worldwide epidemic that spreads to people, a Vietnam-based official from the World Health Organization (WHO) warned Wednesday.

Experts have worried for months that a strain of bird flu could combine with a common human strain of influenza, causing a formidable outbreak that is resistant to a conventional human flu vaccine.

"It is not clear about the transmission route [from poultry to humans]," according to WHO's Vietnamese representative, Hans Troedsson, who was quoted by China's official Xinhua news agency. "Much more research is needed," he said.

Earlier this year, 16 people died in Vietnam when the H5N1 strain of bird flu made the jump from poultry to people. Eight more people died from the disease in Thailand, prompting the mass slaughter of at least 100 million chickens and other birds throughout Asia.

The Vietnamese government announced earlier this month that three more people had died when the same strain re-emerged. There's also been recent evidence of bird flu transmission to pigs, advancing concern over the virus's spread to mammals that are genetically similar to people, according to the Xinhua account.

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On Death and Dying Author Is Dead

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, whose 1969 book On Death and Dying revolutionized the way society treated terminally ill people, has died at her home in Scottsdale, Ariz., of natural causes. She was 78, the Arizona Republic reported.

The book, based on the lives of some 500 terminally ill people, offered the theory that people who are dying go through five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

The Swiss-born psychiatrist also had become a pioneer advocate for hospice care, and had urged doctors to pay closer attention to the needs of people who were dying.

On Death and Dying was the first of some 20 books Kubler-Ross would write, selling millions of copies, the newspaper reported. In 1999, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most important thinkers of the 20th century.

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Contaminated Fish in Many U.S. Lakes and Rivers

Fish that may be contaminated with dioxin, mercury, PCBs, and pesticides are swimming in more than one-third of the United States' lakes and nearly one-quarter of its rivers, according to a list of advisories released by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The advisories were issued by states that monitor pollution levels in fish caught by recreational and sport fishermen.

"It's about trout, not tuna. It's about what you catch on the shore, not what you buy on the shelf," EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt told the Associated Press.

This year, 44 states have had a fish advisory for mercury, a persistent substance that affects the nervous system, the news agency said.

Leavitt said that pollution levels, particularly from mercury, are actually declining. But monitoring by state officials is increasing.

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FDA Concerned About Illinois' Drug Importation Plan

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is concerned that Illinois' plan to help residents buy prescription medications from the United Kingdom may open the door to counterfeit drugs from other countries that have less-stringent drug safeguards.

FDA associate commissioner William Hubbard said he needs more details about how Illinois will act as an intermediary between foreign drug suppliers and Illinois consumers, the Associated Press reported.

Hubbard warned that the plan may have loopholes that might enable counterfeit drugs to be shipped to the United States from less developed countries that don't have the same strict regulatory controls as the United Kingdom.

But Illinois officials dismissed those concerns and said the state's plan contains safeguards that ensure the imported drugs are legitimate and safe. The state has provided the FDA with a report that explains Illinois' plan.

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Polio Threat Feared in Africa

Africa could soon face a major polio outbreak, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

For the first time in five years, Guinea and Mali have reported polio cases. There have also been three polio cases reported in Sudan's Darfur region. Overall, 10 African countries that had previously eradicated polio have now reported new cases.

The WHO blamed these latest cases on problems with the polio vaccination program in parts of Nigeria where Islamic clerics have condemned the effort as an American plot to make Muslim women infertile, BBC News Online reported.

In an attempt to contain polio originating in those parts of Nigeria, the WHO vaccinated people in neighboring countries. But it appears those efforts to contain the polio virus are failing.

The peak season for polio transmission begins in September, and the WHO is concerned that may be the start of a major outbreak.

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