Major progress in health through technology_美文

Major progress in health through technology

Dr. Marban estimates that five to six billion dollars is spent each year worldwide on electronic pacemakers for millions of patients. But these man-made pacemakers can cause life-threatening infections. And every five to seven years, the batteries that supply power must be changed. This requires another operation.

Dr. Marban says the devices are not right for all patients. And others are too sick to use them. He says researchers plan to put the experimental gene in very sick patients in about two years. They want to prove the gene is both safe and effective.

“Basically, what we are going to look for are patients who already have an electronic pacemaker, who develop a severe infection and need to have the electronic pacemaker taken away. And then, during the time the patients are free of an electronic pacemaker, they, their hearts need to be sustained by some means, and we hope that we would be able to create this biological pacemaker to keep the heart going between treatments.”

A report on the natural cardiac pacemaker was published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Finally, the United States has launched a program to help improve Zimbabwe’s health information management system. The program is meant to strengthen investigation and reporting of disease outbreaks and epidemics.

You are listening to a group of health workers. They include doctors and medical aides from Manicaland, an area in eastern Zimbabwe. They were happy because America’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had donated laptop computers and other equipment. The computers will be used to store information about patients they treat in the area.