Organ regifting, telemedicine and man-breasts: The ReportingonHealth Daily Briefing

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August 18, 2010

Here's what we're reading and watching today:

Telemedicine: Lots of press coverage of the launch of California's Telehealth Network, in which 50 clinics and hospitals will join a broadband network to provide medical care to people in remote areas. Organizers eventually hope to link up to 900 health care providers by the end of next year. Check out the Sacramento Bee's coverage.

Salmonella: More than 228 million eggs have been recalled because they may harbor salmonella, ABC News (and everyone else) reports. Iowa-based Wright County Egg Farm announced the voluntary recall after their eggs were linked to hundreds of cases of salmonella poisoning around the country. Cue the lawsuits

Man-Breasts: We know it's exploitative and yet we cannot resist this photo and short article about a Chinese man suffering from a very bad, and unexplained, case of gynecomastia. Fortunately, surgeons were able to remove his man-breasts, aka moobs.  

Organ "Regifting": We've never wondered about this before, but it's a great question: are transplanted organs ever re-used in another patient? Yes, according to this PopScience article. Apparently, a few of the nation's 28,000 organ transplants each year involve the same organs. Here's why.

Poverty:  University of Michigan social epidemiologist Paula Lantz shares her views on the links between poverty and premature death in an interview in Miller McCune magazine.