Health Highlights: Feb. 10, 2007

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

Drug Overdose Deaths Doubled in the Past Five Years

In only five years, the number of deaths from unintentional drug overdoses doubled in the United States, according to U.S. government statistics. They rose from 11,155 in 1999 to 19,838 in 2004, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

TheAssociated Pressreports that the CDC, using death certificates, found that drug overdoses replaced falls as the second most common cause of unintentional death between 1999 and 2004. Motor vehicle accidents remained far ahead insofar as actual numbers were concerned, from 40,965 fatalities in 1999 to 43,432 in 2004.

While not yet being able to prove that prescription drugs may have been the reason for the increase, the researchers told the wire service they believed that the improper use of drugs like Vicodin and Oxycontin may have been a major contributor.

The availability of prescription drugs illegally also continues to be a problem. In a study released last week by the pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma, almost 82 percent of the participants said they illegally obtained their prescription medications from a drug dealer. Just over 50 percent said friends or relatives were also a source, although no information was gathered regarding where those contacts originally got the drugs.

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Funding for Pneumonia Vaccine in Poor Countries Pledged

Led by Italy, a small group of nations has pledged financial support to provide vaccinations against pneumonia for children in poor countries.

According to theNew York Times, representatives from Italy, Canada, Norway, Britain and Russia announced their financial support after a meeting in Rome. The first phase is called the Advance Market Commitment, and will promote production and distribution of the pneumococcal vaccine, which will prevent children from contracting a a deadly form of pneumonia, theTimesreports.

The program, for which $1.5 billion has been pledged, will support the creation more of the vaccine and could prevent 5.4 billion deaths by the year 2030, the newspaper cites the World Bank as estimating.

"This day is a great one for the poor women and children of the world," theTimesquotes Heatherwick Ntaba, a former health minister of Malawi, as saying.