Health Highlights: Dec. 24, 2009

ByABC News
December 24, 2009, 4:23 PM

Dec. 25 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Seniors' Flu Vaccine Approved by FDA

Fluzone High-Dose, a seasonal flu vaccine for people 65 and older, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the agency said in a news release.

Seniors are at highest risk for complications of seasonal flu, including hospitalization and death. The Fluzone High-Dose vaccine, designed to prevent infection with influenza subtypes A and B, was given accelerated approval as a product designed to prevent serious or life-threatening disease. As part of the approval, manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur is required to "conduct further studies to verify that [the vaccine] will decrease seasonal influenza after vaccination," the FDA said.

Because of the vaccine's higher potency, mild side effects were reported more frequently compared with Sanofi's standard-strength Fluzone vaccine, the agency said. These included pain, injection-site redness and swelling, headache, muscle ache and fever.

People who are sensitive to egg products or who have had life-threatening reactions to prior flu shots shouldn't be vaccinated with Fluzone High-Dose, the FDA said.

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Teresa Heinz, Battling Cancer, Supports Regular Mammograms

Teresa Heinz, wife of the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. John Kerry, is undergoing treatment for breast cancer and is urging younger women to continue getting regular mammograms despite recent federal guidelines recommending they get fewer of the cancer-detecting tests.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Heinz, 71, said the physical and emotional toll of the disease for women who need surgery and other follow-up treatment, such as chemotherapy, is far greater than the cost of mammography.

Her cancer was detected during an annual mammogram in late September, she said.