Health Highlights: Aug. 5, 2009

Aug. 6 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Novartis Starts Swine Flu Vaccine Test in Humans

The first human trial of a swine flu vaccine made by Swiss drugmaker Novartis started about 10 days ago when a person in Britain received the first shot.

The year-long trial will include 6,000 participants of all ages in Britain, Germany and the United States, drug company spokesman Eric Althoff told the Associated Press. He added that the vaccine will likely be on the market before the trial is completed.

The trial is designed to test the safety of the vaccine and to determine whether people require one or two shots.

"Our assumption is that two doses will be required," Althoff told the AP.

Since swine flu was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in June, drug companies have been striving to get their vaccines ready. In July, Australian drugmaker CSL became the first to start testing a swine flu vaccine in humans.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization reported Tuesday that 338 people died from swine flu in the last week.

The H1N1 virus is now responsible for at least 1,154 deaths since it emerged in Mexico and the United States in April, the AP reported.

Last week, the official WHO death toll was 816.

WHO said Tuesday that laboratory-confirmed cases of the disease have now reached 162,380.

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U.S. Gov't Boosts Funding of Suicide Crisis Centers

The tough economic situation in the United States has apparently contributed to a sharp increase in calls to suicide crisis centers, so the federal government is offering the centers increased funding.

In July, there were more than 57,000 calls to suicide prevention lines and about one-quarter of them were related to economic worries, said Richard McKeon, lead health adviser for suicide prevention at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Associated Press reported.