WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- A public health alert was issued Thursday after 14,800 pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with E.coli was reported stolen in Texas.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service said the ground beef products were produced by Texas American Food Service Corporation doing business as American Fresh Foods.

The health alert was initiated after a trailer containing the products was reported stolen, FSIS said in a release.

The agency said each package of meat label bears the establishment number "EST. 13116" inside the USDA mark of inspection and the company name "American Fresh Foods, Ft. Worth, TX 76102" below the nutrition information. Each package has a net weight of approximately 1 to 2 pounds.

The consumer and bulk ground beef products were produced on Dec. 19, 2007.

Consumers and media with questions about the public health alert should contact the company's consumer toll-free hotline at 1-800-724-1136.

Drug helps boost blood-platelets in Hep C

NEW YORK, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- A report in the New England Journal of Medicine says the drug eltrombopag appears to significantly boost platelet counts in hepatitis C patients.

A low blood platelet count is a frequent complication associated with advanced disease, a problem compounded by the fact that standard antiviral treatment for the disease can further reduce platelet numbers to dangerously low levels, Dr. Samuel Sigal of Weill Cornell Medical College said Friday in a release.

Sigal said tests show eltrombopag increased platelet counts, allowing more patients to complete antiviral therapy.

A Phase 2 placebo-controlled study followed 74 patients with low platelet counts and cirrhosis of the liver due to hepatitis C virus infection. Seventy-four percent of those randomized to take the lowest dose saw their platelet counts go up significantly, while up to 95 percent of the participants saw increases with the highest doses. Less than a quarter of patients receiving placebo completed their therapy.

Eltrombopag is an investigational oral, non-peptide platelet growth factor that induces the proliferation and differentiation of cells to produce platelets. It is taken as a once-a-day pill.

Study looks at new way to attack bacteria

NEW YORK, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say finding new drug targets could provide a better way to attack tuberculosis and other bacterial infections.

The research, conducted at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, is focused on molecular targets or virulence factors that bacteria use to thrive once they are in the host.

"We have developed the first inhibitor of a key small molecule from Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium leprae (which causes leprosy), utilized to subvert human host's defenses and damage and invade human host's cells during infection," senior author Dr. Luis Quadri said Thursday in a release.

The report, published online in the journal Chemistry and Biology, said infectious disease research is moving beyond anti-microbials such as antibiotics to anti-infectives that compromise a pathogen's ability to infect and spread in the host.

Hollywood squirrels get birth control

HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Forget killing pesky pests -- Hollywood's feeding birth control kibble to its pigeons.

The program is one of a number of experiments in giving contraceptives to nuisance animal populations including deer, squirrels and pigeons, which may carry disease, damage farmland or compete with native species for food, the Los Angeles Times said.

Some 300 Hollywood pigeons are eating OvoControl P in pill-shaped kibbles in a pilot program that hopes to half the city's pigeon population by 2012, The Times said.

Trials for such birth control programs have been supported by animal-advocacy groups including the Humane Society of the United States and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

A 2004 squirrel contraceptives trial in Berkeley, Calif., reduced birth rates by 66 percent, according to Alameda County and U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics. Last summer, 80 does at Point Reyes National Seashore were injected with GonaCon to see if it will slow herds of deer, which dig up land, carry exotic diseases and compete with native deer and elk for food and shelter, the Times said.