EU drug watchdog probes Aventis, Glaxo vaccines -  Reuters via www.signonsandiego.com - "The European Medicines Evaluation Agency will start an active surveillance programme of so-called hexavalent vaccines early next year following reports of a small number of sudden unexpected deaths in vaccinated children...'The results will be closely monitored so that timely regulatory action can be taken, if necessary,' the agency said...In the meantime, it reaffirmed its view that the benefits of vaccination far outweighed the possible risks of existing vaccines and that vaccination should be continued according to national vaccination schedules."

Comment:  But, of course.

At-risk children 'need flu jabs' - Up to a million children at risk from serious illnesses are being urged to have a flu jab. - BBC - "But they say there is no need for a mass vaccination of children...Around half a dozen children aged between 18 months and 16 are thought to have died from the Fujian strain of influenza this winter...But an inquest has revealed that 12-year-old girl Fern Summers from West Newton in Norfolk, who it was feared had died after contracting the flu strain, actually died after an asthma attack."

Comment:  It's encouraging to see such restraint on the part of public health authorities.

Graedons: Don't become a statistic this flu season - The Herald Sun - "Public-health experts hope that the vaccine will provide some benefit, but it is hard to predict how many people will come down with this bug despite a shot...In an average year, more than 100,000 people are hospitalized and 36,000 or so die from flu and its complications. In a year like this, when flu begins early with a mutated virus, the toll could be higher."

Comment:  Obviously nowhere nearly 36,000 deaths have occurred thus far, and a relatively small number have been reported.  Yet reporting on this year's flu has made it seem as if this year the flu is extraordinarily deadly.  But is that actually the case?

Among High-Risk Adults, Flu Shots Less Likely for Blacks Than Whites - American Journal of Public Health via www.intelihealth.com

Experts Answer Public Queries on SARS Vaccine Test on Humans - www.chinaorg.cn

Herpes trial not attracting participants - 25 women have signed up for $380 spot in 350-person vaccine study - The Diamondback

Autism on rise in schools - The Herald-Mail Online - "Autism affects '10,000 percent' more students across Maryland than it did about 10 years ago, a staggering number that's causing state and county school officials to take a closer look at how children who have the complex disability are taught, a Maryland State Department of Education official said."

Comment:  But aren't the "experts" insisting it's a matter of improved diagnosis?

Schools penalized for special ed scores - AP via Provo Daily Herald - "Across the country this year, thousands of schools were deemed "failing" because of the test performance of special ed students...The results have provoked feelings of fury, helplessness and amusement in teachers like Harper, who say that because of some of their students' disabilities, there is no realistic way to ever meet the expectations of a new federal law backed by the Bush administration that requires that 99 percent of all children be performing at or above grade level by 2014...A school failing to meet those targets risks being taken over by the state or private companies; teachers can lose their jobs."

Hospital interns falling victim to disease - The Daily Yomiuri - "An increasing number of interns have caught by infectious diseases such as measles, mumps and rubella during their training in recent years, according to a survey by a team led by a doctor at St. Marianna University School of Medicine in Kawasaki...However, only a few hospitals are taking precautions against the problem, which mainly involves diseases suffered by children."

Comment:  Maybe it's too bad they didn't get these diseases as children.

Meet a virus so smart it outwits the experts -  Pretoria News via www.iol.co.za - "It would be hard enough if HIV - human immunodeficiency virus - was all that people were fighting against. For Lisa Price, policy manager for the Terence Higgins Trust, the best-known British Aids charity, it is hard to resist thinking of it as an intelligent and calculating enemy: 'This is one of the smartest viruses that people have ever seen. It changes all the time.'"

Comment:  Maybe HIV is not so smart.  Maybe we are looking at this in the wrong way.  What if, as some believe, HIV has nothing to do with AIDS?

Nations share mission: Fight AIDS - New initiatives, funding and treatment hailed - The Tallahassee Democrat

Flu bug hitting G.I. hard - After emergency room was flooded over weekend, patients are being seen at clinics now - The Grand Island Independent

First Influenza Patient Reported - The Korea Times

Young Children Are Main Victims in UK Flu Outbreak - Reuters, UK - "Britain's Chief Medical Officer has urged increased flu vaccination of high-risk children as figures show that this year's outbreak is hitting infants hardest...At least two children under four years old have died of suspected Fujian flu so far this year and the figures also show that the rate of illness in this age group is three times higher than among middle-aged and elderly people."

Hepatitis C prevention starts with education - Kansas State Collegian - "Tattoos and body piercings are common among college students, but both trends can increase one's risk of Hepatitis C."

Hospital infection scare moves into the courts - The Globe and Mail - "The Toronto hospital at the centre of an infection scare over prostate-biopsy equipment could be facing a $150-million class-action lawsuit...The hospital announced last month that 861 men could have been exposed to HIV and hepatitis B and C because the probe used for prostate biopsies was improperly disinfected. Sunnybrook officials said the risk of any infection was extremely low, smaller than one in 100,000."

Comment:  I wonder how they calculated that risk.

What's up Doc: Hepatitis A explained - Daily News Transcript

Water key suspect in hepatitis A outbreak -  Inspections begin in Baja onion fields - The San Diego Union-Tribune

FDA: Fight outbreaks smarter - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Lamivudine Controls Viral Replication in Relapsed Hepatitis B Patients Although Resistance Eventually Develops - Doctor's Guide

West Nile ready for its close-up - Scientists obtain first detailed images of the virus -  AP via CNN

Canada ready if SARS returns, scientists told - Canadian Press

Disorder Steals Soldier's Mind, Life - The Dallas Morning News via The Ledger Online - "'I don't blame the Army for this disease (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease),' said his father, retired Army Command Sgt. Maj. John Alford, who was in the service 34 years. "I blame them for how they treated my son.'

Fifth of three-year-olds are obese - The Herald, UK

Smokers fail to quit during pregnancy - The Herald, UK

Awareness: Common Virus Mired in Mystery - The New York Times (registration and/or subscription required)

Prevention: Zapping Germs From Office Air - The New York Times (registration and/or subscription required)

Prevention Can Start Young, Studies Suggest; but How? - The New York Times (registration and/or subscription required)

Annual CT Detects Early-Stage Lung Cancer, Saves Lives - Radiological Society of North America  via www.intelihealth.com

Merck, GSK need new drugs - Troubled pharmaceutical giants need new drugs - CBS Market Watch

Analysis: Changing the Medicare Drug Deal - UPI

Breaking News Archives - from December 1, 2003 (check here for breaking news you might have missed)

*Note:  Starting December 10, 2003 news will be posted in the "daily news" pages based on when it was posted on this website, not by publication date.    Look for the rest of the news/information published on December 2 in the daily news pages from December 10 on.