December 17, 2003 - How the Mass Media in the U.S. Created Flu Hysteria and Helped Drive the Vaccine Markets for the Makers of FluMist And Fluzone. - by RFD columnist Sherri Tenpenny, DO in the Online Vaccines Conference @ www.redflagsdaily.com

December 17, 2003 - Center Aims to Demystify Vaccines - HealthDayNews via ABC News - "Those little vials containing vaccines can frighten parents — enough, in some cases, that they don't get their children immunized...Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, hopes to demystify the vials and the vaccines...'If you look at that little vial, it's mysterious — people don't know what's in there' he says. 'We're trying to make it less frightening.'...The center Offit leads started in 2000 to give parents and physicians accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date information about vaccines."

Comment: Accurate according to whom?  The Committee on Government Reform considered Offit's various conflicts of interest to be important enough to include him in their investigation:  “FACA: Conflicts of Interest and Vaccine Development: Preserving the Integrity of the Process”, Thursday, June 15, 2000)

December 16, 2003 - Plaudits and condemnation for MMR drama - icWales, UK

December 18, 2003 - Fears over fall in uptake of MMR jab - EveningNews24, UK - "THE number of parents opting to give their children the controversial MMR vaccine has dropped in Norwich and Norfolk...The five per cent drop in uptake of the vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella, but has been linked with autism, reflects the national trend of more parents shunning the treatment."

December 16, 2003 - Inherently difficult vaccine process, plus bad luck, create flu woes - Knight Ridder via The Sun-Herald

1997 - Are serological responses to acellular pertussis antigens sufficient criteria to ensure that new combination vaccines are effective for prevention of disease? - journal article - (Dev Biol Stand) - "Unfortunately, the antibody titres induced by acellular pertussis vaccines do not correlate with vaccine efficacy. Thus, although diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccine has been considered a prime building block in the development of new combination vaccines, modifying DTaP by the addition of new vaccine components may decrease the ability of the vaccine to protect against pertussis without a change in serum antibody response. For this reason, immunogenicity is not an adequate or safe basis for licensing combination vaccines containing acellular pertussis."

December 17, 2003 - Man gave unlicensed flu shots, state says - Registered counselor was charging $45 for each shot - King County Journal - "A man with no medical license who gave $45 flu shots here is under investigation by the state Department of Health and the Bellevue Police Department, officials said Tuesday...Officials and at least one parent are wondering if the shots actually contained vaccine."

Comment:  Who knows what was in those vials? 

December 17, 2003 - National Vaccine Advisory Committee Issues Recommendations To Strengthen Supply Of Routine Vaccines - JAMA via www.intelihealth.com

December 18, 2003 - As demand for flu vaccine spikes, so does price - Knight Ridder Tribune via www.kentucky.com

December 16, 2003 - Area health providers offer options for fighting the flu - Vaccine still available to high-risk patients and children - The Post-Crescent

December 16, 2003 - Demand rises for diminishing flu vaccine - The Cincinnati Post

December 16, 2003 - Flu vaccine available for select groups - Knoxville News-Sentinel

December 17, 2003 - Study illustrates value of kids' behavioral specialist Link to pediatric practice supports better parenting -www.sunspot.net

December 16, 2003 - A guide to terms related to child brain disorders - Scripps Howard News Service

December 16, 2003 - Search on for 'normal' brain - Cincinnati Post via http://mentalhelp.net - "Human brains are stunningly diverse.  No two are identical, not even those of identical twins...So when scientists are looking at a brain, how do they know when they're looking at one that's normal?...Researchers are now trying to better understand what constitutes a 'normal' brain by studying a newly compiled atlas that contains digitally mapped images of 7,000 of the organs.  A decade in the making, the brain mapping project quietly debuted this summer."

January 2004 -Developmental, behavioural and somatic factors in pervasive developmental disorders: preliminary analysis. - journal article (Child Care Health Dev) - "RESULTS: Preliminary results showed general agreement with the principle diagnostic differences between the PDD subgroups with patients diagnosed with AS showing an increased frequency of skills acquired before symptom onset (two- to three-word phrase speech, toileting skills) and a decreased frequency of regression in acquired skills when compared with other PDD subgroups. Developmental milestones such as the achievement of bowel and bladder continence were also more frequently reported for the AS group..."

December 18, 2003 - Virulent Flu Virus Threatens; Leading Homeopathic Medicine Offers Serious Relief - PRNewswire via Yahoo!

December 17, 2003 - Rumor of child flu death proves false - ww.wndu.com

December 18, 2003 - Web Winners | Influenza's deadly past and current threat - The Philadelphia Inquirer

December 18, 2003 - Tracking Gulf War Veterans' Health - Ivanhoe Newswire via www.wave3.com - "A new study shows the health of Gulf war veterans has improved in recent years, but is still poorer than that of other military personnel. In another study, researchers found Gulf war veterans are not at an increased risk for cancer."

December 17, 2003 - Public Health: Cases of whooping cough top 400 - The Pioneer Press  - "Wisconsin has had about 430 confirmed or probable cases of whooping cough so far this year, more than the total for both of the two previous years combined, the director of the state Immunization Program says."

December 17, 2003 - Two new drugs shorten flu, but rarely prescribed - Knight Ridder Newspaper via www.centredaily.com - "The drugs - marketed under the brand names Tamiflu and Relenza - can reduce the duration of the flu if taken early enough...But they've been slow to catch on among doctors and patients alike."

December 17, 2003 - Whooping cough warning - AAP via www.news.com.au

December 17, 2003 - More to Come From the Flu This Season, Experts Say - New York Times via Star Banner - "The full impact of this season's influenza is yet to be felt, particularly in the East, federal health officials said yesterday... 'We are probably in for a fair amount of activity yet to come over the next weeks,' Dr. Stephen M. Ostroff, a senior epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said in a telephone news conference...He did not say, however, that this would necessarily be a severe season, and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said in the same news conference that 'we are hoping that we have got the worst behind us because it started early.'"

December 17, 2003 - Health measures can help prevent colds and flu - Toledo Blade via Scripps Howard News Service - "Will the bug that's going around come around _ to me? Does my kid's flu virus have my name on it? Will that guy coughing at work today make me sick? How can I dodge it?...The answers depend on the virus, for instance, and your own immune system."

December 16, 2003 - What's up Doc? Pneumonia is serious - Daily News Transcript

December 16, 2003 - United States: Multistate Evaluation of Invasive Pneumococcal Diseases in Adults with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection: Serotype and Antimicrobial Resistance Patterns in the United States - Journal of Infectious Diseases via www.aegis.org

December 17, 2003 - Md. Schools Have Soap Dispensing Dilemma - AP via Newsday - "Frequent hand-washing to fight the spread of influenza is elementary, but it's a challenge at many schools, where soap dispensers have been removed from student bathrooms to curb vandalism...Public schools aren't required to provide soap, according to the Maryland State Department of Education. Local administrators must find their own solutions to such problems, Vicki Taliaferro, a state school health services specialist, said."

Comment:  Gee, maybe finding a way to provide soap to teenagers would be a better way to influence flu and other disease transmission rates than recommending universal flu and other vaccines.

December 18, 2003 - Deadly bird flu spreads in South Korea; new farm infected - AP via Canadian Press

December 17, 2003 - Attendance rates drop in face of flu - Jackson Sun

December 18, 2003 - Flu Hitting Unusually Hard at Young Kids - The Cincinnati Enquirer/Post - "Flu sweeping across the country appears to be hitting unusually hard at young children, and experts say occasional reports of deaths among otherwise healthy youngsters are especially worrisome...The flu is rarely fatal for the young, although it can cause severe illness. Some doctors in western states, where the disease has been worst so far, say this may be the most intense flu season for children since the Hong Kong flu of 1968-69...Federal health authorities do not keep records on flu cases or deaths, so precise data are sparse. However, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said reports so far are troubling."

Comment:  If they don't keep records on flu cases or deaths, how, on earth, can they be making these claims?

December 18, 2003 - Taiwan SARS Patient's Traveling Companions Are Visiting U.S. - www.bloomberg.com

December 17, 2003 - WHO Official: Safety Ignored in SARS Case - AP via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - "A Taiwanese scientist who tested positive for SARS on Wednesday failed to follow World Health Organization safety guidelines and wear protective gloves and a gown while studying the virus, a WHO official said."

December 16, 2003 - Officials plan for possible SARS outbreak - The Seattle Times

December 16, 2003 - Taiwanese Scientist Is Positive for SARS - AP via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

December 16, 2003 - Poor fitness increases risk of heart disease: study - AFP via Yahoo!

December 16, 2003 - Pollution Linked To Heart Disease - "It certainly did surprise us when we first observed these results. We just anticipated that breathing particles into your lungs would most likely have a direct impact on your lungs.' - C. Arden Pope III, BYU. - AP via www.cbsnews.com

December 16, 2003 - Stroke victims more likely to develop Alzheimer's - Milwaukee Journal  Sentinel via The Seattle Times

December 17, 2003 - More fruit, veggies key to cancer fight: survey - www.ctv.ca

December 17, 2003 - Kin Awarded $8M in Death of Girl, 5 - Newsday

December 17, 2003 - Website 'exposes' tobacco firms - A website which claims to expose the marketing practices of the tobacco industry has gone online. - BBC

*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.