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July 09, 2003
U.S. IMMUNIZATION
NEWS
Officials Warn
Travelers of Hepatitis
Contra Costa Times
(www.contracosta.com)
(07/08/03) P. F4; Felsenfeld, Peter
California health
officials are concerned that preoccupation over severe acute respiratory
syndrome (SARS) will cause summer travelers to forget to get immunized against
more common forms of hepatitis. Francie Wise, Communicable Disease Program
chief in Contra Costa, says that people traveling to under-developed nations run
a greater risk of coming in contact with hepatitis A and B. Media attention on
SARS has travelers paying closer attention to coughs and sneezes than intestinal
infections, observes Wise. According to the World Health Organization, the
chances of contracting hepatitis A or B are moderate to high in areas such as
Africa, Asia, South America, and Central America.
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"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
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