November  4, 2003                   

Vaccination, Rubella and Congenital Rubella Syndrome - Redflagsdaily.com - "The health authorities have insisted that the monovalent vaccines against measles, mumps and rubella would not be made available in the United Kingdom. By doing so, they have effectively forced parents who had serious concerns about the MMR vaccine not to vaccinate their children altogether. As vaccination rates fell and the threat of measles outbreaks became real, the health authorities blamed Andrew Wakefield and his research. Obviously no one mentions the fact that Dr. Wakefield has always supported measles, mumps and rubella vaccination of toddlers and that he has only suggested that the monovalent vaccines be made available, alongside the MMR vaccine, just to give parents a choice."

Investigation: Autism and Informed Inoculation (Vaccines: A Hidden Danger?) - Detroit Now - "Put another way, a patient would have to weigh 284 pounds to safely ingest that much mercury and not exceed EPA safety guidelines. Little Will weighed only 11 pounds...'It is a policy that we make those vaccines, both the Thimerosal-containing and the Thimerosal-free, available to our patients,' Dr. Freed argues. He is the same doctor who earlier claimed that Thimerasol has been removed from childhood vaccines, but now admits you can avoid it if you know enough to ask."

UMHS Response to Detroit Now's Vaccines: A Hidden Danger? - University of Michigan Health System

E-News: Congressman Takes A Stand - NVIC - from Barbara Loe Fisher note: "If an investigation into what appears to be scientific fraud turns out to be true, then the government health officials involved should be required to resign their positions. The public cannot have trust in mass vaccination policies promoted by health officials who are not telling the truth about vaccine risks and are not doing everything in their power to reduce those risks. The time has come for accountability by those individuals who are responsible for insuring the safety of mandated childhood vaccines. The public deserves and should accept nothing less than total honesty on the part of those to whom we entrust our children's lives."

Unvaccinated Toddlers Pose Risk To Health - USA Today via www.intelihealth.com - "The unvaccinated tend to have white, well-educated and affluent parents who doubt vaccine safety. 'These are intelligent, yuppie parents who chase the Internet and read all the misinformation that's there,' Katz says."

Pediatric Epiglottitis Caused by Group G Beta-Hemolytic Streptococcus - journal article - "The widespread use of immunizations against Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) has significantly decreased the incidence of meningitis and sepsis caused by this invasive organism.^[1] A welcomed side effect of this immunization program has been a 10-fold decrease in the incidence of epiglottitis (supraglottitis).^{[2, 3]} Hib was the dominant cause of epiglottitis in the early 1980s with other organisms accounting for ~1% of cases.^[4] As Hib epiglottis has disappeared, other organisms including Streptococcus pneumoniae,^[5]Haemophilus parainfluenzae,^[6]Staphylococcus aureus,^[7]Candida spp.,^[8] viral pathogens^{[9, 10]} and group A,^[11] B^[12] and C^[13] streptococci have emerged as increasingly likely etiologies for this disease. Epiglottitis may present differently when these alternative microorganisms are the cause." - For more on this, go to Scandals: Changing Disease Epidemiology Via Vaccines - Are We "Robbing Peter To Pay Paul"?

Expert Review of Vaccines 2(5), 2003 - Future Drugs

Irish Priest First Person in south Africa to participate in human trials of HIV vaccine - AP via www.intelihealth.com

No AIDS cure in the near future - David Ho discusses promising vaccine approaches, improved therapies, and remaining obstacles - The Scientist

Insurance Company Accommodates HIV Vaccine Trial Volunteers - BuaNews via http://allafrica.com

First HIV Vaccine Trials Begin in South Africa - BuaNews via http://allafrica.com

Carroll pupils testing nasal flu vaccine - Needle-free inoculation seems favored; Study will judge effectiveness - www.sunspot.net

An Option for the Needle-Shy: Spray Flu Vaccine - The New York Times

Flu Hits Colorado Early-Coloradans Reminded of Importance of Receiving Flu Shots - Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

Meningitis shots to be offered - Vaccine to be given for $90 with ID - The Reveille Online

Ethiopian Street Children Vaccinated Against Measles - American Red Cross

Health matters: Understanding 'Quirky Kids' - Daily News Transcript - "Their diagnoses are autism, Asperger's syndrome, sensory integration dysfunction or a combination of many other disorders...Boston-based pediatricians Perri Klass and Eileen Costello sum them all up with one simple term: They're 'quirky kids.'...'"It's not a negative term, it's not pejorative,' Klass said. 'It suggests eccentricity but it has positive overtones.'" - "QUIRKY KIDS"? For more on this click here.
 

Add bowel disease to list of child problems - The Journal Times online - "European data shows that the rates of these diseases are soaring in children, Kugathasan said. "The incidence of Crohn's disease in children has tripled - from 1960 to 1980, tripled, from 1980 to now 2000, tripled again," he said...'There's no question about this increasing incidence of diabetes, obesity, asthma, and inflammatory bowel disease,' he said...Doctors speculate that all these are linked to problems with immune systems, he said, in particular what has become known as the hygiene hypothesis. This says that because we're living in such sanitary environments, our bodies' immune systems are not often challenged by germs and allergens."
 

Increase in autism demands that we act now - Op/Ed - www.sunspot.net - "In 1993, there 260 students in Maryland's schools identified as autistic...In 2002, there were 3,488...It's a staggering increase."

Parents of autistic students wonder what lies beyond Atlantic Technical - The Sun-Sentinel

Memory in autism: review and synthesis. - journal article

Images of Autism - BioMedNet (requires registration)

The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars Scholarship Program for College Students with Disabilities - American Association of People with Disabilities

HIV/Aids: Is Uganda unique? - Health24

To kill germs, it's simple: Wash your hands - The Boston Globe online

Cot death warning - BUPA - "Each week in the UK, seven babies die as a result of cot death. Despite much research and better understanding of the condition, it's still the leading cause of death in babies over one month old, accounting for more deaths than meningitis, leukaemia, cancer, household and traffic accidents combined. One of the factors known to be linked to an increased risk is overheating in babies, yet a recent survey found a worrying lack of knowledge about baby heat issues."

FDA oversight of 'off-label' drug use wanes (part 3 of 3) - Star-Telegram

Schafer Autism Report - November 4, 2003

Redflagsdaily.com - www.redflagsweekly.com