November  5, 2003                  

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BD Applauds Senate Action to Prevent Unsafe Medical Practices That Can Cause HIV/AIDS Spread in Africa - PRNewswire via Morningstar - "While the role of unsafe sex in the spread of HIV/AIDS is well documented, international health studies indicate that the reuse of medical devices in Africa and the developing world is also a contributing factor to the spread of HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases...As pointed out on the Senate floor last week, reports from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that as many as 40 percent of all injections in the developing world are administered with reused, unsterile medical devices. In the year 2000 alone, WHO estimates indicate that 500,000 new HIV infections, two million hepatitis C and 21 million hepatitis B infections were the result of injections from reused devices." - What do you bet the solution to disease which has been spread by unsafe injections is more injections?  For more on this, see Scandals: "But Faith, fanatic Faith, once wedded fast To some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last."

Why the hatter was mad - Letters to the Editor, The Washington Times re: Mercury-laced vaccines a threat, child group says - "The hatter was mad because he made hat forms with mercury. Giving mercury to children is like falling into Wonderland and not being able to get out, ever."

Weldon, Major Autism, Speech Disorder Organizations Voice Concern Over CDC's Use of Vaccine Safety Datalink to Investigate Thimerosal -  Safe Minds/Capitol Strategies Press Release via U.S. Newswire - "The organizations signing the joint statement are: Apraxia Kids, Autism Research Institute, Autism Society of America, Cherab Foundation, Cure Autism Now, Safe Minds, Speechville Express, and Unlocking Autism."

Part 2: Autism and Informed Inoculation - Detroit Now News - "The mercury we're talking about inside this vial is so highly toxic we were warned not to even open it to show you the beige powder called Thimerosal. It's half mercury by weight. It has been added to vaccines as a preservative so they can be made in non-sterile environments since the early 30's. But as health officials have recommended more and more inoculations for children, it was discovered just a few years ago that the cumulative effect of all those shots resulted in children getting up to more than 100 times the amount of mercury the EPA considers safe."

FDA Briefing Document for Wyeth-Lederle Vaccine and Pediatrics Seven Valent Pneumococal Conjugate Vaccine - Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee - www.fda.gov

Whooping cough rise baffles experts - The Los Angeles Times via The Houston Chronicle - "Doctors and public health officials are stumped. Even though vaccination rates are at record highs for whooping cough, cases of the highly contagious respiratory illness have been on the rise nationwide for more than two decades."

Clinical Presentation of Pertussis in Unvaccinated and Vaccinated Children in the First Six Years of Life - journal article - Pediatrics

Sentences upheld for nurses who gave wrong shots - Taipei Times - "Conclusions. Duration of cough can be greatly influenced by vaccination status. A positive culture for Bordetella pertussis is more frequently found in patients with long duration of cough, and antibiotic therapy may be a marker of severe disease. Gender may affect the clinical presentation of pertussis only after infancy. Pertussis in older children may be characterized by short duration of spasmodic cough. These results should be taken into account in the clinical evaluation of patients with suspected pertussis. Clinical case definitions for the purpose of surveillance based on the presence of 2 weeks of spasmodic cough may not be appropriate where pertussis vaccination uptake is high.^{" - Note: Unvaccinated means unvaccinated against pertussis, not unvaccinated period.}

E-News: Maryland Elementary School Snorts The Flu Vaccine - NVIC - BL Fisher Note: "This study will apparently try to "judge effectiveness" of the live nasal FLUMIST vaccine in schoolchildren, but is anyone tracking how many of the children who didn't get the FLUMIST vaccine come down with flu symptoms because they got vaccine strain flu from their recently vaccinated fellow classmates? This live virus vaccine can produce flu symptoms in the vaccinated as well as transmit live vaccine strain flu virus to others and be especially dangerous for those who are immune compromised. Hopefully, there were no immune compromised children in the classes that participated in this study."

Nasal Flu Vaccine Not As Popular As Expected - FluMist Sales Fall Short Of Projections - www.nbc4.com

Safety and Efficacy of Influenza Vaccine in Children - journal article - Did any of the studies reviewed include never vaccinated children as controls?  My guess is that they did not.

Walk-in flu shots cater to busy college students - The Daily Nebraskan Online

Hospitals are braced for FluMist - Five times as costly as a flu shot but a lot less painful, the nasal treatment poses concerns with its potential for infecting vulnerable patients. - St. Petersburg Times Online

ACIP recommends full influenza vaccination in 2004 - The recommendation takes effect next fall, and the encouragement will continue until then. (requires free registration) - Infectious Diseases in Children

Vaccine’s impact on AOM less than thought? - Past studies have found reduced AOM rates after receipt of influenza vaccine, but a study from Pittsburgh tells a different story. (requires free registration) - Infectious Diseases in Children

A continuing high incidence of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. - journal article - "The annual incidence of SSPE in EHP in these 2 years was 98 per million population under 20 years of age, the highest ever reported. This incidence was more than ten times higher than the highest incidence in the prevaccine era reported from elsewhere...Among the SSPE patients 19 had a documented history of measles vaccination. Eight of these 19 also had documentation of previous measles illness; of these, seven were vaccinated after the development of measles and one was vaccinated 20 days before measles illness...We found no evidence to implicate measles vaccination in the development of SSPE." - Let me get this straight.  The incidence is higher than prior to vaccination AND 19 of 55 had a documented history of measles vaccination, while among those 19 around half had both the vaccine and the measles.  Yet the conclusion is that there is no evidence to implicate the measles vaccination.  Shouldn't the conclusion be that at least insofar as the results of this study are concerned, measles vaccination cannot be ruled out as a possible (co)-factor in the development of SSPE?

Insurance status a factor in whether children receive PCV7 - Physicians surveyed were less likely to recommend the vaccine if it was not covered by the patient’s insurance. (requires free registration) - Infectious Diseases in Children

South African vaccine trial to use harmless HIV gene - Taipei Times

WHO Says SARS Vaccine Will Take 2 Years - AP via www.intelihealth.com

A Canadian National Survey of Attitudes and Knowledge Regarding Preventive Vaccines - journal article

Adoption of Reminder and Recall Messages for Immunizations by Pediatricians and Public Health Clinics - journal article - Pediatrics - "Conclusions. Reminder and recall messages remain underused by both pediatricians and public health clinics. Promising strategies to promote adoption of these approaches in both the private and the public sectors include identifying and training champions to promote immunization delivery improvement efforts and helping practices develop methods to identify children at specific ages.^"

VOTELINE: Should single measles, mumps and rubella vaccines be available on the NHS? - Evening Times Online - Action Alert

catshots.com - website concerning post-vaccination sarcomas and feline vaccination

GAMBIA: More children dying despite anti-malaria campaign - UN Integrated Regional Information Networks via http://allafrica.com

Hospital hygiene error subject of lawsuit - Canadian Press - "Some patients who are being monitored for possible infection after undergoing testing at a hospital in nearby Oshawa are planning a $70-million class-action lawsuit, a lawyer said Wednesday."

Whooping cough warning - Boorowa News

Diagnostic testing and discharge coding for whooping cough in a children's hospital - journal article

Hepatitis outbreak spreads to 26 more restaurant patrons - Shots urged for those who ate at Beaver County Chi-Chi's - www.post-gazette.com

Antibody diversity singled out - BioMedNet (requires registration)

WHO Assails Wealthy Nations on Bioterror - The Washington Post via naccho

US crackdown on bioterror is backfiring- NewScientist

Mending Misconduct - Young researcher's punishment seeks balance between discipline and salvaging a promising career - The Scientist

Nobel Laureates declare support for Butler - As plague researcher's trial begins, leading US scientists condemn the case itself and its chilling effect - The Scientist

Rabies cases on the rise in parts of Big Country - Abilene Reporter News

Sir Richard Sykes to retire as Chairman of GlaxoSmithKline at Annual General Meeting; Sir Christopher Hogg to become new Chairman - GlaxoSmithKline News Release - Sir Christopher Hogg is "non-executive chairman" of Reuters News Service

Gel Implants a Concern for Advisory Panel - AP via FindLaw - "In a highly unusual move, the chairman of a government advisory panel that reluctantly backed resuming sales of silicone gel breast implants now is urging federal health officials and lawmakers to disregard that advice." - Highly unusual, indeed.  Well, good for Dr. Whalen.  Talk about a man with integrity.

Benefit of cancer drug is disputed - Los Angeles Times via www.healthleaders.com - "A federally funded study raises questions about the widespread use of Genentech Inc.'s cancer drug Rituxan in patients with a fast-spreading form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma."

Redflagsdaily.com - www.redflagsweekly.com