►January 20, 2004 - Pediatric Infectious Disease Issues: Smallpox, Combination Vaccines and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Highlights of the American Academy of Pediatrics Annual Meeting - Medscape -  "However, the combination of multiple vaccine antigens presents several challenges. It should be recommended that the components of the vaccine be administered at the same time. However, the reactogenicity and potential side effects of the combined antigens have not yet been determined. Since there is the potential for physical and chemical interaction among the vaccine components and the buffers and preservatives, the immunogenicity of each component needs to be addressed to determine whether these are similar to and as effective as the components given individually.^[10]"

►February 5, 2004 - Bird flu vaccine campaign urged - Mass vaccination of poultry should be considered to cut the chance of avian flu spreading to humans, say experts. - BBC News 

►February 5, 2004 - CSIRO hopes to deliver bird flu vaccine within months - Australian Broadcasting Corporation 

►February 4, 2004 - China ready to test SARS vaccine on humans - Channel News Asia 

►February 5, 2004 - Bird flu vaccine within months, say Australian scientists - Medical News Today 

►February 5, 2004 - UN approves bird flu vaccinations - Guardian Unlimited 

►February 5, 2004 - Thimerosal - 10 Investigates - www.10tv.com - "It's called Thimerosal, a controversial preservative used in childhood vaccines. Despite a call by the Food and Drug Administration in 1999 for reductions of Thimerosal, 10 Investigates discovered that the preservative is back, in this season's flu vaccine. The pharmaceutical companies and FDA call Thimerosal safe, but others worry about its use in this season's flu shots. Thimerosal has mercury in it, a widely recognized neuro-toxin. Some claim there's a link between Thimerosal and child autism cases."

►2004 -MMR vaccine and autism: an update of the scientific evidence - www.futuredrugs.com

►2004 -Vaccine sparks fall in meningitis deaths - The Evening Times, UK

►February 6, 2004 - Parents delay MMR jab decision - www.eveningnews24.co.uk - "And it is feared delaying the jab could put children at far greater risk of contracting the potentially lethal conditions."

Comment:  This is scare-mongering.  These conditions (measles, mumps and rubella) are rarely lethal in healthy children in developed nations.  (Rubella is often so benign you don't even know you had it, although it can be serious for a fetus if the mother contracts it during a critical period in pregnancy.)  For Scandals columns on the measles and measles vaccine, go to What Is Wrong With This Picture?;  More confusing disease stats;   Playing With Fire - It's Not EASY To Fool Mother Nature;   Don't Worry, Be Happy;  Measles In The Vaccination Age:  Is It Now Deadlier?;   Why We Won't Take No* For An Answer  (*No relationship between MMR and autism);  and Shoot First, Don't Ask Questions Later.  For how rubella vaccine might be related to the rise in autism, go to Scandals: Is Rubella Vaccination Playing A Role In The Rise In Autism?

►February 6, 2004 - Traditional rulers say no to Nigeria's polio vaccine - BMJ via www.scidev.net

►February 6, 2004 - Don't stop child vaccines: doctors - Experts take issue with study linking medicine with disorders - Edmonton Journal with files from CanWest News Service via www.canada.com - "A study that suggests a link between a vaccine preservative and risk of autism and other disorders will create unwarranted fear and possibly more sickness if parents refuse vaccinations for their children, Canadian doctors warn."

Comment:  Perhaps there will be more sickness. But the mere incidence of disease is not the measure against which vaccines should be compared.  The appropriate question is how much long-term damage will there be from the diseases as compared to the vaccines?  If the vaccines are indeed responsible for the epidemic rise in autism, just on that basis alone, there is reason to believe the benefits of at least some vaccines DID NOT outweigh their risks.

►February 6, 2004 - Childhood Immunizations and Abrupt-Onset Apnea: An Unresolved Issue in Shaken Baby Syndrome - by Harold Buttram, MD and Alan Yurko - in the Online SBS Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com

Comment:  It is hard to imagine a greater tragedy than to lose your child and then be unfairly charged with their death (and even face the possibility of being put to death yourself).  While, clearly, no one would want to allow the deliberate murder of an infant, given the many unknowns in medicine, particularly as concerns unexplained infant deaths, one would hope the authorities would be more circumspect when drawing their conclusions, and that they would leave no stone unturned in their efforts to investigate and understand these heart-rending infant deaths.  This is an urgent matter. The lives of innocent parents may be on the line.

►February 6, 2004 - A New Approach to Halting HIV Infection - press release - Tulane University via www.newswise.com

►February 6, 2004 - Team Seeks Reassurance on Polio Vaccine - AP via Newsday - "With its polio outbreak spreading, Nigeria is sending a team of scientists, officials and Muslim leaders abroad Sunday to bring back proof that the vaccine is neither contaminated nor a Western plot to spread AIDS...Three predominantly Muslim northern states have suspended door-to-door vaccinations since October, citing fears that the vaccine could cause infertility or AIDS."

►February 6, 2004 - Researchers in Norfolk studying effects of flu on elderly (requires registration) - www.wvec.com - "Research in Hampton Roads is offering hope for new and better vaccines to protect the elderly from the flu. In Lewis Hall at Eastern Virginia Medical School, local researchers also study other viruses in hopes of developing new vaccines and treatments to help the elderly stay well...One fact is clear: the healthier you are the better your immune system fights infection."

Comment:  Of course, "the healthier you are the better your immune system fights infection".  How you create such health is the question.  And for many people, the answer is not through vaccination.

►February 6, 2004 - Mercury Threat To Fetus Raised - EPA Revises Risk Estimates - (requires registration) - Washington Post 

►1997 - Social Behavior in Autism - Center for the Study of Autism

►February 6, 2004 - Two deaths in Vietnam raise flu toll to 18 - AP, AFP via The International Herald Tribune

►February 6, 2004 - Animal health body says bird flu in pigs possible - Reuters AlertNet - "The world animal health body OIE said on Friday it would not be surprised if pigs in Asia tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus, although the U.N. in Rome dismissed earlier reports of confirmed cases in Vietnam...A U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization official in Vietnam said earlier that three or four pigs had tested positive after finding the H5N1 avian flu virus in their nasal cavities...But an FAO scientist in Rome disputed the findings."

►February 6, 2004 - Bird Virus Linked to 1918 Flu Pandemic - Researcher: Jump to humans was 'simple' - HealthDayNews via Dr. Koop

►February 6, 2004 - U.N. Experts Seek to Dampen Fears That Bird Flu Has Spread to Pigs in Vietnam - AP via ABC News - "U.N. experts sought to dampen fears Friday that bird flu had spread to another species after tests found the virus in the snouts of pigs in Vietnam. Two more people died of the disease, bringing the human death toll to 18...The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said the results do not necessarily mean the pigs are infected. The tests nasal swabs may merely be confirming the presence of infected chicken droppings on their snouts. Swine are often housed with poultry in traditional family farms in Asia."

►February 5, 2004 - Scientists at Scripps Research Institute describe structure of receptor on surface of 1918 flu virus - Scripps Research Institute via www.eurekalert.org 

►February 6, 2004 - Alberta Orders Rapid Test For Mad Cow Disease - www.cropdecisions.com

►February 6, 2004 - Bacteria lingering in body may pose future food poisoning risks, Stanford study finds - Stanford University Medical Center via www.innovations-report.com

►February 6, 2004 - Child gut disorder underestimated - The number of young people affected by wheat intolerance may have been underestimated, research suggests. - BBC

►February 6, 2004 - Virus threat dwarfs SARS - The Australian - "THE Australian scientist who led the World Health Organisation fight against SARS in China warned yesterday that Asian bird flu was "1000 times worse" than that deadly outbreak...John McKenzie said the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which has killed 17 people in Southeast Asia and forced the slaughter of millions of birds, represented 'the worst scenario possible' for a worldwide flu pandemic." 

►February 6, 2004 - Two here had mild Sars without usual signs - The health-care staff caught virus last year but went undetected as chest X-rays showed no changes - The Straits Times 

►February 5, 2004 - Mild form of Sars exists: Study - www.todayonline.com 

►February 6, 2004 - FDA to evaluate device that removes stroke victims' clots - The Washington Post via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 

►February 6, 2004 - Dramatic Results Against Stroke - Test Shows Device Can Arrest Damage by Removing Blood Clots From Victims - (requires registration) - Washington Post

 ►February 6, 2004 - Preeclampsia Tied to Protein, Study Finds - Therapy Sought for Pregnancy Disorder- (requires registration) - Washington Post

 ►February 5, 2004 - FDA Approves Drug for Asbestos-Related Cancer - (requires registration) - Washington Post

►February 1, 2004 - Making Drugs, Shaping the Rules (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "But to sell medicines that treat schizophrenia, the companies focus on a much smaller group of customers: state officials who oversee treatment for many people with serious mental illness...For Big Pharma, success in the halls of government has required a different set of marketing tactics. Since the mid-1990's, a group of drug companies, led by Johnson & Johnson, has campaigned to convince state officials that a new generation of drugs - with names like Risperdal, Zyprexa and Seroquel - is superior to older and much cheaper antipsychotics like Haldol. The campaign has led a dozen states to adopt guidelines for treating schizophrenia that make it hard for doctors to prescribe anything but the new drugs. That, in turn, has helped transform the new medicines into blockbusters."

►February 5, 2004 - Proposed Changes to Ad Rules (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "THE Food and Drug Administration is asking the makers of prescription drugs to shun the obfuscation, so to speak, by proposing revisions of its regulations on advertising directly to consumers. The proposals encourage the ads to describe significant risks the drugs may pose in language that is clearer and easier for patients to understand...The most notable aspect of the proposed changes, among several announced yesterday after months of study by the F.D.A., is the potential replacement of full-page advertisements for prescription medications in newspapers and magazines that now detail, in small type, information about effects and effectiveness."

►February 6, 2004 - FDA Set to Finalize Ephedra Ban - AP via The Herald-Sun 

►February 6, 2004 - Legislation takes on medical secrecy - A case in which a doctor's addiction was kept secret spurs legal changes - Seattle PI - "When doctors make mistakes, they must report the errors to the state -- but they don't have to tell the patients or families who were harmed...That legally sanctioned secrecy has forced many families to file malpractice lawsuits in the hopes of learning what happened to their loved ones."

Comment:  Doctors cry the blues when they are sued (perhaps sometimes unfairly), yet many insist on taking implied responsibility for all decisions, particularly when they do not want to give parents one of the most basic rights - i.e., the right to decide whether or not to accept vaccine or disease risks for your children.  Some will even go so far as to refuse them further pediatric care, sometimes abandoning them at their time of greatest need.  If doctors are unwilling to show even that most basic respect for their patients, they shouldn't be surprised when they and their mistakes are viewed harshly.

►February 1, 2004 - When surgical instruments are left behind - in patients:  In the Phila. area, about 80 mistakes are made a year. - The Philadelphia Inquirer - "About 80 times a year in the Philadelphia region, the tools of surgery - gauze, scalpels, needles, retractors and the like - are found left behind in patients...This mistake occurs about once in every 3,800 surgeries in Southeastern Pennsylvania, an Inquirer analysis of hospital billing data has found...The problem has changed little in recent years, occurring on average about once a year per hospital. No one has come up with a regional estimate until now."

►February 6, 2004 - Study Asseses Birth Risks After C-Section - AP via The Herald-Sun