►January 25, 2004 - Give unbiased truth about Colo. vaccination rates - letter - Denver Post

►January 25, 2004 - Officials to begin immunization push - Galveston County Daily News - "Doctors and health officials have long worried that the low childhood immunization rates on the island were a quietly ticking time bomb...Less than half of the children up to age 2 on Galveston Island were fully immunized, according to county health district estimates from 2002, the most recent data available...'The only reason I can see why people would permit this is people don’t understand their children are at risk,' said Dr. Martin Myers, an associate director of the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Texas Medical Branch and a professor of pediatrics and preventive medicine."

Comment:  But maybe they DO know they are at risk, only they see the risk coming from the vaccine more than from the diseases they are designed to prevent.

►January 25, 2004 - Health Dept. Taking Shot With Vaccine Volunteers - The New York Post - "Calling all doctors and nurses: The city wants you to join its medical militia...Faced with the chilling realization that a biological attack on New York City could leave millions in need of quick vaccinations, the Department of Health put out a call this month for volunteers in the newly developed New York City Medical Reserve Corps."

►January 25, 2004 - Legal fight puts Marine in limbo - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - "For the last three years, Ocean Rose of Marietta has been trapped in the military version of purgatory...In January 2001, the Walton High School graduate pleaded guilty to disobeying a superior officer. Busted to private, he was drummed out of the Marine Corps with a bad conduct discharge...The refusal of all of them stems from their concern about the safety and effectiveness of the shots. Yet their punishment has been far from uniform."

►January 15, 2004 - Induction of Cellular and Humoral Immunity after Aerosol or Subcutaneous Administration of Edmonston-Zagreb Measles Vaccine as a Primary Dose to 12-Month-Old Children - journal article (Journal of Infectious Diseases)

►January 25, 2004 - Man Arrested for Injecting Contaminated Vaccine - Arab News

►January 25, 2004 - Center probes mind's mystery - The Boston Globe - "Researchers at the 34-year-old center are conducting some 40 projects aimed at understanding neurological and behavioral development...The center focuses on such topics as how important brain systems assemble themselves; the effect of genetic and environmental factors on neurological and behavioral development; and the social policy implications of advances in genetics."

►January 25, 2004 - Difficult choices - Variety of treatments face parents of autistic children - The Boston Globe - "Anke Kriske's 14-year-old son, Derek, has been on medications such as Ritalin, Adderall, and Prozac. He is on a special diet that limits yeast, wheat, and milk. And recently, he has been trying neurofeedback, where sensors on his head monitor and stimulate brain waves...The approaches may be diverse, but the intention has been uniform: helping Derek overcome his autism."

►January 25, 2004 - Supporters gather to fight for Cottonwood center - Southeast Missourian

►January 23, 2004 - CDC: U.S. Flu Activity Continues Decline - AP via The Herald-Sun

►January 23, 2004 - Avian Influenza Infection In Humans: Urgent Need To Eliminate The Animal Reservoir - WHO via www.sciencedaily.com

►January 24, 2004 - Bird flu, regular influenza called risky combination - The Seattle Times - "People hit by the bird-flu outbreak in Asia should be quarantined to avoid contact with sufferers of regular influenza, because a combination of the two viruses might accelerate the spread of the disease, the World Health Organization said yesterday...However, a senior official at the U.N. agency said he saw no need for the kind of travel warnings WHO issued during last year's SARS epidemic."

►January 25, 2004 - How smallpox affected our cemeteries - Corsicana Daily Sun - "My only experience with smallpox occurred when I was vaccinated as a child for the disease. My memory of the incident is that the vaccination left an ugly round scar on my shoulder. I also remember everyone saying don't touch or scratch the scab until it was completely healed. As a teenager, I was very self conscious of the scar especially when we went swimming. I really don't know why I had these thoughts since everyone I knew had a similar looking mark."

►January 21, 2004 - Bacterial Meningitis risk appears small - Officials get word out after death - Tri-Valley Herald Online -  "'It's important to emphasize that it really requires ongoing, close intimate contact with somebody that has been diagnosed with meningococcal meningitis to put you at risk for exposure,' said Dr. Peter Dietrich, medical director of Berkeley's University Health Service. 'So casual exposures like eating in the same dining hall together or attending a class together, or going to the training room or the weight room or passing each other on the campus is not the type of exposure we're worried about.'"

►January 25, 2004 - Thai Government Suspected Bird Flu Two Weeks Ago - The Scotsman - "Thailand’s prime minister admitted today that his government suspected “a couple of weeks” ago that bird flu had hit its billion-dollar poultry industry, but did not tell the public in order to avoid panic."

Comment:  Ah yes, the tried and true, "Ostrich Policy". 
 

►January 25, 2004 - State could see another wave of flu cases - AP via www.aberdeennews.com - "One strain of the flu has already peaked in South Dakota, but another could be on the way, state health officials said...'Influenza A peaked in the second week in December. It parallels what happened nationally,' said state epidemiologist Lon Kightlinger. 'The fear is Influenza B could hit us. So we could still have an outbreak of Influenza B, which happened last year.'"

Comment:  "When", not "if"?  Is this merely careless speech or reporting?  Do they know something we don't, but should, know?   Or is this just more scare-mongering?

►January 21, 2004 - Scientists identify cell defects that limit immune system's impact on late-stage tumors - Cedars-Sinai Medical Center via  www.eurekalert.org 

►January 22, 2004 - 'Pittsburgh' compound helps track Alzheimer's - Pittsburgh Post Gazette

►January 22, 2004 - Do cancer patients in clinical trials have better outcomes than non-participants? - Dana-Farber Cancer Institute via www.eurekalert.org

►January 25, 2004 - Ministers told child harm theory was flawed - The Guardian, UK - "Ministers were warned that the controversial scientific theory Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy (MSBP) was responsible for serious miscarriages of justice as far back as 1996, according to documents seen by The Observer...Our investigation has uncovered a systematic failure on the part of the health authorities, social services and scientific advisers to question the validity of Professor Sir Roy Meadow's theory, which claims that some parents harm their children to draw attention to themselves."

►January 23, 2004 - Amputation claim is considered - The parents of a two-year-old whose legs had to be amputated, may sue a health trust for damages. - BBC

►January 23, 2004 - 2nd physician sues Magee over Paps - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

►January 20, 2004 - Wider cot deaths review considered - Thousands of parents whose children were taken into care may have their cases re-opened as part of a wider review of cot death legal cases. -  BBC

►January 25, 2004 - Unhealthy lifestyle puts one third of Beijing at risk - AFP via Yahoo! - "One third of all residents in the Chinese capital are putting their health at risk by overeating and under-exercising."

►January 25, 2004 - Sunny D - It's the great cancer cover-up. Panicked into avoiding sunlight by health experts, we are now dying in our thousands from diseases linked to deficiencies of vitamin D. But still the exaggerated warnings come. Oliver Gillie reveals how sunbathing can save your life - The Independent, UK

►January 25, 2004 - Sunny D (part 2) - Diseases caused by vitamin D deficiency - The Independent, UK

►January 25, 2004 - Forum addresses prisoners' health concerns - Speakers stressed that inmates with infectious diseases needed compassion and good medical care. - The Philadelphia Inquirer

►February 2004 - Children and Adolescents with Chronic Daily Headache - journal article (Current Pain and Headache Reports)

►January 22, 2004 - Doctors Say Scrap Age Guidelines for Downs Tests - Reuters via Yahoo!

►January 24, 2004 - Preventing Premature Births - Healthology Press via ABC News

►January 22, 2004 - Scientists grow neurons using nanostructures - Northwestern University via www.eurekalert.org

►January 23, 2004 - FDA: Misusing Painkillers Can Be Deadly - AP via The Herald-Sun