►March 10, 2004 - Indonesia's Dengue Fever Death Toll Hits 408 - Reuters via Yahoo! News 

►March 10, 2004 - Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria, TB Faces Crunch - Reuters via Yahoo! News

►March 10, 2004 - Breaking the rules on artifical blood - New Scientist via www.eurekalert.org - "Numerous past attempts to develop synthetic blood have failed because doctors got the basic science wrong, claim a handful of researchers...This week it was announced that a blood substitute based on their alternative theories is looking promising in an early trial. Developing a suitable blood substitute for people has been a major effort for decades. An artificial blood would relieve shortages and prevent patients being infected by contaminated supplies...Ideally, it could be given to anyone without triggering rejection, so accident victims could be given transfusions immediately without testing to see what blood group they are. And a long-lasting form that does not need to be kept cold would be ideal for use in disasters, wars and remote areas. But company after company has worked on substitutes only to abandon their efforts because of safety concerns."

►March 10, 2004 - Pa. bypass operations are fewer but better, study finds - Philadelphia Inquirer

►March 10, 2004 - Varicella and Viral Vaccine Preventable Disease Surveillance and Epidemiologic Studies - Federal Register Online via GPO Access

►March 10, 2004 - Chickenpox Vaccine Less Effective Than Expected - www.KSL.Com

►March 10, 2004 - Springfield Legislator Wants Immunization Changes - AP via www.springfield33.com

►March 10, 2004 - Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea Gains Foothold In N.E. - Boston Globe via www.intelihealth.com

►March 10, 2004 - Rwanda: 45 to Take Part in HIV/Aids Vaccine Trials - IRIN via www.allafrica.com

►March 10, 2004 - Health official: Human remains may have been in meat from Pickton pig farm - Canadian Press

►March 10, 2004 - Covalent Reports Results for 2003 - PRNewswire-FirstCall via http://interestalert.com

►March 10, 2004 - Maryland To Conduct Study on Preventing Avian Flu - AP via www.wjla.com

►March 10, 2004 - Novavax, Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Year End 2003 Results - PRNewswire-FirstCall via www.pharmacytimes.com

►March 10, 2004 - Farm would serve autistic adults - Smoky Mountain News

►March 10, 2004 - Teaching independence - Parents spend years helping autistic child learn basic skills - Smoky Mountain News

►March 10, 2004 - World's Leading Developer of Neuroperformance and Dyslexia Technology, Epoch Innovations, Raises Additional $6M - PRNewswire

►March 10, 2004 - House Considers Eligibility Changes For Aid For Disabled Children - Parents Say Restrictions Reduce Quality Of Care - AP via www.thechamplainchannel.com

►March 10, 2004 - Conway eyes summer program for autistic children - The Sun News via www.myrtlebeachonline.com

►March 10, 2004 - Largest COPD Outcomes Study Completes Patient Recruitment - 6,000 Patients From 37 Countries Recruited to Groundbreaking UPLIFT Study Ingelheim, Germany - PRNewswire via http://interestalert.com

►March 10, 2004 - National Foundation For Infectious Diseases Supports New Policy Issued by American Academy of Pediatrics Recommending Routine Pediatric Influenza Vaccination - New AAP Recommendations Stress Annual Immunization for Healthy Infants and Children 6 to 24 Months of Age and All Children with Certain Chronic Medical Conditions - PRNewswire via http://interestalert.com

►March 10, 2004 - Viragen Files U.S. Patent Application For Natural Interferon To Target SARS - PRNewswire-FirstCall via http://interestalert.com

►March 10, 2004 - Viterion TeleHealthcare and Outcome Concept Systems, Inc. Launch Pilot Program to Evaluate TeleHealth's Impact on Patient Outcomes - TeleHealth Benchmarking Solution for Homecare Agencies to be Assessed - PRNewswire via http://interestalert.com

►March 2004 - Current Approach to Diagnosis and Management of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia - Mayo Clinic Proceedings via http://interestalert.com

►March 10, 2004 - Better Drug for Killer Bugs - Ivanhoe - "New research shows a powerful new drug can reduce hospital infections and keep patients alive...Francis Tally, M.D., from Cubist Pharmaceuticals, has studied hospital-acquired infections most of his career. He says a new drug he has helped develop can quickly eliminate gram-positive infections...The FDA approved the drug in November 2003 to treat gram-positive infections. The drug, called daptomycin (Cubicin), is an antibiotic that fights bacteria in the body. It is used to treat bacterial infections of the skin and underlying skin structures. Dr. Tally tells Ivanhoe: 'It’s a new class of drugs. It’s a natural product from a soil organism and has potent activity against all gram-positive organisms.'”

►March 10, 2004 - Pediatricians are Right on - JAMA via Ivanhoe - "New research shows pediatricians who relied on their own judgment rather than clinical guidelines to treat infants with fever were often more accurate in prognosis."

►March 10, 2004 - One pill for obesity and smoking - Scientists are developing a pill that helps people quit smoking and slim down at the same time. - BBC

►March 2004 - Infection in prolonged pediatric critical illness: A prospective four-year study based on knowledge of the carrier state - journal article (Critical Care Medicine)

►March 2004 - Determinants of Physical Fitness in Children With Asthma - journal article (Pediatrics)

►March 10, 2004 - Progress reported on safer smallpox vaccine - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

►March 10, 2004 - Key cells can predict cancer's return - UPI via The Washington Times

►March 2004 - A review of the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System database (requires subscription to full article) - journal article (Expert Opinion in Pharmacotherapy)

►March 10, 2004 - Management and Outcomes of Care of Fever in Early Infancy - journal article (JAMA)   - "Conclusions  Pediatric clinicians in the United States use individualized clinical judgment in treating febrile infants. In this study, relying on current clinical guidelines would not have improved care but would have resulted in more hospitalizations and laboratory testing.^"

►March 2004 - Missing man's family asks for help locating missing autistic man - Team Amber Alert News

►Autumn 1999 - Ultrasound - weighing the propaganda against the facts - Midwifery Today via www.aims.org.uk

►March 9, 2004 - Question on US Anthrax Test - At ASM biodefense meeting, scientists say methods are not based on solid science - The Scientist via www.biomedcentral.com - "More than two years after the US anthrax letter attacks, the standard testing procedures for detecting the disease on indoor surfaces remain unreliable and unproven, according to two scientists who have studied the problem. The likely inaccuracy of those methods may leave the nation unable to determine the extent of contamination should another attack occur, they said at the annual American Society of Microbiology (ASM) Biodefense research meeting in Baltimore today (March 9)."

►March 9, 2004 - Euros concerned for US science - Scientists worried that politics is damaging science in the US-and the world - The Scientist via www.biomedcentral.com - "Some European scientists are growing increasingly concerned at the potential wider ramifications of what they see as political interference with scientific freedom in the US...Scientists interviewed by The Scientist in recent days said they believed that continued political interference from the Bush administration would not only have a negative impact on the quality of US science, but eventually on global science."

►March 4, 2004 - Tears of rage wept in France - Researchers take to the streets of Paris in mourning for the 'death' of science - The Scientist via www.biomedcentral.com - "French researchers came together across the capital yesterday to mark a day of mourning for science. "Sciences at half mast" took place 1 week to the day before the planned mass resignation of research directors on March 9...Several gatherings were organized throughout the city. Black humor sketches were scheduled to take place in front of Jussieu University, home to many of the capital's science students. At the Museum of Natural History, researchers were due to celebrate the first public appearance of the homo scientificus...'Like Pasteur, we are all enraged,' said Alain Fisher, a specialist in genetic therapies from the Necker hospital. 'It seems that these days, it is better to be a young waiter than a young researcher.'"

►March 4, 2004 - New ethics rules at NIH - Top scientists now required to reveal financial ties to companies dealing with agency - The Scientist via www.biomedcentral.com - "Senior officials at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) must now file public financial disclosure forms revealing their incomes as well as any stock, fees, and payments from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that have dealings with the agency. The policy change was announced Monday (March 1) at the first meeting of NIH's Blue Ribbon Panel on Conflict of Interest Policies. Previously, NIH officials had been required to disclose this information, but the reports remained confidential."

►March 11, 2004 - Fitness benefits of prolonged post-reproductive lifespan in women (requires subscription for article but not for abstract) - journal article (Nature) 

►March 11, 2004 - Immunogenicity of a highly attenuated MVA smallpox vaccine and protection against monkeypox (requires subscription for article but not for abstract) - journal article (Nature) 

►March 11, 2004 - French scientists prepare for mass resignation (requires subscription) - journal article (Nature) 

►March 11, 2004 - Nigerian states disrupt campaign to eradicate polio (requires subscription) - journal article (Nature)

►March 11, 2004 - Human longevity: The grandmother effect - (requires subscription) - journal article (Nature)

►March 11, 2004 - Improved care for chronic illness - Diabetes and asthma treatments in Reid's new deal for patients - The Guardian, UK

►March 10, 2004 - Whooping Cough Outbreak Grows - www.wcax.com - "Cases of pertussis, better known as whooping cough, continue to pop up in New York's North Country...Adolescents between the ages of 11 and 14 seem to be at the highest risk.  Seventy-percent of all the cases in Clinton County fall into this age group. Because pertussis is passed through saliva, health officials are urging everyone to practise what they call 'respiratory etiquette'.

Comment:  We could lessen both our real and perceived needs for medication and vaccines by using common sense.

►March 11, 2004 - US scientists announce positive news in smallpox research - www.abc.net.au

►March 10, 2004 - Avian flu fighters could benefit after lab cracks chicken's genetic code (requires registration) - CNS via The Kansas City Star

►March 10, 2004 - Delaware Eases Some Bird Flu Restrictions - Reuters via Yahoo!

►March 10, 2004 - Inspectors missed B.C. bird flu - CP via www.cnews.canoe.ca

►March 10, 2004 - Tests show bird flu was mutating at Canadian chicken hatchery - AP via San Francisco Chronicle

►March 11, 2004 - Dead crow in Osaka Prefecture tests positive for avian influenza virus - The Japan Times

►March 10, 2004 - Springfield Legislator Wants Immunization Changes - Springfield33 News & AP via www.springfield33.com

►March 10, 2004 - Govt raises polio pitch in cricket season - www.indianexpress.com

►March 2004 - Second hospital is hit as virus closes wards - Evening Times, UK

►March 11, 2004 - Mass. lawmakers consider meningitis vaccine bill - Proposed bill would require college students to either take shot or sign waiver - The Tufts Daily - "Dr. Margaret Higham, the medical director of Tufts Health Services, said that the Menomune vaccine 'protects against two-thirds of the strands of the disease and has very few side effects. Tufts strongly recommends it, but does not require the vaccination.'"

Comment:  First, does it really have very few side effects?  There have been 824 "Meningococcal Polysaccharide Vaccine, Groups A, C, Y, and W-135 combined" adverse vaccine-associated reactions reported to VAERS.  This number probably represents a minimum of over 8,250 possible vaccine-associated reactions, and perhaps as many as 82,000 or so.  This is hardly chicken-feed.  Second, meningitis, although it can be very serious, is very rare.  For more on the hype and hysteria over this disease and the vaccine, go to Scandals: Another Unnecessary Vaccine?  Here Comes the Hype for a New Meningitis Vaccine.

►March 2, 2004 - DNA-boosted sunscreen may fight cancer - Therapy fools cells into protecting themselves from sun. - Nature Science Update via www.nature.com - "The incidence of skin cancer has increased around 20-fold since the 1930s, thanks largely to people's penchant for sunbathing and exotic holidays. When UV rays in sunlight hit skin cells' DNA, they causes mutations that can make cells multiply and form skin tumours...Today's sunscreens, which passively block damaging UV rays, are sometimes ineffective because users often do not apply them frequently enough or in sufficient quantities. So, many researchers are seeking ingredients that actively help cells fight or repair sun damage."

Comment:  Or could the ongoing increase in skin cancer be due not to misuse of sunscreens, but because people MISTAKENLY think sunscreens prevent skin cancer and are spending even more time in the sun than they would otherwise?  For more on this go to Sunscreen 'increases cancer risk'

►March 5, 2004 - Fat cells boost blood vessel growth - Could liposuction left-overs help repair hearts? - Nature Science Update via www.nature.com

►March 5, 2004 - Mosquitoes give clues to West Nile's spread - Hybrid insects may explain disease's rampant rise. - Nature Science Update via www.nature.com

►March 4, 2004 - Scientists behaving badly - Journal editors reveal researchers' wicked ways. - Nature Science Update via www.nature.com - "They lie, they cheat and they steal. Judging by the cases described by a group of medical journal editors, scientists are no different from the rest of us...Last week's annual report¹ of the Committee on Publishing Ethics details the misdemeanours that the group of journal editors grappled with in 2003. Although the number of reported cases - 29 - is tiny compared with the tens of thousands of papers published in medical journals every year, the cases cover a wide range of unethical activity, from attempted bribery to potential medical malpractice.'

Comment:  And how many more cases went unreported?  This has to be but the tip of the iceberg.

►March 2004 - Investigation of Neuroanatomical Differences Between Autism and Asperger Syndrome - journal article (Archives of General Psychiatry)

►March 2004 - The Burden of Complex Genetics in Brain Disorders - journal article (Archives of General Psychiatry)

►March 9, 2004 - Giving a whoop about the 'whoop' - New York Times News Service via www.starbanner.com

►March 11, 2004 - Flu vaccines for all? - As a federal advisory panel considers recommending universal vaccination, some groups point out drawbacks. - Christian Science Monitor - "Advocates say the program would reduce incidence of the disease and, quite possibly, reduce fatalities.  It would also give drug manufacturers a larger and predictable market for their vaccines, so that shortages would not occur during major epidemics.  But some observers are balking.  Many Americans have ethical, medical, or religious objections to being vaccinated, they point out.  Others suffer from side effects of the vaccine."

►March 10, 2004 - Anthrax Vaccination Possible with Skin Patch - Reuters Health

►March 10, 2004 - Maryland lifts one bird flu quarantine, imposes another (requires registration) - CNS via The Kansas City Star

►March 9, 2004 - Eastern Shore Farmers Grapple With Avian Flu Outbreak (requires registration) - The Washington Post

►March 10, 2004 - Designer Cancer Treatment Hopeful - MMIV, CBS 2 Chicago

►March 10, 2004 - EPA extends comment period for mercury reduction rule - Waste News

►March 11, 2004 - Pets to have rabies vaccinations - Jakarta Post

►March 10, 2004 - http://www.iom.edu/imsafety/meeting9/agenda - audio files - IOM Immunization Safety Review meeting on vaccines and autism held 2/9/04

►March 10, 2004 - http://www.iom.edu/file.asp?id=19140  - unedited, verbatim transcript - IOM Immunization Safety Review meeting on vaccines and autism held 2/9/04

►March 10, 2004 - New Smallpox Vaccine Looks Safer Than Old - Study - Reuters

►March 10, 2004 - New Smallpox Vaccine Looks Safe, Effective - Reuters

►March 11, 2004 - Alternative vaccine for smallpox - A new smallpox vaccine has produced encouraging results in tests on monkeys and mice. - BBC - "Research, published in Nature, showed the vaccine protected monkeys from the related condition monkeypox...And a Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study suggests it may be better tolerated by people with weakened immune systems."

►March 10, 2004 - Effectiveness of safer smallpox vaccine demonstrated against monkeypox - NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases via www.eurekalert.org - "A mild, experimental smallpox vaccine known as modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) is nearly as effective as the standard smallpox vaccine in protecting monkeys against monkeypox, a study by researchers of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the National Institutes of Health, has found. Monkeypox is used to test the effectiveness of a smallpox vaccine because of its similarity to the smallpox virus. The study appears in the March 11 issue of Nature...'These findings are important to the search for a replacement vaccine for people with health conditions that would prevent them from using the current smallpox vaccine,' says Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of NIAID. Currently, Dryvax is the only commercially available smallpox vaccine in the United States. 'In addition, because an initial MVA injection may help lessen the side effects experienced from Dryvax, MVA may serve as an important pre-vaccine for large-scale vaccination efforts in the event of a bioterror threat involving smallpox.'"

►March 10, 2004 - Experimental smallpox vaccine protects against monkeypox in nonhuman primates - U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases  via www.eurekalert.org

►March 10, 2004 - New smallpox vaccine appears safer in tests - An experimental smallpox vaccine believed to be safer than the traditional vaccination has been shown in laboratory tests to effectively protect monkeys and mice against a pox virus, researchers say. - AP via CNN

►March 10, 2004 - Researchers Closer to Alternative Smallpox Vaccine - Existing vaccinations can sicken some people - HealthDay

►March 9, 2004 - Hepatitis C a Direct Cause of Diabetes - Reuters Health

►March 10, 2004 - Medical Services International Ships HIV Test Kits to Japan - press release - Medical Services International Inc. via PRNewswire-FirstCall via Yahoo!

►March 9, 2004 - Hepatitis A Conference Will Educate About Food Safety - Seminar Developed In Response To Case At Taco Bell - www.thechamplainchannel.com

►March 10, 2004 - Serum Institute targets 18 % growth this FY - Business Standard

►March 11, 2004 - Glaxo to focus on local research & development alliance - Business Standard

►March 10, 2004 - Kano Sources Own Polio Vaccines - Daily Trust via www.allafrica.com

►March 10, 2004 - Zimbabwe: Ambitious Plans to Roll Out Arvs - IRIN via www.allafrica.com

►March 10, 2004 - National Foundation For Infectious Diseases Supports New Policy Issued by American Academy of Pediatrics Recommending Routine Pediatric Influenza Vaccination - New AAP Recommendations Stress Annual Immunization for Healthy Infants and Children 6 to 24 Months of Age and All Children with Certain Chronic Medical Conditions - press release - National Foundation for Infectious Diseases via PRNewswire via Yahoo!

►March 10, 2004 - Poor storage in the Pacific affect vaccine potency - www.abc.net.au

►March 10, 2004 - Nippon Ham units in trouble for unauthorized vaccines - IHT/Asahi Shimbun

►March 10, 2004 - 'Death knell' hope in meningitis fight - www.manchesteronline.co.uk - "RESEARCHERS at a health protection lab in Manchester are working on a vaccine that could spell the end for meningitis...Head of vaccines research Ray Borrow is now testing three possible vaccines for meningitis B...But there is still no vaccine to protect against the most common deadly strain of the disease - meningitis B, which mostly affects children under the age of five, killing one in every 10 infected children each year."

►March 10, 2004 - Meningitec Vaccine Debuts to Combat Meningitis In Canada - Wyeth Pharmaceutiques via Doctor's Guide - "Meningitec™, a vaccine developed to protect against the bacteria that cause meningitis C, is now available in Canada. Together with Prevnar®, the only vaccine approved to prevent pneumococcal disease in children as young as two months of age, Canadian parents are now able to help protect their children against the leading forms of bacterial meningitis."

►March 10, 2004 - Grief unites friends to support the Meningitis Trust - A Group of 10 people united by the death of a close friend are raising money for the Meningitis Trust. - Belper Today

►March 11, 2004 - Govt order on Hepatitis stuns varsities - Times of India

►March 10, 2004 - Japan bans all poultry imports from Canada, citing avian flu fears - CP via www.canada.com

►March 10, 2004 - Second B.C. chicken farm quarantined over avian flu - Virus is not the same as that raising fears in Asia, federal inspection agency says - The Globe and Mail
 
►March 11, 2004 - Flu shots program has $6m wastage - www.smh.com.au

►March 11, 2004 - Bulletin on avian flu lays out advice, assurances to public - IHT/Ashai Shimbun

►March 10, 2004 - MGH Alerts Patients To Inaccurate HIV, Hepatitis C Test Results - Some Patients May Have Received False Negative Results, Hospital Says - www.thewbalchannel.com

►March 10, 2004 - California Firm Licenses Merix Technology To Pursue Potential Cancer Vaccines - www.localtechwire.com