MEDSCAPE's Infectious Diseases MedPulse 2-14-02

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MedPulse is a weekly index of key news and features on Medscape's

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-- MMWR --

UPDATE: INFLUENZA ACTIVITY -- UNITED STATES, 2001-02 SEASON

The number of specimens testing positive for influenza viruses have increased in recent weeks.

MMWR 51(4) 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423464?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

PERTUSSIS -- UNITED STATES, 1997-2000

The increase in reported pertussis first noted in the 1980s continued throughout the 1990s.

MMWR 51(4) 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423462?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

-- INFECTIONS in MEDICINE --

HEPATITIS C

For a year 2000 snapshot of the knowledge base about hepatitis C, this book provides a comprehensive perspective.

Infect Med 18(12) 2001

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/421543?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

-- OTHER JOURNALS --

AN ADOLESCENT BOY WITH BLISTERED FEET

During the summer, a 16-year-old boy sees his physician because of itching, burning feet.

West J Med 175(6) 2001

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/421049?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

FOCUS ON ASTHMA: DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT

On Medscape's Asthma Resource Center you can get timely medical information on asthma and options for accurate diagnosis and effective treatment. http://www.medscape.com/resource/asthma

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___________________________________ NEWS ______________________________

-- VACCINES & IMMUNIZATIONS --

UK GOVERNMENT DENIES IT IS REVIEWING POLICY ON MMR VACCINE

The British government denied on Wednesday it was reviewing its policy on a triple measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine amid fears a drop in the number of children having the jab might spark a measles epidemic.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423579?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

STUDY LINKS MEASLES VIRUS TO NEW FORM OF BOWEL DISEASE

Britain's Department of Health said on Tuesday that a new study showing that the measles virus is present in children with a new variant inflammatory bowel disease does not mean that the disease is linked to the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423446?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

VARICELLA VACCINE HAS DRAMATICALLY REDUCED CHICKENPOX CASES IN THE US

Incidence of varicella have been substantially reduced in the areas in the US with moderate vaccine coverage, according to a report in JAMA for February 6.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423436?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

UN MEASLES VACCINE CAMPAIGN REACHING AFGHAN CHILDREN

A mammoth United Nations campaign to vaccinate about 10 million Afghan children against measles has managed to reach 10% of the children it hopes to protect in the first month of operation, representatives of UNICEF said on Tuesday.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423416?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

-- CJD/BSE --

ITALY REPORTS FIRST CASE OF VARIANT CREUTZFELDT-JAKOB DISEASE

The first suspected case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease has been reported in Italy, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423418?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

ITALIAN VCJD CASE LINKED TO CLANDESTINE SLAUGHTERING

Italy's first suspected case vCJD, the human form of bovine Spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease), could have a Mafia link.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423574?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

ITALIAN WOMAN WITH SUSPECTED VCJD TO RECEIVE QUINACRINE

A young Sicilian woman suspected of having vCJD is to be treated with quinacrine, the antimalarial drug that seemed to dramatically improve the disease in a young Briton last year.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423604?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

-- ANTHRAX & BIOTERRORISM --

CROSS-CONTAMINATION LIKELY CAUSE OF ANTHRAX AT FCC MAIL FACILITY

The scant amount of anthrax contamination found at a US Federal Communications Commission mail facility in Maryland last week was 'consistent with cross-contamination of mail,' the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423415?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

BIOPORT PERMITTED TO RESUME ANTHRAX VACCINE PRODUCTION

The US government announced on Thursday that it would allow BioPort Corp. to resume production of its anthrax vaccine. The company's production facility was shut down by the Food and Drug Administration in 1998 over quality concerns.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423127?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

BUSH HEALTH BUDGET PRIORITIZES BIOTERROR PREPAREDNESS, PRESCRIPTION DRUG BENEFIT

President Bush formally asked the US Congress on Monday to spend billions of dollars to enhance the nation's bioterrorism preparedness and to sign on to a plan to deliver a prescription drug benefit for 40 million Medicare beneficiaries.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423259?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

-- TUBERCULOSIS --

WORLD BANK MAY HELP UKRAINE FIGHT TB AND AIDS

The World Bank said on Friday it was considering a $60 million loan to help Ukraine control the rampant spread of tuberculosis and AIDS in its impoverished population.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423121?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

-- ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE --

RESISTANT ENTEROBACTER SPECIES TIED TO ADVERSE HEALTH AND ECONOMIC

OUTCOMES

In patients infected with Enterobacter species, the emergence of organisms resistant to third-generation cephalosporins is associated with adverse health and economic outcomes, according to a report published in the January 28th issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423117?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE CLIMBS IN CANADA

Canadians' increased awareness of appropriate antibiotic use is not curbing the rise in antibiotic resistance, figures released last week show.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423265?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

-- HEPATITIS --

PHLEBOTOMY MAY DELAY PROGRESSION OF LIVER FIBROSIS IN CHRONIC HEPATITIS C PATIENTS

The use of phlebotomy to reduce iron levels in patients with chronic hepatitis C appears to delay the progression of liver fibrosis, according to a recent report by Japanese investigators.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423599?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

-- INFLUENZA --

HK KILLS 67,000 CHICKENS TO CONTAIN BIRD FLU

Hong Kong killed 67,000 chickens on Monday and shut a second poultry farm in a bid to contain the spread of a bird-flu virus in the territory's second scare in less than a year.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423291?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

HONG KONG SLAUGHTERS MORE CHICKENS TO HALT SPREAD OF AVIAN INFLUENZA

Hong Kong health authorities slaughtered thousands of chickens on Wednesday to try to stop an influenza virus before it evolves into a strain like the one that killed six people in 1997.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423608?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

-- DENGUE --

DENGUE EPIDEMIC GROWS AHEAD OF RIO CARNIVAL

Health officials struggled to control an outbreak of dengue fever in Rio de Janeiro as the picturesque tourist mecca prepared to host millions of visitors for next week's annual Carnival parades.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423293?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

-- HIV/AIDS --

CORRECTION: FDA APPROVES ONCE-DAILY SUSTIVA TABLET FOR HIV INFECTION

Bristol-Myers Squibb has received a supplementary approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market a 600-mg, once-a-day version of Sustiva (efavirenz), the Princeton, New Jersey-based concern reported on Monday.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423420?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

BISEXUAL MALE TEENS REPORT HIGH LEVELS OF AIDS-RELATED RISK BEHAVIOR

The results of a population-based study of US male high school students reveal that bisexual adolescents engage in especially high levels of AIDS-related risk behavior compared with homosexual and heterosexual students.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423582?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

BETA-CYCLODEXTRIN BLOCKS VAGINAL TRANSMISSION OF CELL-ASSOCIATED HIV

Treating mice intravaginally with 2-hydroxypropyl beta-cyclodextrin blocks the transmission of cell-associated HIV-1, investigators report.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423139?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

RATIONALE ADVANCED FOR DELAYING HAART IN ASYMPTOMATIC HIV-INFECTED CHILDREN

Asymptomatic HIV-infected children with high CD4 counts, even those with significant viremia, need not receive highly active antiretroviral therapy unless advanced clinical or immunologic disease develops, New York researchers suggest.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423141?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

HIV CASES EXPECTED TO RISE SHARPLY IN UK

The number of HIV-positive people in Britain is likely to rise sharply over the next few years, a UK public health organisation warned on Thursday. More people were diagnosed with HIV infection in the UK last year than ever before.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423125?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

ANEMIA IS A COMMON, SERIOUS PROBLEM FOR HIV-INFECTED WOMEN

HIV-positive women are at very high risk for developing anemia, which is associated with a substantially increased mortality risk, according to a report published in the January 15th issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423275?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

HIV PREVENTION COUNSELING FOR YOUNG GAY MEN SEEN AS SUBOPTIMAL

Young men who have sex with men (MSM) often become infected with HIV not long after testing negative for the virus. 'This calls into question the quality of the prevention counseling that is going on at these previous test encounters,'...

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423263?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

GATES FOUNDATION TO FUND POPULATION COUNCIL'S PHASE III MICROBICIDE

TRIAL

A microbicide gel designed to prevent HIV transmission will enter phase III clinical testing in 6,000 women in southern Africa, thanks to a $20 million grant to the New York City-based Population Council from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423260?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

-- OTHER ID NEWS --

PROPHYLACTIC ITRACONAZOLE PREVENTS PITYRIASIS VERSICOLOR RECURRENCE

Once-a-month treatment with itraconazole is effective in preventing recurrence of pityriasis (or tinea) versicolor following initially successful treatment, according to results of a multicenter,

multinational study.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423149?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

RAPID DIAGNOSIS OF H. INFLUENZAE TYPE B INFECTIONS POSSIBLE WITH PCR

Polymerase chain reaction can be used for the early diagnosis of infections caused by Haemophilus influenzae Type b, a leading cause of pneumonia and meningitis in children under 5 years of age, researchers from Bangladesh report.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423283?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

E. COLI ADHESIN-CD55 INTERACTION MAY CONTRIBUTE TO DEVELOPMENT OF IBD

The interaction of Escherichia coli adhesin molecule with CD55 molecules on the intestinal epithelial cell's surface induces a rapid increase in the immune-cell activating molecule called MICA, French investigators report.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423270?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

ROLE OF COXSACKIEVIRUS B4 IN DIABETES DESCRIBED IN MOUSE MODEL

In experiments in mice, researchers have found that coxsackievirus B4 (CB4) damages tissue, which causes the release of sequestered islet antigen. This in turn stimulates autoreactive T cells and results in the initiation of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423432?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

ITALY REPEALS BAN ON SALES OF WATER BY THE GLASS

Italy's health minister Girolamo Sirchia has abandoned plans to ban the sale of mineral water by the glass. A new decree had established that starting March 14, mineral water would have to be served from intact, unopened bottles.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423123?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

IRON DEFICIENCY LINKED WITH CYSTIC FIBROSIS DISEASE SEVERITY

Iron deficiency is common in patients with cystic fibrosis, and is directly related with increased severity of suppurative lung disease, according to a report in the January issue of Chest.

Reuters Health Information 2002

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/423290?srcmp=id-020802

Read it Here</a>

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