Medscape, July 1, 2001

INFECTIOUS DISEASES CME CIRCLE - INFLUENZA VACCINATION FOR HEALTHY

PEOPLE: WHO, WHEN AND HOW?

Will the newer live, attenuated influenza vaccines improve the health of the world?

http://id.medscape.com/39745.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

-- MMWR --

PROGRESS TOWARD POLIOMYELITIS ERADICATION --- WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA, 1999--2000

Substantial progress in polio eradication occurred during 1999--2000 in west and central Africa. Poliovirus transmission can be interrupted in the remaining countries where polio is endemic if vaccination activities are of high quality and NIDs continue to be synchronized within major

epidemiologic blocs.

MMWR 50(23):481-485, 2001. Centers for Disease Control

http://id.medscape.com/39614.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

EXPOSURE TO PATIENTS WITH MENINGOCOCCAL DISEASE ON AIRCRAFTS ---UNITED STATES, 1999--2001

This report presents a case of air-travel--associated meningococcal disease and presents guidelines for the management of persons potentially exposed to meningococcus during air travel.

MMWR 50(23):485-489, 2001. Centers for Disease Control

http://id.medscape.com/39615.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

NOTICE TO READERS: AVAILABILITY OF CASE DEFINITION FOR ACUTE IDIOPATHIC PULMONARY HEMORRHAGE IN INFANTS

CDC has established procedures for the surveillance of acute idiopathic pulmonary hemorrhage in infants and for conducting investigations and special studies.

MMWR 50(23):494-495, 2001. Centers for Disease Control

http://id.medscape.com/39618.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

MEASLES INCIDENCE BEFORE AND AFTER SUPPLEMENTARY VACCINATION ACTIVITIES --- LUSAKA, ZAMBIA, 1996--2000

Substantial measles transmission continued despite intervention. To improve measles control in Zambia, nationwide supplementary measles vaccination is planned for children aged 9 months--14 years in 2002.

MMWR 50(24):513-516, 2001. Centers for Disease Control

http://id.medscape.com/39621.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

NOTICE TO READERS: AVAILABILITY OF HEALTH INFORMATION FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

CDC's Division of Global Migration and Quarantine has released the 2001--2002 edition of Health Information for International Travel (The Yellow Book).

MMWR 50(24):517, 2001. Centers for Disease Control

http://id.medscape.com/39623.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

-- EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES --

APPLYING ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES TO HEALTH CARE

Applying economic thinking to an understanding of resource use in patient care is challenging given the complexities of delivering health care in a hospital.

Emerging Infectious Diseases (7)2, 2001

http://id.medscape.com/39634.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

INCREASING RESISTANCE TO VANCOMYCIN AND OTHER GLYCOPEPTIDES IN

STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS

Strains of Staphylococcus aureus with reduced susceptibility to glycopeptides have been reported from Japan, the United States, Europe, and the Far East.

Emerging Infectious Diseases (7)2, 2001

http://id.medscape.com/39682.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

-- INFECTIONS in MEDICINE --

PEDIATRIC BULLETIN: VARICELLA IMMUNIZATION IN DAY-CARE CENTER ATTENDEES

The effectiveness of the currently available varicella vaccine in preventing infection among children attending day-care centers has been proved.

Infect Med 18(5):235, 2001

http://id.medscape.com/39633.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

-- OTHER JOURNALS --

TUBERCULOUS EPIDIDYMITIS WITH ABSCESS FORMATION AFTER INTRAVESICAL

BACILLUS CALMETTE-GUERIN INSTILLATION

Severe tuberculous epididymo-orchitis with abscess formation can occur following intravesical bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) instillation for the management of recurrent superficial bladder cancers.

Infect Urol 14(1):3-9, 2001

http://id.medscape.com/39664.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

_______________________________________________________________________

___________________________________ NEWS ______________________________

-- INFLUENZA --

FLU VACCINE DISTRIBUTION AGAIN EXPECTED TO BE DELAYED IN US

US public health officials predict a repeat of last year's delay in distributing influenza vaccine.

http://id.medscape.com/39498.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

-- MALARIA --

LEADING MALARIA VACCINE GROUPS JOIN FORCES

Three major players in the quest to develop vaccines for malaria have joined forces, officials said Friday.

http://id.medscape.com/39481.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

-- BIOTERRORISM --

INFECTION CONTROL SPECIALISTS: BETTER TRAINING NEEDED FOR BIOTERRORISM ATTACK

The healthcare professionals who would be most needed in the event of a bioterrorism attack are getting the least amount of funding and training, according to the president of the Association for

Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.

http://id.medscape.com/39496.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

-- WEST NILE VIRUS --

FORMER DEPUTY SURGEON GENERAL SAYS WEST NILE HERE TO STAY

Americans should expect more outbreaks of West Nile virus infections, said Dr. Robert A. Whitney, a veterinarian who served as deputy Surgeon General in 1992 to 1994.

http://id.medscape.com/39587.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

-- POLIO --

WHO DIRECTOR PLEDGES POLIO ERADICATION BY 2005

The head of the World Health Organization vowed on Tuesday to eradicate polio from the Earth by the year 2005, but said that $1 billion will be needed to reach that goal.

http://id.medscape.com/39724.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

-- MEASLES --

ACUTE ENCEPHALOPATHY WITHOUT RASH CAN BE DUE TO MEASLES

Measles can present with acute encephalitis-like features minus the rash, according to researchers in India.

http://id.medscape.com/39708.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

-- HIV/AIDS --

ROUTINE HIV TESTING IDENTIFIES MORE PATIENTS, SOONER

Routine HIV testing in areas of high HIV prevalence can increase the number of infections identified, increase the number of patients that enter into care, and identify patients earlier in the course of their infection, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

http://id.medscape.com/39776.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

CONSENSUS NEEDED ABOUT HIV POSTEXPOSURE PROPHYLAXIS IN CHILDREN

Physicians often differ in deciding when and what type of nonoccupational HIV postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) should be offered to children and adolescents.

http://id.medscape.com/39493.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

SOUTH AFRICA FACES LEGAL ACTION ON AIDS DRUG DENIAL

South Africa's leading AIDS activist group said on Tuesday that it was preparing to take President Thabo Mbeki's government to court for denying HIV-infected pregnant women access to drugs that cut the risk of transmitting HIV to their newborns.

http://id.medscape.com/39586.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

DATA ON FIRST AIDS VACCINE EXPECTED THIS YEAR

Initial data on the effectiveness of the first preventive AIDS vaccine to make its way through human trials should be available 'within 6 to 9 months,' according to Dr. Seth Berkley, president and CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI).

http://id.medscape.com/39592.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

GLOBAL AIDS FUND ESTIMATE MAY NOT BE ENOUGH TO ADDRESS CHILDREN'S NEEDS

The $7 billion to $10 billion estimate proposed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as the amount needed to mount an effective response to the AIDS epidemic may not be enough to address the needs of children affected by HIV, according to a presentation here Wednesday at the first UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS.

http://id.medscape.com/39723.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

UN ADOPTS AMBITIOUS BLUEPRINT TO FIGHT AIDS

Carrying an ambitious battle plan, an army of activists, health experts, politicians and scientists left New York for an uphill struggle against the AIDS pandemic that is killing 5 million people a year. http://id.medscape.com/39771.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

This is only a selection of this week's HIV/AIDS NEWS. Read all the latest news about advances in this field, from Reuters and Medscape Wire.

http://www.medscape.com/hiv/news

And you can subscribe to the HIV/AIDS Medpulse, as well as other specialty Medpulses, by updating your profile at the following link:

http://www.medscape.com/profile

-- DRUG APPROVALS --

FDA CLEARS GLAXO'S EXTRA STRENGTH AUGMENTIN FOR SERIOUS EAR INFECTIONS

GlaxoSmithKline announced on Monday that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved Augmentin ES-600 for the treatment of paediatric patients with recurrent or persistent acute otitis media.

http://id.medscape.com/39534.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

-- OTHER NEWS --

BACTERIA-DWELLING PARASITES MIGHT BE BASIS OF NEW CLASS OF ANTIBIOTICS

It might be possible to fashion a new class of antibiotics, investigators at Texas A&M University in College Station suggest, based on the protein that the progeny of lytic bacteriophages – parasitic viruses that replicate inside bacteria -- use to break down the bacterial wall when they are mature.

http://id.medscape.com/39482.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901

LATEST CDC DEATH RATE DATA OFFER AMERICANS REASONS FOR HOPE AND CONCERN

Fewer Americans are dying from heart disease and cancer, the two leading causes of death in the US, according to figures released on Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

http://id.medscape.com/39605.rhtml?srcmp=id-062901