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Houston Chronicle (www.chron.com)
(09/24/02) P. A17; Croteau, Roger
Health officials in Comal County, Texas, are
trying to get an outbreak of pertussis under control, as five cases have already
been confirmed and another five children may be infected. Last year, 615 cases
of pertussis were reported in Texas, and since January 2001, nine children in
the state have died from the disease. So far this year, 766 cases have been
reported in the state--an unusually high number, says David Bastis, program
director in the immunization division of the Texas Department of Health.
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YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.
"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
"Who gets to decide what the greater good is and how many will be sacrificed to it?"