Vaccination NewsLetter: Top Stories - posted February 9-15, 2004

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Notes

Previous newsletters

Picks of the week - updated 2/18/04

The Newsletter is now linked to the new Hot Topics section here and to specific categories and sub-topics below

Alternatives

Alternative treatments/prevention

►February 12, 2004 - Human proof that Cod Liver Oil really can slow the onset of osteoarthritis - Experts reveal 'Granny's remedy' could hold key to cutting waiting lists, saving the NHS millions - Cardiff University via www.eurekalert.org 

►February 14, 2004 - Heartbreaker, painmaker - The Guardian via Hindustan Times - "While physical stress (such as eating fatty foods) may be an obvious cause for making heart disease one of the biggest global killers, cardiologists, psychologists and other scientists around the world have been gradually gathering evidence that emotional stress from heartbreak is sometimes also a factor in exacerbating heart disease and other illnesses. Sometimes, this can even lead to death."

►February 10, 2004 - WHO Issues Herbal Medicine Guidelines - AP via The Herald-Sun 

►February 10, 2004 - Gene therapy jab burns off fat - New Scientist 

►February 9, 2004 - 'Respiratory etiquette' cuts spread of disease - Evansville Courier & Press via Healthy News

Breastfeeding (vs. formula)

Nutrition/diet

►February 12, 2004 - Human proof that Cod Liver Oil really can slow the onset of osteoarthritis - Experts reveal 'Granny's remedy' could hold key to cutting waiting lists, saving the NHS millions - Cardiff University via www.eurekalert.org 

►February 11, 2004 - Americans Advised to Cut Salt, Follow Thirst - Report Lowers Recommended Salt Intake, Eases Water Rules - WebMD Medical News

►February 11, 2004 - No Consensus on Salt Restriction - press release - The Salt Institute via US Newswire

►February 11, 2004 - Salt and Water Intake: Press Release - Institute of Medicine via Newsday

Comment:  Note the three different titles.
 

 

Big pharma

Conflict of Interest

Drug Development

►February 9, 2004 - Helping the less fortunate - Company advances drugs to cure little-known diseases, not to make a profit - AP via The Buffalo News

►February 8, 2004 - Medicine Hunter Tracks Promising Plants - AP via The Herald-Sun 

Ethics

Funding/money matters

►February 12, 2004 - MedImmune thinking twice about staying in vaccine business - CNS via www.sunherald.com - "The research chief of Gaithersburg-based MedImmune told a House committee Thursday that the company may get out of the vaccine-production business, following disappointing sales of its nasal-spray vaccine this flu season."

Comment: "BL Fisher Note (from the NVIC newsletter): When America's free enterprise system is allowed to work properly, without government coercion, then those products the public needs and wants will be purchased and consumed and those the public does not need or want will not be purchased and consumed. That leaves the way open for other manufacturers to build a better mousetrap and persuade the public to use that better mousetrap, which is as it should be...A good example is the Prevnar vaccine. The Prevnar vaccine, without any government mandates, was the best selling new drug/biological in 2001. Wyeth can't make the product fast enough to satisfy public demand...In any given year, only about one quarter of the US population has voluntarily chosen to purchase and consume flu vaccine of any kind. Only when government interferes and mandates use of a vaccine or subsidizes manufacturers of vaccines is America's free enterprise system not allowed to work as it should. At the end of the day, the public should not be forced to use a product it does not want...There were very good reasons why the FDA did not approve FLUMIST for use in children under five or adults over 50. MedImmune and Wyeth both know why. MedImmune is wise to read the writing on the wall rather than ask for government bailout of a vaccine that the public, for whatever reasons, obviously does not want."

Pharmaceutical industry

►February 12, 2004 - Pop That Pill - PopMatters via AlterNet.org - "Around 20 years ago, the word 'patient' began evaporating eerily – like the photo of Michael J. Fox in 'Back to the Future' – from the dictionaries of the drug companies. And in its place came the term, 'medical consumer.' Twenty years ago. That's when drug manufacturers began marketing prescription medications directly to the lay public...It used to be that drug ads were directed only toward physicians, mostly in the dry pages of medical journals. And for good reason. Prescription drugs are complex things; each has risks and benefits. There is no such thing as a harmless medicinal drug. In Hebrew, the word for medicine is samim, or poison. Every drug is a poison."

►February 9, 2004 - Drug Company Attacks Developing Nations' Diseases - AP via The Tampa Tribune - "Victoria Hale is chief executive of the ultimate oxymoron: a nonprofit drug company...From her office in San Francisco, she hopes to wipe out diseases that plague developing nations but are ignored by Western drug companies for lack of profit possibilities...Hale's prescription is to gain marketing rights to promising drug candidates that are owned by drug companies but sit undeveloped in labs."

Pharmaceutical industry/FDA oversight

►Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee - FDA/CBER - meeting alert - February 18 - 19, 2004

►February 11, 2004 - Network of NHS watchdogs launched - An independent network of NHS watchdogs is to be launched aimed at giving the public a greater say over healthcare. - BBC

►February 10, 2004 - WHO Issues Herbal Medicine Guidelines - AP via The Herald-Sun 

►February 10, 2004 - FDA on Drug Ads: Less Is More - (requires registration) - Washington Post 

►February 10, 2004 - Seniors Given Dangerous Drugs, CDC Warns - AP via The Herald-Sun 

►February 9, 2004 - Study examines inappropriate medication prescribing for elderly patients - JAMA and Archives Journals Website via www.eurekalert.org - "Medications considered 'inappropriate' were prescribed at approximately eight percent of outpatient visits by elderly patients, with pain relievers and central nervous system drugs accounting for a large share, according to an article in the February 9 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals...According to the article, inappropriate medication use in patients 65 or older has been linked to many adverse drug reactions, poor physical functioning, and excess health care utilization."

PR/advertising

►February 12, 2004 - Pop That Pill - PopMatters via AlterNet.org - "Around 20 years ago, the word 'patient' began evaporating eerily – like the photo of Michael J. Fox in 'Back to the Future' – from the dictionaries of the drug companies. And in its place came the term, 'medical consumer.' Twenty years ago. That's when drug manufacturers began marketing prescription medications directly to the lay public...It used to be that drug ads were directed only toward physicians, mostly in the dry pages of medical journals. And for good reason. Prescription drugs are complex things; each has risks and benefits. There is no such thing as a harmless medicinal drug. In Hebrew, the word for medicine is samim, or poison. Every drug is a poison."

►February 10, 2004 - FDA on Drug Ads: Less Is More - (requires registration) - Washington Post 

Research conduct

 

Conferences, workshops, seminars, courses

►February 13, 2004 - CDC's 18th Annual Chronic Disease Prevention Conference Feb. 18-20 - press release - conference alert - CDC via US Newswire

►Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee - FDA/CBER - meeting alert - February 18 - 19, 2004

 

Diseases and their vaccines (current and in the pipeline)

AIDS/HIV/AIDS vaccine

►February 13, 2004 - Thailand responds to HIV vaccine critics - Science via Science and Development Network

►February 11, 2004 - Drug to stop HIV spread to babies may harm moms - The treatment used in poor countries to prevent the spread of HIV from mothers to their babies may have a serious drawback: It can make the women resistant to the AIDS drugs they may need later on, disturbing new research shows. - AP via CNN

►February 13, 2004 - Aussie Vaccine 'Blocks Out' HIV - Australian via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract)

►February 12, 2004 - It's Back to Basics After AIDS Vaccine Setbacks - Wall Street Journal via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract) - "Due to frequent mutation, resistance to neutralizing antibodies, and the ability to hide from the human immune system, developing a vaccine against HIV-1 is proving difficult. The most innovative vaccines currently in development are likely to fail, according to Harvard Medical School professor Ron Desrosiers. To be successful, researchers must slow down development and concentrate on basic science questions concerning how HIV-1 interacts with the immune system, says Desrosiers."

►February 13, 2004 - Aust scientists develop therapeutic HIV vaccine - PM via www.abc.net.au

►February 11, 2004 - Scripps scientists say genetic mutation doesn't protect against HIV and plague - Scripps Research Institute via www.eurekalert.org 

►February 12, 2004 - Vaccine research: back to the drawing board? - www.aidsmap.com - "The major presentations on HIV vaccines at the Eleventh Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in San Francisco were dominated by one question. Is it reasonable to press ahead with large-scale clinical trials, such as the one now underway in Chon Buri and Rayong provinces, Thailand? Or should the emphasis and funding for vaccine research shift more strongly back to basic immunology and experiments in animal models?"

►February 12, 2004 - Australian HIV vaccine gains international attention - National Nine News via http://news.ninemsn.com.au

►February 13, 2004 - New vaccine hailed as HIV breakthrough - Herald Sun - "Medical experts are thrilled by early results from the injection, which kick-starts the body's immune system to fight HIV...Doctors say if the HIV level can be kept low, patients will avoid AIDS and live long and relatively healthy lives."

Comment:  But what if, as some believe, HIV has nothing to do with AIDS?

►February 11, 2004 - Black Death Not Reason for Anti-HIV Gene Mutation - Nature via Reuters Health - "People with a genetic variation in a receptor on immune cells, called the CCR5-delta-32 mutation, are resistant to infection with HIV. The mutation is much more common in people of Northern European descent than in other populations, and it seems to have arisen some 800 years ago...Researchers have suggested that it became so common as a result of selective pressure by the Black Death plague in the Middle Ages, meaning that people with the mutation were more likely to escape the contagion...As plausible as the theory seems, it's apparently unfounded, researchers conclude in an article in this week's issue of the science journal Nature."

►February 9, 2004 - HIV therapy raises drug resistance - USA Today

►February 11, 2004 - Lipid Sciences' Data: A Model for a New Therapeutic Vaccination Strategy Against HIV Infection - Data Presented at Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections - Lipid Sciences, Inc. via Yahoo!

►February 8, 2004 - Antiretrovirals' Benefits far Outweigh Their Side Effects - Sunday Times via www.allafrica.com

Comment:  Where have we heard that before.  And what if HIV has nothing to do with AIDS.  Can it reasonably be said, if that is the case, that the known risks of anti-retrovirals are outweighed by a meaningless benefit?

►February 10, 2004 - A Global Battle's Missing Weapon (requires registration or subscription) -  Op-Ed - The New York Times - "Of all the mind-numbing statistics about H.I.V. and AIDS, the most staggering — and important — is this: 95 percent of those infected worldwide do not know they are harboring the most deadly virus in history, and are therefore spreading it, however unintentionally. The primary reason for this is that routine AIDS testing is virtually absent in most countries during the long period — it averages eight years — when people don't know they have the disease because they have no visible symptoms."

Comment:  But what if, as some believe, HIV has nothing to do with AIDS? 

►February 10, 2004 - Infant Drugs for H.I.V. Put Mothers at Risk (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times

Comment:  Ditto.

►February 9, 2004 - Stopping Newborn AIDS May Harm Mothers - AP via The Herald-Sun

Alzheimer's disease/vaccine

►February 6, 2004 - Compound May Be Effective In Reducing Alzheimer’s Plaques - journal article (Psychiatric News)

Anthrax/anthrax vaccine/Gulf War Syndrome

►February 10, 2004 - Anthrax Spores Can Germinate, Grow and Reproduce in Soil - University of Michigan Health System via Newswise

►February 13, 2004 - Man Exposed to Anthrax Sues Government - www.nbc25.com

►February 10, 2004 - Granville soldier deployed without vaccine - AP via The Advocate - "The Army dropped one charge against an Ohio National Guard member convicted once and charged again with disobeying a lawful order after he refused to take the anthrax vaccine, then deployed the soldier to Iraq without the shots."

►February 11, 2004 - Anthrax alert lost in rush to war - The West Australian - "THE Australian navy deliberately rushed sailors to war in the Gulf without first warning them they would need anthrax shots and without recording the details of vaccines they were given, a secret defence investigation has found."

Asthma/allergies

►February 13, 2004 - Antioxidants Cut Asthma Risk in Children - Reduction most dramatic among those exposed to secondhand smoke - HealthDayNews

►February 12, 2004 - OHSU researchers hope to prevent childhood asthma with new eczema drug - Fifty percent of babies with eczema, family history of allergic disease may develop asthma - Oregon Health & Science University via www.eurekalert.org 

►February 9, 2004 - Early Fevers Associated with Lower Allergy Risk Later in Childhood - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease - "Infants who experience fevers before their first birthday are less likely to develop allergies by ages six or seven, according to a new study funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The study, published today in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, lends support to the well-known "hygiene hypothesis," which contends that early exposure to infections might protect children against allergic diseases in later years."

Comment:  And what about immune response via vaccination that occurs without fever?  Might it predispose TO allergies?  (One small study suggests that the vaccinated may have more allergies.  For more on this go to Out of Control: "Childhood vaccinations and the risk of asthma"  - a CDC study.)

►January 2004 - The effect of environmental tobacco smoke on eczema and allergic sensitization in children - journal article (British Journal of Dermatology)

►February 10, 2004 - Treatments: Flaws Found in Food Allergy Files (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "Hospital emergency rooms routinely mishandle patients who arrive with acute, potentially fatal allergies to food, researchers reported yesterday."

►February 9, 2004 - Study: Early fevers lower allergy risk later - Babies who develop several fevers in their first year are less likely to develop allergies later in life, researchers said on Monday. - Reuters via CNN

Comment:  In the same way, is experiencing childhood infectious disease protective in one's later years?

►February 10, 2004 - Study: Dogs Build Infants' Immunity - Newsday

►February 10, 2004 - Allergy surge to be investigated - Scientists are to look at whether diet affects people's risk of developing an allergy. - BBC

Autism

►February 14, 2004 - Increase in autism is due to changes in diagnosis, study claims - journal article (BMJ)

Comment:  For other perspectives on this, see what the M.I.N.D. Institute had to say about this, as well as F. Edward Yazbak, MD (at the Online Autism Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com).

►Autism A.L.A.R.M. - CDC, AAP et al via www.medicalhomeinfo.org - "Autism is prevalent...1 out of 6 children are diagnosed with a developmental disorder and/or behavioral problem...1 in 166 children are diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder"

Comment:  Note that it is the CDC and AAP that are saying this. 

►January 29, 2004 - Coolidge v. Riegle - court of appeals decision re: autistic child who acted aggressively against his teacher

►February 12, 2004 - Making All Faces Familiar for Those With Autism - HealthDayNews via www.14wfie.com - "University of Washington researchers have discovered that the brains of people with autism function differently than the brains of normal people when they see pictures of unfamiliar people...The study of 11 adolescents and adults with autism and 10 age-matched controls also found that when people with autism see a picture of a familiar face, their brain activity is similar to that of other people...The researchers say these findings indicate that in people with autism, a brain region called the fusiform gyrus that's associated with face processing has the potential to function normally, but may need special training to do so."

►February 9, 2004 - Special Training May Help People with Autism Recognize Faces - press release - University of Washington via Newswise

►February 9, 2004 - Coping With Autism - Ivanhoe Newswire - "The most recent statistics show autism affects between one and three of every 500 people. It’s a lifelong disorder that makes social interaction and every day communication tough. It also causes aggression in many people. Now different therapies can help ease that autistic aggression."

Autism/mercury