December 8, 2003 - Novel strategy to help prevent transplant rejection - www.ic.ac.uk via Science Daily - "A study led by Imperial College London has shown for the first time it is possible to help prevent organ rejection using a novel strategy that redirects the body's immune response instead of suppressing it...Unlike current therapies, which leave patients vulnerable to infection by inducing non-specific immunosuppression, this new approach targets a key cellular signal known as Notch, which the researchers found acts as a gatekeeper by governing how immune cells specialise."

December 8, 2003 - FluMist Booms on Backing from Centers for Disease Control - The Washington Times

December 9, 2003 - Asthma victims turning to ERs - A new study finds 1 of 11 in California has the disease. - Sacramento Bee

December 9, 2003 - Whooping Cough on the Rise - Experts report 49 percent rise in the disease in infants in 1990's - Health Day News

December 8, 2003 - Beers Criteria Medications to avoid in the elderly updated - AScribe Newswire - "Forty-eight medications or classes of medications to avoid in adults age 65 or older have been identified by a national expert panel charged with updating widely used criteria for potentially harmful medications in older adults...Estrogen in older women and the popular over-the-counter antihistamine, Benadryl, were among those on the list to avoid in the update of the 1997 Beers Criteria, published in the Dec. 8 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine."

December 9, 2003 - A Better FLU Vaccine? Nasal Spray Vaccine May Give More Protection Against 'Drifted' Strains - www.slu.edu via Science Daily - "The maker of the vaccine, MedImmune Inc., is currently conducting additional studies with FluMist to confirm these findings."

Comment:  Any chance someone without a stake in the results will be doing any research on this?

December 9, 2003 - Blood Money? - The Los Angeles Times' flawed masterpiece about corruption at NIH. - Slate - "Not many newspaper stories can boast that they were five years in the making, and fewer still can claim that they were worth the wait. But David Willman's meticulously researched 11,700-word feature, "Stealth Merger: Drug Companies and Government Medical Research," in the Sunday, Dec. 7, Los Angeles Times is that brilliant exception."

December 11, 2003 - Rules on medicines 'need big shake-up' - Anti-depressant ban for children reveals flaws in system, says Mind - The Guardian, UK - "'It is totally unacceptable that for a significant period 50,000 children and adolescents in the UK have been prescribed anti-depressant drugs that were not licensed for use but it is only now being demonstrated that they do not help and can indeed cause harm,'  said Richard Brook, Mind's chief executive."

December 11, 2003 - Flood of flu cases using up vaccine - The Navajo Times - "Across the United States, health officials have said this year could be the worst influenza season seen in decades...Michael Murphy, spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Health Services, said that so far two adults and one child have died of influenza related sickness. Murphy said Arizona typically has 20 children deaths a year caused by influenza."

Comment: Okay, so let me see if I've got this straight.  Normally 20 children die in Arizona, and so far one has died.  And yet there is near hysteria over this flu and access to flu vaccine.  Perhaps I am missing something, but is this flu season being hyped up for some reason?  If so, what could that reason be?  And lest we forget, there have been almost 18,000 flu-vaccine associated adverse reactions reported to VAERS since reporting began, including 317 deaths.  (Note that estimates of under-reporting range from 90-99%, e.g., click here.)

December 11, 2003 - Cases of flu cut in half - The worst of worst Colorado season in years is over, officials say - Rocky Mountain News - "During a typical year, no more than two children and a total of 750 to 800 Coloradans die of complications of the flu or pneumonia."

Comment:  What makes this year the "worst of the worst"?  How many Coloradans died last year?  How many have died so far this year? How many of the allegedly flu-related deaths reported by the media have been confirmed to be flu-related?  How many of the allegedly flu-related deaths reported by the media are actually treatment related?  How many of the allegedly flu-related deaths reported by the media are actually non-flu-related, e.g., the result of asthma and other chronic conditions?  How many of the allegedly flu-related deaths reported by the media are actually vaccine-related deaths?  Will there be a genuine effort to answer these and other relevant questions? 

December 11, 2003 - NAA Action Alert: "On December 9, 2003, an editorial was published in the Wall Street Journal entitled, "Where's my flu shot?" The writer goes beyond merely stating an opinion when the information he/she presents is made to seem factual, but really isn't. In fact, the writer uses erroneous information to take direct aim at government officials who have very much helped the autism community in the past.  He/she also depicts Senator Bill Frist as the hero while blaming our repeal of the Homeland Security rider for the current flu vaccine shortage...Please write to the Wall Street Journal ASAP and let them know that they irresponsibly printed a very misleading editorial without checking the facts first." - to learn more, go to the National Autism Association's Grassroots Center

Moms Against Mercury - Two Moms Fighting For Truth & Justice For Our Children...And Yours - website - BILLBOARD

December 10, 2003 - Experts Question Potency of Flu Vaccine - AP via Yahoo! - "Even as federal officials try to round up extra doses of the flu vaccine, many experts are wondering just how much protection the shots will give the millions who have taken them...Vaccine makers produced 83 million doses this year, but the early and intense outbreak in some Western states has dried up supplies in many places...Even though one of the three is a close cousin of this season's bug, whether that will be enough to help people ward off the flu is unknown. Some experts expect the level of protection to be less than 50 percent...Most agree the vaccine will do at least some good. But the word "some" is about specific as CDC scientists are willing to get."

Comment:  How lovely for the vaccine manufacturers, to be able to produce 83 million doses of something that may well not work and enlist the government and medical community in their efforts to sell it.

December 15, 2003 - Should troops get the anthrax vaccination? - NO: Vaccination program rife with unresolved concerns - letter - (Requires registration) - Army Times

December 15, 2003 - Should troops get the anthrax vaccination? - YES: Vaccines give protection against the threat of anthrax - letter  (Requires registration) - Army Times

December 15, 2003 - Resolution questions vaccine programs - A senator wants the Pentagon to reconsider its mandatory anthrax and smallpox vaccine policies — and the health and career consequences of those policies on U.S. troops. (Requires registration) - Army Times

Breaking News Archives - from December 1, 2003 (check here for breaking news you might have missed)