December 14, 2003 - States Accept Suspect M.D.s - www.ctnow.com - "The lawsuit against St. Mary's, which outlined a number of possible scenarios for the incident, raised a key question: Was Paul equipped to handle the critical task required of him that day?...His educational resume, in fact, included a worrisome entry: He attended Spartan Health Sciences University, a Caribbean medical school that has sparked such serious concerns about educational standards that its graduates are banned from practicing on its home island and in six states...But not New York."

December 22/29, 2003 - Obesity: Not just a phase kids outgrow - Addressing weight issues with children and adolescents requires a multifaceted approach from physicians that often involves the entire family. - www.ama-assn.org

December 2003 - Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Among Children Recently Diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder - journal article (Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics) - "The authors' review of 284 charts of children seen at the Regional Autism Center of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, found that more than 30% of children were using some CAM, and that 9% were using potentially harmful CAM. Having an additional diagnosis was protective against CAM use and being Latino was associated with CAM use. Having seen a prior provider regarding the child's health condition was predictive of potentially harmful CAM use."

December 9, 2003 - Drug-Resistant Bug Complicates Flu - Bad Staph, Vaccine Shortage Add to Flu Worries - WebMD with AOL Health

December 15, 2003 - Health Canada to review use of psychiatric drugs on kids - CBC News - "Health Canada is reviewing whether a class of drugs - known as SSRIs - is safe for the treatment of depression in children and adolescents. The review is looking at data on many of the top-selling psychiatric drugs, including Paxil, Prozac and Celexa. None of the drugs is licensed for use in children, but doctors often do still prescribe them."

December 13, 2003 - Africa isn't dying of Aids - The headline figures are horrible: almost 30 million Africans have HIV/Aids.  But, says Rian Malan, the figures are computer-generated estimates and they appear grotesquely exaggerated when set against population statisics. - The Spectator, UK

December 15, 2003 - 'Hospital superbug' MRSA spreads to animals - The Guardian, UK - "The hospital superbug MRSA has been found in pets for the first time in Britain, prompting fears that animals could infect their owners...The discovery that the deadly bacteria have crossed the species barrier will make it harder to limit their spread and could make the common antibiotics used to treat infections far less effective...MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus), which kills 5,000 patients a year, is carried harmlessly by one in three people. But it can prove fatal in the elderly, those recovering from surgery and those who have a weakened immune system. Newborn babies are also susceptible."

December 3, 2003 - Gregory Bryant-Bruce, who made news in custody fight as baby, dies - www.tennessean.com - "Bryant-Bruce and the child's father, Gregory Bryant-Bruce Sr., lost custody in December 1993 after doctors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center said that bleeding around the baby's eyes was evidence that he had been shaken or dropped repeatedly...Doctors there determined his complications were from the disorder...The Bryant-Bruces filed a lawsuit against Vanderbilt, seeking $75 million. The couple said Vanderbilt doctors misdiagnosed their son's internal bleeding as child abuse and that DHS used the diagnosis to keep the child away from them for almost 18 months, despite medical proof that the bleeding was from the rare disorder...A settlement was reached."

Comment:  For more on the question of possible false imprisonment due to shaken baby syndrome, and Alan Yurko's case specifically, go to the Online SBS Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com.

December 12, 2003 - Tests could leave some children behind - www.pittsburghlive.com - "But Education Secretary Rod Paige recently said officials will revise the regulations to allow no more than 1 percent of a school's students to use alternate special education tests, instead of the PSSA tests. Pennsylvania education officials say they have been allowing the most severely disabled children to take alternate PSSA tests for some years...But the question is whether that 1 percent figure under the new federal No Child Left Behind law is adequate."

December 12, 2003 - Meeting Shows Power Politics In Children's Health -  http://nebraska.statepaper.com – “Is there a hotter topic right now than flu shots? Maybe child protective services in Nebraska. Or how to get a handle on government spending, especially for health care and education…A Thursday night meeting in Omaha combined all three with a look at whether mercury in childhood vaccines is causing the skyrocketing rates of autism and other learning disabilities, and what's being done about it.”

December 14, 2003 - Scientists predicting worldwide flu plague - It's certain to come, and to be a deadly, drawn-out disaster - AP and files from Staff Reporter Charlie Anderson - "Think the flu warnings are gloomy now? You haven't heard anything yet...Consider this instead. It's only a matter of time until there's a worldwide outbreak of a strain so severe that in the industrialized nations alone, it will kill a half-million people, flood more than two million hospital beds -- and all in a sudden, unexpected crisis that no flu shot will prevent."

December 14, 2003 - Scientists agonized over flu vaccine - AP via Mercury News via www.bayarea.com - "Late last winter, a committee of vaccine experts designing this season's flu shot considered their choices. They had two, and both seemed bad...Should they stick with last year's formula, even though a new strain of the bug was ominously building strength? Or should they try to make a new vaccine and risk complications or delays that could result in a shortage or maybe even no vaccine at all?"

December 15, 2003 - Promising results for Ebola drug - A treatment for the terrifying Ebola virus boosted survival rates in animal tests, scientists report. - BBC

December 10, 2003 - New weapon to combat resistant bacteria - Swedish Research Council via www.eurekalert.org - "The problem of hospital infection, severe disease caused by antibiotic-resistant staphylococcus bacteria, entails major costs and great suffering. Group A streptococcus bacteria, also called meat-eating killer bacteria, are another growing problem. A team of Lund scientists has now developed a substance called Cystapep, which seems to work on bacteria that nothing else seems to be able to knock out...If Cystapep delivers what it promises, this is nothing short of sensational. Sweden is in a better position than other countries when it comes to antibiotic resistance, but in other parts of the world dangerous strains of bacteria have developed resistance to most of the antibiotics doctors have in their arsenal, and the problem is growing worse every year in Sweden as well."

December 9, 2003 - High Level Of Antibiotic Resistance In Bacteria That Cause Food Poisoning - BioMed Central via ScienceDaily - "More than 40% of bacteria found in chicken on sale in Switzerland is resistant to at least one antibiotic, says research published this week in BMC Public Health. The findings could have implications for treating food poisoning."

December 15, 2003 - How to Prevent Another Outbreak - Severe acute respiratory syndrome affected 8,098 people in 2003; 774 died - Newsweek via MSNBC - "At this time of the year, the animal markets in southern China’s Guangdong province are usually crowded with civets, raccoon dogs, snakes and even kittens, destined for local restaurants. Entrees in this part of the world are traditionally kept alive until moments before they land on the dinner table...The practice would be nothing more than a cultural curiosity if it weren’t so bad for the world’s health: animals and humans living in such close quarters tend to pass around viruses until, once in a while, one turns into an epidemic."

November 2003 - Beyond the Fire-Hazard Mentality of Medicine: The Ecology of Infectious Diseases - journal article (PLoS Biology) - "All too often when faced with these emerging and re-emerging diseases, says hantavirus researcher Terry Yates (University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States), ‘society has adopted a fire-hazard mentality. We have an outbreak and we go in and put out the fire without ever asking why there was a fire in the first place’."

December 14, 2003 - Channel defends MMR jab drama - The Guardian, UK

December 14, 2003 - Pneumonia Shot Urged For Elderly - The New York Post - "'Since the pneumonia vaccine offers protection against one of the most serious complications of the flu, New Yorkers over age 65 and those with chronic medical conditions should also ask their doctor about getting a pneumonia vaccination,' Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said in a statement."

December 15, 2003 - Scientists agonized over less-than-ideal flu vaccine - AP via The Wichita Eagle - "Late last winter, a committee of vaccine experts designing this season's flu shot considered their choices. They had two, and both seemed bad...Should they stick with last year's formula, even though a new strain of the bug was ominously building strength? Or should they try to make a new vaccine and risk complications or delays that could result in a shortage or maybe even no vaccine at all?..In the end, the committee voted 17-1 to bring back last year's version, even though they feared they were telling millions of Americans to roll up their sleeves for shots that might not work very well."

December 15, 2003 - Drugs industry is accused of putting wealth before health - The Telegraph, UK

December 14, 2003 - Guardsman given discharge, jail for refusing anthrax shots (requires subscription) - The Columbus Dispatch via www.milvags.org (includes commentary) - "The first Army Ohio National Guard member charged for refusing to take the anthrax vaccine was sentenced yesterday to 40 days in jail and a bad conduct discharge...Spc. Kurt Hickman, 20, had worried about health risks of the vaccine, but Military Judge Col. Emmett Moran said at the end of the court-martial at Beightler Armory that putting on the guard uniform can be a health risk. Disobeying a lawful order also endangers others, Moran said."

December 15, 2003 - West Virginia to launch nation's first registry to track autism - www.dailypress.com

December 15, 2003 - Parents show increased concern about vaccine safety - Center for the Advancement of Health via www.eurekalert.org - "Four out of five doctors surveyed in 2000 reported at least one instance of parents refusing to have a child vaccinated during the previous year, according to a new study...More than two-thirds of those doctors said parents showed more concern regarding vaccine safety than parents did in the past."

The latest Rapid responses to Hear the Silence - by Elliman and Bedford (BMJ)

"Hear the Silence" Reviews

Gary S. Goldman   (14 December 2003)

societal responsibility

Jan M Perkins   (14 December 2003)

Dr Elliman is WRONG

Kathleen F. Yazbak, David Elliman, Helen Bedford   (14 December 2003)

Hear the Silence

William Pimm   (14 December 2003)

Beliefs are just Beliefs ?

L S Lewis   (14 December 2003)

Re: Another view

David Elliman, Helen Bedford   (14 December 2003)

Two separate questions

Ed Cooper   (14 December 2003)

Why don't you ask 'Why'?

Heather C Adams   (14 December 2003)

A conspiracy of silence

GH Hall   (14 December 2003)

Re: Two separate questions - but to one we KNOW the answer

L S Lewis   (15 December 2003)

Re: Re: Another view

M C Feliciello   (15 December 2003)

The latest Rapid responses to Hear the Silence - by Fitzpatrick (BMJ)

Hear the silence

JK Anand   (14 December 2003)

Stop this programme? No

JK Anand   (14 December 2003)

Powerful anecdote

Neville W Goodman   (14 December 2003)

The Emperor's New Clothes?

Jenny L Robertson   (14 December 2003)

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