Today's Top Stories (all those selected for the Home Page)

December 5, 2003 - First Cases of Flu Confirmed in Mass. - Officials Wonder if It Is Same Strain That Killed Others - AP via ABC News

December 3, 2003 - Will This Year's Flu Shot Work? - Vaccinated People Who Do Get Flu Likely Won't Be as Sick - WebMD

November 25, 2003 - Oklahomans used as human 'guinea pigs' - www.kfor.com - "In late 1996 a Tulsa doctor concocted a vaccine designed to fight deadly skin cancer. Sources close to the doctor say he believed in his research. He tested it on about 100 people, mostly Oklahomans, some of whom now believe that research nearly killed them."

December 8, 2003 - Cutting medical errors means systems, money - IOM panel chair says patients should leave hospitals with fewer medical problems, not more. - www.ama-assn.org

December 2, 2003 - Hospital interns falling victim to disease - The Daily Yomiuri - "An increasing number of interns have caught by infectious diseases such as measles, mumps and rubella during their training in recent years, according to a survey by a team led by a doctor at St. Marianna University School of Medicine in Kawasaki...However, only a few hospitals are taking precautions against the problem, which mainly involves diseases suffered by children."

Comment:  Maybe it's too bad they didn't get these diseases as children.

December 2, 2003 - FDA: Fight outbreaks smarter - The Philadelphia Inquirer

November 20, 2003 - State to probe drugs for kids - Child advocates complain psychiatric drugs are being used to control unruly behavior, not to treat mental or emotional illness. - The Miami Herald

December 5, 2003 - Anger over vaccines festers (requires registration) - The Orlando Sentinel - "When Zack Johnson enlisted in the Navy in 1996, he planned to make it a career...That was before the Miami resident refused to take a mandatory anthrax vaccination -- a decision that left him court-martialed, jailed and booted out of the military without so much as a customary bus ticket home...Still, Mike Girard would trade places with him any day."

To learn about and/or order an excellent documentary, narrated by Michael Douglas,  on the military's anthrax vaccine program, click here.  "Direct Order tells the story of members of the military who were ordered against their will to receive the controversial anthrax vaccine. Years later, after all the disturbing facts about the vaccine have surfaced, the US military still intends to vaccinate all our troops."

December 6, 2003 - Shock as incidence of autism soars in city - The Inverness Courier - "Autism levels among Inverness children are almost double the national average, an audit into city schools has revealed...The study by Highland Council education department has found as many as one primary age child in 49 has been diagnosed with, or awaiting diagnosis of, Autistic Spectrum Disorder in the Inverness area."