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

November 21, 2003 - Predictors of death in infants hospitalized with pertussis: A case-control study of 16 pertussis deaths in Canada - journal article

November 21, 2003 - It's time to immunize adolescents and adults against pertussis - journal article

November 21, 2003 - Do Risk Factors for Childhood Infections and Malnutrition Protect Against Asthma? A Study of Brazilian Male Adolescents - journal article - "Conclusions. The present results are consistent with the "hygiene hypothesis," according to which early exposure to infections provides protection against asthma. The policy implications of our findings are unclear given that risk factors for asthma protect against serious childhood diseases in developing countries.^"

November 21, 2003 - FDA Now Urges Caution On SSRI Use in Children - The U.S. FDA appears to have backpedaled a bit, preferring to urge "caution" rather than advising physicians to stop prescribing SSRIs for children. - Psychiatric News

Comment:  Who does this "backpedaling" benefit?  Who does the FDA protect, business or the consumer?

November 21, 2003 - Sun 'protects against cancer' - Staying out of the sun completely may increase your chances of developing cancer, say doctors. - BBC

September 2, 2003 - Study Suggests Low-Dose Mercury Accelerates Autoimmune Disease - University of Maryland

November 21, 2003 - Somewhere Between Scientist and Consumer, The Message Is Lost - Small Times News - "Misinformation had been self-replicating via parents’ Internet newsgroups that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccines (collectively known as the MMR) could be a cause of autism – a still largely mysterious condition over which there is some debate on a congenital vs. environmental cause."

Those who want to email the writer of the above editorial can do so at howardlovy@smalltimes.com .

November 21, 2003 - Rapid spread of autism baffling - Increase creates a big financial burden for state, summit is told. - The Sacramento Bee - "Autism, the perplexing brain disorder that has been the personal tragedy of thousands of families, is spreading so fast that it is creating a huge financial liability for the government, California experts told a national summit here Thursday...At an average lifetime cost of $4 million each, Rollens said the growth rate represents $44 million a day in long-term state liability."

Comment:  Just exactly how cost-effective are vaccines really,  if they are in any way responsible for the autism epidemic?

November 18, 2003 - Smallpox Is Bush's Worst Failure. But He Can Fix the Problem. - D.C. Dispatch via www.theatlanticonline.com - "McGlinchey's article ably details what went wrong: exaggerated fears of the vaccine's side effects; confusing signals from the administration; underfunding; failure to address liability concerns; lack of compensation for health workers made ill by the vaccine or, as a safety precaution, sidelined for up to two weeks after inoculation; above all, the failure from President Bush on down to explain clearly why these vaccinations are important."

Comment:  Were fears of the vaccine's side effects exaggerated, or has a failure to recognize the vaccine's side effects allowed a perception that they were exaggerated?

November 21, 2003 - More hospitals report sterilization problems - CBC Ottawa - "The list of hospitals in Ontario that have used improperly sterilized equipment in medical procedures has grown to seven. The number of people affected is more than 1,350."

Comment:  How much of so-called vaccine-preventable disease is actually caused by medical intervention?  For more on this go to Scandals: "But Faith, fanatic Faith, once wedded fast To some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last." and BD Applauds Senate Action to Prevent Unsafe Medical Practices That Can Cause HIV/AIDS Spread in Africa
 

November 14, 2003 - Scientists Create Bacteria-Eating Virus - AFP via The Discovery Channel

November 20, 2003 - Lewis And Clark Notes Reveal History Of Human Impacts - www.sciencedaily.com - "Prior to the arrival of Columbus in the Americas around 1500, the estimates of Native American population in North America ranged from 2 million to 3.8 million people. But by the time major western settlement by Europeans began in the 1800s, up to 90 percent of the Native Americans may have died from smallpox, measles and other diseases that had already swept the continent after being introduced by Europeans."

November 20, 2003 - Emory scientists find marker for long-term immunity - www.eurekalert.org - "Scientists at the Emory Vaccine Center and The Scripps Research Institute have found a way to identify which of the T cells generated after a viral infection can persist and confer protective immunity. Because these long-lived cells protect against reinfection by "remembering" the prior pathogen, they are called memory T cells. This discovery about the specific mechanisms of long-term immunity could help scientists develop more effective vaccines against challenging infections."

Comment:  What does this say about current methods of determining vaccine-induced immunity?

November 20, 2003 - Pentagon insists vaccine deaths rare - But family of medic who died wants changes in procedure - AP via MSNBC - "Moses Lacy once accused the Pentagon of a vaccine cover-up. Now, seven months after his daughter’s death following five military-issued shots, Lacy hopes officials finally are taking his concerns about vaccine safety seriously...Some veterans groups critical of government handling of illness in people who served in the Gulf War and the Iraq conflict said they believe the smallpox or anthrax vaccines likely were the culprit in Rachael Lacy’s death — and that the Pentagon knew that all along."

November 21, 2003 - 'I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy' - Hepatitis A sickens more than 540 people - AP via CNN - "The three deaths have shocked western Pennsylvanians, because health authorities have been saying that hepatitis A is usually not fatal and normally runs its course in a few weeks after causing such symptoms as fever, jaundice, nausea and abdominal pain...State Health Department spokesman Richard McGarvey said there does not appear to be anything surprising statistically about this outbreak. The fatality rate for hepatitis A is one to three deaths per 1,000 cases, though it rises to 18 per 1,000 for those over 50, and higher for those with chronic liver problems, McGarvey said."

November 20, 2003 - AIDS treatments may up heart attack risk - The powerful drugs that beat back the AIDS virus may have a deadly drawback -- they may increase the risk of heart attack, according to a study in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. - Reuters via CNN - But what if HIV has nothing to do with AIDS, as many believe?

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