Today's Top Stories - November 24, 2003

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Air pollution and case fatality of SARS in the People's Republic of China: An ecologic study - journal article - "Our studies demonstrated a positive association between air pollution and SARS case fatality in Chinese population by utilizing publicly accessible data on SARS statistics and air pollution indices. Although ecologic fallacy and uncontrolled confounding effect might have biased the results, the possibility of a detrimental effect of air pollution on the prognosis of SARS patients deserves further investigation."

November 20, 2003 - A poxy story - For several hundred years, a type of pox virus known as vaccinia has been saving lives. Today it is still proving useful to medicine - The Economist - "If researchers can discover why vaccinia, and other pox viruses, are so good at evading the efforts of immune cells, they will make a significant advance in understanding the way the human immune system works."

November 24, 2003 - Senator: Military must review vaccine use - UPI - "A week after the Pentagon acknowledged one soldier's death might have been caused by a vaccine reaction, a U.S. senator is calling on the military to reconsider mandatory anthrax and smallpox vaccinations that he says could be causing "grievous" harm...Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., plans on Tuesday to introduce a "Sense of the Senate" resolution asking Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to review the vaccine program amid growing reports of serious side effects...'An estimated 84 percent of the personnel who had anthrax vaccine shots ... reported having side effects or reactions'..."

November 23, 2003 - The Doctors and the Drug Makers (6 Letters) - The New York Times - "Arnold S. Relman portrays how the pharmaceutical industry influences drug costs through its sponsorship of education programs for doctors (Op-Ed, Nov. 18). But as long as health care in this country remains primarily pharmaceutically based, these problems will continue regardless of what program is being financed."

December 1, 2003 - Diseases of the Mind - Bacteria, viruses and parasites may cause mental illnesses like depression and perhaps even autism and anorexia - MSNBC

Setting Standards in Vaccine Safety - The Brighton Collaboration - "Mission - The Brighton Collaboration is an international voluntary collaboration to facilitate the development, evaluation, and dissemination of high quality information about the safety of human vaccines/Primary aim - To develop globally accepted and implemented standardized case definitions of Adverse Events Following Immunization."

To learn more about whether or not childhood vaccinations have been "ruled out" as a cause of autism, read Congressman Weldon's recent remarks to the Autism Summit Conference.

November 24, 2003 - Autism no longer considered a rare condition - Knight Ridder via www.sunherald.com - "Some parents think that childhood vaccinations are a cause of autism, but that theory has been ruled out by researchers, Yeargin-Allsopp said." (Responses to this article can be sent to Diane Carroll at dcarroll@kcstar.com)

December 1, 2003 - Measles outbreaks spur caution as a forgotten foe returns - Physicians and public health officials are concerned that populations with low vaccination rates could let the disease take root here again. - www.ama-assn.org - "...measles is so contagious that experts believe only vaccination rates near 100% would entirely eliminate the disease from U.S. shores."

Comment: And yet, even a 100% vaccination rate does not always do the trick... see Measles Outbreak among Vaccinated High School Students -- Illinois - "Editorial Note: This outbreak demonstrates that transmission of measles can occur within a school population with a documented immunization level of 100%."

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