►February 11, 2004 - The Irresponsible Media Coverage of the Institute of Medicine Meeting on Autism and Vaccines - by RFD Columnist Sandy Mintz in the Online Autism Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com

►February 11, 2004 - Genetic analysis probes bird flu's history - New Scientist - "Recent work also reveals that the virus has been mutating rapidly in response to 'unusual selective pressure' from an unknown source. Prominent virologists have warned that widespread vaccination of poultry against bird flu - as has been the case in China - could have this effect."

►February 11, 2004 - Thailand rejects WHO criticism over handling of bird flu outbreak – www.channelnewsasia.com 

►February 10, 2004 - Imaging technique discovered at Stanford monitors cancer cell proliferation - Stanford University Medical Center via www.eurekalert.org 

►February 11, 2004 - Gene mutation in US started 13 generations ago - German immigrant - Medical News Today 

►February 10, 2004 - Gene therapy jab burns off fat - New Scientist 

►February 10, 2004 - WHO Issues Herbal Medicine Guidelines - AP via The Herald-Sun 

►February 10, 2004 - High Iron Levels May Signal Diabetes Risk - AP via The Herald-Sun

►February 10, 2004 - Cartoon in the Victoria Times Colonist (right click to open in new window)

Comment:  This would be funnier if it weren't so true.  (It seems as if this editorial cartoonist "gets it", where most of the mainstream journalists do not.)

►February 11, 2004 - Lipid Sciences' Data: A Model for a New Therapeutic Vaccination Strategy Against HIV Infection - Data Presented at Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections - Lipid Sciences, Inc. via Yahoo!

►February 11, 2004 - Prevention of viral pneumonia enhanced - Vietnam News Agency - "According to the Health Ministry, the country had by Feb. 11 had 197 viral pneumonia patients in 27 provinces and cities, 18 of whom contracted the strain of H5N1 virus. Thirty-five died, including 14 H5N1 virus carriers."

►February 10, 2004 - Autism: experts weigh possible vaccines link - A panel of independent experts are re-examining the possibility that vaccines may cause autism. - CommentWire - "The Institute of Medicine is examining a rash of new studies on the link between vaccines and autism. The conflicting research comes at a time when parental concern over the causes of autism is leading to a reduction in the number of children receiving important childhood vaccinations. However, the point remains that the disease risk of not vaccinating far outweighs the risk of developing autism."

Comment:  I wonder how they know that the risk of not vaccinating far outweighs the risk of developing autism.  Autism is a lifelong disorder, with huge costs associated with it (both "opportunity" and direct financial).  As many as 1 in around 50 children (in some places) have acquired it, although it tends to occur in around 1 in 150 or so.  Yet most of the diseases for which there are vaccines are not normally deadly or with long-term consequences if you are a child living in a developed nation.  There may even be benefits to getting the infectious diseases of childhood.  Chronic disease is on the rise, and may be attributable at least partly to increasing use of vaccines. But that is their mantra, and they are sticking to it, no matter what.  (For more on the many concerns re: vaccination and why we really don't know if the benefits outweigh their risks, click here.)

►February 11, 2004 - Malaysian scientists in vaccine breakthrough - www.abc.net.au - "Malaysian scientists, working with French colleagues, have developed a trial vaccine for Nipah virus, a new and deadly disease...The researchers injected hamsters with the experimental vaccine, which then developed neutralising antibodies that prevented infection...Nipah produces flu-like symptoms and often leads to encephalitis and coma...The disease originally affected fruit bats but it has since jumped the species barrier, first to pigs and then to humans in Malaysia in October 1998."

►February 11, 2004 - Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? - The Health Report - During the winter months it always seems that people are "getting sick" more so than during any other time of the year. And why is it that some people are always under the weather and others are not? The answer is in the body's ability to fight off disease, or in other words, the strength of your immune system. - The Orange Bulletin

►February 11, 2004 - A timely account of the 1918 flu pandemic - The Boston Globe

►February Supplement 2, 2004 - Pneumococcal resistance in perspective: how well are we combating it? - journal article (Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal)

►January Supplement 1, 2004 - Vaccination for pandemic influenza: a six point agenda for interpandemic years. - journal article (Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal)

►January 2004 - Are economic evaluations of vaccines useful to decision-makers? Case study of Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccines. - journal article (Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal)

►January 2004 - Outbreak of Haemophilus influenzae type b disease among fully vaccinated children in a day-care center. - journal article (Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal) - "Conclusions. Although immunization against Hib has resulted in a reduction in the incidence of this disease in the UK, individual protection cannot be assumed to be infallible. The importance of timely chemoprophylaxis of close contacts of a child with invasive Hib disease is reinforced."

►February 2004 - Case-control studies of the effectiveness of vaccines: validity and assessment of potential bias - journal article (Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal) - "Because case-control studies of the effectiveness of vaccines are nonexperimental, it is difficult to assure that bias does not affect the validity of the results...Conclusion. With the use of a virtually identical study design, vaccines against Hib were shown to be highly effective in preventing invasive Hib infections but were not effective in preventing invasive infections due to S. pneumoniae. Case-control studies are a valid method of assessing the effectiveness of vaccines."

►February 2004 - Tolerability and immunogenicity of an eleven valent mixed carrier Streptococcus pneumoniae capsular polysaccharide-diphtheria toxoid or tetanus protein conjugate vaccine in Finnish and Israeli infants - journal article (Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal)

Comment:  Where are the studies on the combined safety effects?  What about the problem with antigens recombining?  For more on this see Pediatric Infectious Disease Issues: Smallpox, Combination Vaccines and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Highlights of the American Academy of Pediatrics Annual Meeting - Medscape -  "However, the combination of multiple vaccine antigens presents several challenges. It should be recommended that the components of the vaccine be administered at the same time. However, the reactogenicity and potential side effects of the combined antigens have not yet been determined. Since there is the potential for physical and chemical interaction among the vaccine components and the buffers and preservatives, the immunogenicity of each component needs to be addressed to determine whether these are similar to and as effective as the components given individually.^[10] and my comment:  From the horse's mouth.  But not only should the "reactogenicity and potential side effects of the combined antigens" be determined, as well as the immunogenicity of each component be compared to combined ones, the potential for lethal and otherwise harmful combinations should be researched.  For a highly disturbing study, in which harmless viruses recombined with lethal results, click here.  (Note that while affirming the potential risk of such combinations occurring, the only apparent concern in this paper was for the immunogenicity of the components, not any safety issues which might occur as a result of them interacting.)

►February 2004 - Ten year follow-up of healthy children who received one or two injections of varicella vaccine - journal article (Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal)

►February 2004 - Safety of cold-adapted live attenuated influenza vaccine in a large cohort of children and adolescents - journal article (Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal)

►February 2004 - The Child With Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura: Is Pharmacotherapy or Watchful Waiting the Best Initial Management?: A Panel Discussion From the 2002 Meeting of the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology - journal article (Journal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology) 

Comment:  Click here to see the 70 "thrombocytopenic" reactions reported to VAERS.  Note also that a relationship between the MMR vaccine and thrombocytopenic purpura has been reported in the medical literature.

►February 9, 2004 - Brain Scans Being Used to Study Dyslexia - Scientists Are Looking Inside Children's Brains to See if They Can Learn More About Dyslexia - AP via ABC News

►February 9, 2004 - HIV therapy raises drug resistance - USA Today

►February 6, 2004 - Compound May Be Effective In Reducing Alzheimer’s Plaques - journal article (Psychiatric News)

►February 16, 2004 - Nothing plain about it: High-tech medicine in a low-tech world - The Amish people are known for shunning technology. But because their closed community has high rates of genetic disorders, they sometimes find themselves tied to sophisticated medical science. - American Medical News

►February 11, 2004 - Vaccines Stockpile urged - New Zealand warning - Otago Daily Times - "Two University of Otago graduates have warned New Zealand must ready itself for the bird flu by stockpiling vaccines for the deadly disease...Dr Robert Webster and Dr Richard Webby - who now head a Memphis-based World Health Organisation laboratory for animal influenza viruses - have said there is a worldwide shortage of two drugs which can help fight bird flu, One News reported last night."

►February 10, 2004 - BSE Advisory Group Recommends Further Ban on Risk Materials - Also suggests USDA approve more labs to do testing - http://usinfo.state.gov

►February 10, 2004 - U.S. plans for 'hot labs' split scientific community - New York Times via International Herald Tribune

►February 11, 2004 - Hospitals under fire for infecting patients - The Sydney Morning Herald

►February 9, 2004 - Statement of Rep. Dave Weldon, M.D., Member of Congress, Before the Institute of Medicine, February 9, 2004

Comment:  This is a must-read.

►February 10, 2004 - Breastfed Baby Exposed to Smallpox Vaccine Virus - Reuters Health - "Breastfeeding women who live with someone who has been recently vaccinated against smallpox should take extra precautions to prevent their infants from being exposed to the virus used in the vaccine, according to a new report...Doctors at the Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington, have documented the case of a breast-fed infant who was exposed to the vaccinia virus, which is used in the smallpox vaccine...The baby's mother had not been vaccinated against smallpox but her husband, a soldier, was given the vaccine soon before the baby developed symptoms."

►February 10, 2004 - Scientists Fail to Agree on Vaccines, Autism Link - ScoutNews, LLC via www.healthcentral.com - "Does a preservative used in some childhood vaccines increase a recipient's risk of autism? Researchers on both sides of the issue faced off Monday at a National Institute of Medicine (IOM) meeting investigating a possible connection...While a host of scientists reported that large studies in the United States and Europe have failed to find a link between thimerosal and the poorly understood brain disorder, others said they were increasingly convinced of an association between the two, reports the Washington Post."