►February 16, 2004 - Brown confronts aid target critics - The Guardian, UK - "'We must act, not only because it is morally right but because it is now essential for stability and security,' they argue...By finding an extra $140m (£74m) a year for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, the Treasury estimates 2 million children's lives could be saved annually. The GAVI, backed by Bill Gates, the billionaire founder of Microsoft, is estimated to have saved 500,000 lives since it began in 2000."

►February 16, 2004 - TB cases increase 20% in four years, report warns - The New Zealand Herald - "Tuberculosis - a potentially lethal disease that was nearly wiped out in New Zealand - is making a comeback...And those who think they are protected by vaccinations given between the 1960s and the 1980s should think again. The vaccine has been found to be only 50 per cent effective."

►February 12, 2004 - Child's Ear Piercing - Take Precaution - Doctors Warn Parents To Take Precautions When Getting Their Child’s Ears Pierced At An Early Age - www.healthnewsdigest.com - "The joys of having a new baby are endless. When a baby girl is born, many parents opt to dress her in pretty clothes and pretty jewelry. But piercing a baby’s ears at too young an age can be dangerous. 'Most parents are unaware of the potential health risks of piercing their child’s ears before the first immunizations,” says Ken Gottesman, attending pediatrician at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan. “I see more and more babies at younger ages who come in with pierced ears, their parents unaware that they could potentially develop bacterial infections, tetanus or even hepatitis B.'”

►February 16, 2004 - Pros and Cons of Hormone Replacement Therapy - Ivanhoe Newswire

►February 15, 2004 - Out of the shadows - Multiple sclerosis reorders priorities but doesn't have to be a life sentence of pain and helplessness - San Francisco Chronicle

►February 15, 2004 - Some epidemics don't make the front page - China Daily via  http://i-medreview.subportal.com - "The Ministry of Health said last week that in 2003 rabies was the most fatal of the 27 infectious diseases which must be reported to health authorities in China."

►February 16, 2004 - Effects on our health - http://thestar.com.my - "PREVENTING the emergence of infectious diseases is only one of the many benefits of biodiversity for human health. The degradation of natural ecosystems contributes to the spread of infectious diseases, said Dr Jeff McNeely, chief scientist of IUCN-World Conservation Union at a side event at COP-7...Dr McNeely said deforestation in Africa is playing a massive role in the spread of ebola among gorillas and chimpanzees, and that the disease can easily be transferred on to humans. He also said there should be more investigations into links between biodiversity and the recent rise in incidents of avian flu before countries implement massive culls of wild bird populations."

►February 15, 2004 - Bird-Brained Flu Hype - New York Post - "AVIAN flu, if it morphs into a human-to- human virus, could cause another worldwide epidemic like the one in 1918, when almost a billion people got sick, 50 million died and the Great War ground to a halt. This is the public health message that has been broadcast over the media megaphone recently...The U.S. public, tired of influenza from December's over-hyped outbreak, and not that concerned about health care in other countries to begin with, isn't buying this message. But because the public is sure to buy some later message about some other hyped bacteria or virus, we must look at how public health officials choose to inform - or misinform - us."

►February 16, 2004 - Vaccines' Link To Autism Unclear (Risk Assessment) - Researchers present conflicting evidence over role of preservative - Chemical & Engineering News via http://pubs.acs.org - "There has been a long-running debate in the U.S. over whether vaccines routinely given to infants contribute to the development of autism.  In particular, some people believe that thimerosal -- sodium ethymercurithiosalicylate--until recently used as a preservative in most pediatric vaccines, may cause autism...On Feb. 9, researchers presented findings on the subject to the Immunization Safety Review Committee of the Institute of Medicine (IOM).  The information did not resolve the dispute."

►February 14, 2004 - His world is worth knowing - Times Union - "Turns out he once had wanted to be a journalist, perhaps a sportswriter, but he couldn't do it...Because if he had to interact with people every day, something might be said that would cause his head to flail and his mouth to clamp onto his arm as he tried to regain control of himself...So Cohen, a 46-year-old Boston University graduate, can't work...He has Asperger syndrome, a form of autism that causes him to have difficulty socializing, to read more than an English Ph.D., and to experience occasional emotional outbursts, which occur infrequently now that he's older and on medication."

►February 14, 2004 - Mortality from avian flu is higher than in previous outbreak - journal article (BMJ) - "The mortality in Vietnam of between 60% and 70% is much higher than the 30% mortality of the 1997 outbreak in Hong Kong, said Professor David Hui, a respiratory medicine specialist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Professor Hui is in Vietnam as part of a team of specialists who are training medical staff in infection control and treatment of H5N1 avian flu...."This is a puzzle... we are trying to find out: is the virus changing in structure? Is it becoming more virulent? Is the clinical spectrum different from 1997?' Professor Hui told Reuters Television."

►February 14, 2004 - Feeling good about placebos - Michigan State University via www.eurekalert.org 

►February 15, 2004 - New study may explain how fats damage neurons in Alzheimer's patients - Scientists propose ways diet, hormones, exercise might delay disease - American Association for the Advancement of Science via www.eurekalert.org 

►February 15, 2004 - Batch of New HIV Drugs Looks Promising - Medicines, Including Some That Attack the Virus in New Ways, Are Ready to Be Tested (requires registration) - Washington Post 

►February 14, 2004 - Medicare Law Hurts Cancer Patients - Some Find It Harder To Get Chemotherapy (requires registration) - Washington Post