►January 15, 2004 - Polio Vaccine: the Great Deception - This Day (Lagos) - "Not too long ago, Professor Hussein Akande Abdulkareem of the Lagos State University gave a public to the Nigerian Council of Islamic Scholars lecture which was widely publicized in Nigerian newspapers. In the lecture, a lot of disturbing and misleading issues concerning the polio vaccine and the process of vaccination in general which could jeopardize the global polio vaccination programme in Nigeria were raised. If a Nigerian Biochemist in the 21st century could be claiming that vaccines could not be relied upon to boost the human immune system 205 years after Edward Jenner discovered the concept of vaccine and vaccination, it is rather unfortunate. It portrays the speed with which we are developing backwards."

►January 15, 2004 - Proper nutrition could help boost seniors' immunity to influenza - www.wistv.com - "Every year more than 30,000 people in the US die from influenza, and senior citizens could face the greatest risk. Researchers now say seniors can fight the flu just by eating right...Immune function declines as people get older, making it easier for viruses like the flu to put older people in the hospital. Some researchers have suggested a lack of essential nutrients as one possible reason for that drop in immunity."

►January 15, 2004 - Study Links Leukemia, Gene Combination - Science Magazine via AP via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - "Two children who developed leukemia after receiving gene therapy for an inherited disease may have been victims of a rare combination of genes that is unlikely to happen in gene therapy for other disorders, a study says...Researchers at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Md., discovered that a gene in a virus used to treat the children, who had an inherited immune system disorder, can combine with another gene to cause leukemia in mice."

Comment:  Wonder what, if anything, this implies re: the the potential for genes in vaccine viruses combining with genes in specific children and causing adverse reactions?

►January 15, 2004 - Public Citizen Press Releases - 1. Mad Cow Disease an Accident Waiting to Happen; 2. Public Citizen Report Describes Some of Maryland's Dangerous Doctors as Physicians Gear Up for a March on Annapolis

►January 13, 2004 - Jane Seymour pioneers natural flu remedies - USA Today

►January 15, 2004 - Immunization policy to booster shot - Lowell schools vow strict enforcement - Lowell Sun Online - "It's always been the policy in Lowell Public Schools, but last night Superintendent Karla Brooks Baehr vowed to crack down on students who do not have all their required immunizations...Only 92 percent of the student body is up to date on immunizations. School Committee member Regina Faticanti pointed out at a December meeting that state law requires all students to have complete vaccinations before entering a classroom, and Lowell has some catching up to do...Currently, students are allowed to register for school without complete immunization records, as long as they provide evidence that efforts to get the vaccinations are under way."

►January 14, 2004 - Influenza on the decline in Illinois - www.qctimes.com - "The number of Illinoisans suffering with influenza is on the decline, state health officials said, but Iowa still is reporting 'widespread,' or the highest level, cases of the flu...Kevin Teale, the communications director for the Iowa Department of Public Health, said there still is concern about flu outbreaks across the state since students generally have not yet returned to college campuses from winter break...He said the health department plans to wait and see how those and other students fare over the next couple of weeks before deciding whether the state can be ranked in a lesser category."

►January 14, 2004 - Who: Bird Flu Not Moving Human to Human - AP via Yahoo!

►January 14, 2004 - High Court Won't Let States Out of Suits - The Washington Post - "The Supreme Court made it far more difficult Wednesday for state officials to renege on court-approved promises to improve such things as nursing home care, prison conditions or health services for the poor."

►January 15, 2004 - Echinacea juice: Cold aid in jar? - Knight Ridder via The Charlotte Observer

►January 15, 2004 - Try these 13 powerful foods (requires registration) - The Los Angeles Times via The Charlotte Observer - "Eating well starts with good planning. Dr. Steven Pratt says forget the obsession with carbs, protein and fat. Focus instead on micronutrients, which include vitamins, minerals and other powerful plant chemicals."

►January 15, 2004 - Doctors giving MMR 'by stealth' - www.femail.co.uk - "Family doctors have been accused of administering the MMR jab by stealth to children coming into their surgeries to receive other vaccinations...At least 50 horrified parents have complained that their GPs have 'mistakenly' given their children the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, it has emerged."

►January 15, 2004 - Health Department will decline free FluMist vaccines - www.ljworld.com - "Counties and private health care providers can place orders for the vaccine through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment until noon Friday. But the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department isn't trying to get a piece of the pie...'We have not requested any because of all the other providers in the community that have given the FluMist,' said Barbara Schnitker, the Health Department's director of nurses. 'We typically are concerned about access to vaccines and health care, and if something is being provided by another provider, we don't necessarily feel we need to offer it.'

►January 15, 2004 - Dow to make vaccines from plants - The Washington Times

►January 15, 2004 - Researchers try to develop platypus disease vaccine - www.abc.net.au - "A new tourist and research venture in Tasmania's north is aiming to find a vaccine for a devastating disease killing platypuses."

►January 14, 2004 - Ancient DNA Mutations Permitted Humans To Adapt To Colder Climates, Researchers Find - University of California via ScienceDaily

►January 2, 2004 - New York Data Reveal More New HIV Cases Are in Women - (requires registration) - Reuters via www.medscape.com

►January 7, 2004 - Cancer at Record High in UK - (requires registration) - Reuters Health via www.medscape.com

►January 7, 2004 - The Political Economy of FDA Drug Review: Processing, Politics and Lessons for Policy - (requires registration) - Health Affairs www.medscape.com

►January 6, 2004 - Minimizing the Risk of Malpractice Claims - Introduction and The Malpractice Climate - (registration required) - ACS Surgery: Principles & Practice via www.medscape.com

►January 13, 2004 - Study blames obesity for rise in disabilities - CNN

►January 14, 2004 - U.S. rethinking rules on importing bovine tissues - Abilene Reporter-News - "Now that the United States has mad-cow disease, federal regulators are reconsidering long-held policies aimed at prohibiting importation of products or ingredients with bovine tissue or blood from countries with documented cases of the illness...The products include vaccines, nutritional supplements and cosmetics, all of which can contain ingredients derived from cows."

Comment:  Interesting dilemma.  If the ban is continued, we now would be unable to use our own products (at least, theoretically). 

►January 14, 2004 - Magazine Bares All, Has Shop Covering Up Cover - The Santa Fe New Mexican - "Increasing the number of women who nurse their babies is a goal of the U.S. government. But pictures of breast-feeding, which is as old as humankind and strongly recommended for infant health, is apparently offensive to some...After receiving several complaints about the latest issue of Mothering magazine, which shows a nursing mother and contented baby, the Vitamin Cottage on Cerrillos Road covered the offending breast with paper."

Comment:  This kind of thing is a big part of what's wrong with health in America.

►January 14, 2004 - Cancer Deaths Falling in U.S., Annual Report Shows - Reuters Health via Yahoo!

►January 15, 2004 - NU professor advocates testing of all cows for mad cow disease - www.vidyya.com

►January 15, 2004 - Hong Kong researchers say gene may make people susceptible to SARS - Canadian Press

►January 14, 2004 - Tall in the saddle - Disability is no barrier for determined young cowboy - Star-Telegram

►January 14, 2004 - Letter to Psychology Today re: Autism and Mercury - "Psychology is a science.  There is nothing scientific about the paper spotlighted by your article."

►January 15, 2004 - Health data hint cuts may be made - State officials say document uses outdated figures - The Boston Globe - "Public health advocates yesterday released a document they say shows the state is weighing deep cuts in the budgets of such core medical initiatives as childhood immunizations and community health centers."

►January 14, 2004 - Biotech's Babies: Doing Well by Doing Good - As Big Pharma pulls out of the low-margin vaccine business, upstart outfits are exploiting new technologies to tap niche markets - Business Week Online

►January 15, 2004 - Clinton Gets Five Companies to Reduce the Cost of AIDS Tests (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "Former President Bill Clinton announced yesterday that his foundation had negotiated deals with five major medical companies to steeply discount the price of two crucial diagnostic tests for H.I.V./AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean."

Comment:  But what if HIV has nothing to do with AIDS, as many believe?

►January 14, 2004 - Autism fears over disorder bill - A leading charity has claimed that a new law on anti-social behaviour could be used against autistic children - BBC

►January 15, 2004 - Ohio National Guard soldier again refuses anthrax vaccine - Mansfield News Journal - "An Ohio National Guard member again refused an anthrax vaccine Wednesday, an action that could trigger his court-martial or administrative discharge, his lawyer said...Spc. Kurt Hickman said he feels it’s illegal for the government to force his vaccination, lawyer Kenneth Levine said."

►January 14, 2004 - Docs: Vaccines help even if they don't match flu strain - Times Record - "CDC Director Julie Gerberding said studies of the current vaccine's effectiveness are under way. Based on animal studies, she said, 'there does appear to be a good promise of cross-protection, but how much efficacy with this particular situation remains to be seen.'

Comment:  So much for animal studies if the recent CDC study cited just below, showing failure of the flu vaccine to protect, holds up in later studies.

►January 15, 2004 - Vaccine Is Said to Fail to Protect Against Flu Strain (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "A small study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that this season's influenza vaccine failed to protect against the Fujian strain that has caused most cases...Depending on the way the data were analyzed, the vaccine protected zero to 14 percent of participants in the study, said a scientist briefed on the study who would not allow his name to be used...Officials of the centers said last night that they hoped that continuing studies to be completed in the spring would show that the vaccine offered more protection than this study indicated."