Today's Top Stories - January 25, 2003

Today's Top Stories (all those selected for the Home Page, Plus Other important news)

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Posted January 25, 2004:

►January 25, 2004 - Give unbiased truth about Colo. vaccination rates - letter - Denver Post

►January 24, 2004 - New flu strain may follow lull - Clinics get fresh vaccine supplies - The Sun News via www.myrtlebeachonline.com - "The flu that swept through the Carolinas with a vengeance in December is no longer widespread, but health officials say another, less severe flu strain could strike the area in the next month or two."

►January 25, 2004 - Other deadly avian diseases - Avian influenza is only one of several deadly diseases which have the potential to devastate poultry populations and the communities that rely on the poultry industry for their livelihood - Bangkok Post

►January 25, 2004 - Sunny D - It's the great cancer cover-up. Panicked into avoiding sunlight by health experts, we are now dying in our thousands from diseases linked to deficiencies of vitamin D. But still the exaggerated warnings come. Oliver Gillie reveals how sunbathing can save your life - The Independent, UK

►January 25, 2004 - Sunny D (part 2) - Diseases caused by vitamin D deficiency - The Independent, UK

►January 25, 2004 - Scientists' nightmare: Bird flu will evolve into human pandemic - Canadian Press - "Their foreboding: A catastrophe they say is among the worst imaginable, a global outbreak of an entirely new form of human flu...There is no clear sign that will happen. Nevertheless, avian influenza's sudden sweep through Asia, along with its tendency for wholesale mutation, leave many wondering about the bug's potential for rampant spread among humans. It is a possibility the medical journal The Lancet calls 'massively frightening.'"

►January 25, 2004 - Ministers told child harm theory was flawed - The Guardian, UK - "Ministers were warned that the controversial scientific theory Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy (MSBP) was responsible for serious miscarriages of justice as far back as 1996, according to documents seen by The Observer...Our investigation has uncovered a systematic failure on the part of the health authorities, social services and scientific advisers to question the validity of Professor Sir Roy Meadow's theory, which claims that some parents harm their children to draw attention to themselves."

►January 25, 2004 - Center probes mind's mystery - The Boston Globe - "Researchers at the 34-year-old center are conducting some 40 projects aimed at understanding neurological and behavioral development...The center focuses on such topics as how important brain systems assemble themselves; the effect of genetic and environmental factors on neurological and behavioral development; and the social policy implications of advances in genetics."

►January 25, 2004 - Difficult choices - Variety of treatments face parents of autistic children - The Boston Globe - "Anke Kriske's 14-year-old son, Derek, has been on medications such as Ritalin, Adderall, and Prozac. He is on a special diet that limits yeast, wheat, and milk. And recently, he has been trying neurofeedback, where sensors on his head monitor and stimulate brain waves...The approaches may be diverse, but the intention has been uniform: helping Derek overcome his autism."

►January 24, 2004 - Bird flu: What you need to know - CNN

►January 26, 2004 - Flu outbreak is instructive - Bangkok Post - "The government has learned a costly lesson from its attempt to cover up the presence of bird flu in the country...The Agriculture Ministry initially attributed the death and culling of millions of chickens to fowl cholera and bronchitis. But it was forced to accept the truth after the Public Health Ministry confirmed that two people had contracted bird flu, one in Kanchanaburi and the other in Suphan Buri...One cannot hide the truth, particularly when it involves an incurable disease. China learned this the hard way when it tried to cover up last year's outbreak of Sars."

►January 25, 2004 - Officials to begin immunization push - Galveston County Daily News - "Doctors and health officials have long worried that the low childhood immunization rates on the island were a quietly ticking time bomb...Less than half of the children up to age 2 on Galveston Island were fully immunized, according to county health district estimates from 2002, the most recent data available...'The only reason I can see why people would permit this is people don’t understand their children are at risk,' said Dr. Martin Myers, an associate director of the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Texas Medical Branch and a professor of pediatrics and preventive medicine."

Comment: But maybe they DO know they are at risk, only they see the risk coming from the vaccine more than from the diseases they are designed to prevent.

►January 25, 2004 - Front lines local in bioterror war - State dependent on county agencies to take lead in fighting health emergencies - www.ljworld.com - "When a bioterrorism attack happens in Kansas, officials say, local health departments will be on the front lines, and Douglas County is no exception."

Comment: "When", not "if"? Is this merely careless speech or reporting? Do they know something we don't, but should, know? Or is this just more scare-mongering?

►January 25, 2004 - Brain chemical suspected in hyperactivity - Chicago Tribune

Comment: If true, while it is all well and good to identify a brain chemical associated with a behavior disorder, it is at least equally important to figure out why that brain chemical exists in the brains of those with the disorder. If there is an external/environmental cause, i.e., something that can be avoided, determining what that is should be of paramount concern.

►January 25, 2004 - Thai Government Suspected Bird Flu Two Weeks Ago - The Scotsman - "Thailand’s prime minister admitted today that his government suspected “a couple of weeks” ago that bird flu had hit its billion-dollar poultry industry, but did not tell the public in order to avoid panic."

Comment: Ah yes, the tried and true, "Ostrich Policy".

►January 25, 2004 - WHO Is Alarmed by Spread of Avian Flu in Southeast Asia Vietnam's most recent fatality shows that the virus leaped from the north of the country to the south. Officials say it could outstrip SARS. (requires registration) - The Los Angles Times

►January 25, 2004 - Bird flu hits Indonesia, WHO concerned over drug resistance - AP via www.startribune.com - "Scientists believe people get the disease through contact with sick birds, raising concerns it might mutate and link with regular influenza to create a form that could be transmitted from person to person, fostering the next human flu pandemic...Concerns are particularly high because the bird flu virus caught by humans appears resistant to amantadine and rimantadine, the cheaper anti-viral drugs used to treat regular influenza."

►January 25, 2004 - Legal fight puts Marine in limbo - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - "For the last three years, Ocean Rose of Marietta has been trapped in the military version of purgatory...In January 2001, the Walton High School graduate pleaded guilty to disobeying a superior officer. Busted to private, he was drummed out of the Marine Corps with a bad conduct discharge...The refusal of all of them stems from their concern about the safety and effectiveness of the shots. Yet their punishment has been far from uniform."

►January 25, 2004 - Thailand Brings in Troops to Fight Bird Flu (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "Provincial governments in west-central Thailand dispatched hundreds of soldiers and prisoners today to slaughter chickens in flocks infected with avian influenza, as hospitals across southeast Asia remained on high alert for further human cases of the disease."

►January 24, 2004 - Preventing Premature Births - Healthology Press via ABC News

►January 23, 2004 - CDC: U.S. Flu Activity Continues Decline - CDC Says U.S. Flu Cases Have Declined, With Only Five States Reporting Widespread Illness - AP via ABC News

►January 22, 2004 - Multiple sclerosis not as progressive or disabling as once thought - Mayo Clinic via www.eurekalert.org

►January 21, 2004 - Scientists identify cell defects that limit immune system's impact on late-stage tumors - Cedars-Sinai Medical Center via www.eurekalert.org

►January 23, 2004 - FDA: Misusing Painkillers Can Be Deadly - AP via The Herald-Sun

►January 22, 2004 - Do cancer patients in clinical trials have better outcomes than non-participants? - Dana-Farber Cancer Institute via www.eurekalert.org

►January 25, 2004 - Many Surprised by Bold Moves at the F.D.A. (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times

►January 23, 2004 - Avian Influenza Infection In Humans: Urgent Need To Eliminate The Animal Reservoir - WHO via www.sciencedaily.com

►January 24, 2004 - Bird flu, regular influenza called risky combination - The Seattle Times - "People hit by the bird-flu outbreak in Asia should be quarantined to avoid contact with sufferers of regular influenza, because a combination of the two viruses might accelerate the spread of the disease, the World Health Organization said yesterday...However, a senior official at the U.N. agency said he saw no need for the kind of travel warnings WHO issued during last year's SARS epidemic."

►January 25, 2004 - How smallpox affected our cemeteries - Corsicana Daily Sun - "My only experience with smallpox occurred when I was vaccinated as a child for the disease. My memory of the incident is that the vaccination left an ugly round scar on my shoulder. I also remember everyone saying don't touch or scratch the scab until it was completely healed. As a teenager, I was very self conscious of the scar especially when we went swimming. I really don't know why I had these thoughts since everyone I knew had a similar looking mark."

►January 20, 2004 - Wider cot deaths review considered - Thousands of parents whose children were taken into care may have their cases re-opened as part of a wider review of cot death legal cases. - BBC

►January 21, 2004 - Bacterial Meningitis risk appears small - Officials get word out after death - Tri-Valley Herald Online - "'It's important to emphasize that it really requires ongoing, close intimate contact with somebody that has been diagnosed with meningococcal meningitis to put you at risk for exposure,' said Dr. Peter Dietrich, medical director of Berkeley's University Health Service. 'So casual exposures like eating in the same dining hall together or attending a class together, or going to the training room or the weight room or passing each other on the campus is not the type of exposure we're worried about.'"

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DISCLAIMER: All information, data, and material contained, presented, or provided here is for general information purposes only and is not to be construed as reflecting the knowledge or opinions of the publisher, and is not to be construed or intended as providing medical or legal advice. The decision whether or not to vaccinate is an important and complex issue and should be made by you, and you alone, in consultation with your health care provider.