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| Vaccines in the News |
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| Media coverage about vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases |
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Editorial: Accepting immunity |
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| Ottawa Citizen |
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| September 21, 2009 |
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| "With a second wave of H1N1 flu
on the doorstep, Canadian public health officials face a serious stumbling
block in their battle to contain the coming pandemic: the anti-vaccine
movement. People who refuse to be vaccinated -- because they have misguided
medical fears or because they're making a quasi-political statement against
the scientific 'establishment'-- could derail progress aimed at reducing the
effects of this disease, the result being that a lot of people could get
seriously ill and die. Individual voices of concern about the H1N1 flu
vaccine have grown into a chorus in recent weeks, and the time has come for
health officials to mount a counter-offensive if they don't want to see
their vaccination programs sabotaged. This needs to be done quickly..." |
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Vaccines Offer Preventative Solutions to High Childhood Pneumonia Rates |
|
| Voice of America |
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| September 21, 2009 |
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| "A recent World Health
Organization (WHO) study of two strains of pneumonia is providing African
governments with their first ever country-by-country figures on the leading
global killer of children under the age of five. The results, which appeared
in the September 12 edition of The Lancet, track the rates of pneumococcal
(streptococcus pneumonia) and Hib (haemophilus influenza type b) strains of
the infection..." |
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One Swine Flu Shot For Kids Under 10 But Two Shots For Those Younger:
Experts |
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| NPR |
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| September 21, 2009 |
|
| "Children over ten will be glad
to hear they will only need one vaccination shot to gain protection from the
swine flu, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases. Children under ten, however, aren't so fortunate. Because of their
immature immune systems, they'll need two shots, according to experts.
According to the NIH unit, for older children, the swine flu shot regimen
will follow that of regular seasonal flu. One shot will provide a protective
immune response eight to ten days after vaccination..." |
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New York Health Care Workers Resist Flu Vaccine Rule |
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| New York Times |
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| September 20, 2009 |
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| "When she cleans the rooms of
patients with swine flu symptoms, Jana Newton, a housekeeper at Maimonides
Medical Center in Brooklyn, has to suit up for her own protection in a mask,
gloves, gown and hairnet. Jana Newton, an aide at Maimonides Medical Center
in Brooklyn, said she has not been sick and sees no reason for a shot. But
she still does not want the one thing that would give her a far better
defense — a flu shot. 'Some people's immune system is good, like me,'
Ms. Newton said. 'I've been here five years and never been sick. Why mess
with something that's not broken...'" |
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Metro Health Nearly Mandates Health Care Workers Receive Flu Shots |
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| Cleveland Leader |
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| September 19, 2009 |
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| "Metro Health workers that
don't receive a flu shot will be sticking out like sore thumbs this year.
The hospital system is urging their workers receive a vaccination as Swine
Flu threatens to wreak havoc on the United States. Metro sent an email to
staff saying whoever does not receive a flu shot this year will be forced to
wear surgical masks while working with patients..." |
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Distribution of Swine Flu Vaccine Will Begin in October |
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| Washington Post |
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| September 19, 2009 |
|
| "Vaccine for the H1N1 influenza
pandemic will be distributed on a three-day turnaround time from four
regional warehouses around the country next month. The vaccine deliveries,
expected to equal 20 million doses a week by the end of October, will be
distributed among 90,000 immunization 'providers,' including health
departments, hospitals, clinics, doctors' offices and pharmacies. Those were
among the details unveiled Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention as part of the federal government's increasingly complex response
to the pandemic of H1N1 influenza, also known as swine flu. 'This is a huge
logistical process. There's not [going to be] a sudden appearance of vaccine
in 90,000 refrigerators around the country,' said Jay Butler, an
epidemiologist who leads the CDC's task force on the vaccine..." |
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CDC: 1 in 3 Teen Girls Got Cervical Cancer Vaccine |
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| USA Today |
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| September 18, 2009 |
|
| "One in three teenage girls
have rolled up their sleeves for a vaccine against cervical cancer, but
vaccination rates vary dramatically between states, according to a federal
report released Thursday. The highest rates were in Rhode Island, New
Hampshire and Massachusetts, where more than half of girls ages 13 through
17 got at least one dose of the three-shot vaccination. The lowest rates
were in Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina, where fewer than 20% got at
least one shot..." |
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Flu on Campus: What Works, What Doesn't |
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| Reuters |
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| September 18, 2009 |
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| "Cramped living quarters on
college campuses increase students' chances of being infected with all kinds
of flu, but scrupulous hand hygiene and simple face masks may help some stay
healthy, at least until swine flu vaccines become available next month,
health experts say. Last week, U.S. colleges and universities reported a 21
percent increase in new cases of influenza-like illness, or 6,432 cases, at
253 schools tracked by the American College Health Association. So far this
academic year, there have been 13,434 reported cases of flu-like illness,
most of which are presumed to be swine flu because seasonal flu has not
gotten under way..." |
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First Doses of Swine Flu Vaccine Will Go up the Nose |
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| NPR |
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| September 18, 2009 |
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| "The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention says the first doses of swine flu vaccine should get
into Americans in a couple of weeks -- but through their noses, not their
arms..." |
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Swine Flu Virus Causing Confusion; It's still a mystery why H1N1 often
strikes the young yet tends to be fatal in middle-aged, but not elderly,
adults |
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| Los Angeles Times |
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| September 18, 2009 |
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| "As health officials brace for
a new onslaught of illness from the novel H1N1 virus, they remain perplexed
by one of the most unusual and unsettling patterns to emerge from this
pandemic -- the tendency of the so-called swine flu to strike younger,
healthier people. The initial explanation was that the elderly, who are
usually most vulnerable to the flu, have built-in immunity as a result of
their exposure more than 50 years ago to ancestors of today's pandemic
strain. But the limits of the theory are becoming more clear. For starters,
only a third actually have antibodies to the new H1N1..." |
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Australia's Swine Flu Vaccination Plan to Test Global Interest |
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| Bloomberg |
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| September 18, 2009 |
|
| "Australia will begin
immunizing people against swine flu in 12 days, heralding a global health
campaign that will test public interest in the inoculation. The nationwide
program will start Sept. 30 after regulators approved CSL Ltd.'s pandemic
vaccine, Health Minister Nicola Roxon said today. More than 4 million doses
are in major cities ready for delivery to hospitals and medical clinics next
week..." |
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Shortages of Flu Supply are Spotty |
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| Minneapolis Star Tribune |
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| September 18, 2009 |
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| "So many Minnesotans have
rushed to get seasonal flu shots that temporary spot shortages have cropped
up around the state. But, according to the Minnesota Health Department,
there doesn't appear to be a full-blown shortage of the vaccine. 'There's no
reason to believe we're going to run out,' department spokesman Buddy
Ferguson said Friday. 'We aren't anticipating a shortage.' That said, the
department's advice that people get vaccinated early, coupled with intense
media coverage of the looming H1N1 flu pandemic, has caused a stampede at
clinics and commercial businesses selling the vaccine..." |
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Hospitals Pushing Workers to get Flu Vaccines |
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| St. Petersburg Times (FL) |
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| September 17, 2009 |
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| "Health care workers usually
don't follow their own advice. Every year, fewer than half of them get
vaccinated... Hospitals here and nationally are stepping up efforts to
vaccinate workers against both seasonal flu and H1N1. One state - New York -
is even making flu vaccinations mandatory for health care workers..." |
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How to Fight Seasonal Flu |
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| CBS News |
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| September 17, 2009 |
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| "Talk of the H1N1 vaccine has
been on people's minds lately, but it's also time to get vaccinated with the
regular flu vaccine, which has recently been released. The vaccine is now
available in pharmacies, hospitals and doctor's offices. CBS News medical
correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton said it's very important for people to get
the flu shot because the seasonal flu can be serious, and kills upwards of
36,000 Americans a year. She said around 90 percent of those fatalities
occur among older people. Ashton added some states, such as New York, are
making the flu shot mandatory for health care workers for the seasonal flu
and the H1N1 vaccine..." |
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Surviving H1N1 -- with Baby in Belly |
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| CNN |
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| September 17, 2009 |
|
| "For the past several months,
Amy Wolf has been glued to the television, intently watching for information
on how best to prepare for H1N1 flu. Eight months pregnant, Amy Wolf signed
up for an H1N1 vaccine trial. She usually does not worry about the flu, but
this year is different: Wolf is eight months into her second pregnancy. 'I
watch the news like crazy, and it seems like every time I would watch or
read something, there was a picture of a pregnant woman,' Wolf says. She's
right to be concerned..." |
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US to Donate 10 Percent of Swine Flu Vaccine to WHO |
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| Washington Post |
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| September 17, 2009 |
|
| "The United States plans to
donate 10 percent of its supply of pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine to the
World Health Organization for use in low-income countries. The nation has on
order 195 million doses of the swine flu vaccine, which is due to start
arriving early next month. The White House said it "is taking this action in
concert" with eight other countries..." |
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Low Levels of Key Antibodies May Lead To Severe Disease, Study Suggests |
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| Metronews (Toronto) |
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| September 16, 2009 |
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| "Australian researchers may
have uncovered a clue as to why some people who catch swine flu suffer
life-threatening illness. And if they are right, there is an existing weapon
in the treatment arsenal that could help reduce the pandemic death toll. The
group found that pregnant women who became severely ill with the pandemic
(H1N1) 2009 virus had low levels of a particular antibody that is known to
fight off viruses and help the body respond to vaccine. Moderately ill women
were much less likely to have significantly suppressed levels of the
antibody, the researchers reported..." |
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American Lung Association's Faces of Influenza Campaign Stresses the
Importance of Seasonal Influenza Vaccination |
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| Reuters |
|
| September 16, 2009 |
|
| "The American Lung Association
is intensifying its seasonal influenza public education initiative to urge
families to get vaccinated as soon as possible. The Faces of Influenza
campaign aims to ensure Americans get immunized against seasonal influenza,
which each year causes an estimated 36,000 deaths and over 226,000
hospitalizations from the virus and its related complications. The Faces of
Influenza campaign, which includes expanded awareness initiatives nationally
and in many major cities, supports the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention's (CDC) call for Americans to get vaccinated against seasonal
influenza this and every year..." |
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FDA Approves H1N1 Flu Vaccines |
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| Wall Street Journal |
|
| September 15, 2009 |
|
| "The Food and Drug
Administration on Tuesday approved vaccines designed to protect against the
H1N1 influenza virus, a key step before starting a vaccination campaign. The
approval was announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius at a hearing that was held by the House Energy and Commerce
Committee. An FDA spokeswoman said the agency approved vaccines made by a
unit of Sanofi-Aventis SA, Novartis AG, CSL Ltd. and AstraZeneca PLC's
MedImmune unit. MedImmune makes a vaccine in the form of mist delivered
through the nose rather than a shot. Ms. Sebelius said a large-scale
vaccination program will begin in mid-October..." |
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HHS Chief: Swine Flu Vaccines Ready Soon |
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| Washington Post |
|
| September 15, 2009 |
|
| "As the administration wrestles
with health-care reform, there was some good health news for a member of the
team in the past few days: Help is on the way for the swine flu. Health and
Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said upwards of 50 million doses
of a new vaccine for the H1N1 virus will be available in mid-October,
earlier than expected, with millions more doses quickly following. The
initial vaccines will go to what Sebelius calls 'priority populations' --
caregivers, young people ages 6 to 24, hospital workers, pregnant women and
some seniors..." |
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Rabies Alert Continues For North Escambia; Person Bit By Rabid Fox |
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| NorthEscambia.com (FL) |
|
| September 13, 2009 |
|
| "A Rabies Alert continues for
North Escambia after one person was bit by a rabid fox and two raccoons that
bit dogs tested positive for rabies. Robert Merritt, director of
environmental health for the Escambia County Health Department, said that a
dog was bitten by a rabid raccoon on Crabtree Church Road in Molino in May,
and a dog was bitten by a rabid raccoon on Handy Road in Cottage Hill last
month. He said a fox that bit a person somewhere in North Escambia last
month also tested positive for rabies, but, due to patient privacy laws, he
was not able to identify in which community the incident occurred..." |
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Hospitals to Require Flu Shots
for Workers |
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| Des Moines Register |
|
| September 10, 2009 |
|
| "Des Moines' two main health-care companies will require most of their
employees to receive flu shots this fall. Mercy
Medical Center and Iowa Health-Des Moines told workers this week that they
must be immunized against seasonal influenza
unless they have a medical or religious reason not to be. If they receive an
exemption, they will be required to wear masks
when treating patients after Dec. 1..." |
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Child Deaths Fall, But 'Grossly Insufficient': U.N. |
|
| Reuters |
|
| September 10, 2009 |
|
| "Childhood deaths have declined
across the world, data released on Thursday showed, but mortality is
increasingly concentrated in poor countries. A study by the United Nation's
children's fund (UNICEF) showed that thanks to better prevention methods for
malaria and action to reduce mother-to-child AIDS virus transmission, some
8.8 million children under five died in 2008 compared with 12.5 million in
1990. But 99 percent of child deaths occurred in poor countries..." |
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Business Not Ready for Flu, Study Says |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| September 10, 2009 |
|
| "Many American businesses are
unprepared to deal with widespread employee absenteeism in the event of a
swine flu outbreak, a Harvard School of Public Health study says. The
survey, released yesterday, found that two-thirds of more than 1,000
businesses questioned said they could not maintain normal operations if half
their workers were out for two weeks. Four-fifths expect severe problems if
half are out for a month..." |
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Small Doctor Practices Worry about Flu Impact |
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| Reuters |
|
| September 9, 2009 |
|
| "Doctors asked the government
on Wednesday to pay them more for giving vaccines and prescribing drugs on
the telephone as the flu pandemic hits their communities. Meanwhile, small
bankers said they should get relief from some regulatory requirements during
the worst of the pandemic, as they may not have staff to fill out forms and
mail out statements. The H1N1 pandemic is moderate now, and communities and
governments have been planning for such a pandemic for years. But doctors,
bankers and others told the House Committee on Small Business that they need
some regulatory changes to handle it..." |
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CDC Says Most Won't Need Drugs for Flu |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| September 9, 2009 |
|
| "With pandemic influenza cases
on the rise across the country, federal public health authorities on Tuesday
urged physicians to prescribe antiviral medicines to high-risk patients
promptly but reminded the public that most people won't need, and shouldn't
expect to get, the drugs if they come down with the flu. The guidance is
aimed at getting optimal benefit from Tamiflu and Relenza while preventing
overuse, hoarding and shortages of the drugs, as was seen briefly during the
spring outbreak of swine flu. Specifically, authorities said, practitioners
shouldn't wait for lab tests to confirm the presence of the novel strain of
the H1N1 virus before starting antivirals in high-risk patients who show
symptoms of flu..." |
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FDA Panel Urges HPV Vaccine Be Given to Boys |
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| CNN |
|
| September 9, 2009 |
|
| "Boys may soon be able to get
Gardasil, the vaccine given to girls and young women to prevent infection by
four types of human papillomavirus. Gardasil, a vaccine against human
papillomavirus, would be given to boys exactly as it is to girls. A Food and
Drug Administration advisory committee voted Wednesday to recommend that the
vaccine be made available to boys and young men aged 9 to 26 for protection
against genital warts caused by HPV..." |
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Blog: Preparing for a Stressful Flu Season |
|
| New York Times |
|
| September 8, 2009 |
|
| "A few weekends ago, a mother I
know called to ask about swine flu after her daughter complained of
breathing trouble and other worrisome symptoms. Fortunately, my friend
quickly reached her pediatrician, who reassured her about the child's
condition. But the conversation made me realize just how stressful this flu
season is going to be for parents..." |
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Doctors Slash Vaccines Due to Rising Costs |
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| CNN |
|
| September 8, 2009 |
|
| "Parents who bring their kids
to Dr. G. Andrew McIntosh for the chicken pox vaccine are out of luck. The
family physician, who has a solo practice in Uniontown, Ohio, doesn't offer
that shot because he can't afford it. Most insurers won't sufficiently cover
the cost. 'It doesn't do me any good. I am losing money on [them],' he said.
The chicken pox vaccine runs about $115, but insurers only cover between $68
to $83 of that..." |
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Students Targeted for Flu Shots |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| September 6, 2009 |
|
| "Back in the days of the polio epidemic, health officials decided to
immunize children against the deadly disease by
administering shots at school. Baby Boomers will recall lining up with
schoolmates in the mid-1950s for a quick stick in the
arm, and perhaps getting rewarded for the courage with a lollipop or an
extra recess..." |
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Flu Guidelines Issued for Child-Care Centers |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| September 5, 2009 |
|
| "Day-care centers and other
facilities responsible for young children should ensure that their employees
get vaccinated against both the seasonal flu and the swine flu, federal
health officials said Friday. Parents and other caregivers should also watch
their children or charges closely for any signs of the flu and keep
youngsters at home if they are sick during the upcoming flu season, ensuring
that they do not return until at least 24 hours after their fever has gone,
officials said..." |
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Pregnant Women Calling for Vaccine |
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| Columbus Dispatch |
|
| September 5, 2009 |
|
| "Michele Marzola said she
usually skips flu shots because they make her sick. That changed this week.
On Thursday, Kelsey Young, 20, died of swine flu, a week after delivering a
healthy baby girl. She had become ill while pregnant. The news of Young's
death, the first tied to swine flu in Franklin County and the second in Ohio
involving a pregnant woman, prompted a wave of calls to area doctors'
offices yesterday. Many were made by pregnant women..." |
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Swine Flu More Deadly to Adolescents than to Younger Children, Officials Say |
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| Los Angeles Times |
|
| September 4, 2009 |
|
| "Adolescents are at higher risk
of dying from the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus than younger children, a
situation that is the opposite of that encountered with seasonal flu, health
authorities said Thursday. And those with underlying health problems, such
as cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and neurodevelopmental disorders, are
at the highest risk and should be among the first to be vaccinated against
the new virus, according to the report in the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report..." |
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One-dose Swine Vaccine Looks Promising |
|
| HealthDay News |
|
| September 3, 2009 |
|
| "Hopeful news in the battle
against the H1N1 swine flu emerged Thursday as European and Chinese
researchers said they have developed swine flu vaccines that work with one
dose, rather than two, potentially increasing the supply available for
distribution. Novartis, the Swiss drug maker, found that in a British trial
of 100 people between 18 and 50 years old, participants had adequate
protection two weeks after just one injection, the Associated Press
reported. In China, a swine flu vaccine was approved on Thursday, which also
works with one dose, according to its maker, Sinovac Biotech Ltd..." |
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Emory, Grady Make Seasonal Flu
Shots Mandatory |
|
| Atlanta Journal-Constitution |
|
| September 3, 2009 |
|
"Emory Healthcare and Grady hospitals are requiring employees to take the
seasonal flu vaccine, officials said Thursday. The
new mandates reflect increasing concern that metro Atlanta is headed into a
bad flu season, in which the seasonal flu could
circulate along with the swine flu. Usually, hospital officials urge
staffers to take the vaccine but don't require it. Emory
officials said about 70 percent of Emory staffers usually take the vaccine
but the national average is much lower. Grady
officials said about 30 percent took it last year. Several factors led Emory
officials to make taking the seasonal flu
vaccine mandatory — protecting patients and providing a safe environment for
workers; the fact that the seasonal flu and
swine flu will be circulating at the same time; and the successful implementation of mandatory flu vaccinations in other
healthcare systems..." |
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WHO Expert Says No Doubt H1N1 Vaccines Will Work |
|
| Reuters |
|
| September 2, 2009 |
|
| "H1N1 vaccines should offer
broad protection even if the pandemic flu virus mutates as it spreads, a top
World Health Organization expert said on Wednesday. Marie-Paule Kieny,
director of the WHO's vaccine research program, said that health workers
should get immunized first when the shots begin to be distributed, as early
as this month. 'The consensus is that the first doses will be available to
governments for use in September,' she said. The U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention said last week that it was unlikely the vaccines
would be available before October..." |
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Front-Line Nurses Question How Massive Swine Flu Vaccination Plan Will Be
Executed |
|
| New York Daily News |
|
| September 2, 2009 |
|
| "The city is depending on
public school nurses to spearhead its massive swine flu vaccination plan at
elementary schools this fall. But the nurses are balking at some aspects of
Mayor Bloomberg's proposal, including whether they should be the ones giving
the nasal spray and shots to students. 'We have a lot of questions,' said
one nurse who attended an orientation session on swine flu at Lehman College
this week. But at least the city has a plan this time.'..." |
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Essay: Finding a Scapegoat When Epidemics Strike: Whose fault was the Black
Death? |
|
| New York Times |
|
| September 1, 2009 |
|
| "In medieval Europe, Jews were
blamed so often, and so viciously, that it is surprising it was not called
the Jewish Death. During the pandemic's peak in Europe, from 1348 to 1351,
more than 200 Jewish communities were wiped out, their inhabitants accused
of spreading contagion or poisoning wells..." |
|
Obama Urges Americans to Get H1N1 Vaccine |
|
| Reuters |
|
| September 1, 2009 |
|
| "President Barack Obama urged
Americans on Tuesday to get the H1N1 shot when it becomes available as the
nation prepares for a second wave of swine flu as autumn approaches in the
Northern Hemisphere. After a meeting with health and homeland security
advisers, President Barack Obama said the United States is 'making steady
process on developing a safe and effective H1N1 flu vaccine and we expect a
flu shot program will begin soon. This program will be completely voluntary
but it will be strongly recommended,' he said..." |
|
Swine Flu Poses Some Challenges for Airlines; Precautions Include Removing
Pillows, Blankets from Flights |
|
| USA TODAY |
|
| September 1, 2009 |
|
| "Airlines say they're preparing
for the return of swine flu this fall but stop short of declaring they'll
bar passengers with symptoms from planes or give refunds for trips canceled
because of the illness. Rather than impose special measures to deal with the
H1N1 virus, several U.S. carriers emphasize they'll follow long-standing
policies that permit them to keep an ill person from flying, whatever the
sickness..." |
|
New York City to Offer Students Free H1N1 Vaccines |
|
| Reuters |
|
| September 1, 2009 |
|
| "All primary school-age
children in New York City will be offered free vaccines for seasonal and
H1N1 flu this year under a plan announced on Tuesday by Mayor Michael
Bloomberg. The vaccines are part of the city's strategy to combat the new
H1N1 swine flu strain that hit the city hard during the spring, infecting an
estimated 750,000 to 1 million people or about 10 percent of the
population..." |
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Researcher Develops Inhalable Measles Vaccine |
|
| Voice of America |
|
| August 31, 2009 |
|
| "Most vaccines are given as a
liquid shot using a needle and syringe, but this method can lead to
infection if needles are reused or not disposed of safely. Bob Sievers is a
chemistry professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and the head
of a small chemical company called Aktiv-Dry. With a grant from the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation, Sievers is developing a dry powder form of the
measles vaccine that would be inhaled, instead of injected..." |
|
Outbreak of Chickenpox Reported at SLU |
|
|
| August 31, 2009 |
|
| "Three students at St. Louis
University are suspected to have chickenpox, according to a health alert
sent to the campus on Friday. Chickenpox is a virus marked by a skin rash
and fever. Public health officials consider three cases of chickenpox in one
school an outbreak. Chickenpox is contagious through contact with sores,
coughing and sneezing. The disease is generally not considered threatening
but can be more serious in adolescents and adults..." |
|
Rare but Deadly Meningitis: Don't forget kid shots |
|
| Seattle Times |
|
| August 31, 2009 |
|
| "Fever, chills, vomiting: It
starts like a stomach bug or the flu. But bacterial meningitis can go on to
kill terrifyingly fast — one of the few infections in the U.S. where someone
can feel fine in the morning and be dead by night. And prime targets are
tweens, teens and college freshmen. Amid all the publicity about children's
flu shots this year is quiet concern that vaccination against meningococcal
meningitis not fall by the wayside, just as doctors are charting some
progress against the rare but devastating infection..." |
|
Your Doctor may Give You Swine Flu This Fall |
|
| Newsweek |
|
| August 31, 2009 |
|
| "The CDC says health-care workers should
be among the first in line to receive the swine-flu (H1N1) vaccine, which
the government hopes will be available by mid-October. But will your
doctors, nurses, and other medical providers roll up their sleeves? Only 45
percent of health-care workers get a seasonal flu shot every year..." |
|
CVS, Walgreens to Offer Free Flu Shots to Unemployed |
|
| Bloomberg |
|
| August 31, 2009 |
|
| "CVS and Walgreens, the
nation's two largest drugstore chains, will soon offer millions of dollars
of free seasonal flu shots to unemployed and uninsured people. CVS Caremark
Corp. will offer 100,000 free shots valued at about $3 million to job
seekers, the Rhode Island-based company said yesterday in a statement.
Walgreen Co., based in Illinois, will distribute $1 million in shots to the
uninsured through its 7,000 U.S. stores and clinics..." |
|
Back to Flu |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| August 31, 2009 |
|
| "He's one of the nation's top
flu fighters. But for Dr. Marty Cetron, the battle begins at home. That's
where, like parents all across the country, he is preparing his three
children - they're 9 to 15 years old - for the arrival of a fall flu season
unlike any in their lifetimes. This will be the season of our dual
discontent: Disease trackers expect both seasonal influenza and the novel
swine strain to circulate. And swine flu, which made its US debut in the
spring, has shown an unusual propensity for making the young sick while
sparing the old..." |
|
U.S. Childhood Vaccine Rates Good but Could Be Better: CDC |
|
| HealthDay News |
|
| August 27, 2009 |
|
| "More than three-quarters of
U.S. children have received the recommended vaccinations, but greater
efforts are needed to reach youngsters who are not fully immunized, a U.S.
government report finds. A 2008 survey of children from 19 months to 35
months of age, born between January 2005 and June 2007, found that 76.1
percent had received the recommended series of vaccines (called the
4:3:1:3:3:1 series), a rate statistically similar to the estimate of 77.4
percent in 2007. The national goal for coverage is 80 percent. 'Vaccination
is one of the most important things parents can do to protect their
children's health,' Dr. Melinda Wharton, deputy director of the National
Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a CDC news
release..." |
|
Op-ed: Not Enough Children Get Vaccinated for the Flu
Dr. Howard Schlansky is a pediatrician with St. John's Mercy Children's
Hospital |
|
| St. Louis Post-Dispatch |
|
| August 27, 2009 |
|
| "The annual flu season will
soon be upon us, peaking anywhere from October to May. This year there are
additional concerns about the swine flu virus. The flu is a viral illness
with symptoms that include fever, cough, sore throat, aches, chills and
fatigue, and also can result in more severe symptoms including pneumonia. It
is the No. 1 vaccine preventable illness in the United States. Vaccinations
could help prevent many of the nearly 60 million illnesses, 25 million
doctor visits, 225,000 hospitalizations and 36,000 deaths that occur each
year resulting from the flu..." |
|
Poll: 2/3 in U.S. Plan to Get Swine Flu Vaccine |
|
| Reuters |
|
| August 27, 2009 |
|
| "More than 90 percent of
Americans plan to do something to protect themselves from the H1N1 pandemic
flu virus and more than 60 percent will get vaccinated, according to an
American Red Cross survey released on Thursday. Only 11 percent say they are
very worried about the new swine flu and another 29 percent are somewhat
worried. The rest -- 60 percent -- say they are not worried." |
|
Experts Field Questions about Novel Flu Vaccines for Pregnant Women |
|
| CIDRAP |
|
| August 27, 2009 |
|
| "Federal health officials today
hosted a Web telecast to help pregnant women and new mothers prepare for an
uptick in novel H1N1 flu infections, a day after a federal judge rejected an
advocacy group's request to limit use of the H1N1 vaccine in pregnant women.
Pregnant women in the United States and other countries have had high rates
of severe infections and deaths from the novel flu virus, which prompted a
federal vaccine advisory group in July to recommend that pregnant women be
placed high on the priority list to receive the vaccine..." |
|
CDC Turns to Social Sites to Get Flu Message Out |
|
| Reuters |
|
| August 27, 2009 |
|
| "U.S. health authorities are
turning to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter in a bid to
prepare people to be vaccinated against the pandemic H1N1 virus. But efforts
to distribute accurate information about the dangers of swine flu and the
importance of vaccination are hampered by the sheer complexity of the
message that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention aims to
convey. For a start, the vaccine will not be ready for widespread
distribution until mid-October, after the traditional flu season has begun.
The U.S. government hopes to target around 50 percent of the population for
vaccination, focusing on key groups including pregnant women and healthcare
workers." |
|
E.U. Officials Lay
Out Priorities for Swine Flu Vaccine |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 26, 2009 |
|
| "European Union health officials issued a list Tuesday of people who should
be the first in line for vaccinations against the
H1N1, or swine flu, virus. People at risk of severe disease, pregnant women
and health care workers should be given priority
for inoculations before the winter flu season, said the officials, who
represent 27 E.U. countries and the European
Commission. Prioritizing those groups is necessary because 'there will
probably not be vaccine available for everyone
initially, and even if there is, distribution will take time,' the officials
said in a statement...In the United States,
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius reached a similar
verdict Tuesday, saying that large-scale school
closings would be ineffective in halting the spread of the virus. Instead,
Ms. Sebelius said on NBC television, vaccinations
would be the defense..." |
|
Agency Urges Caution
On Estimates Of Swine Flu |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 26, 2009 |
|
| "Up to 90,000 deaths from swine flu in the United States, mostly among
children and young people? Up to 1.8 million people
hospitalized, with 50 percent to 100 percent of the intensive-care beds in
some cities filled with swine flu patients? Up to
half the population infected by this winter? On Monday, a White House
advisory panel issued a report with these estimates,
calling them "a plausible scenario" for a second wave of infections by the
new H1N1 flu. The grim numbers by the panel, the
President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, got considerable
play in the news media. On Tuesday, however,
officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency with
the most expertise on influenza pandemics,
suggested that the projections should be regarded with caution.." |
|
AAFP Launches Awareness Campaign for Pertussis Vaccination |
|
| AAFP News Now |
|
| August 25, 2009 |
|
| "Although the CDC estimates
that 600,000 cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, occur each year in the
United States, only 2 percent of American adults received the tetanus
toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid and acellular pertussis vaccine, or Tdap,
from 2005 through 2007, the agency says..." |
|
Health Officials Warn of Whooping Cough |
|
| Pensacola News Journal (Fla.) |
|
| August 25, 2009 |
|
| "With a large increase in
outbreaks of pertussis, commonly called whooping cough, health department
officials in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties want families to consider
booster vaccinations. 'In a normal year, there are three to five cases
reported,' said Dr. John Lanza, Escambia County Health Department director.
'But already in 2009, we have 50 cases.' Santa Rosa County also has had 50
cases of pertussis this year, epidemiologist Samantha Rivers said. Last
year, it had one. 'Pertussis has a natural four- to five-year waxing and
waning, and it's been that amount of time since the last (outbreak),' she
said. Pertussis is contagious, and especially dangerous to newborns too
young to get vaccinated, Lanza said. The vaccination is among those given to
infants at about 6 weeks of age. 'Because it can be dangerous for newborns,
it is important for the teenage and adult family members to talk with their
physician about getting vaccinated,' he said..." |
|
How Safe Are New Vaccines For H1N1, HPV?
Listen to the Story [3 min 58 sec] |
|
| NPR |
|
| August 25, 2009 |
|
| "School officials in
Washington, D.C., are requiring all school girls 13 and older get vaccinated
for Human Papillomavirus (HPV), which can lead to cervical cancer. And a
vaccine for the swine flu - also known as H1N1 virus - is expected to become
available later this fall. Guest host Jennifer Ludden talks with Dr. Paul
Offit, Chief of Infectious Diseases at The Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia, about the safety of the new vaccines. Dr. Offit also has the
latest on plans to conduct a mass immunization for Swine flu – which is
expected to be a national program of historic proportions..." |
|
HPV Vaccine Could Prevent Many Penile Cancers |
|
| Health Day News |
|
| August 25, 2009 |
|
| "The human papillomavirus (HPV)
causes about half of penile cancer cases in the world, and giving vaccines
to males could greatly reduce the incidence of the disease, a new study
suggests. Penile cancer remains rare, accounting for less than 1 percent of
adult male cancers in North America and Europe, but that rate jumps to as
high as 10 percent in Africa and Asia, according to Spanish researchers
reporting online Aug. 25 in the Journal of Clinical Pathology. More than
26,300 cases of penile cancer are thought to occur around the world each
year..." |
|
Swine Flu Could
Infect Half of U.S. |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| August 25, 2009 |
|
| "Swine flu could infect half the U.S. population this fall and winter,
hospitalizing up to 1.8 million people and causing as
many as 90,000 deaths -- more than double the number that occur in an
average flu season, according to an estimate from a
presidential panel released Monday. The virus could cause symptoms in 60
million to 120 million people, more than half of
whom might seek medical attention, the President's Council of Advisors on
Science and Technology estimated in an 86-page
report to the White House assessing the government's response to the first
influenza pandemic in 41 years..." |
|
CDC's Advice to
Parents: Swine Flu Shots for All |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| August 25, 2009 |
|
| "The first swine flu precaution that the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention suggests for parents: As soon as a
vaccine is available, try to get it for everyone in your family. 'We're
going to continue to stress that the vaccine is the
most important thing that parents can do to protect their children,' said
Tom Skinner, a CDC spokesman. This H1N1 vaccine
should be taken in addition to the seasonal flu vaccine, and not as a
replacement for it..." |
|
Scientists Probe Pertussis Cases: CDC experts seek reason for high number in
county |
|
| Durango Herald (Colo.) |
|
| August 23, 2009 |
|
| "Experts from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are in Durango looking for clues as to
why an unusually large percentage of the pertussis cases reported in
Colorado in 2009 occurred in La Plata County. 'It warrants investigation
because of the wide spectrum of symptoms atypical of pertussis,' Dr. Sema
Mandal said during an interview at the San Juan Basin Health Department.
It's not unusual for the CDC to investigate unusual trends such as the
extraordinarily high number of pertussis cases, but they do so only at the
invitation of state and local health authorities, said Matt Griffith, a CDC
epidemiologist. A CDC team visited the Four Corners in 1993 during a hanta
virus outbreak and more recently sent a team to New York to help with
investigation into H1N1 (swine) flu, Griffith said. Experience has taught
the CDC that it's important to get detailed histories of illnesses and not
to rule out anything, Mandal said..." |
|
No Side Effects So
Far in Trial of Swine Flu Shot |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 22, 2009 |
|
| "There have been no serious side effects from the first set of injections of
the new swine flu vaccine, federal health
officials said Friday in predicting that nearly 200 million doses could be
produced by year's end. Clinical trials in adults
began on Aug. 7, and those in children on Wednesday..." |
|
Bringing Science Back into America's Sphere |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| August 22, 2009 |
|
| "Chris Mooney, author of
'Unscientific America,' talks about the significance of Pluto's demotion
from planet, the belief that vaccines are linked to autism, and the role
played by religion. 'Science has become much less cool,' journalist Chris
Mooney writes in "Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens
Our Future" (July 2009, Basic Books). Mooney, author of the 2005 bestseller
The Republican War on Science, and his coauthor Sheril Kirshenbaum, a marine
scientist at Duke University, seek to explain how Americans have come to
minimize science in a time when, they assert, we will need it most -- as
global warming, advances in genetics and the possibility of large-scale
engineering of the Earth's climate loom in our future..." |
|
No Side Effects So Far in Trial of Swine Flu Shot |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 22, 2009 |
|
| "There have been no serious
side effects from the first set of injections of the new swine flu vaccine,
federal health officials said Friday in predicting that nearly 200 million
doses could be produced by year's end. Clinical trials in adults began on
Aug. 7, and those in children on Wednesday. 'There are no red flags
regarding safety,' said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is overseeing the
trials..." |
|
FDA Approves Glaxo's Hiberix Vaccine |
|
| Philadelphia Inquirer |
|
| August 21, 2009 |
|
| "GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C. has won
swift approval from the federal government to produce and sell a booster
vaccine against Haemophilus influenzae type b, which should help eliminate
shortages of the shot against the deadly disease. The London drugmaker,
which has large operations in the Philadelphia region, said late Wednesday
that its Hiberix vaccine was approved as a booster dose for children 15
months to 4 years old. The vaccine targets the bacterial infection known as
Hib, which can cause meningitis, pneumonia, and other deadly illnesses..." |
|
Who Should Get Swine Flu Shots First? |
|
| TIME Magazine |
|
| August 21, 2009 |
|
| "Influenza vaccinations are
usually an afterthought for most people. Despite the easy availability of
the shots, fewer than 40% of Americans get them in any one year — never mind
that flu kills some 36,000 of us annually. But this flu season is likely to
be different. Thanks to the new H1N1/09 virus, to which almost none of us
are immune, flu anxiety is high — and demand for the new vaccine should be
too. Washington is now gearing up to respond, hoping to inoculate millions
of Americans and blunt the severity of the first pandemic in four
decades..." |
|
College Students with Flu Advised to Avoid Others |
|
| Associated Press |
|
| August 21, 2009 |
|
| "Health officials are offering
some basic advice for college students with flu symptoms: Avoid other people
until 24 hours after a fever is gone. At colleges across the country,
planning for flu season, particularly the swine flu, is well under way.
Recommended safeguards could mean students with a private dorm room should
stay in their rooms and find a 'flu buddy' to deliver meals and notes from
class. Or it could mean students with roommates might need to move to some
kind of temporary housing for sick students. And if sick students can't
avoid close contact with other people, they need to wear surgical masks. The
point is for sick students to isolate themselves, Education Secretary Arne
Duncan said." |
|
WHO: Save Tamiflu for the Young, Old and Pregnant |
|
| Boston Herald |
|
| August 21, 2009 |
|
| "Healthy people who catch swine
flu do not need antivirals like Tamiflu, but the young, the old and the
pregnant surely do, the World Health Organization declared Friday in new
advice to doctors. The U.N. health agency said people who are otherwise
healthy with mild to moderate cases of swine flu or regular flu don't need
the popular drug, calling the medical evidence for giving it to those people
'low quality.' But people thought to be at risk for complications from swine
flu children less than five years old, pregnant women, people over age 65
and those with other health problems like heart disease, HIV or diabetes
should definitely get the drug, WHO said..." |
|
U.S. Health Officials Back Safety of Merck Vaccine |
|
| Reuters |
|
| August 20, 2009 |
|
| "U.S. health officials again
backed on Thursday the safety of Merck & Co Inc's vaccine to prevent
infection by a virus that causes most cases of cervical cancer. The Gardasil
vaccine 'continues to be safe and effective, and its benefits continue to
outweigh its risks,' the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement. Gardasil protects
against infection with four strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), a
common sexually transmitted virus that causes genital warts and most cases
of cervical cancer..." |
|
Study Questions U.S. Flu Vaccine Guidelines |
|
| Reuters |
|
| August 20, 2009 |
|
| "Contrary to current U.S.
strategy, vaccinating school children and their parents against the flu is
the best way to protect the nation from influenza, including the new
pandemic swine flu, U.S. researchers said on Thursday. They said vaccine
priority should be given to people most likely to spread the virus, not
those most at risk of serious complications from it. Seasonal and H1N1
vaccination guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention currently target people who are likely to become the most ill if
infected..." |
|
Kids Roll Up Sleeves for H1N1 Clinical Trial |
|
| CNN |
|
| August 20, 2009 |
|
| "Andrew Stein, 10, and his
brother, Nathan, 7, are having a typical end-of-summer vacation: hanging out
at the pool, visiting their grandparents and waiting for the beginning of
school. But this week they're doing something most of their classmates will
never do. The Stein brothers will be testing the new vaccine to prevent
swine flu..." |
|
Vaccinations Against Hepatitis A to Be Offered |
|
| San Diego Union-Tribune |
|
| August 19, 2009 |
|
| "Officials with the beach
conservation group Wildcoast report that San Diego University researchers
have found hepatitis A in water samples taken near the Imperial Beach pier.
In response, representatives of Wildcoast and the Imperial Beach Health
Center will conduct an informational outreach on Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.,
to inform beach visitors of the potential of infection from the water and to
schedule free hepatitis A vaccinations..." |
|
H1N1 Vaccine Production Lagging Behind Expectations Limited Initial Supply
Means Priority Groups Go to Front of Line for Immunizations |
|
| AAFP News |
|
| August 19, 2009 |
|
| "The CDC told its Advisory
Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, in late July that it hoped to
have 120 million doses of vaccine for the novel influenza A (H1N1) virus
available by October. Manufacturing issues, however, have slowed production
of the new vaccine, and federal officials now expect only about 45 million
doses to be available by mid-October. According to HHS spokesman Bill Hall,
20 million more doses should be available each week thereafter..." |
|
Austin Boy 2nd in Travis to Die of Swine Flu |
|
| Austin (Texas)
American-Statesman |
|
| August 19, 2009 |
|
| "A 14-year-old Austin boy has
died of swine flu - the second Travis County death attributed to the novel
H1N1 virus, according to Dr. Philip Huang, medical director of the
Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department. Huang said the
boy died in a San Antonio hospital, but he did not know the circumstances
that led to his out-of-town hospitalization. Huang said he thought the boy
had underlying health conditions that could have contributed to the death,
but that was under investigation..." |
|
Speaking of Vaccinations . . .Flu's Not the Only Ill That Might Merit a
Preventive Shot |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| August 18, 2009 |
|
| "All the vaccine buzz is about
the H1N1 virus right now, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
is reminding Americans to make sure all of their vaccinations are
up-to-date. The CDC encourages adults to guard against vaccine-preventable
diseases such as shingles, human papillomavirus (HPV), tetanus, meningitis,
whooping cough and pneumococcal disease. If getting those shots hadn't
occurred to you, you're not alone. A survey released last month by the
National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) found that about
three-quarters of American adults were extremely or very familiar with only
two vaccine-preventable diseases: influenza and chickenpox..." |
|
Swine Flu: The Next Wave |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| August 18, 2009 |
|
| "With about 55 million U.S.
children heading back to school in the next few weeks, concerns are growing
that the H1N1 swine flu will spread even further than it already has.
Identified by scientists four months ago, the virus has already turned up in
nearly every corner of the world, from Argentina to Iran. It defied
public-health officials' predictions of a lull in the warm summer months,
proliferating in military units and children's summer camps. A volunteer
receives a shot during trials of an H1N1 swine-flu vaccine last week at the
University of Iowa Health Center, one of eight trial sites across the U.S.
More than two million people are believed to have contracted the new flu in
the U.S.; 7,511 had been hospitalized and 477 had died as of Aug. 13,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. World-wide,
177,457 people have been confirmed with the disease, and 1,462 deaths had
been reported as of Aug. 12, according to the World Health Organization..." |
|
Europe Offers Vaccinations to Contain Swine Flu |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 18, 2009 |
|
| "Anxiety over the new swine flu
strain may have eased over the summer, but millions of Europeans will soon
receive a sharp reminder of its virulence as governments prepare for a
large-scale vaccination effort aimed at keeping a second, and possibly
deadlier, wave of infections at bay..." |
|
State Requires Flu Vaccination for Caregivers |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 18, 2009 |
|
| "The State Health Department is
requiring tens of thousands of health care workers across the state to be
vaccinated for flu, amid fears that swine flu will return in the fall. The
new regulation, quietly adopted as an emergency on Thursday, affects workers
at hospitals, in home health care agencies and in hospice care, but, because
of a technicality in state law, not in nursing homes. The regulation raised
protest Tuesday from New York's largest health care union, 1199 S.E.I.U.
United Healthcare Workers East, whose president, George Gresham, said that
the policy was 'completely unprecedented' and could become punitive if the
religious or cultural beliefs of workers prevented them from being
vaccinated..." |
|
Study Weighs Risks of Vaccine for Cervical Cancer |
|
|
New York Times |
|
| August 18, 2009 |
|
| "The new vaccine designed to
protect girls and young women from cervical cancer has a safety record that
appears to be in line with that of other vaccines, a government report has
found. Some serious complications occurred, including at least 20 deaths and
two cases of Lou Gehrig's disease, but they were not necessarily caused by
the vaccine, the study said..." |
|
Polio Surge in Nigeria after Vaccine Virus Mutates |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 14, 2009 |
|
| "Polio, a dreaded paralyzing disease
stamped out in the industrialized world, is spreading in Nigeria despite
efforts to stamp it out. And health officials say in some cases, it's caused
by the vaccine used to fight it..." |
|
Teen 2 Teen Meningitis Angels are Stomping Out Meningitis |
|
| PR Newswire |
|
| August 13, 2009 |
|
| "Dressed in camouflage and armed with the
facts of disease and prevention, Meningitis Teen Angels (MA) launched their
new national meningitis pre-teen and teen back-to-school campaign today:
Stomping Out Meningitis. Meningitis Angels was founded in memory of Ryan
Milley, who died at the age of 18 from meningococcemia, a severe infection
of the bloodstream caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis. This is
the same bacteria which causes meningococcal meningitis..." |
|
Number of Hepatitis A Cases Now at 30 |
|
| Quad City Times |
|
| August 13, 2009 |
|
| "The 30th case of hepatitis A from a
summer outbreak of the disease in the Quad-City region this summer was
reported today. The Illinois Department of Public Health and the Rock Island
County Health Department reported the total number of cases, saying they are
all related to people who visited a McDonald's restaurant at 400 W. 1st St.,
Milan, Ill., this summer..." |
|
Report: Donovan Tests Positive for Swine Flu |
|
| ESPN |
|
| August 13, 2009 |
|
| "U.S. and Los Angeles Galaxy forward
Landon Donovan has tested positive for the H1N1 flu virus, SI.com reported
on Thursday. Donovan, according to the report, learned of his diagnosis just
a day after playing the entire 90 minutes of the U.S.'s 2-1 World Cup
Qualifying loss to Mexico in Mexico City..." |
|
Puyallup Woman Dies of Swine Flu, but First She Gives Birth |
|
| News Tribune |
|
| August 13, 2009 |
|
| "A Puyallup woman who contracted swine
flu while six months pregnant died Monday at Harborview Medical Center in
Seattle. Katie Flyte, 27, was initially diagnosed with pneumonia, but
doctors at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup later discovered she had
swine flu. Doctors successfully delivered the woman's child at Good
Samaritan before Flyte was taken to Harborview on July 22. She died Monday,
with the cause listed as acute respiratory distress, according to the King
County Medical Examiner..." |
|
Misunderstanding of 1918 Flu May Lead to Faulty Assumptions for Swine Flu:
Experts |
|
| Canadian Press |
|
| August 13, 2009 |
|
| "Unproven assumptions about the course of
the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic may be leading to misperceptions of what the
swine flu virus has in store for the world, the scientist who decoded the
genetic blueprint of the 1918 virus suggests in a newly published
commentary. Virologist Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger, along with co-author and
medical historian Dr. David Morens, argues there is no firm evidence that
the 1918 virus ratchetted up in virulence in a fall wave - because there is
no solid proof outbreaks of illness in the U.S. in the spring of 1918 were
caused by the same virus..." |
|
Autism Group Softens Stance on Vaccines |
|
| Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
|
| August 16, 2009 |
|
| "The autism wars aren't over -- but they
may have entered a new phase. Autism Speaks, the nation's largest autism
advocacy group, recently made its clearest public statement yet that
minimizes the link between vaccines and autism. In a prepared interview
posted on the Autism Speaks Web site, the group's chief science officer, Dr.
Geri Dawson, says that scientific studies have found no link between
thimerosal, a mercury preservative used in certain vaccines, and autism. Nor
have they found a connection between the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and
autism..." |
|
New Autism Charity Hopes to Carve Out Its Niche, Despite Tough Times |
|
| Chronicle of Philanthropy |
|
| August 12, 2009 |
|
| "Few nonprofit leaders would consider
2009 an ideal time to start up a charity. But Alison Tepper Singer isn't
letting the recession deter her. What she believes is an important gap in
autism research can't wait for the economy to rebound, she says. Ms. Singer
created the Autism Science Foundation,..." |
|
FDA Delays Decision on Wyeth Vaccine |
|
| Philadelphia Inquirer |
|
| August 12, 2009 |
|
| "Wyeth late yesterday said the Food and
Drug Administration had delayed approval of Prevnar 13, a vaccine that is
one of the primary drivers behind the company's anticipated $68 billion
merger with Pfizer Inc. Wyeth said the 90-day delay would have no impact on
its acquisition by Pfizer and also said it still expects the FDA to approve
Prevnar 13. The agency delayed the approval date from Sept. 30 to Dec. 30
after Wyeth submitted new information about how it was measuring and
validating the vaccine's physical and chemical properties..." |
|
Tests Confirm Clemson Student Had Meningitis |
|
| Greenville (South Carolina) News |
|
| August 11, 2009 |
|
| "Lab tests confirmed last week that a
Clemson University student who died on Aug. 1 had bacterial meningitis, the
most deadly form of the disease. State Department of Health and
Environmental Control test results showed that Danielle Rae Fleming, 20, had
neisseria meningitis, said Pickens County Coroner Kandy Kelly. Fleming, a
rising junior in mathematical sciences from New Jersey, died at Oconee
Medical Center. Her death sparked a state health investigation centered on
Pickens County to prevent spread of the disease..." |
|
First Flu Victim's Family Intends to Sue
City |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 11, 2009 |
|
| "The wife and three sons of the first person to die during the latest swine
flu outbreak in New York, an assistant principal
at an intermediate school in Queens, have notified the city that they intend
to file a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit
against the city. Bonnie Wiener, the widow of the flu victim, Mitchell
Wiener, and their three sons, Adam, Jordan and
Farrell, served a 'notice of claim' to the city on Aug. 5, charging that the
city had failed to react quickly enough to the
swine flu outbreak at Intermediate School 238 in Hollis, Queens, where Mr.
Wiener worked..." |
|
Costa Rica's President Has Swine Flu:
Oscar Arias is being treated and quarantined at home |
|
| MSNBC |
|
| August 11, 2009 |
|
| "Nobel Peace laureate and Costa Rican President Oscar Arias said Tuesday
that he has swine flu, showing that not even a head
of state is safe from the virus that has caused worldwide concern but
relatively few deaths. The 69-year-old president and
Nobel Peace Prize winner said in a statement that he was quarantined at home
and is being treated with the anti-flu medicine
oseltamivir..." |
|
WHO: Pandemic Flu Spreading with Asian
Monsoon Season |
|
| Reuters |
|
| August 11, 2009 |
|
| "H1N1 pandemic flu is spreading in India,
Thailand and Vietnam with the onset of Asia's monsoon season, the World
Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday. But
transmission of the new virus appears to have peaked in parts of the
southern hemisphere including Argentina, Chile,
Australia and New Zealand, the United Nations agency said..." |
|
Obama Strikes Note of Unity at Mexico
Summit |
|
| Christian Science Monitor |
|
| August 10, 2009 |
|
| "At the North American Leaders Summit in Mexico today, the three heads of
state reiterated their commitment to the pressing
issues of the day, including security, economic recovery, climate change,
and the mitigation of swine flu..." |
|
Canada Dismisses Warning about Flu Drug |
|
| Globe and Mail |
|
| August 10, 2009 |
|
| "Canadian health authorities will not change their practice of prescribing
the anti-viral drug Tamiflu to treat cases of
pandemic H1N1 flu in children, despite a new study that raises questions
about the drug's effectiveness. Researchers at the
University of Oxford cautioned about the broad use of anti-viral drugs to
treat children 12 years of age and younger
suffering from seasonal flu. They found anti-viral drugs have little or no
effect on asthma flare-ups, ear infections or
bacterial infections in children. Tamiflu was also linked to increased
vomiting..." |
|
School Nurses in Short Supply |
|
| USA Today |
|
| August 10, 2009 |
|
| "If swine flu reappears in schools this fall, it'll probably be a school
nurse who first discovers it. But nationwide, the
ratio of nurses to students falls short of the federally recommended
standard, raising concerns that the shortage could
undermine efforts to catch and control what could be a deadly flu season. A
USA TODAY analysis of Census data from 2005 to
2007 suggests that each school nurse cares, on average, for 971 students..." |
|
Swine Flu Vaccine Trials Begin Testing Volunteers |
|
| NPR |
|
| August 10, 2009 |
|
| "As a part of preparing for a major
outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu this fall and winter, the government began
testing H1N1 influenza vaccine Monday. The first clinical trials are
enrolling up to 2,400 people and will test H1N1 vaccine made by two drug
companies using the so-called seed stock of the H1N1 virus provided by the
federal government. The trials are designed to determine if the vaccine is
safe in healthy people of various ages and gauge how many doses are needed
to protect against the swine flu. The testing is taking place at multiple
Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units across the country — the longstanding
vaccine clinical trials infrastructure run by National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Disease. The first trials are testing healthy adult
volunteers between the ages of 18 and 65. If the first eight days of adult
testing don't raise any safety concerns, researchers will begin testing the
vaccine in healthy children ages 6 months to 18 years..." |
|
For Flu, Vaccines Better Than Antiviral Drugs |
|
| Reuters |
|
| August 10, 2009 |
|
| "Healthy adults are likely to fare better
during the flu season by getting a flu shot than by depending on antiviral
drugs to make them feel better, new research from the UK shows. The research
team headed by Dr. Jane Burch found that Tamiflu (oseltamivir), a flu drug
made by Swiss-based Roche, and Relenza (zanamivir), made by GlaxoSmithKline,
will quash symptoms no more than one day earlier than no drugs at all.
Although the researchers did not compare the benefits of vaccines to the
benefits of antiviral drugs, they note that vaccination has the advantage of
being a preventive measure..." |
|
The Doctor's World: Seeking lessons in swine flu fight |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 10, 2009 |
|
| "As the three-month-old outbreak of swine
flu raises havoc during the winter season in the Southern Hemisphere,
officials in the United States are carefully seeking clues from there to
deal with its likely return in this country in the fall, before a vaccine
can protect large numbers of people..." |
|
51 US Soldiers in Iraq Diagnosed with Swine Flu; Iraqi Health Officials
Confirm Country's First H1N1 Death |
|
| MSNBC News |
|
| August 9, 2009 |
|
| "Fifty-one American troops in Iraq have
been diagnosed with and treated for swine flu, while another 71 soldiers
remain in isolation suspected of contracting the potentially deadly virus,
the U.S. military said Sunday. The figures were released as Iraqi health
officials confirmed Sunday the country's first swine flu death. A woman in
the southern holy Shiite city of Najaf died of the disease, raising fears
about a possible outbreak among worshippers making pilgrimages to the
revered sites. All the 51 U.S. troops diagnosed with the flu have fully
recovered, while the 71 suspect cases are in isolation, said Col. Michael D.
Eisenhauer, the chief of clinical operations in Iraq..." |
|
Special Sections: Immunization |
|
| Washington Times |
|
| August 7, 2009 |
|
View supplement
devoted to immunization articles and educational materials. |
|
Swine Flu Should Not Close Most Schools, Federal Officials Say |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 7, 2009 |
|
| "Most schools should be able to stay open
even if swine flu outbreaks occur again this fall, government officials said
Friday as they issued recommendations for dealing with the illness when the
school year starts. Decisions about whether to close schools should be made
locally, the officials said, and ‘should balance the goal of reducing the
number of people who become seriously ill or die from influenza with the
goal of minimizing social disruption and safety risks to children,' which
sometimes occur when schools close..." |
|
Four-Year-Old Dies after Being Diagnosed With Mumps |
|
| Telegraph (UK) |
|
| August 6, 2009 |
|
| "The youngster had appeared to be
recovering but then suddenly took a turn for the worse and doctors at a
hospital in Manchester failed in their battle to save her. The exact cause
of death has not yet been established, but deaths following mumps are very
rare. If confirmed, Lisa would be the first death in a mumps patient for
more than nine years and over 65,000 cases. Parents shunned the MMR vaccine
followed research that linked it to bowel disorders and autism and there was
a resurgence in mumps, with an epidemic in 2005..." |
|
Quick Tests for the Flu Found Often Inaccurate |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 6, 2009 |
|
"As the swine flu spreads,
many doctors and hospitals are turning to rapid tests that can determine
within minutes whether an anxious patient has the flu. Sales of such tests
are soaring. But the tests have a severe limitation: They may fail more than
half the time to detect swine flu infections, according to newly published
studies and to experts in medical testing..." |
|
WHO: Fast -Track Flu Vaccines Don't Reduce Safety |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 6, 2009 |
|
| "Procedures to fast-track approvals of
new vaccines to combat H1N1 influenza do not reduce safety, the World Health
Organization said on Thursday. The WHO said vaccines had to be available
quickly and in large quantities to have the greatest impact..." |
|
During Immunization Awareness Month, Neonatal Care and Vaccination Go Hand
in Hand |
|
| Westside Gazette (FL) |
|
| August 5, 2009 |
|
| "What do infant mortality and
immunization have in common? A lot, in fact. Neo-natal care begins well
before a baby is born and helps to ensure that an infant is born healthy.
Immunization begins during a baby's first months and ensures that a child
remains healthy. Failure to receive either effective neonatal care or early
immunization can go a long way toward contributing to infant and
early-childhood mortality. Sadly, African Americans with lower incomes lag
behind when it comes to immunizations..." |
|
Big Drug Makers Start Trials of Swine Flu Vaccines |
|
| Reuters |
|
| August 5, 2009 |
|
| "Novartis has started human testing of
H1N1 swine flu vaccine candidates while Sanofi-Aventis, the world leader in
flu shots, will commence within days, company officials said on Tuesday. The
launch of clinical trials is a key part of a widening program of work being
undertaken by big pharmaceutical companies as they prepare for mass
vaccination from next month. GlaxoSmithKline, the other 'big three' flu
vaccine supplier, said it would initiate clinical studies later this
month..." |
|
Autism Activist Says It's Time to Acknowledge There's No Autism-Vaccine Link |
|
| AAFP News |
|
| August 4, 2009 |
|
| "It's been a rough year for the
anti-vaccine movement. In February, three federal judges ruled in three
separate cases that there is no association between vaccines and autism. In
April, Alison Singer resigned from her role as executive vice president of
Autism Speaks, the nation's largest private supporter of autism research,
citing a disagreement with the organization's decision to continue to fund
research into a possible link between vaccines and autism despite mounting
evidence that vaccinations do not cause autism spectrum disorders..." |
|
Pneumonia Vaccine May Help Limit Swine Flu Deaths |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| August 4, 2009 |
|
| "In years past, the nation's attempts to
prevent flu-related deaths have focused on limiting transmission of the
virus through widespread vaccination programs. This year, with school
starting up well before a vaccine for the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus will
be available, there will be little that can slow the spread of the virus for
the next few months. But there may yet be something that can be done to
reduce hospitalizations and deaths associated with the virus, commonly known
as swine flu, public health..." |
|
Schools Prep for Spread of Swine Flu |
|
| USA Today |
|
| August 3, 2009 |
|
| "As the first day of classes approaches
for some districts, school and health officials in several states are
preparing for the possibility of wider outbreaks of the H1N1 virus. Swine
flu, which disproportionately targets teenagers and young adults, is
expected to begin spreading more rapidly when students return to the close
quarters of classrooms and dormitories, county and state health officials
say. They expect greater-than-usual numbers of students to seek inoculations
because of widespread publicity about H1N1..." |
|
Opinion: Prepare for a Vaccine Controversy
By Arthur Allen |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 2, 2009 |
|
| "A few years ago public health officials
set up a time share in Pennsylvania hens. Under contracts signed with
several farmers, the hens continued to lay for their regular customers until
the moment this past spring when the federal government requisitioned their
eggs to grow flu vaccine. Strategic hen reserves are part of a success
story: the government's readiness for the current H1N1 flu pandemic. Public
health officials had already stockpiled millions of doses of antiviral
drugs, created diagnostic kits that detected the virus as soon as it
appeared in California in April and enrolled five companies to make
vaccine..." |
|
Opinion: Fly the Germ-Free Skies
By Mark Gendreau, MD |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 2, 2009 |
|
| "The new H1N1 flu has already been
transmitted from one passenger to another on a commercial airline, and it is
likely that more such incidents will occur if the virus resurges as
anticipated this fall. The aviation industry and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention have tried to reassure passengers that air travel is
still safe, but so far they have done too little to try to limit the number
of such transmissions..." |
|
Mothers-to-be Urged to Consider Swine Flu Vaccinations |
|
| Chicago Tribune |
|
| August 2, 2009 |
|
| "With pregnant women facing a high risk
of death from swine flu, health officials in Illinois are planning an
aggressive campaign to educate doctors and encourage expectant mothers to
get vaccinated against the virus, which threatens to spread rapidly this
fall. 'In general, when people are pregnant, they are reluctant to take
medication they fear might cause harm to the child,' said Dr. Julie Morita,
medical director for the immunization program at the Chicago Department of
Public Health. 'But if their physician says 'I think you need a flu
vaccine,' they are more likely to heed it.'..." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
CDC to Seek Public's Advice on H1N1 Vaccination Drive |
|
| CIDRAP |
|
| July 31, 2009 |
|
| "The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) plans to gather the public's thoughts in August on how big
this fall's H1N1 influenza vaccination drive should be. The CDC will hold 10
'public engagement' meetings around the country to get the citizenry's
advice on whether the vaccination program should be an all-out effort or
something more modest, according to Roger Bernier, PhD, MPH, senior advisor
in the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. The
agency wants to take the public pulse on the issue because there's so much
uncertainty about the scale and of the severity of the pandemic and the
demand for the vaccine this fall and winter, Bernier said..." |
|
Vaccine Plan in U.S. May Endanger Supply, Lancet Says |
|
| Bloomberg News |
|
| July 31, 2009 |
|
| "U.S. plan to rely on swine flu vaccines
without ingredients to stretch the supply would reduce the number of
available shots just when other countries need them most, the British
journal Lancet said in an editorial. The ingredients, called adjuvants, have
never been approved for flu vaccines in the U.S. and are controversial
because some studies show they cause immune disorders in mice..." |
|
Nasal Vaccine Holds Promise Against Swine Flu |
|
| New York Times |
|
| July 30, 2009 |
|
| "As the nation girds for a possible swine
flu pandemic, one of the big weapons may come from an unexpected source - a
vaccine squirted or dropped into the nose. MedImmune, which already makes
the nasal spray vaccine FluMist for seasonal flu viruses, says it is on
track to produce about five times as much swine flu vaccine as it had
expected - so much, in fact, that it will run out of nasal spray devices and
is looking to administer the vaccines with droppers instead..." |
|
Flu Vaccine Panel Creates Priority List |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| July 30, 2009 |
|
| "A complicated list of who should get
pandemic flu vaccine in the fall is now set. When the vaccine starts
arriving in September, first in line will be pregnant women; the caretakers
of infants; children and young adults; older people with chronic illness;
and health-care workers. That's the advice of a 15-member committee of
experts, which met all day Wednesday at the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in Atlanta to advise the federal government on vaccine policy..." |
|
Wal-Mart Weighs Role in U.S. H1N1 Vaccination Plans |
|
| Reuters |
|
| July 30, 2009 |
|
| "Wal-Mart Stores Inc is discussing with
U.S. health officials the possibility of putting vaccination sites at some
of its stores for an H1N1 swine flu inoculation campaign this fall, a
company official said on Thursday. Federal officials met with Wal-Mart
executives on Wednesday in Arkansas to discuss the issue, Dr. John Agwunobi,
president of health and wellness for Wal-Mart U.S., told public health
leaders at a conference in Orlando..." |
|
Volunteers Swarm for Shot at Swine Flu Vaccine |
|
|
MSNBC |
|
| July 29, 2009 |
|
| "It's been just a week since Monica
Hankins first heard scientists were looking for volunteers to test an
experimental vaccine to prevent the H1N1 swine flu, but the Festus, Mo., mom
and her family already are signed up. She wants her two young daughters,
Isabella, 3, and Maya, 19 months, to be among the first to be protected
against the previously unknown virus that has launched a global pandemic and
claimed more than 800 lives worldwide, including more than 300 in the United
States..." |
|
Federal Panel Issues H1N1 Vaccine Guidelines |
|
| CNN |
|
| July 29, 2009 |
|
| “A federal advisory committee issued sweeping guidelines Wednesday for a vaccination campaign against the pandemic swine flu strain, identifying more than half the U.S. population as targets for the first round of vaccinations. The advisory panel's guidelines don't trigger the start of vaccinations but are usually accepted by the government. The priority groups include pregnant women; health care and emergency services personnel; children, adolescents and young adults up to age 24; household and caregiver contacts of children younger than six months; and healthy adults with certain medical conditions..." |
|
CDC Says Pregnant Women with Flu Symptoms Should Receive Anti-Viral Drugs |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| July 29, 2009 |
|
| “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday pregnant women suspected of having the flu should be promptly treated with antiviral medications. The CDC, in a study set to be published in the medical journal Lancet, said pregnant women are more severely impacted by the H1N1 virus. CDC said pregnant women had higher rates of hospitalization and a greater risk of death compared to the general population...“ |
|
First Defense Against Swine Flu - Seasonal Vaccine |
|
| Reuters |
|
| July 24, 2009 |
|
| “U.S. health officials strengthened their recommendations for seasonal flu vaccines on Friday, saying all children aged 6 months to 18 years should be immunized -- especially because of the H1N1 flu pandemic. The seasonal vaccine provides little or no protection against H1N1 swine flu, but immunization will help prevent people from being infected with both at once and can help minimize the effects of the pandemic on schools, workplaces and the economy in general, health experts say....“ |
|
EU Panel to Review H1N1 Vaccines Before Flu Season |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| July 24, 2009 |
|
| “The European Medicines Agency said Friday it has started to receive data on H1N1 pandemic vaccines following the review beginning in July, with the commitment from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, to fast-track the review of data as vaccine manufacturers make them available....
“ |
|
In Trials for H1N1 Vaccine, Dosage Is Key |
|
| USA Today |
|
| July 23, 2009 |
|
| “The race to test a new pandemic flu vaccine is poised to begin, starting with trials in healthy adults and then, if no safety questions emerge, in children, federal officials said Wednesday. The goal is to produce enough vaccine to protect at least 120 million people against an entirely new flu virus, H1N1, also known as swine flu, before flu season takes off in the fall...
“ |
|
Think H1N1 Is Bad Now? Wait Till Flu Season |
|
| TIME |
|
| July 22, 2009 |
|
| “When the World Health Organization announced on July 16 that it would stop issuing global counts of confirmed cases of the H1N1/09 virus (the new WHO-approved name differentiates the virus from older versions of H1N1), it wasn't because the disease had burned out. Far from it...“ |
|
First Vaccine for Foiling Swine Flu to be Tested |
|
| Bloomberg News |
|
| July 22, 2009 |
|
| “The first human trials of a swine- flu vaccine are set to begin in Australia as deaths and infections from the H1N1 virus mount worldwide, intensifying demand for a protective shot. CSL Ltd., the only flu-vaccine maker in the Southern Hemisphere, plans to start the research tomorrow in Adelaide by injecting a group of healthy volunteers with its experimental vaccine, the company said last week...“ |
|
FDA Approves Next Seasonal Flu Vaccines |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| July 22, 2009 |
|
| “The Food and Drug Administration said Monday it approved vaccines for the upcoming 2009-2010 seasonal influenza season in the U.S. The vaccines won’t protect against the new H1N1 influenza strain, which was declared a pandemic last month by the World Health Organization. The manufacturing process for a vaccine that would protect against that strain is just beginning, and it won’t be available until October at the earliest...“ |
|
Many Young Adults Uninformed about Vaccines |
|
| HealthDay News |
|
| July 22, 2009 |
|
| "Vaccines are not only for children, but many young adults in the United States are unaware of the need to keep up with their shots, a new survey shows..." |
|
More than 20,000 Oregonians Urged to Get New Vaccinations |
|
| The Oregonian |
|
| July 21, 2009 |
|
| "Public health leaders say almost 22,000 Oregonians -- mostly children -- should get new vaccinations after state investigators found widespread problems with the way vaccines were stored at 15 clinics statewide. It's the largest revaccination push in Oregon history, officials say..." |
|
| Young Writer Takes a Shot at Vaccines |
|
| Bucks County Courier Times |
|
| July 21, 2009 |
|
| “Morgan Thomas was 9 years old when she got her second chicken pox vaccination. The experience, which included what seemed like a never-ending wait in the doctor's office, left a lasting impression. A few months later, she put those feelings onto paper. Now, the 11-year-old is a published author. ‘The Saturday Shot’ was published in May, more than a year after Morgan's mom secretly sent her daughter's manuscript to Tate Publishing & Enterprises LLC, a mainline publishing group in Mustang, Okla..." |
|
H1N1 Vaccine on the Way for Fall Distribution |
|
| American Medical News |
|
| July 20, 2009 |
|
| “Physicians and other health care professionals likely will be among the first to receive a new influenza A(H1N1) vaccine, which should be ready by mid-October, said Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She made the announcement at a summit of local, state and federal health and school officials held July 9 at the National Institutes of Health...“ |
|
| McDonald's Worker May Have Exposed 10,000 to Hepatitis A |
|
| Fox News |
|
| July 20, 2009 |
|
| "Officials are offering free preventive treatment to people possibly exposed to hepatitis A at a McDonald's restaurant near the Quad Cities. Kevin Murphy operates the McDonald's restaurant in Milan. He says the restaurant learned from health officials on July 13 that one of his workers had been diagnosed with the virus. That worker was diagnosed June 17..." |
|
Law Creates New Vaccine Data System |
|
| Arizona Republic |
|
| July 19, 2009 |
|
| "State lawmakers and health officials hope a new law will help eliminate confusion over immunizations and cut down on wasted vaccine supplies in what many predict will be an intense flu season. Earlier this month, Gov. Jan Brewer signed House Bill 2164, which allows adult vaccination records to be tracked in the state's electronic immunization registry..." |
|
Opinion: The New McCarthyism |
|
| Winnipeg Sun |
|
| July 19, 2009 |
|
| "I recently met Jessica, one of Jenny McCarthy's friends who was worried about the strong arguments against immunizations that Jenny has made on autism…" |
|
CDC expects to have enough H1N1 vaccine |
|
| UPI |
|
| July 18, 2009 |
|
| “Physicians and other health care professionals likely will be among the first to receive a new influenza A(H1N1) vaccine, which should be ready by mid-October, said Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She made the announcement at a summit of local, state and federal health and school officials held July 9 at the National Institutes of Health...“ |
|
New Insights Could Help Shield Babies from Diarrhea Bug |
|
| HealthDay News |
|
| July 17, 2009 |
|
| "The incidence of rotavirus infection, a major cause of infant illness in the United States, could be drastically reduced by a better understanding of when and where infections are likely to spread and by the wide use of new vaccines, new research suggests..." |
|
Swine Flu Expected to Return with Opening of School |
|
| New York TImes |
|
| July 17, 2009 |
|
| “Physicians and other health care professionals likely will be among the first to receive a new influenza A(H1N1) vaccine, which should be ready by mid-October, said Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She made the announcement at a summit of local, state and federal health and school officials held July 9 at the National Institutes of Health...“ |
|
Expert on Wildlife Rabies Worked at CDC; His Book Has Been Worldwide
Reference Since '75 |
|
| Atlanta Journal-Constitution |
|
| July 14, 2009 |
|
| "Dr. George Baer devoted his life to
preventive medicine and combating disease. Colleagues consider the
virologist, veterinarian and public health scientist the "father of oral
rabies vaccination." In 1969, he and a team of scientists and researchers
developed a method for the immunization of wildlife against rabies in
laboratories at the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control. His creation
of an oral rabies vaccine led to the eradication of wildlife rabies in most
of Europe. Because of his passion, research and writing, Dr. Baer was
regarded as an international expert on wildlife rabies. Dr. George Martin
Baer, 73, of Mexico City and formerly of Atlanta, died June 2 from
complications of a suspected heart attack at his home..." |
|
Year-End Release Likely for Flu Vaccine |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| July 14, 2009 |
|
| "A fully licensed swine flu vaccine might
not be available until the end of the year, a top official at the World
Health Organization said yesterday, in a report that could affect many
countries' vaccination plans. But countries could use emergency provisions
to get the vaccines out quicker if they decide their populations need them,
said Marie-Paule Kieny, director of WHO's Initiative for Vaccine Research,
during a news conference. The swine flu viruses being used to develop a
vaccine aren't producing enough of the ingredient needed for the vaccine,
and WHO has asked its laboratory network to produce a new set of viruses as
soon as possible..." |
|
Study: Deadly 1918 Pandemic Took Years to Evolve, Through Pigs, Offering
Lessons for Today |
|
| Chicago Tribune |
|
| July 13, 2009 |
|
| "History's deadliest flu pandemic, in
1918, may not have made a sudden jump from birds to people after all. New
research says the pig played a big role as an influenza mixing bowl - a gene
probe with lessons for tracking today's swine flu outbreak. The genetic
ancestor hunt shows pieces of the 1918 killer virus were quietly circulating
in people and pigs up to 15 years before the pandemic erupted, researchers
reported Monday..." |
|
WHO Says Health Workers Priority for H1N1 Vaccine |
|
| Reuters |
|
| July 13, 2009 |
|
| "Healthcare workers should get priority
access to H1N1 flu vaccinations to ensure health systems keep functioning as
the swine flu pandemic spreads around the globe, the World Health
Organization said on Monday. Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO director of the
Initiative for Vaccine Research, said the agency's experts had concluded
every country in the world would need access to vaccines, which drug
companies are now racing to produce. Disappointingly, Kieny said, yields
from growing the new virus in chicken eggs -- the mainstay of flu vaccine
production -- had so far been 'poor,' at only 25 to 50 percent of that
achieved with normal seasonal flu strains. Alternative strains are now being
studied that will hopefully increase output, she added..." |
|
Swine Flu Vaccine Trials in Rochester |
|
| WHAM (NY) |
|
| July 13, 2009 |
|
| "Clinical trials for a swine flu vaccine
will begin in just a few weeks in Rochester. 'We run trials for the
pharmaceuticals industry,' said Dr. Matthew Davis. Rochester Clinical
Research is the place where vaccines earn their stripes -- passing test
after test before being passed on to the public..." |
|
Scary Lesson for Pennsylvania Teen Who Declined Vaccine |
|
| Journal Gazette |
|
| July 12, 2009 |
|
| "Derek Horn is lucky to be alive. At the
end of March, the East Stroudsburg University freshman found himself
battling flu-like symptoms. At first, his health started to improve. But as
the week drew to a close, and he went from his jazz listening class to
psychology on campus, the 18-year-old could feel his condition worsen. His
stomach ached and his fever spiked..." |
|
Mother's Measles Vaccination Plea |
|
| BBC News (UK) |
|
| July 12, 2009 |
|
| "Gary Bridges and Billy-Jean Nicholson,
from Newton Aycliffe, developed serious complications after contracting the
highly- contagious illness. Now their mother Lisa has urged parents to take
up the MMR vaccine to avoid the 'living hell' she went through. The North
East is in the grip of the worst measles outbreak in 20 years. In recent
weeks more than 100 measles cases have been confirmed and at least 100 more
are being investigated. Ms Nicholson said neither of her children had been
immunised as babies because of concerns over the safety of the MMR
vaccine..." |
|
Resignations Highlight Disagreement on Vaccines in Autism Group |
|
| Science Magazine |
|
| July 10, 2009 |
|
| "A prominent member of the science
advisory board for Autism Speaks, the largest private funder of autism
research, resigned last week citing his disagreement with efforts to study
vaccines as a possible cause of autism. Eric London, a psychiatrist and
chief science advisor for the New York State Autism Consortium, says that
funding such research, in addition to being wasteful, unduly heightens
parents' concerns about the safety of immunization. London's departure is a
sign of growing frustration in the research community, says Alison Singer, a
former high-ranking leader of Autism Speaks who resigned from the group in
January..." |
|
H1N1 Stunned Emory Doctors: Medical team that saved Kentucky woman recalls
swift severity of illness |
|
| Atlanta Journal-Constitution |
|
|
July 10, 2009 |
|
| "The Kentucky woman was having a grand
vacation that included a Mexican getaway, shopping in Atlanta and a wedding
in LaGrange. But on May 7, she found herself on an emergency helicopter
flying to Emory University Hospital --- near death. Having spent about two
weeks in a LaGrange hospital, the 31-year-old woman's already serious case
of swine flu had, within a matter of hours, taken a terrible turn for the
worse. She was in respiratory failure, meaning she could no longer breathe
on her own, and doctors had discovered a blood clot in her lungs. So the
LaGrange doctors rushed her to Emory, with its infectious disease
specialists and advanced equipment. The woman's identity has not been made
public, at her request, but this week eight of the Emory doctors and staff
recounted their monthlong struggle to save her..." |
|
U.S. Ready to Spend Billions on Flu Vaccine |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| July 10, 2009 |
|
| "The Obama administration said yesterday
that it has billions of dollars available to help pay for a national H1N1
flu vaccine program that could be ready starting in mid-October. Health and
Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius made the announcement at an
all-day summit on the outbreak of what is more commonly known as swine flu.
One purpose of the gathering, officials have said, is to help restore a
sense of urgency to the worldwide response to the epidemic..." |
|
15 Air Force Academy Cadets Have Swine Flu |
|
| Denver Post |
|
| July 10, 2009 |
|
| The Academy announced the confirmed cases
in Colorado's largest outbreak of the H1N1 virus. The Academy announced
Thursday that 89 cadets were isolated with flu-like symptoms. Academy
spokeswoman Capt. Corinna Jones says that most of the sick cadets are
"doolies," members of the incoming freshman class who began training June
25. The cadets began coughing and showing other upper respiratory symptoms
last Monday..." |
|
Obama Warns of Return of Swine Flu in Fall |
|
| New York Times |
|
| July 10, 2009 |
|
| "The Obama administration warned
Americans on Thursday to be ready for an aggressive return of the swine flu
virus in the fall, announcing plans to begin vaccinations in October and
offering states and hospitals money to help them prepare. The potential for
a significant outbreak in the fall is looming," President Obama said by
telephone link from Italy to the White House's H1N1 Influenza Preparedness
Summit, held at the National Institutes of Health..." |
|
Students 1st in Line for Flu Vaccine |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| July 10, 2009 |
|
| "School-age children will be a key target
population for a pandemic flu vaccine in the fall, and they may be
vaccinated at school in a mass campaign not seen since the polio epidemics
of the 1950s. The federal government should get about 100 million doses of
vaccine by mid-October, if the current production by five companies goes as
planned. But enough vaccine for wide use by the 120 million people
especially vulnerable to the newly emerged strain of H1N1 influenza virus
will not be available until later in the fall..." |
|
Chickenpox Killed My Daughter |
|
| Daily Mirror (UK) |
|
| July 9, 2009 |
|
| "Most see it as no more than a
harmless childhood illness, but chickenpox can kill, as grieving mum Angie
Bunce-Mason found out. When her three-year-old Elana got chickenpox, Angie
Bunce-Mason was relieved at first to be getting the common childhood illness
out of the way. But, just six days later, Elana was dead, killed by a
disease most people consider harmless..." |
|
Drug Gives Anthrax Protection in Animal Studies |
|
| Newsday |
|
| July 9, 2009 |
|
| "A series of studies show an experimental
drug helped monkeys and rabbits survive anthrax, suggesting the drug could
be useful in case of another anthrax attack. In 2001, five people died after
inhaling anthrax germs they'd gotten through the U.S. mail. Doctors now use
antibiotics to prevent or treat anthrax, and there also is an anthrax
vaccine. The experimental drug works a different way - by blocking deadly
anthrax toxin from entering cells. Researchers say it could be combined with
antibiotics. The company that developed the experimental drug under federal
contract has already delivered 20,000 doses to the government for emergency
use..." |
|
Health Department Issues Measles Warning |
|
| Queens Tribune (NY) |
|
| July 9, 2009 |
|
| "The New York City Health Department
issued a warning to doctors and city residents to be cautious of measles,
after identifying 11 infection cases of the virus in Brooklyn. The DOH is
also investigating an additional case they consider of a suspect nature..." |
|
WHO Approves Cervical Cancer Vaccine Cervarix |
|
| USA Today |
|
| July 9, 2009 |
|
| "The World Health Organization has
approved a second cervical cancer vaccine, this one made by GlaxoSmithKline,
meaning U.N. agencies and partners can now officially buy millions of doses
of the vaccine for poor countries worldwide. GlaxoSmithKline PLC said in a
statement Thursday the approval would help speed access to Cervarix
globally..." |
|
U.S. Government to Fully Fund Swine Flu Vaccines |
|
| Reuters |
|
| July 9, 2009 |
|
| "The U.S. government will fully pay for
any autumn vaccination program against the new H1N1 swine flu, Health and
Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on Thursday. Although it is
not certain Americans will be offered the vaccine, Sebelius said plans were
on track for a mid-October vaccination program. 'We have already
appropriated about a billion dollars to buy the bulk ingredients,' Sebelius
told a swine flu 'summit' of state and local leaders at the National
Institutes of Health. She said another $7.5 billion was available from
emergency preparedness funds..." |
|
San Quentin Limits Intake of Prisoners |
|
| San FranciscoChronicle |
|
| July 9. 2009 |
|
| "Seeking to prevent an outbreak of swine
flu from spreading beyond prison walls, officials at San Quentin State
Prison on Wednesday stopped accepting prisoners from 16 Northern California
counties, including all nine in the Bay Area. The move follows by two..." |
|
Immunization Classes Reach Out to Immigrant Communities |
|
| Chicago Tribune |
|
| July 8, 2009 |
|
| "After attending an immunization training
session last year, JP Jael decided to broaden the content of his violence
prevention workshops. No parent would leave without information on
vaccinations as well, said Jael, a project coordinator for the non-profit
Asian Human Services, which provides social services for Chicago's pan-Asian
community. 'I think immunization is one of the things that they should
learn, especially in my community because they're not familiar with it,' he
said..." |
|
H1N1 Vaccine Trials Happening In North Texas |
|
| CBS 11 (TX) |
|
| July 8, 2009 |
|
| "It is a mystery the World Health
Organization is trying to solve. How did a handful of H1N1, or swine flu,
cases balloon into a global pandemic in less than two months? The
organization says there are 77,000 confirmed cases and 332 deaths worldwide,
but U.S. health officials say as many as one million Americans have been
infected with H1N1. With concerns among health officials that the virus will
make a strong comeback this fall, North Texas could be on the front line for
a vaccine. Five-year-old Grace Schmidt and her two-year-old brother,
Matthew, will be among the first to test the swine flu vaccine next
month..." |
|
U.S. Influenza Vaccination Rates Suboptimal in Adults with Asthma |
|
| RT Magazine (Reuters) |
|
| July 7, 2009 |
|
| "Influenza vaccination rates among U.S.
adults with asthma remain well below national goals, report health officials
from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta. "Increased
state and national efforts are needed to improve influenza vaccination
levels among this population and particularly among those aged 18-49 years,"
Dr. Peng-jun Lu and colleagues conclude in a report in the August issue of
the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The Healthy People 2010
national objectives call for yearly influenza vaccination of at least 60% of
adults aged 18 to 64 years who have asthma and other conditions linked with
increased risks of complications from the flu, the researchers note..." |
|
Fewer Shots Could Still Protect Kids from Pneumonia |
|
| Forbes |
|
| July 7, 2009 |
|
| "Parents and babies alike will be
relieved by new findings that show a reduced-dose schedule for the
pneumococcal vaccine can protect infants against pneumonia and other
infections. The current recommended dose schedule for 7-valent pneumococcal
conjugate vaccine (PCV-7) consists of three primary doses before the age of
6 months, followed by a booster vaccination in the second year of life (3 +
1-dose schedule). But factors such as questions about the cost-effectiveness
of the current PCV-7 dose schedule have led researchers to examine
reduced-dose vaccine schedules, according to background information in the
study..." |
|
HIV Is Found to Be Fast |
|
| News and Observer (NC) |
|
| July 7, 2009 |
|
| "Human immunodeficiency virus, once
considered a slow if stealthy invader, actually works incredibly fast at
disarming key immune fighters in the body, scientists at Duke University and
UNC-Chapel Hill reported Monday. What's more, HIV strikes an army of immune
cells that scientists previously believed were less vulnerable early on. The
findings, reported in the online journal PloS Medicine, provide a better
understanding of how to develop a vaccine to protect against the virus that
cause AIDS. It newly infects an estimated 56,300 people a year in the United
States..." |
|
New Evidence Supports HPV Vaccine |
|
| Forbes |
|
| July 7, 2009 |
|
| "The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine
is highly effective at preventing precancerous cervical lesions that can
lead to cervical cancer, a new study shows. The researchers also found that
the HPV-16/18 AS04-adjuvanted vaccine also appears to protect against other
cancer-causing HPV types closely related to HPV-16/18, most notably HPV-31
and HPV-45. The study of women aged 15 to 25, who received three vaccine
doses over six months, found that it was as much as 98 percent effective
against HPV-16/18, and between 37 percent and 54 percent effective against
12 other cancer-causing HPV types..." |
|
Autism May Be Linked to Mom's Autoimmune Disease |
|
| Health Day News |
|
| July 6, 2009 |
|
| "Children of mothers who have autoimmune
diseases such as type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and celiac disease
have up to a three times greater risk for autism, a new study finds.
Although the association between autism and a maternal history of type 1
diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis had been found in earlier research, the
researchers behind the new study say that theirs is the first to find a link
between autism and celiac disease. People with celiac disease cannot
tolerate gluten, a protein in wheat, rye and barley… " |
|
Journal Was Told of Flu Mutation First |
|
| Japan Times |
|
| July 6, 2009 |
|
| "The Osaka Prefectural Government sent a research paper to a U.S. medical
journal on the 1st case in Japan of a genetic
mutation of swine flu resistant to Tamiflu about a week before making the
finding public, officials said Sunday. 'It's not
that we intentionally placed priority on the manuscript and delayed the
announcement,' said Tatsuya Oshita, an official in
the prefectural government's health and medical care department. 'As it
turned out, we dealt with the matter in a way that
could be criticized, and we are sorry.' The H1N1 virus resistant to Tamiflu
was found in a woman in her 40s in Osaka
Prefecture on 18 Jun 2009 -- 2 weeks before the announcement -- through
virus sample analysis at the Osaka Prefectural
Institute of Public Health, the officials said..." |
|
The Return of Measles |
|
| New York Post |
|
| July 5, 2009 |
|
| "Medical officials used to worry about
the outbreak of long-preventable diseases in poor, remote countries. Now
they're fretting over Brooklyn. Because of widespread but unfounded fears
about vaccines, middle class children are coming down with measles, a
disease virtually wiped out in the US..." |
|
Tamiflu Resistant H1N1 from Hong Kong
More Worrying than Earlier Findings Canadian Press |
|
| July 4, 2009 |
|
|
| "All cases of Tamiflu resistance are not created equal. So while the 1st 3
instances of swine flu infection with Tamiflu-resistant viruses were reported in the past week, it was Number 3, not
Number 1 that put influenza experts on edge. Public
health authorities in Hong Kong announced Friday [3 Jul 2009] they have
found a case of Tamiflu resistance in a woman who
hadn't taken the drug. That means she was infected with swine flu viruses
that were already resistant to Tamiflu, the main
weapon in most countries' and companies' pandemic drug arsenals..." |
|
Swine Flu Death Toll in Argentina Climbs |
|
| New York Times |
|
| July 4, 2009 |
|
| "The death toll from swine flu in Argentina continued to rise as President
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said she would not
rule out closing major public venues where the virus could spread more
quickly. Dr. Juan Manzur, the new health minister,
said Friday that 44 people had died from swine flu and that the country had
2,800 confirmed flu cases. The numbers reflected
a sharp increase compared with a week earlier, when there were 26 deaths and
1,587 cases. Swine flu has killed more people in
Argentina than in any other country in South America, where the winter flu
season is just beginning..." |
|
Studies: Novel H1N1 Affects Deep Lung Tissue, Transmits Fairly Well |
|
| July 2, 2009 |
|
| CIDRAP News |
|
| "The novel H1N1 (swine) influenza now
circling the globe causes more serious lung disease than seasonal flu
strains and sheds from the lung and throat tissue where it reproduces at
higher rates, according to two animal studies published today—findings that
could explain autopsies and case reports of severe pneumonia as well as the
virus's rapid spread. And while the studies, conducted in ferrets and mice,
agree that the new flu passes fairly well between individuals, they disagree
over the effectiveness of different modes of transmission..." |
|
Tuberculosis: TB Vaccine Too Dangerous for Babies with AIDS Virus, Study
Says |
|
| New York Times |
|
| July 2, 2009 |
|
| "The vaccine against tuberculosis that is
routinely given to 75 percent of the world's infants is too risky to give to
those born infected with the AIDS virus, says a new study published by the
World Health Organization. It recommended that vaccination be delayed until
babies can be tested. The Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine, known as BCG,
protects children well against deadly tuberculous meningitis, though it does
less well against the lung form..." |
|
Invest in Vaccines to Avert Pandemic |
|
| Atlanta Journal-Constitution |
|
| July 1, 2009 |
|
| "Last month, the World Health Organization finally declared that the new H1N1 virus has become pandemic. Monday it reported a big jump in cases and fatalities since last week. How many people this virus will sicken and kill depends, ultimately, on three things: the virus itself; the impact of what are known as “non-pharmaceutical interventions,” or NPIs; and the availability and effectiveness of a vaccine. The virus will be the most important factor. Influenza is one of the fastest-mutating organisms in existence, which makes it unpredictable, and a virus newly infecting the human population is likely to be even more unpredictable as it adapts to a new environment..." |
|
|
|
|
|
| Henderson Led WHO's Effort to Rid the World of Smallpox |
|
| USA Today |
|
| June 30, 2009 |
|
| “One day in 1947, two cases of smallpox turned up in New York City. An investigation identified more cases. The outbreak's source turned out to be a visitor from Mexico who stayed in a hotel with 3,000 guests from 28 states. Health workers raced to vaccinate each one. And they didn't stop there. Over the next four weeks, to make sure smallpox didn't take hold in the USA, health workers vaccinated 6 million New Yorkers, all to contain a 12-person outbreak with just two deaths..." |
|
| ACIP: No Preference for Separate MMR and Varicella Vaccines |
|
| MedPage Today |
|
| June 30, 2009 |
|
| “The government's vaccine advisory panel has endorsed giving an infant varicella vaccine either by itself or in combination with the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR)...” |
|
| Wayne Marasco: A Shot at a Universal Flu Vaccine |
|
| US News and World Report |
|
| June 30, 2009 |
|
| “Wayne Marasco is no doubt the only Harvard medical researcher who abandoned a successful construction firm, Waymar Roofing and Siding, to become an immunologist. The man with the unorthodox history recently made a striking discovery: a human antibody that attacks a newfound vulnerability in flu viruses. His finding could be the key to a single, perennial vaccine against all forms of influenza, including swine flu. Vaccines work by training the body's immune system to recognize distinctive molecules on the surface of a virus. The body then makes antibodies that grab those molecules and disable the virus. But flu viruses constantly change the shape of their surface molecules. So the vaccine that 143 million Americans get annually has to be matched each year to the mutating virus. That process takes months, making it hard to quickly cook up a vaccine for a new bug. After SARS, Marasco started searching for antibodies to the H5N1 bird flu virus. By 2007, he had found an antibody that stuck to all four circulating bird flu strains, the 1918 pandemic flu, and representatives of 8,000 other flu strains..." |
|
Dr. Eric London Resigns from Autism Speaks |
|
| Autism Science Foundation |
|
| June 29, 2009 |
|
| Press Release: "Dr. Eric London has announced his resignation from the Autism Speaks Scientific Affairs Committee..." |
|
Swine Flu 'Shows Drug Resistance' |
|
| BBC News |
|
| June 29, 2009 |
|
| "Experts have reported the 1st case of swine flu that is resistant to Tamiflu, the main drug being used to fight the pandemic. Roche Holding AG confirmed a patient with H1N1 influenza in Denmark showed resistance to the antiviral drug. David Reddy, company executive, said it was not unexpected given that common seasonal flu could do the same..." |
|
Study Shows Swine Flu's Spread Can Be Tracked Through Air Travel |
|
| Chicago Tribune |
|
| June 29, 2009 |
|
| "In a startling measure of just how widely a new disease can spread, researchers accurately plotted swine flu's course around the world by tracking air travel from Mexico. The research was based on an analysis of flight data from March and April last year, which showed more than 2 million people flew from Mexico to more than 1,000 cities worldwide. Researchers said patterns of departures from Mexico in those months varies little from year to year; swine flu began its spread in March and April this year..." |
|
U.S. Cases of New Flu Hit a High This Week |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| June 29, 2009 |
|
| “The new H1N1 swine flu may cause more-severe illness than similar seasonal strains but may spread less easily, according to preliminary findings from a study of ferrets to be published soon by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists. CDC officials said Friday they received reports of nearly 6,300 new U.S. cases in the past week, more than in any other week since the outbreak began in late April, signaling the virus isn't letting up despite summer's arrival. Almost all flu cases now tested are the new H1N1 flu rather than regular seasonal flu, the agency said. U.S. government officials and manufacturers are preparing to produce 600 million doses of vaccine for the H1N1 virus, an effort that would dwarf seasonal-flu campaigns and would include enough for those vaccinated to receive two doses. As many as 60 million doses could be ready by September, they said at a meeting Friday of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. But federal officials haven't decided whether to go ahead definitively with the campaign, determined who would get vaccinated, or worked out logistics for carrying out a campaign alongside seasonal-flu vaccinations...” |
|
Federal Circuit Reverses Denial of Vaccine Injury Claim |
|
| National Law Journal |
|
| June 26, 2009 |
|
| “A recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decision reversing the U.S. Court of Federal Claims' denial of a vaccine injury claim highlights the widening gulf between the Federal Circuit and Federal Claims court on vaccine cases. On June 18, the Federal Circuit reversed the Federal Claims court's decision to deny the petitioner compensation under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. The Federal Circuit case, brought on behalf of Enrique Andreu, alleged that he began having seizures the day after receiving a diphtheria, whole-cell pertussis and tetanus (DPT) vaccine at the age of eight weeks. According to the case, the seizure disorder ultimately led to a low IQ and language and developmental delays..." |
|
AMA Rejects Call for More Research on Vaccine Link to Autism, Reaffirms Immunization Policies |
|
| AAFP News |
|
| June 26, 2009 |
|
| “There's no need for more research into a possible link between vaccines and autism. But there is a continuing need for support of ongoing research into the true etiology of autism and its treatment. And physicians should continue to take a lead role in extolling the benefits of vaccines to health policymakers and the public. Those were among the messages recently sent by the AMA House of Delegates, which met June 13-17 in Chicago. A resolution submitted by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law initially proposed that the AMA reaffirm its support for universal vaccination, asked the AMA Council on Science and Public Health to review the most recent research on vaccines and autism, and urged the association to continue to support research into the etiology and treatment of autism. Although delegates at the meeting overwhelmingly supported the first and third resolves, they steadfastly opposed the request for a council review of vaccine research…" |
|
CDC to Reinstate Booster Shots of Hib Vaccine |
|
| Reuters |
|
| June 26, 2009 |
|
| “The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday it plans to reinstate booster shots of a vaccine that protects children against bacterial meningitis. The CDC said in a statement it now believes manufacturers will have enough supply of the vaccine to resume giving a booster shot of HiB (Haemophilus influenza type b) to children aged 12 to 15 months. Booster shots will resume on July 1. Scarce supplies of the vaccine starting in 2007 prompted U.S. health authorities to recommend dropping the booster shot, which is typically given to children at 12 to 15 months who were not at high risk of infection..." |
|
ACIP Amends Poliovirus Vaccine Recommendations |
|
| Pediatric SuperSite |
|
| May 26, 2009 |
|
| “Members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices affirmed a recommendation for a fourth dose of inactivated poliovirus-containing vaccine for 4-to-6-year olds if the three-dose vaccine series is completed before the child is 4…" |
|
|
Swine Flu Halts Muscular Dystrophy Camps |
|
| Philadelphia Inquirer |
|
| June 25, 2009 |
|
| "Thousands of Jerry's Kids will not
attend camps this summer after officials halted the program in the face
of 17 suspected swine-flu cases among campers, including six in
Montgomery County. The cancellation, which came after about 1,800
attended 33 camps, affects 2,500 children scheduled to attend 47 other
camps. The children's hereditary muscle weakness and compromised immune
systems leave them vulnerable to the H1N1 strain of influenza, Muscular
Dystrophy Association officials said..." |
|
|
Whooping Cough Diagnosed in Tierrasanta Child |
|
|
| June 24, 2009 |
|
| "A 10-year-old student at a
Tierrasanta elementary school has been diagnosed with whooping cough,
the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency announced today.
The child attends Kumeyaay Elementary School and was involved in a
Christian Youth Theater Group production in May, according to the HHSA.
'Whooping cough is very active this season and is highly
contagious,'said Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county's public health
officer..." |
|
|
ACIP Revises Immunity Requirements for HCW MMR Vaccination |
|
| Pediatric Supersite |
|
| June 24, 2009 |
|
| "The Advisory Committee on
Immunization Practices has updated a decade-old policy about immunity
requirements regarding measles-mumps and rubella vaccination for health
care workers. Kathleen Gallagher, DSc, from the Division of Viral
Diseases at CDC, said her working group recommended changing four areas
of the immunity requirements for healthcare personnel, originally
published in 1997 in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The first
change regarded the addition of laboratory confirmation of disease as
adequate proof of immunity against MMR. She said this recommendation was
consistent with routine surveillance practices that accept this data as
proof of immunity..." |
|
|
Federal Advisory Panel: Just 4 Rabies Shots Needed |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| June 24, 2009 |
|
| "People exposed to rabies need only
four vaccinations, not the five currently recommended, a vaccine
advisory committee said Wednesday. In the past, rabies shots were
dreaded almost as much as the disease itself. Until the 1970s, an
encounter with a rabid animal led to at least 14 shots in the abdomen.
But vaccines have improved, and five shots in the arm or thigh have been
the U.S. standard for more than 20 years. The Advisory Committee on
Immunization Practices voted unanimously that four shots -- all given
within the first 14 days after exposure to rabies -- are sufficient..." |
|
|
U.S. Panel Backs New Japanese Encephalitis Vaccine |
|
|
| June 24, 2009 |
|
| "A U.S. immunization panel has voted
to include a new vaccine for Japanese encephalitis, a mosquito-borne
disease, made by Intercell AG, in its list of recommended vaccines for
U.S. travelers, the company said on Wednesday. Intercell said the
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, which advises the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approved the vaccine
for U.S. travelers to Asia, military personnel and others at high risk.
The vaccine, called Ixairo, protects against Japanese encephalitis,
which affects 30,000 to 50,000 people each year across Asia, killing up
to 15,000..." |
|
|
Cost of Immunizing Children to go up July 1st |
|
| KTVB-TV (Idaho) |
|
| June 23, 2009 |
|
| "The cost to immunize one third of
Idaho children is going to go up on July first. In a move to save money,
the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare will no longer pay for
vaccines for all children in the state. This is just another cutback on
the state level which now puts more responsibility onto Idaho families.
This change will only affect Idaho families that have health insurance.
So children who are uninsured, under insured, are on Medicaid, American
Indian or an Alaska native will see no change. The state will still
cover their vaccines. Families with insurance will now be responsible to
pay co-pays or deductibles for vaccine only visits..." |
|
|
In New Theory, Swine Flu Started in Asia, Not Mexico |
|
| New York Times |
|
| June 23, 2009 |
|
| "Contrary to the popular assumption
that the new swine flu pandemic arose on factory farms in Mexico,
federal agriculture officials now believe that it most likely emerged in
pigs in Asia, but then traveled to North America in a human. But they
emphasized that there was no way to prove their theory and only sketchy
data underpinning it. There is no evidence that this new virus, which
combines Eurasian and North American genes, has ever circulated in North
American pigs, while there is tantalizing evidence that a closely
related 'sister virus' has circulated in Asia. American breeding pigs,
possibly carrying North American swine flu, are frequently exported to
Asia, where the flu could have combined with Asian strains. But because
of disease quarantines that make it hard to import Asian pigs, experts
said, it is unlikely that a pig brought the new strain back West. 'The
most likely scenario is that it came over in the mammalian species that
moves most freely around the world,' said Dr. Amy L. Vincent, a swine
flu specialist at the Agriculture Department's laboratory in Ames, Iowa,
referring, of course, to people. But a sample taken from a pig in Hong
Kong in 2004 was recently found to have a virus nearly matching the new
flu. That flu, which had seven of the new flu's eight genome sequences,
was noted in an article in Nature magazine on June 11, which called it a
'sister virus.'..." |
|
|
Editorial: Pandemic Reality Check |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| June 23, 2009 |
|
| "This month, the World Health
Organization finally declared that the new H1N1 virus has become
pandemic.Yesterday it reported a big jump in cases and fatalities since
Friday. How many people this virus will sicken and kill depends,
ultimately, on three things: the virus itself; the impact of what are
known as 'non-pharmaceutical interventions,' or NPIs; and the
availability and effectiveness of a vaccine. The virus will be the most
important factor. Influenza is one of the fastest-mutating organisms in
existence, which makes it unpredictable, and a virus newly infecting the
human population is likely to be even more unpredictable as it adapts to
a new environment...But we do have non-pharmaceutical interventions and
the possibility of a vaccine. Such interventions would come into play
primarily in a moderate or severe pandemic..." |
|
|
State's Only Swine Flu Death still a Mystery; Specialists Hunting for Clues to Explain Woman's Decline |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| June 23, 2009 |
|
| "The only person known to have died
of swine flu in Massachusetts suffered from none of the underlying
medical conditions that can turn a relatively mild viral infection into
a life-threatening illness, city disease trackers disclosed yesterday.
The finding deepens the mystery around the June 14 death of a
30-year-old Boston woman who arrived at Boston Medical Center already
gravely ill from symptoms associated with the respiratory disease, known
by the scientific designation H1N1. Investigators with the Boston Public
Health Commission delved through medical records obtained from the
woman's primary care physician, hunting for clues that might explain her
precipitous decline. But there was no evidence she had ever been
diagnosed with asthma, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, or any other
chronic malady known to intensify the risk of dying from a flu virus..." |
|
|
More Whooping Cough Reported in Buchanan County |
|
| Gazette (Iowa) |
|
| June 22, 2009 |
|
| "More cases of whooping cough have
been reported in Buchanan County, in Northeastern Iowa. As of today, 11
cases have been confirmed, said Amy Marlow, director of Buchanan County
Public Health. The health department has contacted more than 300 people
who may have been in contact with patients who have the highly
contagious disease. Marlow said people who have had the disease or were
vaccinated as a child could still be susceptible to getting whooping
cough, also known as pertussis. Pertussis booster shots are combined
with tetanus shots, so adults and adolescents may need to get a tetanus
booster to be protected, she said. Cases in the county date back to
mid-May, making it difficult to determine the source..." |
|
|
Editorial: A Pandemic's Dry Run |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| June 21, 2009 |
|
| "Although Massachusetts recorded its
first swine-flu death this month, the effect of the disease has not been
as dire as many feared. As a result, public health officials have been
able to view the health system's response to the pandemic as a test case
for an even more dangerous outbreak of flu. Among the lessons learned is
the need for better coordination between the public-health sector and
the private suppliers of the tools needed to contend with flu: face
masks, swabs, and antiviral medicines such as Tamiflu..." |
|
|
Opinion: Kids' Vaccines Aren't the Problem |
|
| Cherry Hill Courier Post (NJ) |
|
| June 21, 2009 |
|
| "Over the years, there has been
considerable controversy concerning vaccines and their possible link to
autism. More recently, some people have claimed that infants and young
children receive too many vaccines at one time, and that as a result
they somehow overwhelm the immune system. However, researchers from The
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), the University of
Pennsylvania, UCLA and other institutions recently found instead a
genetic link to autism. Lead researcher Dr. Hakon Hakonarson of CHOP
said he hopes this breakthrough will help dispel fears that autism is
triggered by vaccines..." |
|
|
Guest Voices: A Danger for Doctors' Bottom Line |
|
| San Antonio Express News |
|
| June 20, 2009 |
|
| "An open letter to President Obama:
I'm a pediatrician and writing to let you know, because not many people
do seem to know, that small, private, primary care doctors' offices
around the country, including mine -- where the majority of people
receive their immunizations - are being reimbursed chronically under
cost for purchase and operating expenses when we administer vaccines. If
we refuse to immunize at a loss, we put our patients at risk for disease
and risk losing our insurance contracts (and therefore our ability to
provide continuity of care) because not immunizing is bad medicine. The
success of the national immunization program depends on the consistency
with which immunizations are provided around the country, and it is in
peril of becoming "moth-eaten" and therefore ineffective in optimally
preventing disease because practitioners increasingly have to choose
between purchasing immunizations and having our offices survive..." |
|
|
Experts See Bad, but not Disastrous, Flu Season |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| June 19, 2009 |
|
| "So what are health officials doing
to help us prepare for the upcoming flu season? According to the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, which also oversees the Centers
for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration, the government
has now shifted its pandemic planning focus from H5N1 to H1N1 for the
upcoming flu season. Seasonal flu still remains a priority. The
government is still asking the five U.S.-licensed flu vaccine makers to
supply the U.S. market with about 100 million doses of seasonal flu
vaccine, a request on par with those of recent years..." |
|
|
Camps Seeing Outbreaks of Swine Flu, Agency Says |
|
| New York Times |
|
| June 19, 2009 |
|
| "Although it is fading in much of the
nation as warmer weather comes on, swine flu is causing outbreaks in
summer camps just as it has in schools, federal officials said Thursday.
The advice to camp administrators and parents is basically the same as
for schools, said Dr. Daniel B. Jernigan, deputy director of the flu
division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Camps should
be on the alert for sick children, who should be kept home for a week or
until 24 hours after symptoms have finished. (Not all camps offer
refunds, the American Camp Association noted.) Parents should be
prepared to take sick children home on short notice. Religious camps in
Clayton, Ga.; Santa Rosa, Calif.; and Cleveland, Ga., and a Boy Scout
camp near Asheville, N.C., all reported probable swine flu cases in
local newspapers this week..." |
|
|
Editorial: Death from the Flu |
|
| Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |
|
| June 19, 2009 |
|
| "The swine flu pandemic passed
another tragic milestone in Wisconsin this week with the first deaths of
youths from the disease. Health officials and family members said
14-year-old Tiara Mosely of Milwaukee did not appear to have any of the
underlying medical conditions that put those who contract the disease at
high risk...." |
|
|
Malaysia Introduces Stricter Measures to Fight A/H1N1 Flu |
|
| English News Service |
|
| June 19, 2009 |
|
| "Malaysia has introduced ten new
measures to prevent A/H1N1 flu from spreading in the country. Malaysian
Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said that one of the measures was
compulsory health declaration form by all travelers arriving in the
country, which would be gazetted next week, according to local
newspapers on Friday. Any travelers whoever fail to do so could be
liable to a 10,000 ringgit (2,857. 1 U. S. dollars) fine or two years'
jail or both, under the Malaysian Disease Prevention Act, Muhyiddin told
reporters here on Thursday. Other measures included sending health
officers on board flights to scan body temperatures of passengers coming
from the United States, Melbourne of Australia and Manila of the
Philippines..." |
|
|
Experts See Bad, but not Disastrous, Flu Season |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| June 19, 2009 |
|
| "So what are health officials doing
to help us prepare for the upcoming flu season? According to the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, which also oversees the Centers
for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration, the government
has now shifted its pandemic planning focus from H5N1 to H1N1 for the
upcoming flu season. Seasonal flu still remains a priority. The
government is still asking the five U.S.-licensed flu vaccine makers to
supply the U.S. market with about 100 million doses of seasonal flu
vaccine, a request on par with those of recent years..." |
|
|
Bellefontaine Hospital Takes Steps to Prevent Infection; Meningitis
Death Prompts Changes at Mary Rutan |
|
| Columbus Dispatch |
|
| June 18, 2009 |
|
| "Mary Rutan Hospital in Bellefontaine
has said it has removed all outdated medicines and supplies from its
maternity unit and has put new infection-control procedures in place in
response to a state inspection. The hospital filed a correction plan
with the state this week to address violations issued by the Ohio
Department of Health, which licenses maternity units. Inspectors visited
the hospital in late May after the death of Susan Ryan Finch Simpson,
30..." |
|
|
H1N1 Cases in Health Workers Show Need for Protection |
|
| CIDRAP News |
|
| June 18, 2009 |
|
| "An analysis of novel H1N1 influenza
cases in healthcare workers in the early weeks of the epidemic shows
that half of them were probably infected on the job, and most of those
weren't using respiratory protection, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) said today. Among 26 cases for which detailed
information was available, 13 of the healthcare personnel (HCP) were
believed to have been infected in a healthcare setting, the CDC said.
Only three of the infected workers reported using a surgical mask or an
N-95 respirator. The findings suggest that health workers are being
infected both at work and in the community and that healthcare
facilities need to reinforce messages about current infection control
recommendations, the CDC said in the Jun 19 issue of Morbidity and
Mortality Weekly Report..." |
|
|
Vaccinate Kids to Control H1N1 Flu |
|
| Reuters |
|
| June 18, 2009 |
|
| "Targeting children for vaccination
may be the best way of using limited supplies of vaccine to control the
current H1N1 flu pandemic, British researchers said on Thursday.
Drugmakers are racing to make a vaccine against the new flu strain but
if the disease increases significantly in the northern hemisphere
autumn, as many experts fear, there are unlikely to be enough shots to
vaccinate entire populations. Researchers from the University of Warwick
said that vaccinating children rather than adults would not only help
protect a group at greatest risk of exposure to the virus, but would
also offer protection to unvaccinated adults..." |
|
|
Idaho Changes Vaccine Laws |
|
| KIDK CBS 3 |
|
| June 16, 2009 |
|
| "In just about two weeks, Idaho will
go from free vaccines for all to VFC-Only coverage. A VFC child is
someone who is uninsured, under-insured, on Medicaid, and Native
American or Alaskan Natives. But the July 1st change will cost those of
you with health insurance some big bucks. A visit that now costs between
14 and 30-dollars could now be up to 500. 'Vaccine is very expensive
just in the state of Idaho. I don't think people are aware of that
because we've had this universal coverage,' says Amy Gamett, nurse
manager Eastern Idaho Public Health District. And that's been the case
since 1994. Now budget cuts don't allow that..." |
|
|
Sebelius Says Kids May Get Swine Flu Shots First |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| June 16, 2009 |
|
| "Schoolchildren could be first in
line for swine flu vaccine this fall - and schools are being put on
notice that they might even be turned into shot clinics. Health and
Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday she is urging
school superintendents around the country to spend the summer preparing
for that possibility, if the government goes ahead with mass
vaccinations..." |
|
|
Flu Pandemic Spurs Queries about Vaccine |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| June 15, 2009 |
|
| "Governments and drug companies
ramping up production of a vaccine against the swine-flu virus are
facing a tough question: Who really needs it? The world's biggest drug
companies have started producing vaccines against the H1N1 virus and
expect the first doses to be available by the fall. Many Western
countries have ordered millions of doses, at a cost of more than $1
billion. But they have yet to figure out who should be first in line to
get the shots, or to what extent they are even needed, given that the
virus has so far proved less deadly than feared..." |
|
|
China’s Sinovac Enters Race for Flu Vaccine |
|
| Reuters |
|
| June 15, 2009 |
|
| "Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac
Biotech Ltd hopes to put its H1N1 vaccine through its first clinical
trial by the end of July, as pharmaceutical firms race to put vaccines
against the new flu virus into commercial production. Workers at
Sinovac's laboratory in Beijing readied thousands of chicken eggs to
grow the H1N1 virus on Monday, after the World Health Organization
declared a pandemic last Thursday and warned governments to prepare for
a long battle against the virus. On Friday, Novartis AG said it expected
its H1N1 vaccine to be available by autumn after it produced a first
batch for testing and clinical trials..." |
|
|
Swiss Drugmaker Novartis Says Produces First Batch of Swine Flu Vaccine
Grown in Cells |
|
| Reuters |
|
| June 15, 2009 |
|
| "Swiss pharmaceuticals company
Novartis AG said Friday it has successfully produced a first batch of
swine flu vaccine weeks ahead of expectations. The vaccine was made in
cells, rather than grown in eggs as is usually the case with vaccines,
the company said..." |
|
|
Vaccine Plan Aims to Spur Drug Development for Poor Nations |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| June 12, 2009 |
|
| "A group of wealthy nations is
launching a first-of-its-kind program designed to encourage
pharmaceutical companies to develop vaccines for diseases common to poor
countries. The $1.5 billion program marks a departure from previous
charitable efforts to increase poor countries' access to vaccines.
Instead of buying existing drugs and giving them away, the donors will
guarantee pharmaceutical companies a future market big enough to justify
developing and manufacturing new vaccines needed in nations too
impoverished to afford them on their own...The first target will be a
vaccine to prevent pneumococcal disease, which kills 1.6 million people
in the world a year, the majority of them young children in the
developing world..." |
|
|
Swine Flu Declaration Will Speed Work on Vaccine |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| June 12, 2009 |
|
| "One immediate effect of the
declaration of an H1N1 flu pandemic will be to speed the production of a
vaccine against the new virus, but it will be fall at the earliest
before the first doses are available. Scientists have encountered some
problems in paving the way for such a vaccine. The H1N1 virus grows more
slowly in eggs than the seasonal flu virus does, so it has taken longer
than expected to prepare the seed stocks of virus that manufacturers
will use to start production. But all have now received the starting
material, which will allow them to begin full-scale efforts at
production, according to Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny of the World Health
Organization. Some companies that do not manufacture a seasonal flu
vaccine have already started growing the virus, she said, and others
will do so as soon as they finish their current vaccine runs, probably
within the next week or two. But it is not yet clear whether the
slow-growth problems encountered in producing the seed stock will carry
over into production..." |
|
|
OU Reports New Meningitis Case; 2 Students Hospitalized This Week with
'Probable' Infections |
|
| Columbus Dispatch |
|
| June 11, 2009 |
|
|
"A second Ohio University
student has been hospitalized this week in Columbus after having a
probable case of potentially serious bacterial meningitis diagnosed. The
first-year male student lives in Tiffin Hall on the East Green of the
Athens campus, officials said. OU officials and physicians met with
Tiffin Hall residents yesterday afternoon to provide information about
the disease and distribute antibiotics.On Monday, a freshman woman who
lives in Washington Hall on the East Green also had probable bacterial
meningitis diagnosed and was hospitalized in Columbus. Officials were
investigating the possibility both attended a residence-halls social
event Friday, said Dean of Students Ryan Lombardi..." |
|
|
Litigation, Regulation, and Education - Protecting the Public's Health
through Childhood Immunization |
|
| New England Journal of Medicine |
|
| June 11, 2009 |
|
| "Recently, three special masters of
the U.S. Court of Federal Claims issued carefully reasoned, strongly
worded opinions rejecting claims that medical and scientific evidence
could demonstrate causal links between thimerosal-containing vaccines or
measles–mumps–rubella (MMR) vaccination and the development of chronic
health conditions such as autism, immune dysfunction, and
gastrointestinal dysfunction..." |
|
|
When Vaccine Injury Claims Go to Court |
|
| New England Journal of Medicine |
|
| June 11, 2009 |
|
| "In February 2009, the National
Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) released decisions for the
first three test cases heard under the program's Omnibus Autism
Proceeding. In each of the cases - Cedillo v. Secretary of Health and
Human Services, Hazlehurst v. Secretary of Health and Human Services,
and Snyder v. Secretary of Health and Human Services - the petitioners
alleged that a child's autism spectrum disorder was caused by the
combination of the measles– mumps–rubella (MMR) vaccine and
thimerosal-containing vaccines. The decisions will have a substantial
effect on vaccine policy and practice in the United States and will
influence the analysis of more than 5300 similar, pending claims..." |
|
|
WHO: Full Pandemic Flu Vaccine Production To Start In 2 Weeks |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| June 11, 2009 |
|
| "The World Health Organization
Thursday said vaccine makers should continue producing shots to protect
against the common flu, a process that will take another two weeks, and
then start producing a vaccine to combat the (A) H1N1 swine flu virus.
Vaccine makers have now received the seed virus that will allow them to
start developing the vaccine. The first doses of a pandemic vaccine
could be available in September, but supply will be limited, Margaret
Chan, WHO's director general, told journalists at a news briefing..." |
|
|
WHO Declares Swine Flu Pandemic |
|
| VOA News |
|
| June 11, 2009 |
|
| "The World Health Organization has
declared the first influenza pandemic in more than 40 years, as
infections of the H1N1 swine flu virus continue to spread. WHO
Director-General Margaret Chan announced Thursday that the U.N. agency
is raising the pandemic alert level from Phase 5 to the maximum Phase 6
following a meeting of experts in Geneva. Officials note that declaring
a pandemic does not mean the disease has become more severe, but that
there is an increasing number of infections in different geographical
locations..." |
|
|
Flu Pandemic? U.S. Has Been There for Weeks |
|
| Reuters |
|
| June 11, 2009 |
|
| "The World Health Organization may
have just declared a pandemic of the H1N1 flu virus, but the United
States has been acting as if a pandemic was under way for weeks, health
officials said on Thursday. The new swine flu virus was first identified
in two U.S. children in April and by the time the news was out, it had
already begun spreading. CDC experts estimate that hundreds of thousands
of people are likely infected in every state..." |
|
|
FDA Strengthens Warnings on Gardasil |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| June 10, 2009 |
|
| "The Food and Drug Administration on
Wednesday strengthened warnings on Merck & Co.'s Gardasil vaccine about
fainting after receiving reports of 'traumatic injuries' among some
vaccine recipients. In a posting aimed at health-care professionals
posted on the agency's Web site, the FDA said all vaccine recipients
should remain seated or lying down and be closely observed for 15
minutes following vaccination, 'to prevent falls and injuries.' Gardasil
was approved in June 2006 and is designed to protect against four
strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, two of which account for
about 70% of cervical-cancer cases. It's recommended that girls ages 11
to 12 receive the vaccine in a three-dose series before they are
sexually active, and it coincides with recommendations on other
vaccines..." |
|
|
Five New Cases of Measles Have Been Reported in Wales |
|
|
| June 10, 2009 |
|
| "The National Public Health Service
[NPHS] for Wales said there is one new case in Carmarthenshire, one in
Pembrokeshire, one in Neath Port Talbot, one in Wrexham and one in
Merthyr Tydfil. The new cases in Merthyr and Wrexham are the 1st to be
reported in these counties. 16 counties in Wales are now affected..." |
|
|
Parental Knowledge of Vaccinations Important |
|
| Reuters |
|
| June 10, 2009 |
|
| "When parents are more knowledgeable
about vaccinations' their children are more likely to get them' a new
study shows. The study' which included parents of 630 Spanish children'
found that while most children received the recommended vaccinations'
parents' vaccine knowledge influenced the likelihood. When parents
scored below the average on a test of vaccine knowledge' their children
were 55 percent to 60 percent less likely to be on schedule with their
immunizations' according to findings published in the online journal BMC
Public Health. The findings suggest that if doctors do more to inform
parents about vaccine effectiveness and safety' they will be more likely
to keep their children on the recommended schedule' according to the
researchers' led by Dr. Eva Borras of the Department of Health in
Barcelona..." |
|
|
H1N1 Flu Vaccine a Step Closer as Firms Test Vaccines |
|
| Reuters |
|
| June 10, 2009 |
|
| "Drugmakers are on track to have a
vaccine against the new H1N1 strain of flu ready for the northern
hemisphere autumn after receiving seed virus samples, company officials
said on Wednesday. Sanofi-Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Solvay
all said their vaccine teams had obtained the new influenza A (H1N1)
seed virus within the past fortnight, enabling them to begin the
production process. What is still unclear, however, is how much vaccine
they will be able to manufacture, since this depends on how easily the
new virus strain grows within a commercial production environment..." |
|
|
Rotavirus: Every Child Should Be Vaccinated Against Diarrheal Disease,
W.H.O. Says |
|
| New York Times |
|
| June 9, 2009 |
|
| "The World Health Organization
recommended last week that the vaccine against rotavirus, a diarrheal
disease that kills 500,000 children a year, be given to every child in
the world. More than 85 percent of those deaths are of poor children in
Africa, Asia and Latin America, and the W.H.O. endorsement allows donor
money to be used for the vaccine..." |
|
|
More Cases of Flu in Egypt and Lebanon Peninsula (Qatar) |
|
|
| June 9, 2009 |
|
| "Five New Cases of Foreigners
Infected with Swine Flu Were Discovered at a Cairo University Dormitory
Yesterday. Egypt's health ministry said, bringing the total number of
cases there to 7. Lebanon also discovered 5 new cases of swine flu but
they were under control, the health ministry said, bringing the total
number of cases there to 8..." |
|
|
Risks: Pertussis Protection? Not From the Herd |
|
| New York Times |
|
| June 8, 2009 |
|
| "The theory of herd immunity holds
that when most people in a group are vaccinated' everyone is protected —
even those who refuse the vaccine' as many families are doing these days
out of a belief that vaccinations cause autism and other illnesses. But
the theory does not appear to work well with whooping cough. Researchers
studied children enrolled in a Colorado health plan in the period 1996
to 2007' and found 156 laboratory-confirmed cases of pertussis. They
recorded the vaccination status of each and matched them to 595 randomly
selected control subjects. After controlling for sex' age' season of
infection and other factors' they found that the unvaccinated children
were about 23 times as likely as vaccinated children to get whooping
cough. In other words' about 1 in 20 unvaccinated children were
infected' compared with 1 in 500 who were vaccinated. The study appears
in the June issue of Pediatrics..." |
|
|
Bipartisan WMD Panel Criticizes Obama Plan to Fund Flu Vaccine |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| June 8, 2009 |
|
| "President Obama's contingency plan
to help finance production of a swine flu vaccine with funds set aside
to develop defenses against biological attacks would weaken the nation's
preparedness for terrorism, the leaders of a bipartisan commission on
weapons of mass destruction said yesterday..." |
|
|
Is Oprah Winfrey Giving Us Bad Medicine? |
|
| Toronto Star (CAN) |
|
| June 7, 2009 |
|
| "We've all speculated about why the
anti-scientific emotion-based notion that vaccines somehow must cause
autism persists in spite of mountains of evidence to the contrary, but I
think the question goes much deeper than that. The anti-vaccine movement
is but one of the most visible components of a much deeper problem in
our public discourse, a problem that values feelings and personal
experience over evidence, compelling stories and anecdotes over science.
I'm referring to the Oprah-fication of medicine..."." |
|
|
Schools Lax on Vaccinations |
|
| Atlanta Journal-Constitution |
|
| June 7, 2009 |
|
| "As the school year ends, district
officials across metro Atlanta have been trying to educate parents that
their children must be properly vaccinated before they return next fall.
Georgia schools continued to violate state law during the 2008-09 school
year, allowing children to enroll and remain in class despite missing
required shots or having no vaccination records at all, according to new
data obtained under the state Open Records Act..." |
|
|
A Marine's Hard Fight: Leukemia and a smallpox vaccine infection |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| June 7, 2009 |
|
| "Reporting from San Diego -- First
came the stomachaches and low fevers. Then Lance Cpl. Cory Belken broke
out in a rash. His temperature shot up to 104.6 degrees. The young man
became delirious, telling his mother, Barbara Skaggs, that he wanted to
go to the smoking section even though he had never smoked. His blood
pressure dropped. Belken, a 20-year-old Marine, had been dealing with
two potentially life-threatening conditions at once -- a recent onset of
acute leukemia and a blooming infection from a smallpox vaccination. He
was that unlucky one-in-a-million case, his doctors said, but one they
hoped would end well..." |
|
|
Why Advice on Oprah Could Make You Sick |
|
| Newsweek |
|
| June 5, 2009 |
|
| "Wish Away Cancer! Get A Lunchtime
Face-Lift! Eradicate Autism! Turn Back The Clock! Thin Your Thighs! Cure
Menopause! Harness Positive Energy! Erase Wrinkles! Banish Obesity! Live
Your Best Life Ever!..." |
|
|
Avian Flu Fears Said to Help U.S. Prepare for Swine Flu |
|
| New York Times |
|
| June 5, 2009 |
|
| "Six years of worrying about bird flu
did much to prepare the United States for the current swine flu
outbreak, federal officials and an independent monitoring group said
Thursday, but they cautioned that there were still gaps in planning.
After the H5N1 avian flu emerged widely in Asia in 2003, killing about
60 percent of those infected by it, many countries took steps to head
off the crisis that would emerge if that virus were to acquire the
ability to jump easily from human to human. It has not, but a number of
the measures were helpful. These are some of them: The federal
government stockpiled 50 million courses of Tamiflu. New vaccine
factories were opened. Pandemic plans were written, and emergency drills
were held..." |
|
|
City Reports Eighth Death Connected With Swine Flu |
|
| New York Times |
|
| June 5, 2009 |
|
| "New York City's Department of Health
and Mental Hygiene has confirmed an eighth death linked to swine flu,
the first of a person older than 65, officials said Friday. Jessica
Scaperotti, a spokeswoman for the department, declined to release
further identifying details, but she said the victim had underlying
complications that increased the risk of death. Health officials have
said such complications include being over 65 or under 2, having
respiratory or immune system problems or being obese, among others.?.." |
|
|
Officials Don't Track All Possible Swine Flu Cases: Only a third of 266
samples submitted here were tested |
|
| Columbus Dispatch |
|
| June 5, 2009 |
|
| "Just because someone has swine flu
doesn't mean that public-health workers monitoring the outbreak will
track the case. Recently, a test at Nationwide Children's Hospital
showed that an 11-year-old girl from suburban Columbus had influenza A,
raising the probability that she had swine flu..." |
|
|
Contra Costa County Child Infected with Swine Flu Dies |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| June 4, 2009 |
|
| "An elementary school-aged child
infected with the H1N1 swine flu virus in central Contra Costa County
has died, health officials said Thursday. It was not immediately clear
whether the child died from the flu, a secondary bacterial infection the
child also suffered from, or another cause..." |
|
|
Chicago Swine Flu Death: New mom dies of flu a day after giving birth;
woman, 20, had other underlying medical conditions; baby is in neonatal
ICU |
|
|
|
June 4, 2009 |
|
| "Chicago woman became the fourth
person in the state to die of the H1N1 swine flu a day after she gave
birth, officials said Wednesday. The latest death was a 20-year-old
woman from Chicago who died Saturday at the University of Illinois
Medical Center, said Sherri McGinnis Gonzalez, a hospital spokeswoman.
The woman was admitted to the hospital May 23 with flulike symptoms. Her
condition quickly deteriorated, and her baby, a 27-week fetus, was
delivered by Caesarean section on Friday, officials said..." |
|
|
Rare Hib Disease Increases in Minnesota |
|
| City Pages |
|
| June 3, 2009 |
|
| "As the ultrasound tech spread the
cool gel over her swollen belly, Brendalee Flint held her breath. Would
it be another boy? Or would she finally get the daughter she'd always
wanted? She'd be happy either way, she reminded herself for the
umpteenth time.Flint peered at the strange white shape on the black
monitor. Even after three kids, the image still amazed her—watching the
heartbeat was so cool. The ultrasound tech pointed out the lungs, the
tiny hands, the little brain. The tech waited patiently. There! Now she
could see. It was a girl..." |
|
|
Booster Shots: HPV may benefit older women |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| June 1, 2009 |
|
| "A vaccine to prevent infections of
four strains of human papilloma virus is available to girls ages 9 to
26. The 2006 approval of the vaccine was heralded because some strains
of HPV can cause cervical cancer. Studies have continued, however, on
whether the vaccine may be useful for other groups of people, such as
boys and older women. A study published today in the Lancet suggests
that women ages 25 to 45 not already infected with HPV may be protected
by the vaccine as well..." |
|
|
Will This Doctor Hurt Your
Baby? |
|
By Jason Fagone
Philadelphia Magazine |
|
| June 1, 2009 |
|
| "Thanks to celebrity anti-vaccine crusaders like Jenny McCarthy and
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.' Children's Hospital doctor and
vaccine inventor Paul Offit gets death threats from parents frantic
about autism - and worse. He's had enough. He's taking
his critics on. A few years ago' Paul Offit found himself in a small
room with a bob-haired American mother of three who was
so mad at him she had tears in her eyes' and she was standing above him'
sort of rearing up - this is his recollection - as
if she was preparing herself' mentally' physically' to call him
something cutting and mean'..." |
|
|
Why Does the Vaccine/Autism Controversy Live On?: Research has soundly
disproved the alleged connection, yet fears about vaccines continue to
be a major risk to public health. |
|
| Discover Magazine |
|
| June 2009 |
|
| "Vaccines do not cause autism. That
was the ruling in each of three critical test cases handed down on
February 12 by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C.
After a decade of speculation, argument, and analysis—often filled with
vitriol on both sides—the court specifically denied any link between the
combination of the MMR vaccine and vaccines with thimerosal (a
mercury-based preservative) and the spectrum of disorders associated
with autism. But these rulings, though seemingly definitive, have done
little to quell the angry debate, which has severe implications for
American public health..." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Talk of 'Underlying Conditions' May Add
to Flu Worries |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 28, 2009 |
|
| "In announcing this week that swine flu had been implicated in the
deaths of two more New Yorkers, the city's health
commissioner, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, added a by-now familiar caveat:
Both of them, he said, had ''underlying conditions." He
went on to enumerate a list of conditions that could aggravate the
effects of swine flu and that characterize a large portion
of New York's population: diabetes, asthma, heart disease, lung disease,
a weakened immune system and, possibly, obesity. He
did not even mention three other risk factors that alone apply to more
than 1.2 million New Yorkers and 50 million Americans:
pregnancy, being younger than 2, or being older than 65..." |
|
|
Editorial: New Perspective for Vaccine 'Refusers' |
|
| Star Tribune (MN) |
|
| May 28, 2009 |
|
"At first glance, there seems little
in common between Danny Hauser's Minnesota family and a group of
Colorado parents
causing concern in a sobering recent medical journal article. The
Hausers, who made headlines in refusing chemotherapy for
their cancer-stricken 13-year-old, eke out a living with their seven
other children on a farm near Sleepy Eye. The Colorado
parents needed only routine care for their children and tended to come
from metro neighborhoods indicating a 'higher
socioeconomic status,' according to the study published in June's issue
of Pediatrics..." |
|
|
Officials: Hospital Safe Despite Fatal Case of Meningitis |
|
| The Columbus Dispatch (Ohio) |
|
| May 27, 2009 |
|
| Officials at Mary Rutan Hospital in
Bellefontaine say they don't know how two women in separate rooms of the
maternity ward -- one of whom later died -- contracted bacterial
meningitis late last week. But they say there is no threat of an
outbreak and that expectant mothers ready to deliver their babies at the
Logan County hospital have no cause for concern. The hospital has pulled
batches of any medications the women may have been given and what
remains of any supplies that were used and they will be tested as a
possible source, said hospital spokeswoman Tammy Allison. She did not
know whether hospital employees would be tested for the bacteria...." |
|
|
Health Department 'Closely Monitoring' 3 Measles Cases |
|
| The Intelligencer (Philadelphia) |
|
| May 27, 2009 |
|
| "State and county health officials
are saying little about three measles cases involving unvaccinated
residents - at least one a school-age child - other than the situation
has been contained..." |
|
|
Measles outbreak in Wales could cause deaths |
|
| Western Mail (UK) |
|
| May 27, 2009 |
|
| "It is only a matter of time before
someone dies from measles in Wales, public health experts warned last
night. There are also fears children could be left with permanent brain
damage as the number of people affected by the potentially lethal virus
in a series of outbreaks across Wales has risen to 207. The outbreaks
and disease are so serious 26 people have been hospitalised and some
patients have even been treated in intensive care units..." |
|
|
Editorial: Refusing to Immunize Raises Kids' Health Risks |
|
| Denver Post (CO) |
|
| May 27, 2009 |
|
| "Parents who ignore the research and
refuse to have their kids vaccinated increase the risk for everyone.
It's a selfish stance. So many horrible diseases have been all but
eradicated over the years by routine vaccinations that it's easy to lose
touch with the devastation those illnesses can inflict. Polio-stricken
children in wheelchairs are images typically confined to old
photographs. The terrifying wheeze of a child with whooping cough is
virtually unknown. And who among us has seen someone gone rigid with
tetanus? Unfamiliarity with the horrors of such diseases is likely one
reason why a small minority of parents decline to vaccinate their
children against preventable diseases..." |
|
|
Swine Flu, with 63 More Confirmed Cases,
Closes Boston's Biggest Charter School |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| May 27, 2009 |
|
| "Public health authorities in Boston announced that they are temporarily
closing the city's biggest charter school, Boston
Renaissance, for a week because of a suspected outbreak of swine flu.
Classes are suspended at the Theatre District school
starting today and are expected to resume June 4. The closing was prompted by an unusually high number of absences in recent
days, the Boston Public Health Commission said. Boston Renaissance is
the eighth public or private school in the city to shut
down because of swine flu fears..." |
|
|
China Quarantines Teens, Teachers from
Md. |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| May 27, 2009 |
|
| "Twenty-one students and three teachers from a Silver Spring private
school who flew last week to China for a weeklong tour
have been confined to their hotel rooms, quarantined for possible
exposure to swine flu during their flight from the United
States. The group arrived in Guizhou province in southwestern China on Friday for an "extended study week," one of several
such excursions from the Barrie School, which stresses experiential
learning. Government officials quarantined the students
and chaperons at a hotel in the city of Kaili because a passenger on the
plane was suspected of having swine flu..." |
|
|
Op-ed: Preparing Ourselves for the Next
Epidemic |
|
Oregonian
By Jay Nelson, director of OHSU's Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute |
|
| May 27, 2009 |
|
| "While it's still hard to tell just how big the H1N1 (also known as
swine flu) outbreak will be, it has already highlighted
some urgent needs for our country. We must continue to improve our
methods for rapidly detecting and tracking outbreaks. We
must improve communications between international, national, state and local health officials. We must also use our limited
research resources to improve and speed up vaccine development. As a
scientist who has devoted most of my professional
career to researching infectious disease, I know there is still an
enormous amount of work to accomplish before the next
epidemic comes. How serious is the threat? Consider this: Each year up
to 20 percent of the American population gets the
common flu. More than 200,000 people are hospitalized due to
complications and about 36,000 people die annually from flu-related causes. Now imagine the impact and casualties from a more
serious outbreak..." |
|
|
Swine Flu Spreads in Australia |
|
| Voice of America |
|
| May 27, 2009 |
|
| "The number of H1N1 flu cases in Australia has doubled in the past day
to 59. The federal government has warned that the H1N1
influenza A virus is spreading fast. Health experts say its rapid
transmission coincides with the southern hemisphere's
traditional winter flu season. The H1N1 flu has been confirmed in most Australian states and territories. The epicenter of
the outbreak is in Victoria, where a group of children are among those
being treated. Virus origin unknown. Tests have yet to
reveal if the infections in Australia have been imported from other
countries or whether the virus has started to spread
among those who have not traveled overseas..." |
|
|
Whooping Cough Case at School |
|
| Evening Sun (Pennsylvania) |
|
| May 27, 2009 |
|
| "A recent visitor to Rolling Acres
Elementary who had been in 'close contact' with children later tested
positive for the contagious infection commonly known as 'whooping
cough,' according to a letter sent home with students on Friday.
Superintendent Donald Wills of the Littlestown Area School District said
he was pulled from a meeting at about 2:10 p.m. Friday to take a call
from the Pennsylvania Department of Health advising him of the
situation..." |
|
|
Moderate-to-Severe RA Patients at Higher Risk for Herpes Zoster |
|
| Medscape |
|
| May 26, 2009 |
|
| "Patients being treated for
moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are more likely to develop
herpes zoster than are patients treated for mild RA.This finding stems
from a study of more than 20,000 RA patients in the Veterans Affairs
healthcare system, reported in the May 15th issue of Clinical Infectious
Diseases. immunosuppression..." |
|
|
Unvaccinated Children at Increased Risk, Study Finds |
|
| Baltimore Sun |
|
| May 26, 2009 |
|
| "Children who are not vaccinated
against pertussis, or whooping cough, are 23 times more likely to
develop the disease than children who receive immunizations, according
to a study published online on Tuesday in the journal Pediatrics, the
Baltimore Sun reports..." |
|
|
Most mothers oppose HPV vaccination for younger daughters |
|
| Reuters |
|
| May 26, 2009 |
|
| "New research suggests that most
mothers in the US do not intend to have a 9- to 12-year-old daughter
vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV), even though the national
HPV vaccination guidelines specifically target 11- to 12-year-old girls.
HPV vaccination has been advocated as a key means of preventing cervical
cancer. According to the report in the June issue of Pediatrics, 48% of
mothers intended to have a 9- to 12-year-old daughter vaccinated against
HPV. This contrasts with the intention to vaccinate 68% and 86% of girls
13 to 15 and 16 to 18 years of age, respectively..." |
|
|
CDC: H1N1 Flu Infections Slowing In Most
Parts of US |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| May 26, 2009 |
|
| "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says number of outpatient
visits for influenza-like illnesses declined in most
part of US last week; states in New England along with New York and New
Jersey are still seeing elevated levels of H1N1
influenza activity..." |
|
|
Q&A: Barnyard Pestilence |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 26, 2009 |
|
"Q: Did all human infectious diseases
originate in domesticated animals?
A: Of 25 infectious diseases that have historically caused high
mortality in human beings, many probably or possibly reached humans from
domesticated animals, according to a major review article published in
Nature in 2007. The main ones among so-called temperate diseases are
diphtheria, influenza A, measles, mumps, pertussis, rotavirus, smallpox
and tuberculosis. Three others probably came from apes (hepatitis B) or
rodents (plague and typhus), the review says, and four other temperate
diseases (rubella, syphilis, tetanus and typhoid) came from sources that
are still unknown. Among the important tropical diseases, the review
says, domestic animal origins can be ruled out for 6 of the 10: AIDS,
dengue fever, vivax malaria and yellow fever, all derived from wild
primates; cholera, from aquatic algae and invertebrates; and falciparum
malaria, from birds. The case is not clear for Chagas' disease, West and
East African sleeping sickness and visceral leishmaniasis, because the
ancestors of the agents that cause them infect both domestic and wild
mammals." |
|
|
U.S. to Spend $1 Billion on H1N1 Flu
Vaccine Production |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| May 24, 2009 |
|
| "Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Friday the
U.S. will spend $1 billion to start the process of
making an H1N1 influenza vaccine. The money, which comes from funds
already set aside for pandemic influenza, will fund new
and existing contracts with influenza vaccine makers such as Sanofi
Aventis SA, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis..." |
|
|
Blog: Should a Former Playboy Model Trump an Experienced Health Care
Expert? You Decide |
|
| Huffington Post |
|
| May 22, 2009 |
|
| "This weekend' Chicago-area parents
wondering whether or not to vaccinate their babies' toddlers' school-age
kids or teenagers face a tough decision when it comes to expert advice:
should they listen to Jenny McCarthy or to their pediatrician? McCarthy
is slated to give the key-note speech at the Autism One conference in
Rosemont on Saturday..." |
|
|
Get Your Shots for Seasonal Flu — A Hidden Threat |
|
| Seattle Times |
|
| May 22, 2009 |
|
| "The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention estimated that at least 13,000 people died from influenza in
the United States in four months. That recent news item is not a fiction
or a forecast, it is fact. But there's a twist. This CDC estimate is
from one month ago, before the arrival of the new A H1N1 flu strain
(also referred to as swine flu). These 13,000 deaths between January and
late April were from seasonal influenza that strikes this country every
winter and that over the past several months has been killing 800
Americans a week..." |
|
|
Blog: Should a Former Playboy Model Trump an Experienced Health Care
Expert? You Decide |
|
| Huffington Post |
|
| May 22, 2009 |
|
| "This weekend, Chicago-area parents
wondering whether or not to vaccinate their babies, toddlers, school-age
kids or teenagers face a tough decision when it comes to expert advice:
should they listen to Jenny McCarthy or to their pediatrician? McCarthy
is slated to give the key-note speech at the Autism One conference in
Rosemont on Saturday..." |
|
|
The Next Steps for Swine Flu:
Predictions, Protection and Prevention |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 22, 2009 |
|
| "Federal health officials will probably recommend that most Americans
get three flu shots this fall: one regular flu shot and
two doses of any vaccine made against the new swine flu strain. Having
had annual flu shots for the last several years gives
'little or no immune benefit' against the new virus, the officials said
on Thursday as they released more details of blood
tests briefly described on Wednesday..." |
|
|
Autism Drug Lupron: Father-and-son team's crusade shows cracks |
|
Chicago Tribune
By Steve Mills and Tim Jones |
|
| May 21, 2009 |
|
| "Dr. Mark Geier has, he says, solved
the riddle of autism. He says he has identified its cause and, in the
powerful drug Lupron, found an effective treatment — what he calls a
'major discovery.' But behind Geier's bold assertion is a troubling
paper trail that undercuts his portrayal of himself as a pioneer tilting
against a medical establishment that refuses to embrace his novel ideas.
Time and again, reputable scientists have dismissed autism research by
Geier and his son, David, as seriously flawed. Judges who have heard
Mark Geier testify about vaccines' harmful effects have repeatedly
called him unqualified, with one describing his statements as
'intellectually dishonest'..." |
|
|
U.S. Says People Born Before 1957 May
Have Some Immunity to New Virus Strain |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 21, 2009 |
|
| "Confirming the first impressions of many American and Mexican doctors,
federal health officials said on Wednesday that
people born before 1957 appear to have some immunity to the swine flu
virus now circulating. Tests on blood serum from older
people showed that they had antibodies that attacked the new virus, Dr. Daniel Jernigan, chief flu epidemiologist at the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a telephone news
conference...." |
|
|
F.D.A. Commissioner to Be Sworn In |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 20, 2009 |
|
| "Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg is expected
to join the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) next week and begin to
focus on whether and how to manufacture a vaccine for swine flu. The
Senate voted unanimously on Monday night to confirm Hamburg, and she
will be sworn in as commissioner of the FDA this week. Hamburg, 53, is a
former New York City health commissioner and was an assistant health
secretary in the Clinton Administration..." |
|
|
Survey Finds Link Between Obesity and
Flu Severity |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| May 20, 2009 |
|
| "A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey of the
30 people hospitalized in California due to the
swine flu shows that about 67 percent had an underlying medical
condition. According to the report, 11 people had a lung
condition, six had an immune disorder, five had heart disease, another
five were pregnant, four had diabetes, and another
four were obese..." |
|
|
Flu signs shutter Boston Latin
Nearby Winsor also halts classes |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| May 20, 2009 |
|
| "Boston's biggest public school, Boston Latin, will be shuttered for a
week in hopes of halting a suspected outbreak of swine
flu, city authorities said yesterday. The decision came after more than
250 students called in sick or were sent home because
of respiratory symptoms. In a hastily arranged City Hall press conference, Mayor Thomas M. Menino, flanked by his top health
and school administrators, acknowledged the move was inconvenient for
Latin's 2,400 students and their families..." |
|
|
U.S. Officials Consider Bumping Up Flu
Shot Season |
|
| Reuters |
|
| May 20, 2009 |
|
| "U.S. health officials said on Wednesday they are considering starting
the vaccination campaign for seasonal flu earlier this
year to make room for a possible second round of shots against the new
H1N1 flu. The United States also reported its eighth
death from the new swine flu virus, in a patient in Arizona. 'If
possible we do want to have an earlier rollout of seasonal
vaccine,' Dr Daniel Jernigan of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention told reporters in a telephone
briefing..." |
|
|
'We Are Not Out of the Woods' with New
Flu, CDC Warns |
|
| CNN |
|
| May 19, 2009 |
|
| "Health officials say the H1N1 virus, commonly known as the swine flu,
is likely to cause more illnesses and deaths in the
United States, even though much of the initial anxiety has eased. A
researcher investigates swine flu at the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. The Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention reported higher levels of
flu activity than the average for mid-May and an unusual number of
outbreaks in schools. Some clinics reported high numbers
of respiratory diseases more commonly seen during the peak of flu
season. "We do think that the way the virus is spreading in
the U.S., we are not out of the woods, and the disease is continuing,"
said Dr. Anne Schuchat, interim deputy director for
science and public health program at the CDC in a news conference this
week..." |
|
|
Options, and Hurdles, in Speeding Vaccines |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 19, 2009 |
|
| "While a universal flu vaccine would be ideal, the world's best hope for
now might be to speed up the production of strain-specific vaccines. The World Health Organization estimates that the
world has the capacity to produce one billion to two
billion doses of a vaccine against the new swine flu virus in one year.
That would leave most of the world's population
dangerously unprotected if the virus, known as H1N1, leads to a
pandemic..." |
|
|
The Slippery Slope From Fear to Panic |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 19, 2009 |
|
| "Could a reason for the panicky reaction to the swine flu outbreak be
that it diverted our attention, however briefly, from
the devastating effects of the global financial crisis, not to mention
the myriad chronic health issues that threaten
millions of lives? Or is it simply human nature to overreact to threats
over which we have little control? 'The fact is that
we love to be scared,' argue two British statisticians, Simon Briscoe
and Hugh Aldersey-Williams, in 'Panicology,' published
in the United States this year by Skyhorse Publishing..." |
|
|
A Long Search for a Universal Flu
Vaccine |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 19, 2009 |
|
| "Scientists and vaccine manufacturers are working on a universal flu
vaccine, with a goal of providing at least several years
of protection against seasonal and pandemic flu strains. A universal
vaccine would eliminate the need for scientists to guess
which strains will be dominant during the upcoming flu season, and it would make vaccination more affordable for countries
with limited funds for immunization campaigns. However, some experts
believe a universal flu vaccine would be a supplement to
the seasonal flu vaccine, rather than a replacement. Proteins on the
outside of the flu virus that come in contact with
antibodies do not vary as much as those on the inside, but researchers
working on a universal flu vaccine are targeting the
M2 protein that sticks out of the virus..." |
|
|
New York Reports Its First Swine Flu Death |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 18, 2009 |
|
| "An assistant principal at a New York
City public school died of complications from swine flu in an intensive
care unit of a Queens hospital on Sunday night, the first death in New
York State of the flu strain that has swept across much of the world
since it was first identified in April. Hours before the death of the
assistant principal, Mitchell Wiener, city officials announced that five
more Queens schools had closed. On Friday, Dr. Daniel Jernigan, head of
flu epidemiology for the federal Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, said there had been 173 hospitalizations and 5 deaths
reported to the agency. But he emphasized that most cases in the United
States — possibly "upwards of 100,000" — were mild. In Japan, the
number of swine flu cases soared over the weekend, and authorities
closed more than 1,000 schools and kindergartens..." |
|
|
New Virus Appears to Be a Factor in Extended Flu Season |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| May 16, 2009 |
|
| "More than half of the states are
reporting higher levels of flu-like illness when the respiratory disease
should be disappearing, and about half of the people with flu are
testing positive for the new swine flu virus. As a precaution in the
event of a widespread outbreak, Britain, France, Belgium and Finland
have collectively placed orders for 127 million doses of a vaccine that
GlaxoSmithKline will develop. The vaccine will include an adjuvant that
boosts the body's immune response, and the ingredient is not licensed by
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)..." |
|
|
New York City Official Is Obama Pick for C.D.C. |
|
|
| May 15, 2009 |
|
| "President Obama will announce on
Friday that he has chosen Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the New York City
health commissioner, as the next director of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, administration officials said Thursday. Dr.
Frieden, a 48-year-old infectious disease specialist, has cut a high and
sometimes contentious profile in his seven years as New York's top
health official under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. He led the crusade to
ban smoking in restaurants and bars, pushed to make H.I.V. testing a
routine part of medical exams, and defended a program that passes out
more than 35 million condoms a year..." |
|
|
Letter to the Editor: Taking Shots for the Greater Good |
|
| TC Palm (FL) |
|
| May 14, 2009 |
|
| "Every day, as parents, we make
decisions we believe are in the best interest of our children...There is
another decision to be made: whether to vaccinate your child. The
difference here is that this choice not only affects your family, but
every family. There is ongoing debate whether vaccines cause autism.
Autism is a serious health concern that needs more funding and research
from government and pharmaceutical companies. To date, the evidence does
not support the theory that autism occurs from vaccinations. What we do
know is that life-threatening diseases are prevented with vaccinations.
Children don't have to suffer and die needlessly from diseases that are
preventable. This is why the American Academy of Pediatrics is very
strong in its recommendations for vaccines. Decades of scientific,
evidenced-based research prove that vaccines save lives. As parents, we
must not let fear overrule fact. I, too, fear autism, but the facts are
overwhelming in support of vaccinating my 9-month-old son. Because he is
not fully protected yet, he contracted a life-threatening illness which
vaccines easily prevent..." |
|
|
Another Nail in the Coffin for the Thimerosal-Autism Thesis |
|
| PointofLaw.com |
|
| May 14, 2009 |
|
| "Maryland's High Court confirmed its
intermediate appellate court and made it more difficult for plaintiffs
to qualify as expert witnesses in vaccine cases. In a suit against
vaccine maker Wyeth, the Blackwell family claimed that their son's
autism and mental retardation were caused by thimerosal-containing
vaccines given when the boy was young. However, attorneys for Wyeth
asserted that the scientific community generally does not accept the
causal connection between thimerosal and autism and said the family's
five experts were not qualified to testify under the state's version of
the 'Frye rule.' The court held that none of the five expert witnesses
had sufficient "knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education,
primarily in the field of epidemiology, to proffer reliable expert
testimony on matters of complex and novel scientific inquiry. ..." |
|
|
Analysis of Flu Virus Could Lead to Better Vaccines |
|
| Science Daily |
|
| May 13, 2009 |
|
| "Researchers from Princeton
University suggest that a phenomenon known as antibody interference may
help scientists develop a more effective flu vaccine. The study is
described in the May 11 online edition of the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences. In antibody interference, a virus prompts
the creation of different types of antibodies, which may sometimes crowd
each other out in an attempt to attach themselves to a virus' surface.
Antibodies that are less effective at protecting the body against a
specific virus are often better able to attaching to the virus, which
blocks the more effective antibodies..." |
|
|
'Alarm' at Suspect Measles Cases |
|
| BBC News (UK) |
|
| May 12, 2009 |
|
| "Health officials say they are
"highly alarmed" that the number of measles cases being investigated in
mid and west Wales has reached 109. They have issued an urgent warning
that vaccination is the only way to stop the virus spreading but are
disappointed with the uptake in schools so far. There are 11 confirmed
cases, five are in Pembrokeshire and six in Llanelli.There are also
suspected cases in Powys, Ceredigion, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and
Bridgend. Dr Mac Walapu, consultant in communicable disease control for
the National Public Health Service said the 109 figure was alarming as
there were only 39 cases in Wales last year, 13 in 2007 and none in
2005. He said anyone who had not received the full two doses of the MMR
vaccine was at risk from measles and should come forward for
immunisation. Cases are occurring across all age groups from children as
young as five months to adults in their late 40s..." |
|
|
Bill to Give Kids Information on HPV Vaccine Approved |
|
| St. Louis Post-Dispatch |
|
| May 12, 2009 |
|
| "Conservative and liberal groups have
teamed up to support a bill that would give parents of public school
girls information about a controversial vaccine that could help prevent
cervical cancer. The bill, which passed the Senate last week by a 28-5
vote, would give information about the HPV vaccine to parents of
sixth-grade girls enrolled in public school. It would also pay for the
$120 vaccine in some cases. It does not mandate that parents vaccinate
their daughters with Gardasil, which is intended to prevent the human
papillomavirus, HPV, a sexually transmitted virus that has been linked
to cervical cancer..." |
|
|
Race for Pandemic Vaccine |
|
| Financial Times |
|
| May 12, 2009 |
|
| "The World Health Organization (WHO)
says requests for wild type virus samples of the A (H1N1) virus to
prepare a pandemic vaccine have been received from major vaccine
manufacturers Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, and Sanofi-Aventis, with
samples also being sent to MedImmune, Baxter, CSL, Solvay, Microgen,
Nobilon International, Omnivest Vaccines, and Vivaldi. The WHO plans to
make a recommendation in the coming weeks on whether a pandemic vaccine
is needed and how to go about producing one. First, health officials
must determine whether this flu strain is as severe as the seasonal flu,
which results in 500,000 deaths annually..." |
|
|
Obituary: Woman Who Spent Years In Iron Lung Remembered |
|
| NPR |
|
| May 11, 2009 |
|
| "All Things Considered: Martha Mason,
who lived more than 60 years in an iron lung, died last week at the age
of 71 at her home in Lattimore, N.C. Mary Dalton, who directed a
documentary about Mason, Martha In Lattimore, offers her insight..." |
|
|
Other Illness May Precede Worst Cases of Swine Flu |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 9, 2009 |
|
| "Individuals infected with the H1N1
flu who have underlying conditions, such as diabetes or heart disease,
are at greater risk of hospitalization or death, according to experts
from the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC). These preliminary observations are based on discussion
of about 40 deaths in Mexico and half of the 57 hospitalizations in the
United States. Most of the Americans hospitalized had an additional
health problem, said Dr. Richard E. Besser, acting director of the CDC.
Seven of the cases involved asthma, which has become more common in the
United States, along with diabetes and obesity..." |
|
|
A Shot to Live: Meningitis Immunization in Chad |
|
| UNICEF |
|
| May 8, 2009 |
|
| "The Minister of Health in Chad said
last month that the area near the capital, N'Djamena, is in the midst of
a meningitis outbreak. Six areas are experiencing an epidemic, with more
than 10 deaths per 100,000 people per week. More than 1,160 cases and
128 deaths have been reported since the end of December. The health
ministry worked with UNICEF and the World Health Organization on a
five-day vaccination campaign in late April, and citizens were urged by
local radio stations and religious and community leaders to have their
children vaccinated. Enough vaccine for 700,000 children and young
adults has been provided by UNICEF so far..." |
|
|
Fear of Vaccines Spurs Outbreaks, Study Says |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| May 7, 2009 |
|
| "Parental doubts about the safety of
childhood vaccinations are leading to outbreaks of largely eradicated
diseases like measles and whooping cough, doctors warned in a new
report. A U.S. measles outbreak last year -- almost exclusively among
unvaccinated people -- has sparked concern about places where many
parents opt out of having their children vaccinated. In Ashland, Ore.,
more than a quarter of kindergartners aren't vaccinated, leading the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to hold a town-hall
meeting on vaccination there earlier this year. 'A lot of folks are
counterculture-type independent thinkers [who] do not have faith in all
the modern medicine-type stuff," said Myles Murphy, city editor of the
town's newspaper, the Ashland Daily Tidings. Too many abstainers can put
a town at risk, wrote Dr. Saad Omer, of Emory University in Atlanta, the
lead author in the report in this week's New England Journal of
Medicine..." |
|
|
Say It Ain't So, O |
|
| Slate |
|
| May 7, 2009 |
|
| "Chastising a celebrity is an
exercise in futility. You feel like a kitten being held by the scruff of
its neck, scrabbling wildly in the air without drawing blood. Pointless
as this may be, though, I will try to talk some sense into Oprah
Winfrey, who has decided to go into business with vaccine skeptic Jenny
McCarthy. There is abundant evidence that vaccines don't cause autism.
More than a dozen studies, as well as trend data from California and
other states, show that neither the mercury-containing preservative
thimerosal nor the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine causes autism. In
March, a federal court dismissed both of these theories in a most
definitive way after hearing weeks of testimony and gathering thousands
of pages of evidence. Jenny McCarthy begs to differ..." |
|
|
Vaccine Would Be Spoken For |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| May 7, 2009 |
|
| "No final decision has been made yet
to produce a vaccine against the H1N1 swine flu virus, but some
wealthier countries reportedly have made "pre-production contracts" that
claim substantial quantities of the vaccine, if made. The worldwide
capacity for making a pandemic vaccine ranges between 1 billion and 2
billion, and the United States' preexisting contracts allow it to
purchase at least 600 million of those doses. This would provide the
U.S. population of about 305 million with almost two doses for each
person, as immunity may need two shots to be stimulated against the
swine flu strain. A panel of scientific experts are expected to meet
next week to advise the World Health Organization on whether it should
ask manufacturers to begin large-scale vaccine production and how to
provide more equal access to the vaccine for developing countries..." |
|
|
Officials Note Youth of Serious Flu Cases |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 7, 2009 |
|
| "Dr. Richard Besser, acting director
of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says the swine flu
has caused only 35 hospitalizations in the United States, but there are
concerns that the median age of these patients is 15 years. In contrast,
the elderly, infants, and the sick account for a majority of deaths each
year from the seasonal flu. Besser says teenagers may be more prone to
infection because a bulk of the early cases were tied to students who
traveled to Mexico for spring break. Additionally, individuals born
prior to 1957 may have some immunity, as the H1N1 seasonal flu was
replaced by the H2N2 "Asian flu" strain that year..." |
|
|
Measles Makes Unwelcome Return |
|
| Washington Times |
|
| May 6, 2009 |
|
| "While the uproar continues over a
potential swine flu pandemic, there is a quiet controversy brewing about
the return of an old disease that had once been nearly eradicated in the
United States. Last month, Maryland health officials said at least four
people had been diagnosed with measles in Montgomery County - including
an 8-month-old infant who contracted the disease in a hospital waiting
room..." |
|
|
Nigeria Meningitis Death Toll Rises Above 2,000 |
|
| Reuters |
|
| May 6, 2009 |
|
| "The death toll from a meningitis
outbreak in Nigeria has risen to 2,148 since the first case was recorded
in December. The number of reported cases increased more than eightfold
in the same period, reaching 47,902 in a population of 140 million.
UNICEF said last month that this could be the worst epidemic for five
years, with meningitis killing more than 2,500 people this year in West
and Central Africa. Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Chad are
considered the high-risk zones in Africa, where basic healthcare is
limited in rural areas..." |
|
|
U.S. May Add Shots for Swine Flu to Fall Regimen |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| May 6, 2009 |
|
| "The Obama administration is
considering an unprecedented fall vaccination campaign that could entail
giving Americans three flu shots -- one to combat annual seasonal
influenza and two targeted at the new swine flu virus spreading across
the globe. If enacted, the multibillion-dollar effort would represent
the first time that top federal health officials have asked Americans to
get more than one flu vaccine in a year, raising serious challenges
concerning production, distribution and the ability to track potentially
severe side effects..." |
|
|
Cooking Up Millions of Viruses for a New Vaccine |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 6, 2009 |
|
| "As soon as Doris Bucher learned that
a new strain of swine flu had turned up in the United States, she
e-mailed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offering to send
materials that might be useful in making a vaccine. Her colleagues at
the C.D.C. had a better idea. Less than a week later, they sent a sample
of the new type of virus, influenza A(H1N1), to Dr. Bucher, an associate
professor of microbiology and immunology at New York Medical College.
Dr. Bucher, a cheerful, fast-talking scientist who has been involved in
flu research for 40 years, runs a laboratory here in Westchester County
that is highly regarded for its skill at turning flu viruses into 'seed
stock’ — a form of the virus that will grow rapidly in eggs so that drug
companies can use it to
make hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine..." |
|
|
Keeping Appointments Key to Keeping Vaccines on Track |
|
| HealthDay News |
|
| May 5, 2009 |
|
| "Scheduling issues, communication
problems and a lack of belief in the importance of vaccinations have
been identified as some of the biggest hurdles to getting parents to
bring their children in for immunization appointments, U.S. researchers
report. Missed appointments were linked to children being 2.5 times more
likely to be behind in their immunization requirements, according to
investigators in New York City..." |
|
|
Swine Flu School Closures Not Recommended by U.S. |
|
| Bloomberg |
|
| May 5, 2009 |
|
| "Swine flu shouldn’t close schools
unless so many students or teachers get sick that the institutions can’t
function, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said,
reversing earlier advice. The agency today changed its recommendation
that schools consider closing if they suspect swine flu. That advice led
to the closure today of at least 726 schools in 24 states and the
District of Columbia, keeping about 468,000 students out of class,
according to the U.S. Education Department..." |
|
|
Verify Internationally Adopted Children's Immunization Records |
|
| Newswise |
|
| May 4, 2009 |
|
| "Written records tend to overestimate
the immunizations received by internationally adopted children,
according to a study by researchers at Case Western Reserve University
School of Medicine. Researchers examined the predictive value of
immunization records in 465 children from China, Russia, and Guatemala,
identifying those whose records may not accurately reflect the
antibodies actually present in the children's bodies. Such inaccuracies
may be due to falsified vaccine certificates, inaccurate entries, or
impaired immune response from stress or malnutrition. The researchers
also performed serologic testing on the children to identify antibodies,
finding that the immunization levels were inconsistent with the written
records. The researchers recommend that U.S. parents who adopt children
from overseas try to obtain a vaccination record before the child
arrives, to guide the evaluation of their immunization status, but not
rely solely on written records..." |
|
|
Flu, Mostly Mild, Has Spread Across U.S. |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 4, 2009 |
|
| "Swine flu has become widespread in
the United States, with 226 cases in 30 states and more expected to turn
up in additional states in the next few days, federal health officials
said Sunday. 'I think it’s circulating all over the U.S.,' Dr. Anne
Schuchat, the interim deputy director for science and public health at
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a news
conference..." |
|
|
Swine Flu Breaking News Update: Global case update, eyeing phase 6,
probable cases, southern hemisphere viruses, WHO gathers clinical
experts |
|
| CIDRAP |
|
| May 4, 2009 |
|
| "The World Health Organization (WHO)
reported 1,085 confirmed cases of influenza A/H1N1 (swine flu) and 26
deaths in 21 countries as of 18:00 GMT (noon US EST) today, up from 985
cases in 20 countries reported earlier in the day. Mexico has reported
590 confirmed cases and 25 deaths. The WHO's latest total reflects
today's updated US numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), which stand at 286 cases and 1 death..." |
|
|
Rash Actions and Dire Consequences |
|
| Guardian (UK) |
|
| May 1, 2009 |
|
| "My baby daughter is desperately ill
and her life has been put at risk by the selfishness of a sizable
minority of north London parents and their wrong-headed beliefs about
the MMR vaccine. Earlier this week my normally vigorous and feisty
11-month-old was reduced to drowsy, snot-filled lethargy. She refused
food, became uncharacteristically listless and developed a hacking
cough. Then that evening the measles rash appeared over most of her..." |
|
|
Op-Ed:The Autism/Vaccine Myth: Parents who refuse to have their children
vaccinated are putting them, and other children, at risk |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| May 3, 2009 |
|
| "A mother gently places her beautiful
1-year-old boy on the examining table, unwrapping his soft, blue
blanket. To my opening question, his mother says "No," she has no
concerns. A thorough exam confirms the boy's good health. His heart and
lungs are clear; his growth and development right on target. Even his
crying as we screen his blood for anemia and lead are signs of a normal
child..." |
|
|
WHO Says Existing Vaccine Little Use Against New Flu |
|
| Reuters |
|
| May 1, 2009 |
|
| "Testing shows that the current
vaccine against seasonal flu would not be effective against the new H1N1
strain, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday. Marie-Paule
Kieny, director of the WHO's initiative for vaccine research, said that
making a successful vaccine against the new strain is possible, but it
would take between four and six months for it to be available. Samples
needed to make a vaccine would be ready for manufacturers by mid to late
May..." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
W.H.O. Alert Says a Global Spread of Flu Is Likely |
|
| New York Times |
|
| April 30, 2009 |
|
| "For the first time since it rolled
out the pandemic warning system in 2005, the World Heath Organization
(WHO) has increased the alert level to Phase 5, which is the
second-highest level. The increase is in response to the ongoing spread
of the swine flu in the United States and Mexico, with the number of
U.S. cases rising to 91 in 10 states from 64 in five states on April 28,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The
first swine flu-related death in the United States was reported on
Wednesday, a 23-month-old child from Mexico who was being treated in
Houston. WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan has urged every country
to activate their pandemic preparedness plans right away, while at the
same time encouraging people to remain calm. Dr. Anthony Fauci of the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases says the lack of
background immunity in the population is a major concern and, along with
human-to-human transmission, could lead to a pandemic..." |
|
|
Officials Face a Tough Decision over Ordering Vaccine |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| April 30, 2009 |
|
| "Global health officials trying to
gauge the severity of the swine-flu outbreak face a tough call on how
quickly to move on creating a vaccine for the new virus. As confirmed
cases of the new A/H1N1 flu virus mount and spread around the world,
health officials must balance the desire to stop the spread quickly with
some serious risks of moving too fast. Even with a full push, it would
take months to get a vaccine ready, and the effort could force drug
companies to cut corners or reduce production of regular flu vaccine
needed for the winter. But waiting too long could allow the swine-flu
virus to have a much more deadly impact. Work has already begun on a
vaccine. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta
has the basic components for a swine-flu vaccine, and is studying the
makeup of the virus to better understand a central mystery: why it has
caused serious illness and deaths in Mexico but generally milder
symptoms elsewhere." |
|
|
Swine Flu Case in Spain May Point to Global Pandemic, WHO Says |
|
| Bloomberg |
|
| April 30, 2009 |
|
| "A swine-flu patient in Spain who
hadn't traveled to Mexico may signal a new front of the outbreak,
potentially heralding the first influenza pandemic in 41 years. The
World Health Organization raised its six-tier alert to 5, the
second-highest, and said a pandemic declaration may come soon. It urged
countries to make final preparations to deal with a virus that may sweep
across the globe. The WHO has confirmed 154 cases in nine countries, and
hundreds of people are being tested for the virus from Australia to New
York. Eight of those known to have had swine flu have died, though many
more may be carrying the virus and not getting seriously ill, the WHO
said..." |
|
|
Vaccine Makers Await Critical Swine Flu Samples; Swine Flu Won't Be in
Seasonal Flu Vaccines |
|
|
| April 29, 2009 |
|
| "As the World Health Organization
(WHO) today acknowledged the spreading swine influenza virus by moving
the pandemic threat awareness level up one notch to 5, the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control (CDC) worked to get drug companies the materials
they need to create a vaccine. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS) said it is unlikely that any new swine flu
vaccine would be included in the batches of seasonal influenza vaccines
already in production for the typical August vaccine ship date..." |
|
|
CHOP, Penn Research Points to Genetic Link in Autism |
|
| Philadelphia Inquirer |
|
| April 29, 2009 |
|
| "By analyzing DNA from more than
2,000 autistic children, researchers have uncovered the best evidence
yet for genetic links to the disorder - all tied to the way brain cells
form and dissolve connections. The research effort, led by Hakon
Hakonarson at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, used much larger
samples than had been analyzed before to identify genetic differences
between autistic subjects and controls. The CHOP group collaborated with
Penn, UCLA, and other institutions, announcing their findings in two
papers in today's issue of the journal Nature. One paper revealed the
first common genetic variation found to occur more often among autistic
people. The other paper announced 13 rarer genetic mistakes that are
strongly associated with autism. Both papers back the consensus that
there is no single autism gene, but perhaps 100 ways to develop the
disorder..." |
|
|
Obama Says Flu-Hit Schools May Need to Close |
|
| NPR |
|
| April 29, 2009 |
|
| "President Barack Obama suggested
Wednesday that school closings may be necessary in an escalating global
health emergency that claimed the first death in the United States — a 23-month-old child in Texas. Obama said educators with confirmed swine
flu infections should weigh shutting down classes if conditions
worsen..." |
|
|
Swine Flu Vaccine May Be Months Away, Experts Say |
|
| New York Times |
|
| April 29, 2009 |
|
| "Federal officials said it would take
until January, or late November at the earliest, to make enough vaccine
to protect all Americans from a possible epidemic of swine flu. And
beyond the United States and a few other countries that also make
vaccines, some experts said it could take years to produce enough swine
flu vaccine to satisfy global demand. Although production is much faster
than would have been possible even a few years ago, it still may not be
in time to avert death and illness if the virus starts spreading widely
and becomes more virulent, some experts said. In this country, the
biggest problem is that despite years of effort, the country is still
relying on half-century-old technology to make the flu vaccines..." |
|
|
The Naming of Swine Flu, a Curious Matter |
|
| New York Times |
|
| April 29, 2009 |
|
| "What to call the new strain of flu
raising alarms around the world has taken on political, economic and
diplomatic overtones. Pork producers question whether the term "swine
flu" is appropriate, given that the new virus has not yet been isolated
in samples taken from pigs in Mexico or elsewhere. While the new virus
seems to be most heavily composed of genetic sequences from swine
influenza virus material, it also has human and avian influenza genetic
sequences as well, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in Atlanta..." |
|
|
Op-ed: Understanding Swine Flu |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| April 29, 2009 |
|
| "The trouble starts in poor countries
where too many people live in proximity to pigs and poultry. The extent
and impact of the swine flu epidemic, which appears to have originated
in Mexico and spread rapidly to a dozen countries and parts of the U.S.,
is still unknown. The epidemiology of such disease outbreaks is rather
like a jigsaw puzzle, and we are now at the stage where the picture is
intriguing even if we're not sure what we're seeing..." |
|
|
Swine Flu Kills First Victim in U.S. |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| April 29, 2009 |
|
| "A 23-month-old child in Texas has
become the first swine flu fatality in the U.S. The child was one of six
people with confirmed cases of swine flu in the Lone Star State, in
addition to the 10 confirmed cases in California, two in Kansas, and one
in Ohio, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease
Control. Another 45 cases have been confirmed in New York City. That
brings the total number of confirmed cases in the U.S. to 64. Meanwhile,
President Obama is calling for action to contain the spread of the
virus. He noted that health authorities across the country need to be
diligent in monitoring the outbreak of swine flu, and said that schools
with suspected cases of the virus should follow the advice of public
health officials and consider closing temporarily. Obama has also asked
for $1.5 billion to deal with swine flu, and has put his new Health and
Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, to work on dealing with the
outbreak..." |
|
|
Oh, Baby: Jennifer Lopez visits Key Biscayne |
|
| Miami Herald |
|
|
April 28, 2009 |
|
| "Even at 8 in the morning on a
Saturday, the singer-actress also known as Jennifer Lopez was chirpy,
affable and sexy. She bounded on the stage at Key Biscayne's Crandon
Park to kick off the March of Dimes March for Babies 2009. Dressed in
tight white jeans and a hoodie, Lopez, 39, looked like anything but a
harried new mom, with huge movie-star sunglasses, dazzling smile and
long curls blowing in the wind. The 5,000-plus crowd -- peppered with
parents of premature infants -- went wild..." |
|
|
Health Officials Stress Need for Infant Immunizations |
|
| The York Dispatch (PA) |
|
|
April 28, 2009 |
|
| "As the swine flu dominates
headlines, health officials gathered in York Monday to remind residents
that even illnesses that had become relatively rare in the U.S. have
resurfaced and pose a risk to the nation's youngest citizens: infants.
The goal: to stress the importance of vaccines for children in
recognition of National Infant Immunization Week..." |
|
|
Pneumonia: Rwanda Receives Vaccine to Shield Babies Against Bacterial
Infections |
|
| New York Times |
|
|
April 28, 2009 |
|
| "A vaccine that protects babies
against fatal bacterial infections was introduced in Rwanda last week,
its first distribution in a third world country. The pneumococcal
conjugate vaccine has been sold under the Prevnar brand name in the
United States since 2000, and Rwanda will get three million doses --
enough for all its children under age 5 -- donated by Wyeth
Pharmaceuticals. By next year, Rwanda hopes to get a more powerful form
and donor money to help pay for it..." |
|
|
'Very High' Uptake of MMR School Vaccination |
|
| Irish Times (Ireland) |
|
|
April 28, 2009 |
|
| "Ireland's Health Service Executive
launched a measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination campaign in
second-level schools on April 24 to combat a nationwide mumps outbreak.
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre reported 2,194 mumps cases at
the end of the week, up by about 2,000 from the same period in 2008, and
the number is expected to rise as areas that have not yet reported to
the center do so. The center says vaccine uptake is 'very high' since
the start of the campaign, and health officials say the vaccine will be
offered again in September for students who do not receive it prior to
summer vacation..." |
|
|
Past Epidemics Have Current Import |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| April 28, 2009 |
|
| "In responding to the swine flu,
public health officials can take some lessons from previous outbreaks.
Because epidemics are unpredictable, each outbreak must be examined 'on
its own terms,' said Dr. Harvey Fineberg, president of the Institute of
Medicine. An outbreak of swine flu emerged at Fort Dix, N.J., in 1976,
with more than 200 soldiers infected, including one death. Fearful of
greater spread of the virus, more than 40 million Americans were
vaccinated, though that flu cluster never did move beyond Fort Dix.
Analysis of the 1918 flu pandemic has also helped scientists identify
strategies to control the spread of disease, including shutting down
schools and isolating those who are sick. The most important thing to
examine at the beginning of an outbreak, experts say, is the mortality
rate and knowing how it is being transmitted..." |
|
|
US Wants Ingredient in Swine Flu Vaccine by May |
|
| Seattle Times |
|
|
April 28, 2009 |
|
| "U.S. scientists hope to have a key
ingredient for a swine flu vaccine ready in early May, but are finding
that the novel virus grows slowly in eggs — the chief way flu vaccines
are made. Even if all goes well, it still will take a few months before
any shots are available for the first required safety testing, in
volunteers. 'We're working together at 100 miles an hour to get material
that will be useful,' Dr. Jesse Goodman, who oversees the Food and Drug
Administration's swine flu work, told The Associated Press. Using
samples of the new swine flu, taken from people who fell ill in Mexico
and the U.S., scientists are engineering a strain that could trigger the
immune system without causing illness. 'We're about a third of the way'
to that goal, Dr. Ruben Donis of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention said in an interview Tuesday..." |
|
|
Editorial: The New Swine Flu |
|
| New York Times |
|
|
April 28, 2009 |
|
|
"Is the new swine flu virus that has killed many people in Mexico and
has spread to the United States and other countries the start of a much
feared pandemic? Or is this yet another false alarm - the latest in a
long history of worrying that some day a hugely lethal flu strain might
sweep through the world and kill tens of millions of people, much as it
did in 1918-1919? The answer at this point is that nobody knows for
sure. There are some disquieting elements about the severity of the
symptoms appearing in Mexico, offset by the apparently far milder
behavior of the virus in the United States. Experts clearly need to
learn more about the origins, transmissibility and lethality of the new
virus in coming weeks..." |
|
|
Letter: Love your children by immunizing them |
|
| Post-Standard (NY) |
|
| April 28, 2009 |
|
| "To the Editor: Immunizations remain
important. Even though parents of young children may not have ever seen
a case of polio or rubella, the recent outbreaks of mumps and measles in
the United States remind us that the diseases we immunize against have
not disappeared. Without up-to-date shots for our children, the risks of
contracting a serious illness are very real. Children should be
immunized against 14 different diseases by the age of 2. It is easy to
do an Internet search and find lots of misinformation on vaccines.
Misinformation linking vaccines to autism has put fear in many parents.
But experts on immunizations who have reviewed all the scientific data
available have found there is no link between vaccines and autism. These
experts include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Institute of
Medicine, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention...Many more children benefit from vaccines than
suffer serious side effects. By Cynthia B. Morrow, Onondaga County
commissioner of health" |
|
|
Europe Warned on U.S. Travel |
|
| New York Times |
|
| April 27, 2009 |
|
| "Hoping to head off a global pandemic
of swine flu that has surfaced in North America, the European Union’s
health commissioner on Monday urged Europeans to avoid traveling to the
United States or Mexico if doing so was not essential. The warning came
as health officials in Spain confirmed early Monday that a man
hospitalized in eastern Spain had tested positive for swine flu,
becoming what appeared to be Europe’s first case of the disease..." |
|
|
U.S. Steps Up Alert as More Swine Flu Is Found; Precaution Taken Despite
Mildness of Cases Detected Domestically |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| April 27, 2009 |
|
| "The United States declared a "public
health emergency" yesterday as countries from New Zealand to Scotland
investigated suspected cases of illness that they feared might be a
strain of swine flu that has been identified in Mexico, the United
States and Canada. As of yesterday, however, no confirmed cases of the
newly emerged flu strain had been found outside those three countries.
Many of the people under observation around the world reported recent
travel to Mexico. With the U.S. announcement, civilian and military
stockpiles of antiviral drugs were being readied for rapid distribution
in the event that transmission of swine flu virus accelerates. The
declaration also called for greater vigilance at border crossings and in
airports for travelers who are coughing or appear ill..." |
|
|
As Vaccine Development Kicks Off, Caution Urged |
|
| NPR |
|
| April 27, 2009 |
|
| "The last time the nation raced to
contain an outbreak of swine flu, the result was a controversial - and
ultimately flawed - national immunization program. That 1976 outbreak,
which began with the death of a military recruit at Fort Dix, N.J., was
believed to have been the first major incidence of swine flu in humans
since the 1918-19 pandemic. Known as the "Spanish" flu, the 1918 strain
killed more than 50 million people..." |
|
|
Swine Flu Vaccine Would Take Months to Develop, Distribute |
|
| USA TODAY |
|
| April 27, 2009 |
|
| "As new swine flu cases continue to
mount, the question of developing a vaccine is a growing concern. World
Health Organization officials say we are more prepared for a potential
flu pandemic than we were five years ago. Yet, if the decision is made
to create one for this flu strain, it will still likely take months
before it's available..." |
|
|
Science Races to Parse New Virus; Bug, a Genetic Hybrid, Contains
Elements Foreign to Humans, Posing Pandemic Risk |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| April 27, 2009 |
|
| "Avian flu and SARS rudely awoke the
world to the possibility of a new pandemic. Could a seemingly more
mundane bug now put the world to the test? The swine flu virus that may
have killed more than 80 people in Mexico and appears to have sickened
hundreds more is still a mystery contagion. But this much is known: The
virus is unusually made up of genetic material from avian, pig and human
viruses; it can transmit from person to person; and in many people, it
only triggers mild symptoms seen in garden-variety influenza..." |
|
|
South Florida Meningitis Outbreak Baffles Health Experts |
|
| Miami Herald |
|
| April 24, 2009 |
|
| "Local, state and national health
experts are baffled as to how a rare and deadly strain of meningitis
killed four people and infected eight others in South Florida since
December, an unprecedented outbreak in the United States. The cases of
the W135 strain of meningitis were disclosed Wednesday by Miami-Dade
health officials. On Thursday, they were recommending vaccinations for
those in high-risk groups--mainly those living in close and crowded
situations such as college dorms or military barracks..." |
|
|
What If Vitamin D Deficiency Is a Cause of Autism? |
|
| Scientific American |
|
| April 24, 2009 |
|
| "A few researchers are turning their
attention to the sunshine vitamin as a culprit, prompted by the
experience of immigrants that have moved from their equatorial country
to two northern latitude locations. As evidence of widespread vitamin D
deficiency grows, some scientists are wondering whether the sunshine
vitamin—once only considered important in bone health—may actually play
a role in one of neurology's most vexing conditions: autism..." |
|
|
TB Vaccine Enters New Trial Stage |
|
| BBC News |
|
| April 24, 2009 |
|
| An experimental tuberculosis vaccine
will be given to nearly 2,784 infants in South Africa as part of the
next stage of trials for the first new TB vaccine in 80 years.
Researchers at Oxford University say the effectiveness of MVA85A will be
tested, following trials in 2007 which showed the vaccine was safe. The
experimental vaccine is designed to stimulate T-cells to produce a
stronger response to the current BCG jab. Researchers say the vaccine
could be available by 2016 if the tests are successful. |
|
|
No Needles in a Nano Universe |
|
| Brisbane Times (Australia) |
|
| April 23, 2009 |
|
| "Australian scientists are developing
a vaccine "nanopatch" that delivers immunization against diseases
without the use of needles. These patches could be sent to remote areas
that do not have refrigeration or disposable syringes used in
traditional vaccines. The patches consist of a centimeter-square silicon
device, with thousands of very sharp, microscopic spikes. These spikes
are coated with dried vaccine and penetrate the skin less than a hair's
thickness below the surface, causing no pain and delivering the vaccine
close to the immune cells, called dendritic cells..." |
|
|
Va. Home to Area's 6th Measles Case |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| April 22, 2009 |
|
| "A sixth case of measles has been
reported in the Washington Area, this time in Prince William County, the
first sign of the disease in Virginia this year. The Virginia Department
of Health announced the case yesterday, a day after D.C. officials
reported finding the highly infectious disease in a District man who
contracted it during a recent three-week trip to India. There is no
known link between the Virginia case and the others in the region,
health officials said. The source of the measles virus in the Virginia
resident has not been identified..." |
|
|
Vaccine Bill Has Passions Flaring: A face-off over a measure once
believed to be dead |
|
| Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL) |
|
| April 22, 2009 |
|
| "Florida pediatricians are doing
battle in the final days of the state's annual lawmaking session, trying
to head off the passage of a law they say will create the least
protective immunization standard in the country. 'If this thing goes
we'll be the laughingstock of the nation,' said Dr. Jerome Isaac, a
Sarasota pediatrician and the president of the American Academy of
Pediatrics' Florida chapter. 'It's simple. If we do this, children will
die.' The proposed law would ban the ingredient thimerosal, a
mercury-derived preservative some people believe causes autism, from
vaccines given to pregnant women and children 4 and under. It would also
allow parents to delay giving children vaccines until they enter school.
Federal standards call for vaccinations beginning at birth..." |
|
|
Swine Flu Cases Prompt a Search for the Source |
|
|
Los Angeles Times |
|
|
April 22, 2009 |
|
|
"Two mysterious cases of swine flu have been found in Imperial and
San Diego counties, leading to an investigation by local, state and
federal health officials to find the source. A 9-year-old girl in
Imperial County and a 10-year-old boy in San Diego County were
identified as having had the virus, officials said Tuesday. Neither
needed hospitalization and both have recovered. But health officials
remained puzzled because neither patient had been in contact with pigs
or with each other, and the strain of the flu is one never seen before
in the United States..." |
|
|
Polio: New Outbreak of Polio in Africa Prompts Appeal for Vaccine
Financing |
|
| New York Times |
|
| April 21, 2009 |
|
| "The International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies has made an emergency appeal for
millions of dollars to fight a new polio outbreak across Africa. 'Polio
is spreading again, including in countries such as Uganda which had been
polio-free for more than a decade,' said Dr. Tamman Aloudat, who is in
charge of health emergencies for the federation. Despite more than 20
years of eradication efforts, two strains of polio have spread out from
northern Nigeria and northern India — both places where many Muslims
have resisted vaccines because of rumors that vaccine efforts are a
Western plot to sterilize them..." |
|
|
5th Area Measles Case Is Reported |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| April 21, 2009 |
|
| "Health officials said yesterday that
a D.C. man has measles, and authorities are retracing his steps earlier
this month in the District and Montgomery and Arlington counties to
determine whether anyone might have been exposed to the highly
infectious disease. It is the fifth case of measles in the region this
year, but is not related to the others. The rare outbreak has prompted
health officials in the District, Virginia and Maryland to focus on
small pockets of unimmunized individuals, mainly babies who have not yet
been vaccinated and people born outside the United States. The District
man contracted the virus during a three-week trip to India but did not
show symptoms until after he returned home, said D.C. Health Department
Director Pierre Vigilance..." |
|
|
Patient-to-Patient Transmission of Hepatitis B Tied to Lapses in
Infection Control |
|
| Medscape |
|
| April 20, 2009 |
|
| "Breaches in infection-control
measures during several routine clinical practices can result in
patient-to-patient transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV), according to
a systematic review by Italian researchers. The review, which sought to
identify the most frequent infection pathways and clinical settings
involved in such instances, is reported in the online journal BMC
Medicine for April 8. The authors identified 30 published papers that
reported on a total of 33 HBV outbreaks in the United States and the
European Union involving 471 patients and 16 fatalities..." |
|
|
Opinion: Parents, Don't Be Immune to Vaccine Truths By Rahul Parikh, MD |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| April 20, 2009 |
|
| "As a second-year pediatric resident,
I went to India to work in a hospital in Mumbai. There, among the rows
of sick, poor children, were ones dying from vaccine-preventable
diseases. Among them, most starkly, was a 9-year-old boy in the most
severe stage of tetanus -- every muscle in his body was locked in spasm,
the sides of his face pointed upward in a grimaced smile -- "risus
sardonicus," as it's known in pediatric textbooks..." |
|
|
Free Hepatitis B Shots Coming for Some Minnesota Inmates |
|
| St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN) |
|
| April 18, 2009 |
|
| "Inmates in the Steele County jail
will soon have access to free hepatitis B vaccines under a program run
by state and federal health officials. Hepatitis B is an infectious
disease that attacks the liver and is spread through bodily fluids or
intravenous drug use. The vaccine can often cost $300 from a private
provider. The jail is one of 16 facilities in the state in the program.
The others include jails, the state women's prison, methadone clinics
and sexually transmitted disease clinics..." |
|
|
State Confirms 1st Case of Rubella since 2000; Vaccinations Advised |
|
| Star Tribune (MN) |
|
| April 18, 2009 |
|
| "A Twin Cities woman has come down
with the state's first case of rubella, or German measles, in nine
years, Minnesota health officials reported Friday. The unidentified
woman, who is in her 30s, had not been vaccinated against the illness
but is now recovering, said Kris Ehresmann, who heads the state
immunization program..." |
|
|
Measles Case Reported in Northwest Iowa |
|
| Des Moines Register |
|
| April 17, 2009 |
|
| "A case of measles has been reported
in northwest Iowa, the Iowa Department of Public Health said Thursday.
Health officials are determining how a child was exposed. Measles is
highly contagious and can cause serious disease and death..." |
|
|
Letter to the Editor: Rubella Is Danger Without Vaccination |
|
| Columbus Dispatch (OH) |
|
| April 16, 2009 |
|
| "The birth of a baby should be a
happy day, but what if the child was blind, deaf and covered in blue
spots? This "blueberry muffin" baby could be the result of rubella
infection in his mother during pregnancy. The "R" of the MMR vaccine,
rubella, is a rather mild infection, often having no symptoms, but it
can have devastating effects in an unborn child whose mother contracts
the disease during pregnancy. Long-term medical follow-up would be
required for this infant, but no specific treatment exists. With the
outbreak of measles in Pennsylvania this last month related to children
not receiving the MMR vaccine, one must wonder if there will be a
resurgence of babies with congenital rubella syndrome down the road.
While it is the parents' right to decline the MMR vaccine for their own
children, I hope they recognize that it may be their future
grandchildren who are horribly affected by their decision. By Dr. Andrea
Hahn" |
|
|
Mumps Suspected in Four NU Students |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| April 16, 2009 |
|
| "Four Northeastern University
students have suspected cases of the mumps, Boston public health
officials said yesterday, urging any unvaccinated students and staff to
get immunized against this once-common childhood illness. Though
laboratory results are not yet back to confirm the diagnosis, Dr. Anita
Barry, director of infectious diseases at the Boston Public Health
Commission, said the four students - two of whom had just returned from
Ireland where there was a recent mumps outbreak - have symptoms
consistent with mumps. Given the relative ease with which the illness
can be spread, she said, 'it's likely we'll see more cases.''..." |
|
|
Measles Case Reported in NW Iowa |
|
| Chicago Tribune |
|
| April 16, 2009 |
|
| "Health officials say they'll offer
measles vaccination clinics to people who think they may have been
exposed to a child in northwest Iowa who has the disease. Spencer
Hospital Community Health Services plans a clinic on Thursday night and
Friday. The Iowa Department of Public Health says officials are working
to determine how the child was exposed and who the child may have
exposed to the illness. Symptoms of measles include a fever, cough, red
or pink eyes, runny nose and a rash. It can cause pneumonia, deafness
and in rare cases death. Health officials say measles is highly
contagious and people should make sure they're up to date on their
vaccinations. To be fully vaccinated, a person should have two doses of
the vaccine." |
|
|
Oregon House OKs Bill to Fight Cervical Cancer |
|
| The Oregonian |
|
| April 15, 2009 |
|
| "Health insurers would be required to
cover the cost of a cervical cancer vaccine given to girls and young
women if a bill that passed the Oregon House on Wednesday becomes law.
The vaccine, known as the HPV vaccine, was approved by the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration in 2006 for girls and young women ages 9 to 26. It
is intended to be administered in three shots to girls before they
become sexually active as a means to combat the human papilloma virus,
linked to cervical cancers..." |
|
|
6 Schools Will Offer Nasal Influenza Vaccine |
|
|
Newnan Times-Herald (GA) |
|
|
April 15, 2009 |
|
|
"A half-dozen or more elementary schools in Coweta County, Ga., will
be taking part in Academic Clinics LLC's "Flu-Free Schools" program next
fall. In conjunction with District 4 Public Health Services, county
health departments, Emergency Medical Services, nursing schools, and the
Foundation for Education, Academic Clinics will offer the FluMist nasal
vaccines to students. Given that fewer than 20 percent of school-age
children receive the yearly flu vaccine, the program aims to vaccinate
students to minimize flu-related illness and curb absenteeism. Parents
will need to give permission to have their children vaccinated, and
those with private health insurance will pay a small fee for the
vaccine..." |
|
|
Vaccine Developed For E. Coli Diarrheal Diseases That Kill Millions Of
Children |
|
| Science Daily |
|
| April 15, 2009 |
|
| "A Michigan State University
researcher has developed a working vaccine for a strain of E. coli that
kills 2 million to 3 million children each year in the developing world.
Enterotoxigenic E. Coli, which is responsible for 60 percent to 70
percent of all E. coli diarrheal disease, also causes health problems
for U.S. troops serving overseas and is responsible for what is commonly
called traveler’s diarrhea..." |
|
|
Whooping Cough Update: Students not vaccinated excluded from school |
|
| Daily Record (Ohio) |
|
| April 14, 2009 |
|
| "Recent confirmation of a positive
case of whooping cough translates to a week off school for an amended
list of 50 students at Berlin Elementary School. Originally, East Holmes
District records indicated 62 students at the school were under- or
unvaccinated, according to Holmes County Health Commissioner Dr. D.J.
McFadden, made aware Thursday of a non- diagnostic test that indicated
an 11-year-old boy showed signs of the disease. Confirmation of a
positive test result, taken from one of the boy's siblings, was received
Sunday night, said McFadden, who said Berlin students not properly
vaccinated against pertussis will be excluded from school until April
20, 10 days from when they would have last been exposed to the
communicable disease..." |
|
|
Whooping Cough Not Over in Cobb |
|
| Atlanta Journal-Constitution |
|
| April 14, 2009 |
|
| "At least three more cases of
whooping cough have been reported at east Cobb County schools. Keheley
and Shallowford Falls elementary schools both reported confirmed cases
Monday, according to school officials. Addison Elementary recently had a
case, too, according to Cobb-Douglas Public Health. Whooping cough, also
called pertussis, is highly contagious and can be very serious in babies
and young children. Numerous cases have been reported in Cobb schools
this year, despite a majority of the children receiving pertussis
vaccinations. The Addison student also was immunized. Other elementary
schools with previous cases include Mountain View, Garrison Mill, Timber
Ridge and Rocky Mount. Current research shows that the vaccine may wear
off over time, leaving more children susceptible to the disease..." |
|
|
Whooping Cough Outbreak at New Concord School |
|
| Zanesville Times Recorder (OH) |
|
| April 14, 2009 |
|
| "There are seven confirmed cases of
pertussis, or whooping cough, at Larry Miller Intermediate School in the
East Muskingum School District. Zanesville-Muskingum County Health
Department Epidemiologist Bob Brems said students, as a preventative
measure, are being asked to see their | | |
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