Faculty Bibliography

Epidemiologists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have linked the acanthamoeba keratitis outbreak to AMO Complete Moisture Plus Multi-Purpose Solution. Advanced Medical Optics of Santa Ana, Calif., manufactures the solution, used to clean and store soft contact lenses

The outbreak resembles one last year that was linked to a different manufacturer's lens solution and a different microbe. In both instances, the cornea, the eye's transparent outer covering, is at risk. But why two different microbes caused the outbreaks is not known. ''It is beyond comprehension,'' said Dr. Dan B. Jones, the chairman of ophthalmology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who detected a case of acanthamoeba keratitis, which is behind the current outbreak, on Friday. Acanthamoeba infections have been reported in many countries. Dr. Jones's team is credited for first identifying a corneal infection from acanthamoeba in the United States, in a rancher who was injured in an accident in Texas in 1973. That case did not involve contact lenses: while the rancher was working in a field, a piece of wire and hay hit his eye

The authorities said that the link was ''preliminary'' and that it had not determined precisely how the patients became infected. But investigators found that the risk of developing the infection was at least seven times greater for those people who used the AMO product than for those who did not. The company said, ''There is no evidence to suggest that the voluntary recall is related to a product contamination issue and this does not impact any of AMO's other contact lens care products.'' Acanthamoeba infection usually develops slowly and can be difficult to diagnose and treat. Doctors often attribute Acanthamoeba infections at first to a virus, herpes simplex, that is treatable. But the drugs for herpes do not help Acanthamoeba patients. Doctors advise treating the infection as early as possible

''Quite honestly, I didn't believe it,'' said Dr. [Steven E. Ross], who directs the level one, or most highly accredited, trauma center at the hospital. But he immediately alerted security guards and the public relations staff so they would ''keep people out of my hair'' and help him avoid ''the distractions'' that can interfere with the care of V.I.P.'s. ''All of us thought he would survive,'' Dr. [Robert F. Ostrum] said. He did not ''paint a bleak picture,'' he said, adding, ''but I wanted them to understand the severity of the injuries.'' ''It's counterproductive to tell somebody everything's going to be fine, and then when you do have problems, hear, 'Doctor, you told us everything was going to be fine,' '' Dr. Ross said. ''I would rather tell them about the realities and have everybody happy when things go well.''

'Calling in Dr. [Michael DeBakey] was very important, a signal that he was in very serious condition, and consulting with a world leader in surgery this way was almost unthinkable in the Soviet period,' said Marshall Goldman, a Russian expert and senior scholar at Harvard. 'It was a measure of Dr. DeBakey's stature in Russia.' As a patient, [Boris Yeltsin] 'was not as bossy with me as he was with some of his Russian doctors,' DeBakey said, adding: 'He didn't get along with some of the doctors there. But he took a liking to me, listened, and that made things much better.' My requests for interviews with Yeltsin were always denied, so I was never able to ask him about DeBakey. But in a foreword to the Russian edition of DeBakey's book The New Living Heart (Adams, 1997), written with Antonio Gotto Jr., Yeltsin described DeBakey as 'a magician of the heart' and 'a man with a gift for performing miracles.'

''Calling in Dr. [Michael E. DeBakey] was very important, a signal that he was in very serious condition, and consulting with a world leader in surgery this way was almost unthinkable in the Soviet period,'' said Marshall I. Goldman, a Russian expert and senior scholar at Harvard. ''It was a measure of Dr. DeBakey's stature in Russia.'' As a patient, Mr. [Boris N. Yeltsin] ''was not as bossy with me as he was with some of his Russian doctors,'' Dr. DeBakey said, adding: ''He didn't get along with some of the doctors there. But he took a liking to me, listened, and that made things much better.'' My requests for interviews with Mr. Yeltsin were always denied, so I was never able to ask him about Dr. DeBakey. But in a foreword to the Russian edition of Dr. DeBakey's book ''The New Living Heart'' (Adams, 1997), written with Antonio Gotto Jr., Mr. Yeltsin described Dr. DeBakey as ''a magician of the heart'' and ''a man with a gift for performing miracles.''

Tom Shea, the governor's chief of staff, said Mr. [Jon S. Corzine] would not resume his official duties until some time after he is released from the hospital. Richard J. Codey, a fellow Democrat who is president of the State Senate, has been acting governor since the April 12 accident when the Chevrolet Suburban Mr. Corzine was riding in, moving at 91 miles per hour with emergency lights flashing, collided with another car and then slammed into a guardrail on the Garden State Parkway. For now, though, Mr. Corzine cannot even get himself out of bed to sit in a chair, something Dr. [Robert F. Ostrum] said would be a milestone. The doctors said they hoped Mr. Corzine could sit upright for an hour or two later this week. ''That would be a big deal,'' Dr. Ostrum said. Dr. [Steven E. Ross], left, head of trauma, and Tom Shea, Gov. Jon S. Corzine's chief of staff, at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, N.J. (Photo by Tom Mihalek for The New York Times)(pg. B4)

Still, the effort is ''a remarkable success'' considering that only 2 percent of infected patients needing antiretroviral therapy were receiving it three years ago, said Dr. Kevin De Cock, the H.I.V./AIDS director at the World Health Organization, a United Nations agency in Geneva. Many numbers were discouraging. In 2006, about six times as many people became infected with H.I.V. as started treatment, meaning prevention efforts are faltering or not in place, Dr. De Cock told reporters by telephone. The Bush administration's emergency plan for AIDS Relief and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria were paying for care of about 1.27 million of the two million total, the United Nations said

Because of the severe pain from having fractured 12 ribs, a tube that is connected to a mechanical ventilator has been placed in Mr. [Jon S. Corzine]'s throat to help him breathe. The tube prevents Mr. Corzine from speaking. The full extent of Mr. Corzine's injuries may not yet be known in part because no diagnostic test is perfect. Doctors may not have been able to perform a full neurological evaluation in the initial hours of Mr. Corzine's treatment because of the pain, the extent of his injuries and his need for medication. Although a CT scan showed no structural brain injury, that X-ray test does not rule out mental or physical damage. Mr. Corzine also suffered a broken lower vertebra, a bone that protects the spinal cord. Mr. Corzine's doctors did not say whether there was any indication of paralysis or other spinal cord damage

Standard monitoring of gonorrhea cases is conducted among men who go to sexually transmitted disease clinics. New data from such sites in 26 cities show that among heterosexual men found to have gonorrhea last year, the rate of those infected with a drug- resistant strain reached 26 percent in Philadelphia and more than 20 percent in Honolulu and four sites in California, Long Beach, Orange County, San Diego and San Francisco. The United States has an estimated 700,000 new cases of gonorrhea a year, occurring among sexually active people of both sexes at all ages. It is the second most commonly reported infectious disease, behind chlamydia, another sexually transmitted disease. 'We are running out of options,' said Dr. John Douglas Jr., who directs the division of sexually transmitted diseases prevention at the centers. Cephalosporins, like their cousin penicillin, thwart bacteria by damaging a microbe's cell wall, not by attacking DNA as the fluoroquinolones do, Douglas said