Faculty Bibliography

Although a strain of tuberculosis is out of control in the US, health officials are encouraged by the fact that it is not particularly contagious. Tuberculosis bacterium spreads in droplets dispersed through the air by coughing, providing only a 50% chance of getting the disease if a person spends 8 hours a day with an infected person for 6 months

The CDC reported on Jan 23, 1992 that particularly dangerous forms of tuberculosis have hit 16 states and that the spread of the disease is out of control. Some strains of the bacterium are resistant to the standard anti-tuberculosis drugs

'At no time in recent history has tuberculosis been of such great concern as it is now, and legitimately so, because tuberculosis is out of control in this country,' said Dr. Dixie Snider, the disease centers' top expert on tuberculosis. Federal health officials say the outbreaks chiefly involve people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, but they said it is not known exactly how many are infected or what proportion they represent in the total number of people with tuberculosis. At the meeting, more than 300 health officials and experts on tuberculosis sought new ways to combat the ancient scourge. [William L. Roper] said his agency intends to develop a national plan to combat the strains of tuberculosis that are resistant to standard drugs

A team of scientists at the University of Miami have found that the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells, contrasted with the normal elimination of mutated cells by the body in most circumstances, results from a genetic defect that leaves cells unable to communicate with each other. The Miami research, headed by Werner R. Loewenstein, is detailed

Rather, one of the authors of the study, Dr. Anthony Komaroff of the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said the authors suspected that the syndrome in some unknown way led to an abnormality of the immune system, which in turn reactivated a virus that had long been dormant in the body. Earlier studies showed that HHV-6 infects virtually everybody in the first years of life. Chronic fatigue syndrome often begins abruptly with flu-like symptoms that are followed by months or years of sometimes disabling lethargy and impaired cognition. Tens of thousands of Americans suffer symptoms of the syndrome, but precise numbers are unknown

Rather, one of the authors of the study, Dr. Anthony Komaroff of the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said the authors suspected that the syndrome in some unknown way led to an abnormality of the immune system, which in turn reactivated a virus that had long been dormant in the body. Earlier studies showed that HHV-6 infects virtually everybody in the first years of life. Chronic fatigue syndrome often begins abruptly with flu-like symptoms that are followed by months or years of sometimes disabling lethargy and impaired cognition. Tens of thousands of Americans suffer symptoms of the syndrome, but precise numbers are unknown since no diagnostic test exists

A new study of chronic fatigue syndrome has found evidence of brain inflammation in the brains of patients suffering the syndrome, the first such evidence of a neurological abnormality. The study also found evidence that herpes virus 6, or HHV-6, is active in most patients

A report in the Annals of Internal Medicine says that the largest study yet of chronic fatigue syndrome has yielded the first documentation of a neurological abnormality connected with the mysterious ailment. Although inflammation of the brain is detectable in patients, the findings are not specific enough to be used as a diagnostic test for the syndrome

Until recent weeks, there was no objective way to answer that with statistics giving a surgical batting average. But now the questions are taking on new importance following the New York State Health Department's reluctant disclosure of death statistics for each heart surgeon. A New York State Supreme Court order resulting from Newsday's request under the freedom of information law forced health officials to release data they had been collecting over recent years. They revealed wide variations between hospitals and among surgeons within the same institution. 'There is absolutely nothing in the legal literature' that addresses this issue, said Aaron D. Twerski, a law professor at Brooklyn Law School who was chairman of the meeting. 'Medical malpractice lawyers are going to have to become pretty good statisticians in the near future,' he said. Most heart surgeons in the New York state rankings and in a study Dr. O'[Connor]'s team has carried out in northern New England fall into the middle of a wide curve. 'Like major league batting statistics, there is very little difference in the middle of the curve,' Dr. O'Connor said

Gastroenteritis, or 'intestinal flu,' the ailment that the White House said led to President Bush's collapse at a dinner in his honor in Tokyo on Wednesday, often causes sudden and violent upsets of the stomach and intestines. Intestinal flu is not influenza, or the respiratory flu that health officials say has spread in many areas of the United States in recent weeks. Unlike influenza, for which a vaccine offers protection, there is no immunization to protect against the many forms of gastroenteritis. It is not known if Bush had a flu shot. Bush looked ashen after he vomited and slumped to the floor at the home of Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa. But Bush, 67, appeared to recover within a few minutes after fainting