Faculty Bibliography

Recently, some critics have objected to the organization's practice of keeping some of the virus's genetic information in a secret database. Ilaria Capua, an Italian veterinary scientist who works on avian flu, has challenged the system by refusing to send her own data to the password-protected archive. Instead, she released the information publicly and urged her colleagues to do the same. More timely release of information about avian flu and other infectious agents 'will become increasingly routine,' largely as a legacy of the SARS outbreaks in 2003, said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, another flu expert at the agency

The bacteria can cause the same variety of problems in animals and humans, including skin infections, abscesses, joint infections and death. The infections can be difficult to treat, raising concern about the potential for animals to serve as sources of infection among their human contacts. The questions that epidemiologists at the centers are adding to continuing studies are aimed at determining the source of such infections. Are some people acquiring the antibiotic-resistant staphylococcal infections from pets? Or are pets being infected from exposure to people? If so, how often are each occurring? Staphylococci are commonly found on human skin and in the nasal passages, but much less so on animal skin, Dr. [Shelley C. Rankin] said. Methicillin-resistant staphylococcal infections have been found among horses, and outbreaks have occurred in equine hospitals. But no cases of infection among horses have been linked to people, Dr. [Nina Morano] said in an interview

Recently, some critics have objected to the organization's practice of keeping some of the virus's genetic information in a secret database. One critic, Ilaria Capua, an Italian veterinary scientist who works on avian influenza, has challenged the system by refusing to send her own data to the password-protected archive. Instead, she released the information publicly and urged her colleagues to do the same. More timely release of information about avian influenza and other infectious agents ''will become increasingly routine,'' largely as a legacy of the SARS outbreaks in 2003, said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, another expert on influenza at the agency. In the fall of 2002, China lied about the existence of the earliest cases of SARS. Within a few months, SARS spread to Canada and a number of other countries

Mr. [George E. Pataki], 60, said he had taken a number of telephone calls in his hospital room from well-wishers. His spokesman, David Catalfamo, said that Mr. Pataki had spoken with former President Bill Clinton and Gov. Ernie Fletcher of Kentucky. Mr. Catalfamo said that one of the reasons Mr. Pataki appeared at the news conference was to reassure his mother, Margaret, who was concerned about news reports about his medical condition. On Tuesday, Mr. Pataki's doctors revealed that his ruptured appendix left him more seriously ill than his staff and doctors had previously acknowledged. For the first week that Mr. Pataki was at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia hospital, his doctors and staff gave little information about his medical condition, not fully explaining the need for his second operation or revealing the peritonitis and abscesses. Yesterday, Mr. Catalfamo defended the staff's handling of the information about Mr. Pataki's illness, saying, ''We are doing our best to provide the public with as much information as we understand.''

They used the word ''peritonitis'' -- the name of a potentially fatal inflammation of the abdominal lining -- only after being pressed repeatedly by reporters. They also described abscesses but declined to use that word, and declined to say how high a fever Mr. [George E. Pataki] had. And although they said that his bowel function was impaired but improving, they would not elaborate despite repeated questioning. Dr. Dennis L. Fowler said yesterday that the adhesions were new and probably caused by the ruptured appendix and the first operation. Dr. [Spencer E. Amory] said that after examining Mr. Pataki and reviewing his records, ''I thought the governor received excellent care at Hudson Valley.'' When asked whether Mr. Pataki had peritonitis, Dr. Amory said there was ''a spread of infection within the abdomen.'' He was asked again, and gave a similar answer. When asked a third time, he said the condition he described ''is defined as peritonitis.''

When Ariel Sharon suffered his first stroke in December, he did what many national leaders who suddenly become ill rarely do. Mr. Sharon, the prime minister of Israel, told his doctors at the Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem to inform the public about his medical problems, Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the Hadassah Medical Organization's director-general, said in interviews in the United States last week. Critics contend that Mr. Sharon's doctors erred in some of their decisions, including the heparin. But, Dr. Mor-Yosef said, the hospital has conducted internal reviews of Mr. Sharon's treatment at different stages. Hadassah doctors discussed the case by telephone and e-mail with specialists in Israel and elsewhere, he said. An expert in coma, Dr. Jerome B. Posner of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center flew from Manhattan to examine Mr. Sharon. The morning after Mr. Sharon's second stroke, Dr. Mor-Yosef's wife, Dina, and government officials called him because of rumors that the prime minister was dead. Dr. Mor-Yosef swiftly told reporters that Mr. Sharon was alive and in an intensive care unit, and he promised to report quickly any changes in his medical condition

The researchers, who reported their finding at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in San Francisco, do not know whether the virus causes prostate cancer, infection or any other ailment in humans. The virus, called XMRV, could prove to be harmless. The XMRV virus is closely related to a group of retroviruses found in mice and known as xenotropic murine leukemia virus. (Xenotropic means the virus crossed species.) Though such viruses can cause disease in animals other than mice, there has been no documented human infection until the new report. The XMRV virus acts differently from viruses known to cause cancers, [Don Ganem] said. In known links, the virus is in the cancer cell, not in the stroma, and every cell in the tumor is infected

The researchers, who reported their finding at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in San Francisco, do not know whether the virus causes prostate cancer, infection or any other ailment in humans. The virus, called XMRV, could prove to be harmless. The XMRV virus is closely related to a group of retroviruses found in mice and known as xenotropic murine leukemia virus. (Xenotropic means the virus crossed species.) Though such viruses can cause disease in animals other than mice, there has been no documented human infection until the new report. The XMRV virus acts differently from viruses known to cause cancers, Dr. [Don Ganem] said. In known links, the virus is in the cancer cell, not in the stroma, and every cell in the tumor is infected

The XMRV virus is closely related to a group of retroviruses found in mice and known as xenotropic murine leukemia virus. (Xenotropic means the virus crossed species.) Though such viruses can cause disease in animals other than mice, there has been no documented human infection until the new report