Faculty Bibliography

In 1980, despite his mother's history of senility, it was only a hypothetical possibility that Mr. Reagan would develop Alzheimer's. The disease's hereditary pattern was, and is, not precisely known. As it turned out, the disease is believed to have afflicted Mr. Reagan's brother, Neil, too. Whether their mother's dementia was from strokes or Alzheimer's, or both, is not known. No one can be absolutely certain when Mr. Reagan's Alzheimer's began. Then, as now, blood and other practical laboratory tests did not exist to detect the initial stages of Alzheimer's, which takes years to damage the brain, or to distinguish it from other forms of dementia. Lacking a test, Alzheimer's is estimated to account for half of all dementia cases. Strokes and other diseases cause the remainder. Doctors did not start giving Mr. Reagan psychological tests that can point to Alzheimer's until after he was thrown from a horse in Mexico in 1989, and suffered a subdural hematoma that was removed surgically. Initial tests did not show evidence of Alzheimer's, but subsequent ones, performed around 1993, did, his doctors have said

Cipla, an Indian company that has been in the forefront of getting generic drugs approved for use in poor countries, made the two generic drugs, lamivudine, which is also known as 3TC, and zidovudine, which is also known as AZT. The problem was detected during an inspection of an independent laboratory that Cipla had hired to conduct bioequivalence studies among volunteers whose blood had been tested after they took the generic drugs. The tests were devised to determine whether the concentration of the generic drug in the blood was the same as in its patented counterpart. Dr. [Lembit Rago] did not provide the name of the company that did the testing. Cipla's chairman, Dr. Yusuf K. Hamied, said the problem was due to inadequate record keeping in the testing laboratory in Bombay. Dr. Hamied, reached by telephone in London, said that Cipla's lamivudine has been tested for bioequivalency in a laboratory in the United States and approved by the Food and Drug Administration and that he would submit that data to the health agency

In 1980, despite his mother's history of senility, it was only a hypothetical possibility that Reagan would develop Alzheimer's. The disease's hereditary pattern was, and is, not precisely known. As it turned out, the disease is believed to have afflicted Reagan's brother, Neil, too. Whether their mother's dementia was from strokes or Alzheimer's, or both, is not known. No one can be absolutely certain when Reagan's Alzheimer's began. Then, as now, blood and other practical laboratory tests did not exist to detect the initial stages of Alzheimer's, which takes years to damage the brain, or to distinguish it from other forms of dementia. Lacking a test, Alzheimer's is estimated to account for half of all dementia cases. Strokes and other diseases cause the remainder. Doctors did not start giving Reagan psychological tests that can point to Alzheimer's until after he was thrown from a horse in Mexico in 1989, and suffered a subdural hematoma that was removed surgically. Initial tests did not show evidence of Alzheimer's, but subsequent ones, performed around 1993, did, his doctors have said

Cipla, an Indian company that has been in the forefront of getting generic drugs approved for use in poor countries, made the two generic drugs, lamivudine, which is also known as 3TC, and zidovudine, which is also known as AZT. The action followed the Bush administration's recent announcement of a significant shift in its AIDS policy to allow the purchase of cheaper generic drugs for Africa and the Caribbean. Cipla said the situation was 'on the mend' and that it expected its drugs to be back on the list within weeks. Reached by telephone in London, [Yusuf Hamied] said that lamivudine had been tested for bioequivalency in a laboratory in the United States and approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and that he would submit that data to the WHO. He said that the testing had been done for the U.S. drug agency because Cipla hoped to sell generic lamivudine when the U.S. patent expired in 2006

As polio cases surge in Nigeria and the virus spreads to other countries, West and Central Africa are on the brink of the largest polio epidemic in recent years, alarmed officials of the World Health Organization and UNICEF said yesterday. Allegations about impurities in the vaccine have caused alarm and confusion among many people in Nigeria and elsewhere. Tests of the vaccine have refuted such claims, said Dr. David L. Heymann, the director of the World Health Organization's polio eradication program. The vaccine purchased by UNICEF meets the organization's standards and has been used safely to eliminate the disease in many other countries. In addition to Sudan, the virus has spread from Nigeria to the following nine countries since last August: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Togo

Allegations about impurities in the vaccine have caused alarm and confusion among many people in Nigeria and elsewhere. Tests of the vaccine have refuted such claims, said Dr. David L. Heymann, the director of the World Health Organization's polio eradication program. The vaccine purchased by Unicef meets the organization's standards and has been used safely to eliminate the disease from many other countries. In May, Kano's governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, pledged to resume vaccinations. But that has not happened, Dr. Heymann said. Meanwhile, polio has spread not only in Kano but from that state to other parts of Nigeria. In addition to Sudan, the virus has spread from Nigeria to the following nine countries since last August: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Togo

As polio cases surge in Nigeria and the virus spreads to other countries, western and central Africa are on the brink of the largest polio epidemic in recent years, officials of the World Health Organization and Unicef said Tuesday. Equally alarming, health officials said, is that the surge in polio cases in Nigeria and its spread to other countries is occurring during a season when transmission of the polio virus is usually at its lowest. That signals the potential for a large epidemic as polio enters the season when transmission is highest, they said. Tests of the vaccine have refuted such claims, said Dr. David Heymann, director of the World Health Organization's polio eradication program. The vaccine as purchased by Unicef meets the health organization's standards and has been used safely to eliminate the disease from many other countries

As polio cases surge in Nigeria and the virus spreads to other countries, West and Central Africa are on the brink of the largest polio epidemic in recent years, alarmed officials of the World Health Organization and Unicef said. That signals the potential for a large epidemic as polio enters the season when transmission is highest, the officials say. The polio virus spreads through feces, and contamination occurs more often when sewage backs up during the rainy season in Africa and Asia. Allegations about impurities in the vaccine have caused alarm and confusion among many people in Nigeria and elsewhere. Tests of the vaccine have refuted such claims, said Dr. David Heymann, the director of the World Health Organization's polio eradication program. The vaccine purchased by Unicef meets the organization's standards and has been used safely to eliminate the disease from many countries

A World Health Organization official said that the agency was investigating an unconfirmed media report that a person died of so- called bird flu in Vietnam's Mekong delta recently, and was also investigating unconfirmed reports that birds may be dying of the disease in Indonesia. Hans Wagner, the senior animal production and health officer in Southeast Asia for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, said he was not aware of any human cases, or of any bird cases outside of Vietnam, Thailand and China. Thai officials confirmed on Wednesday that they had found infected birds on two farms, located in Ayutthaya and Prathumthani provinces in central Thailand. In China, officials said they had found a single infected bird near Chaohu Lake in Anhui Province, 420 kilometers, or 260 miles, northwest of Shanghai. Vietnam has been killing all chickens near infected birds. In Thailand, the Agriculture Ministry said that it had ordered the culling of all chickens found within five kilometers of the infected chickens

A World Health Organization official said that the agency was investigating an unconfirmed media report that a person had died of so-called bird flu in Vietnam's Mekong Delta recently and was also investigating unconfirmed reports that birds may be dying of the disease in Indonesia. Hans Wagner, the senior animal production and health officer in Southeast Asia for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, said he was not aware of any human cases, or of any bird cases outside of Vietnam, Thailand and China