Faculty Bibliography

Of the 12,000 teenagers included in the federal study, 88 percent of those who pledged chastity reported having had sexual intercourse before they married, [Peter Bearman] said at a scientific meeting in Philadelphia on preventing sexually transmitted diseases. By age 23, half the teenagers who had made virginity pledges were married, compared with 25 percent of those who had not pledged, the study found. Bearman said he did not know whether the teenagers who had broken their pledges did so initially with their fiances or with others, because the data had not yet been analyzed. Also, the adolescents who had made pledges were less likely to get tested for sexually transmitted diseases. Among the boys, 5.2 percent had been tested, compared with 9.1 percent of the boys who had not pledged. Among the girls, 14 percent of pledgers had been tested, compared with 28 percent of girls who had not pledged

About 45 million Americans have acquired genital herpes at some time in their lives. An estimated 1.6 million Americans become infected with the virus each year, said Dr. James R. Allen, president and chief executive of the American Social Health Association, a private group in Durham, N.C., that works to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. Another study presented Monday found that of 1,300 adolescent males surveyed by the Minnesota Department of Public Health, nearly one in 10 were infected with chlamydia. Although little data had been reported on the prevalence of chlamydia in men, the new figure was unexpectedly high, Minnesota health officials said. Women suffer the most serious complications of chlamydia: painful pelvic infections and infertility

Among the microbes on the horizon are Rift Valley virus, a disease, transmitted by mosquitoes that causes bleeding and encephalitis; Usutu, an African virus that has killed 30 percent of the blackbirds in Vienna since 2001; scrub typhus, a mite-borne rickettsial infection also known as tsutsugamushi fever; Nipah virus, a highly fatal disease from pigs; malaria in the United States; lyssa virus, which causes a rabieslike disease; and mosquito-borne Chandipura virus, the cause of a large encephalitis outbreak in India. No one can predict which infectious disease will test the system next. One candidate is the Usutu virus, Dr. Norbert Nowotny of the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna said. The virus had not been identified outside southern Africa since its discovery in 1959 in mosquitoes and birds in the Usutu River area in Swaziland. This is the first time that scientists have documented the deaths of birds from the Usutu virus. The virus has adapted to cold winters and European mosquitoes, moving slowly toward the borders with the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, said Dr. Nowotny, who now works at the United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain

Mr. [John Ashcroft] was scheduled to testify on Wednesday before a House subcommittee on appropriations, but that appearance will be canceled, officials said. Other events on Mr. Ashcroft's schedule may also have to be postponed. Mr. Ashcroft arrived at the emergency room early Thursday evening, Mr. [Mark Corallo] said, and after a full medical examination, doctors diagnosed the severe case of gallstone pancreatitis. The overwhelming majority of pancreatitis cases are caused by gallstones and alcoholism. Other causes include reactions to prescription or illicit drugs, injuries, infections and complication of surgery. It can be difficult to determine if infection was the cause or a result of pancreatitis. Antibiotics, which Mr. Ashcroft is receiving, are commonly prescribed

The four-dose regimen of [Prevnar] has been effective in preventing serious illness and death from meningitis, blood and ear infections and other conditions caused by the pneumococcus bacterium. The vaccine is recommended for children under 2 because they are at highest risk of such infections. It is not routinely recommended for those 2 and older

In 1999 and 2000, doctors in this country wrote an average of 11 million antibiotic prescriptions for ear infections in children 15 and younger, a spokeswoman for the disease control centers said. But one study showed about a 25 percent reduction, largely among office- based doctors, in prescribing standard antibiotics for children's ear infections. However, the study cautioned that increased prescribing of newer antibiotics might offset the reduction. The proposed guidelines, [Richard E. Besser] said, emphasize the need for stricter criteria in diagnosing infections and in relieving the pain that makes many children with ear infections cranky. The guidelines also advise that not prescribing antibiotics for children is acceptable therapy. Experience in Europe shows that 80 percent of children get better without the drugs, Besser said

The proposed guidelines, Dr. [Richard E. Besser] said, emphasize the need for doctors to use stricter criteria in diagnosing infections and to relieve the pain that makes many children with ear infections cranky. The guidelines also advise doctors that observing children without prescribing antibiotics is acceptable therapy. Experience in Europe shows that 80 percent of children get better without the drugs, Dr. Besser said

On Monday, [Keiji Fukuda] and many other influenza experts restated their concern about the potential for a new strain of bird flu that has emerged in Asia to trade genes with a human strain, creating a new virus that would be highly lethal to people

The four-dose regimen of [Prevnar] has been effective in preventing serious illness and death from meningitis, blood and ear infections and other conditions caused by the pneumococcus bacterium. The vaccine is recommended for children under 2 because they are at highest risk of such infections. It is not routinely recommended for those 2 and older. A full four-dose regimen of Prevnar is 97 percent effective in preventing the seven strains of the pneumococcal bacteria in the vaccine. A reduced regimen should also provide some protection, health officials said

Opposition from religious and political leaders in the north of Nigeria has forced the suspension of an immunization program being conducted in Nigeria and other countries in Africa where polio is endemic or has been spread in recent months. [David Heymann] said that the vaccine being used in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa was the same one that reduced the incidence of paralytic polio to fewer than 758 cases in 2003. Nigeria accounted for 347 of those cases. Nigeria sent the vaccine to South Africa for testing. Although the tests found no elements of hormones or infectious agents other than the Sabin polio virus used in the oral vaccine, Heymann said, they did not satisfy the critics. So a second set of tests is being performed in India