Faculty Bibliography

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To help resolve the conflict, Dr. Valerie Beral led a team of Oxford epidemiologists that asked authors of all earlier studies on a link between abortion and breast cancer to provide their original data. Authors of virtually all studies collaborated, and the new analysis included some previously unpublished studies, the scientists said. Their report appears in the journal Lancet. Earlier studies showed that women with breast cancer were more likely to report induced abortions than women who did not have breast cancer. Experts say that many people who develop a serious disease seek explanations for it, and acknowledging an abortion is more likely among women with breast cancer

To help resolve the conflict, Dr. Valerie Beral led a team of epidemiologists at the University of Oxford in England that asked authors of all earlier studies on the abortion-breast cancer link to provide their original data. Authors of virtually all studies collaborated, and the new analysis included some previously unpublished studies, the Oxford scientists said. Their report appears in a journal, The Lancet. The Oxford team analyzed data from 44,000 women who provided information about abortions before they developed breast cancer and data from 39,000 women who were asked about abortions after breast- cancer diagnosis. Studies that reported a link between abortions and breast cancer had not asked women about abortions before they developed breast cancer, Beral said