Faculty Bibliography

The history, nature and treatment for pneumonic plague, an epidemic of which is spreading through Surat India, are examined

A new study has found that women treated with infertility drugs have a risk of ovarian cancer that is 2.5 times higher than that of women in the general population. In a study of 3,837 women, reported on Sep 22, 1994 in the New England Journal of Medicine, 11 developed ovarian cancer, while the number expected from statistical calculations was 4.4 cases

Although the findings do not prove that the infertility drugs cause ovarian cancer, they do strengthen the existing data supporting such a link, Dr. Alice S. Whittemore of Stanford University wrote in an editorial in the same issue of the journal. She said that the new findings move such a causal link 'from a possible to a probable one.' Ovarian cancer is rare, Whittemore said, with a lifetime risk for women of 1.8 percent, in contrast to a 12 percent lifetime risk for breast cancer. But she said a risk that increases 2.5 times is 'substantial,' though considerably smaller than the risk of lung cancer that rises by a factor of 10 in heavy smokers. Whittemore said that it would only be with 'further studies also showing their consistent effect' that the link between fertility drugs and ovarian cancer would be found to be 'causal, as happened over the years with smoking and lung cancer.'

In a decision that seems to spell the end for the last remaining stocks of smallpox virus on the planet, a 10-member committee of the World Health Organization recommended unanimously on Sep 9, 1994 that the virus be destroyed on Jun 30, 1995. The decision will be put to the UN agency's full membership at its annual meeting in May 1995

In a decision that seems to spell the end for the last remaining stocks of smallpox virus, a 10-member committee of the World Health Organization recommended unanimously Friday that the virus be destroyed June 30. The smallpox committee had recommended in 1990 that genetic blueprints of different strains of the smallpox virus be made before the original 1993 destruction date. But while the virus's molecular structure was being mapped, scientists began identifying surprising links between genes in the virus and natural immune substances, including some involved in cancer

Those favoring destruction of the virus say the risk that samples could escape from the laboratory or fall into terrorists' hands outweighs the potential scientific value of keeping the virus for future research. The smallpox committee recommended in 1990 that genetic blueprints of different strains of the smallpox virus be made before the original 1993 destruction date. But while the virus's molecular structure was being mapped, scientists began identifying surprising links between genes in the virus and natural immune substances, including some involved in cancer. The smallpox virus is to be killed by putting it in an autoclave, an airtight chamber that sterilizes material, at a temperature of 248 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes. The autoclave will then be shut off, and the process will be repeated. The dead virus will then be incinerated. The World Health Organization will help monitor the destruction

Federal health officials have halted shipments of some blood products from Canada after an FDA inspector found substandard procedures and sloppy record keeping at a Red Cross blood center in Toronto. The blood products, which are sent to a North Carolina plant for processing, are returned to Canada for use there and are not used in the US

A single-blind, multicenter, phase II trial of yeast recombinant hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccines containing surface antigen (S) alone or with PreS2 (PreS2 + S) was conducted in 282 healthy HBV-seronegative adults aged 20-59 years. Each volunteer was randomly assigned to receive HBV vaccine containing 10 micrograms of S or one of three doses of PreS2 plus S: 2 + 10 micrograms, 4 + 20 micrograms, or 8 + 40 micrograms. The level of antibody to HBV surface antigen reached depended on the dose of S, not PreS2, received. In each vaccine group, volunteers 20-39 years old had higher titers of anti-PreS2 and antibody to S than those 40-59 years old. The age-related effect on immune response to HBV vaccination suggests that adults should be immunized against hepatitis B at as early an age as possible and that older persons may need a higher dose or booster immunizations to achieve durable immunity.