Epidemiology: September 2004 Archives

Last Updated: 2004-09-28 15:32:49 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Maggie Fox

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - This year's U.S. flu vaccine will be safe and will be distributed on time, Chiron Corp. President and Chief Executive Officer Howard Pien pledged on Tuesday.

Pien also said the company was working hard to develop a better and more efficient way to make influenza vaccine so it can adapt to epidemics that change as the virus mutates every year.

Last month Chiron said it would delay shipment of its FluVirin vaccine because lots containing 4 million doses of the vaccine did not meet sterility standards.

Article from: Reuters.com

Link

28 September 2004

Two new cases confirmed

Since yesterday, the Ministry of Public Health in Thailand has confirmed two new cases of H5N1 avian influenza in humans. The cases are a 26-year-old woman, who died on 20 September, and her 32-year-old sister, who remains hospitalized in stable condition.

These new cases bring the total in Thailand confirmed since early September to three. Altogether, Thailand has reported 15 cases, of which 10 were fatal, since the first human cases were detected in January of this year.

Investigation of possible human-to-human transmission in a family cluster

The most recent cases are part of a family cluster of four cases under investigation to determine whether human-to-human transmission may have occurred. Immediate investigation of any possible human-to-human transmission is always needed to determine whether transmission has been efficient and sustained. Such a situation would be cause for alarm, as it might signal the start of an influenza pandemic. Inefficient, limited human-to-human transmission may occur on rare occasions and is in line with what is known, from epidemiological and laboratory investigations, about the possible behaviour of the H5N1 virus.

Article from: WHO Communicable Disease Surveillance & Response (CSR)

Tue Sep 28, 2004 03:51 PM ET

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans are caught between worries over the safety of the flu vaccine and fears that they will not be able to get it when they need it, a health official told Congress on Tuesday.

But the president of a major flu vaccine manufacturer pledged that his company's vaccine was safe and would be distributed on time for the October start of the flu season.

Last year's early influenza season led to heavy demand for the vaccine. And health officials miscalculated, so the vaccine, which is made up of three different flu strains, did not protect against the most common and dangerous strain.

Articel from: Reuters.com

26 Sep 2004

New guidelines on managing HIV have been published recently in Clinical Infectious Diseases (CID) and are available free online to all HIV care providers via the journal's electronic edition. The guidelines, developed by the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) of IDSA, summarize important changes in the way HIV/AIDS should be managed.

The success of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has extended the life of those infected with HIV and changed HIV/AIDS into a chronic disease that requires long-term management in the context of a person's overall life and health, the guideline authors say.

Article from : Medical News Today

Monday, September 27, 2004 —

The Measles Initiative is integrating innovative malaria prevention activities into mass measles vaccination campaigns in Africa. Current plans call for Togo to be the first country to achieve nationwide, household coverage of insecticide treated bednets (ITNs) in six days with plans to distribute 730,000 ITNs during the December 2004 campaign.

Insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs) are an important tool to fight death and disease due to malaria, especially in Africa south of the Sahara, which accounts for 90% of deaths due to malaria worldwide. One of the goals of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership is that in Africa south of the Sahara, 60% of the people most at risk (young children and pregnant women) will sleep under ITNs.

To date this target has not been met, because too often people who are most in need of the ITNs do not know about them, do not have access to them, or cannot afford them (even a unit cost of $5 is high for a rural African family).

Link to Red Cross

Irvine, Calif. , September 23, 2004
In what may be a first step toward expanding the arsenal against HIV, UC Irvine researchers have successfully targeted an HIV protein that has eluded existing therapies.

Researchers targeted Nef, a protein responsible for accelerating the development of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. Nef was targeted with small molecules synthesized by the researchers – molecules that disrupted Nef’s interaction with other proteins.

Article from: Today@UCI

BuaNews (Pretoria)
NEWS
September 23, 2004
Posted to the web September 24, 2004

By Candace Freeman
Pretoria

HIV and AIDS prevalence rates among South African teenagers have been declining constantly, although general infection rates remain critical.

This was shown in the results of the 14th National HIV and Syphilis Sero-Prevelance Survey of women attending Public Antenatal Clinics for 2003 conducted by the Department of Health.

"There has been a constant decline in prevalence among teenagers since 1999. Other age groups have shown increases in prevalence, with the 25 to 29 year age group consistently recording higher rates," explained the report.

An estimated 35, 4 percent HIV prevalence was found among the 25 to 29 year olds attending antenatal clinics last year, compared to 31, 4 percent in 2001.

A figure of 15, 8 percent was recorded for teenagers up to 20 years.

Based on results of the antenatal survey, 5, 6 million South Africans were estimated to be HIV positive by the end of 2003. This is a rise of 300 000 from estimates in 2002.

Article from: allAfrica.com

22 September, 2004
CHINA

Hong Kong (AsiaNews/SCMP) - Hong Kong scientists say they have identified chemical compounds that can stop Sars being infectious, raising hopes for a cure for the deadly illness.

The breakthrough is based on "chemical genetics", or the use of chemicals to thwart viruses from replicating.

Using a new method called the high-throughput screening platform, the researchers quickly screened the Sars virus against a chemical library of more than 50,000 molecule compounds.

Article from: AsiaNews.it

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded a contract to Aventis Pasteur Inc. to make and store two million doses of avian influenza H5N1 vaccine, it was announced Tuesday.

The vaccine is designed to counter the H5N1 influenza virus that has killed 29 people in Vietnam and Thailand so far this year.

The $13 million contract is meant to ensure that the United States is prepared for a pandemic of this form of avian influenza virus. The vaccine would be used to protect laboratory staffers, public health workers and, if needed, the general public, according to a HHS news release.

From drkoop.com

Article from BBC

The government has been urged to speed up its research into Variant CJD - the human form of mad cow disease.

It follows news that more than 460 people in Northern Ireland are being warned that they could have been exposed to vCJD through blood plasma products.

The Department of Health said on Tuesday that it was writing to 464 patients to explain they were potentially at a small increased risk of infection.

Harnessing the exquisite specificity of the immune system to detect and attack cancer cells has long been a dream of cancer immunologists. Cancer vaccines are getting ever closer to becoming reality as they are shown to consistently and reproducibly stimulate the immune system to attack cancer-specific targets. Now early-phase clinical trials are beginning to show hints of the promise of immunotherapy.

Article from: Eurekalert.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A naturally occurring chemical that may repel yellow fever mosquitoes can now be made in the laboratory, Indiana University Bloomington scientists report.

"The synthesis requires only seven steps," said organic chemist P. Andrew Evans, who led the research. "It should be quite trivial to scale this up to the production of large quantities."

Gaur acid is a natural skin secretion of the gaur, an Asian wild ox. Preliminary evidence suggests that this chemical discourages the landing and feeding of Aedes aegypti, a common mosquito that carries and transmits the yellow fever virus in some parts of the world.

Evans and his group used a rhodium catalyst to aid the tricky synthesis of gaur acid, also known as bovinic acid. In doing so, the chemists also determined the exact chemical structure of the compound. Their approach is described in Angewandte Chemie, a German chemistry journal.

Article from: Eurekalert.com

Last Updated: 2004-09-17 13:00:26 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Darius James Ross

VILNIUS (Reuters) - A lack of information and public funding is helping fuel the spread of HIV/AIDS in several recent European Union entrants and threatens to become pandemic across the bloc, a panel of experts said on Friday.

They said the opening of borders on Europe's eastern flank could allow for an influx of infections into western Europe from areas such as the Baltics, where cash-strapped governments find it difficult to fund prevention and costly treatment programs.

In addition, they added, a lack of information on prevention and transmission of HIV, coupled with public prejudice against those who have tested positive, may worsen the situation.

Article from Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -There have been widespread concerns that mercury-based preservatives used in vaccines might impair the neurological development of children, but the opposite seems to be true.

Immunizing infants with vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal may actually be associated with improved behavior and mental performance, according to two British studies published in the medical journal Pediatrics.

Dr. Jon Heron of the University of Bristol, and colleagues followed 12,956 children, born in 1991 and 1992, until they were about 7-1/2 years old. Information was collected on doses of thimerosal-containing diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccines given at ages 3, 4, and 6 months, as well as on measures of behavior, fine motor skills, speech, tics and special education needs.

Article from Reuters

By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY
In the fight against cancer, some scientists are thinking small. Really, really small.
The National Cancer Institute launches a five-year, $144 million project today to investigate using nanotechnology, the science of building devices on the atomic level, to fight cancer.

Article from: USA Today

By Zhang Feng (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-09-14 01:03

Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi said Monday that China is willing to strengthen co-operation with other countries and regions of the Western Pacific in fighting various diseases including communicable and chronic ones.

Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi (C) gives a speech during the opening ceremony of the 55th session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for the Western Pacific in the city of Shanghai September 13, 2004.

Although having achieved a victory in containing SARS and avian influenza in recent years, the region now faces the increasing burden brought by various diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and chronic diseases, Wu said.

Article from: China Daily

Brussels, 8 September 2004

HIV/AIDS – a resurgent epidemic in Europe and its neighbourhood: Commission calls for political leadership
A paper adopted by the European Commission today calls for the EU to show political leadership in averting an HIV/AIDS epidemic in Europe and its neighbouring countries. The proportion of newly reported HIV cases has doubled in Western Europe since 1995. In certain of the countries that joined the EU on 1 May and in the EU’s eastern neighbours the rates of new infections are the highest in the world. The paper calls for greater efforts to prevent the spread of the disease, measures to ensure people in poorer European countries have access to affordable treatment, better coordination of national HIV/AIDS strategies and action to develop new medicines and vaccines. The Commission’s paper is due to be debated by Health ministers and AIDS experts from across the EU and its eastern neighbours at an international conference in Vilnius on 16-17 September

Link: http://www.aids.lt/iac/

Data first to find protection for all pneumococcal-related illnesses
VANDERBILT The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, which has been routinely given to young children since 2000, reduces the incidence of middle ear infection and pneumonia, a new study shows.
"This highlights that the vaccine significantly decreases illnesses in children and reinforces its importance in our public health efforts," said Dr. Kathy Poehling, assistant professor of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville.

The study appears in the September issue of the journal "Pediatrics."

Article form EurekAlert

Tuesday, September 7, 2004 Posted: 4:17 PM EDT (2017 GMT)

CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) -- Heavily diluted doses of existing smallpox vaccine remain effective, which means the U.S. stockpile of the vaccine can be stretched if needed, researchers said on Tuesday.

Smallpox is a highly contagious viral disease that killed untold millions until it was officially eradicated in 1979, but fears following the September 2001 attacks that it might be used as a biological weapon sparked a U.S. effort to ensure there was enough vaccine.

A large portion of the available smallpox vaccine in the United States has been frozen since it was manufactured in the 1950s. The U.S. government has contracted with Britain's Acambis Plc to supply millions more new doses.

Article from CNN:Health

Tue Sep 7,12:43 PM ET

BUCHAREST, Romania - The United Nations (news - web sites) called on Romanian authorities to help the thousands of HIV (news - web sites) infected children here attend school with other children, in a statement released Tuesday.

Less than 60 percent of Romania's 7,500 HIV infected children attend public schools, the U.N. Children's Fund said. Most of those who do go to school are able to do so only because they've kept their illness secret, the group added.

AIDS (news - web sites) groups in Romania have in the past complained about discrimination against infected students despite a law that gives them the right to study.

Articke from Yahoo News

Wednesday, September 1, 2004 Posted: 6:39 PM EDT (2239 GMT)

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- A virus recently discovered in Japan is suspected in two "crib deaths" in Wisconsin, raising new questions about how many of these mysterious tragedies might be caused by germs.

The cases mark the first time the virus has been identified in the United States. Whether it killed the babies is not clear, but both were sick before they died and had signs of disease in their lungs.

Sudden infant death syndrome -- also called "crib death" for the devastating way it is usually discovered -- is a catch-all term for unexplained deaths in children less than a year old. About 2,200 occur each year in the United States, mostly involving babies between 2 and 4 months old.

Article from CNN Health

Thu Sep 2, 2004 04:17 PM ET

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cats can get the avian influenza virus decimating bird flocks across Asia, which means pets are at risk of getting and spreading the disease -- and may serve as a mixing pot for dangerous new mutations, Dutch researchers reported on Thursday.

In an experiment, cats caught the H5N1 flu virus by breathing it in and by eating infected chicks, the team of virus experts at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam said.

"This is extraordinary, because domestic cats are generally considered to be resistant to disease from influenza A virus infection," the researchers reported in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

Article from Reuters Health

Press Association
Thursday September 2, 2004

A 50-year study of breast cancer was launched today with the aim of pinpointing the causes of the disease, which kills 13,000 women in the UK each year.

Researchers hope to recruit 100,000 British women aged over 18 to take part in the study, which will examine genetic, environmental, behavioural and hormonal factors thought to increase the risk of developing breast cancer. It will be the largest, longest running scientific study of breast cancer ever.

Article from Guardian Unlimited

CHICAGO Full-body computed tomography, or CT, scans increase a person's risk of cancer, according to a study released Tuesday in the journal Radiology that raises questions about the growing popularity of these screenings among healthy people.
.
Just one of these scans imparts a dose of radiation comparable to that received by some Japanese atomic-bomb survivors, while repeated annual screenings carry a significantly elevated lifetime cancer risk, the study found. The researchers said that among otherwise healthy 45-year-olds, one full-body screening would typically cause a fatal form of cancer in 1 of every 1,200 people.

Article from International Herald Tribune

www.chinaview.cn 2004-09-02 21:59:28

GENEVA, Sept. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- World HIV experts stressed here Thursday that the development of an HIV prevention vaccine is as important as work on vaccines to treat the disease.

The experts from the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) -- a global not-for-profit organization working to speed thesearch for a vaccine to prevent HIV infection and AIDS -- said that besides treating people infected with HIV, the world must also intensify efforts to develop a preventive vaccine to stop thecontinuing spread of the virus.

"The global response to AIDS must include both compassion for those who are infected and a heightened commitment to protect those who are not," said Emilio Emini, IAVI's senior president andchief of vaccine development.

Article from China View