Star Gazette (New York) :
HPV not just a threat to women, research shows
Monday, January 5, 2009 In men, HPV may cause genital warts and cancer. Although cervical
cancer is more prevalent than the penile and anal cancers that arise in
men due to HPV, men are nonetheless afflicted by these cancers. More
common, however, are the cases of head and neck cancers in men that are
linked to the virus. Although they were once solely attributed to
drinking and smoking, head and neck cancers resulting from HPV are
becoming increasingly prevalent among younger men. Moreover, the male
role in spreading HPV to women cannot be overlooked. Not only will a
vaccination for men prevent these diseases, but it will also inevitably
decrease the prevalence of HPV in women and cervical cancer.
Full Article
NPR: Defending Vaccines: Actress Dispels Link To Autism
Tuesday, December 11, 2008 A movie star and a prominent scientist
have teamed up to reassure the public that childhood vaccines are safe
and do not cause autism.
Amanda Peet, who starred in films including The X-Files: I Want To Believe and Syriana, is working with Paul Offit, the chief of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Their
goal is to counter the assault on vaccines led by celebrities including
Jenny McCarthy, Jim Carrey and Holly Robinson Peete.
Full Article
Science Daily: Smallpox Vaccination Effective For Decades, Study Suggests
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 Although naturally occurring smallpox was eradicated in 1977, there is
concern that bioterrorists might obtain smallpox from a laboratory and
release it into the population. Under such circumstances, the supply of
smallpox vaccine may be insufficient for universal administration. In a
study published in the December 2008 issue of The American Journal of
Medicine, researchers found that lifetime protection is obtained from
just one vaccination, even when that vaccination occurred as much as 88
years ago.
Full Article
McGill Daily (Canada): In the test tube: three decades of HIV vaccination
Monday, December 1, 2008 Dr. Kenneth Mayer is a professor of Medicine and Community Health
and the Director of Brown University AIDS Program. The Daily had a
chance to sit down with him before his keynote address at McGills
World AIDS Week last Friday.
MD: I hear you're working on a vaccine. What's the deal?
KM: The vaccine is the highest priority because vaccines are
the only things that have really stopped epidemics in their tracks in
the modern era. So, for example, smallpox now only exists in vials that
the U.S. Government and the Russian Government have. The trouble with
HIV is manifold in terms of trying to find the vaccine.
Full Interview
Medscape Today: Smallpox Vaccines for Biodefense: Need and Feasibility
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 Smallpox, eradicated as a cause of natural disease through an intensive
global effort in the later part of the 20th Century, has resurfaced as
a possible agent of bioterrorism. For this reason, there is renewed
interest in smallpox vaccines. Live vaccinia virus, an orthopoxvirus
related to smallpox, has a long and successful clinical track record as
an effective smallpox vaccine; however, its use is associated with
uncommon yet serious adverse events. This has led to a surge of recent
research into newer-generation smallpox vaccines with improved safety
profiles and retained efficacy. This article will review the history of
smallpox vaccines, assess the status of newer-generation vaccines and
examine the overall risk-versus-benefit profile of smallpox vaccination.
Full Article
Reading Eagle (Pennsylvania): Are your shots up to date?
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 Most adults do not
have the vaccinations they should have, according to a new report from
Harvard Medical School and statistics from the federal Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
Only about 2 percent of adults 18 to 64 have had vaccinations for tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough, according to the CDC.
Less than 2 percent of those 60 and over have had a vaccination against shingles.
While about two-thirds of adults have been vaccinated against flu and
pneumonia, that doesn't come close to the CDC's goal of 90 percent.
Full Article
El Habanero (Cuba): Comienza hoy campaña cubana de vacunación antigripal
Monday, November 24, 2008
There are solid reasons that endorse the implementation, since 1999 and with satisfactory results, the Vaccination Remedy for the Flu Campaign which will start today in the whole country and of course, in Havana province, where there are going to be immunized more than 100 000 inhabitants, informed Doctor Lazaro Aguila, head of the Transmission Illness Program in Havana territory.
This Vaccination Remedy for the Flu Campaign is mainly aimed to that population older than 65 years, to those persons carrying AIDS, those internships in Old Peoples Home, workers from the Poultry branch, patients with chronic kidney failure, Mellitus Diabetes and Intensity Breathing Infection, among others.
Español English
JCOnline (Indiana): Mass vaccination test goes smoothly
Sunday, November 16, 2008 More than 1,900 people got free flu shots on Saturday at the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds.
But it was more than just a shot clinic.
Tippecanoe County
health and emergency officials wanted to test their ability to handle a
situation in which large numbers of people would need vaccinations
quickly in an emergency.
Officials were ecstatic with the results.
Full Article
Irish Times: Rally against cervical cancer vaccine cuts today
Saturday, November 15, 2008 Ms Harney announced just over a week ago that due to financial
difficulties the plan to vaccinate all 12-year-olds against the most
common strains of the virus that cause cervical cancer from September
2009 could not go ahead. The vaccination programme would have cost 10
to 15 million next year. Ms Harney said the scarce resources were
being put instead into the rollout of the national cervical cancer
screening programme, which aims to pick up precancerous cells in an
older age group.
Full Article
Doctors Often Skip Flu Vaccination Advice When Talking With Patients
Tuesday,
November 11, 2008 [A] survey released in September by the National Foundation for
Infectious Diseases found nearly four in 10 adults had never talked to
their health care provider about receiving a flu shot. Of the 58
percent of patients who had, half said they initiated the conversation.
The
survey also found that across all ages and health risks, 70 percent of
adults would be likely or very likely to get an influenza vaccination
if their health care provider recommended it. And 93 percent of those
who were vaccinated against flu in 2007 planned to do so again this
year, while 82 percent who did not get vaccinated last year also said
they will not be vaccinated this year.
Full
Article
Medscape: Vaccination Coverage Among Adolescents Aged 13-17 Years
Friday, October 31, 2008 Three new vaccines have been recommended for adolescents by the
Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) since 2005:
meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MCV4; 1 dose), tetanus, diphtheria,
acellular pertussis vaccine (Tdap; 1 dose), and quadrivalent human
papillomavirus vaccine (HPV4; 3 doses)*.[1] ACIP also recommends that adolescents should receive recommended vaccinations that were missed during childhood.[1]
Since 2006, CDC has conducted the National Immunization Survey--Teen
(NIS--Teen) to estimate vaccination coverage from a national sample of
adolescents aged 13--17 years. This report describes the findings from
NIS--Teen 2007, which indicated substantial increases in receipt of new
adolescent vaccinations compared with 2006, including Tdap (from 10.8%
to 30.4%) and MCV4 (from 11.7% to 32.4%), and increases in coverage
with childhood vaccinations, including measles, mumps, and rubella
(MMR), hepatitis B (HepB), and varicella (VAR) (among those without
disease history). An assessment of HPV4 coverage, which is reported for
the first time, showed that 25.1% of adolescent females initiated the
vaccine series (≥1 dose) in 2007. To improve vaccination coverage among
adolescents, health-care providers should take advantage of every
health-care visit as an opportunity to evaluate vaccination status and
administer vaccines when needed.
Full Article
Houston Chronicle: 8th-grader's death leads to meningitis treatment at Revere
Monday, November 3, 2008
Twelve Revere Middle School students and nine staff members are
being given preventive antibiotics for meningitis today as a precaution
after the death Friday of a 13-year-old student.
Ana Cortez, an eighth-grader, died three days after visiting a
campus nurse complaining of a headache. Her death is the first in
Houston attributed to meningitis this year .
Read Article
Newspost Online: Flu vaccines do protect kids from respiratory virus
Monday, November 3, 2008 A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center has shown that the administration
of all recommended flu vaccines to kids reduces their likelihood of
catching the respiratory virus, due to which many children are
hospitalised every year.
Published in the journal Pediatrics, the study included 2,400 from 6 months old to 5 years old in Rochester, Nashville and Cincinnati in 2003-2004 and 2004-2005.
Full Article
Newswise: Flu Vaccination Rates Lag for At-risk Adolescents
Thusrday, October 30, 2008 Influenza vaccination rates for adolescents who suffer from asthma and
other illnesses are still far too low, according to a recent study. ... Missed opportunities were common as approximately 45 to 55 percent of
high-risk adolescents had one or more health care visits during the flu
season at which the vaccine was not administered. In contrast, those
who had preventive care visits were more likely to receive influenza
vaccine.
Full Article
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Vaccination law not enforced for many kids
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Thousands of metro Atlanta children were allowed to enroll and
remain in school last year without proof of required vaccinations, in
violation of state law.
Even though the vaccination law is a cornerstone in the protection
of public health, some school principals ignore it and some health
department officials do little to enforce it.
Full Article
MarketWatch: High-Dose Influenza Vaccine Shows Increased Immune Response Among Adults 65 Years of Age and Older
Sunday, October 26, 2008 Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group,
announced today that an investigational high-dose influenza vaccine
demonstrated increased immune responses among adults 65 years of age
and older compared with the standard influenza vaccine. The candidate
high-dose intramuscular formulation of the influenza vaccine is being
developed by sanofi pasteur.
Full Article
Medscape Today: Healthcare Worker Influenza Vaccination: Motivation or Mandates?
Thursday, October 22, 2008 Lisa L. Maragakis, MD, MPH speaks
Video (4 mins)
Medscape Today: The Effect of Vaccinated Children on Increased Hepatitis B Immunization Among High-Risk Adults
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Objectives. We sought to examine trends in hepatitis B
virus (HBV) vaccination among high-risk adults and assess the potential
effect vaccinated adolescents have on these trends as they age.
Methods.
We used data from the National Health Interview Survey 2000, 2002, and
2004 to examine trends in HBV vaccination among high-risk adults aged
18 to 49 years and in age subgroups (1829, 3039, and 4049 years). We
investigated temporal differences in vaccination rates for the 18- to
29-year-old cohort with model-based linear contrasts constructed from a
logistic regression model with age and survey year as predictors.
Results.
There was a significant increasing trend in vaccination prevalence
across the 3 survey years (32.6%, 35.3%, and 41.4%; trend test, P =
.001). We found that respondents aged 18 to 29 years were more likely
to be vaccinated in 2004 than in 2000, after adjusting for relevant
confounders (odds ratio = 1.73; 95% confidence interval = 1.14, 2.6);
there was no significant increase in vaccination for the other cohorts.
Conclusions.
A cohort effect, in which successfully vaccinated adolescents have
reached young adulthood, contributes significantly to recent trends
showing improved HBV vaccination among high-risk adults.
Full Study
Medscape Today: A Call to Arms (and Noses): Influenza Vaccination of Healthcare Workers
Thursday, October 16, 2008 Lisa L. Maragakis, MD, MPH speaks
Video
Medscape Today: Nobel-Winning Discovery of HPVCervical Cancer Link Already Having an Impact on Medicine
Thursday, October 16, 2008 The breakthrough discovery of a link between the
human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer honored last week with
the Nobel prize has already been translated into applications that
are having an effect on medicine.
That research led to the development of HPV testing, which has
improved the diagnosis and management of early cervical abnormalities
and precancerous lesions. It also led to the development of
prophylactic HPV vaccines Gardasil (Merck & Co) and Ceravix (GlaxoSmithKline) which are expected to have a dramatic effect on the incidence of cervical cancer in the decades ahead.
But these innovations would not have been possible without the
perseverance of 1 man, the scientist who proposed and then went on to
prove the link between cervical cancer and HPV. The discovery caused
quite a stir at the time in the early 1980s because the majority of
experts did not believe that viruses could cause cancer, and the few
who did were focusing on a different virus altogether.
Full Article
ABC News (Australia): GP bonus decision sparks child vaccination fears
Monday, October 20th, 2008
From the start of this month, GPs are no longer paid a bonus of
$18.50 for each child that completes their full course of vaccinations
by seven years of age.
Dr Fiona Millard from the division says that could lead to the re-emergence of preventable diseases.
Full Article
BBC News: Vaccine call for 'silent killer'
Saturday, October 18th, 2008
Medics say that diseases caused by serious pneumococcal infections
kill more children than any other illness - more than Aids, malaria and
measles combined.
Between 800,000 and one million children die from pneumococcal
infections, mainly pneumonia and meningitis - at least one child every
minute.
In developing countries, pneumococcal meningitis alone kills over 40% of the children who get the disease.
The impact is so devastating because of the lack of vaccination programmes and resources.
Full Article
The Sydney Morning Herald: Life after death
Sunday, October 19th, 2008
Pneumonia is the biggest killer of children under five in Nicaragua
but those days may be over the country starts a nationwide
vaccination campaign.
Grieving mothers in Nicaragua are forced to steal the bodies of
their dead babies from the wards of the main children's hospital
and carry them home on the bus because they cannot afford the fees
to release them from the morgue.
Full Article
Reno Gazette-Journal: Doctors change vaccination policies due to funding
Sunday, October 12th, 2008
A change in state policy regarding vaccinations has some local
doctors determining whether they can afford to provide vaccinations to
children.
A federal cut to the amount of funding the state receives to
purchase vaccines prompted the policy change, said Jo Malay of the
state health department.
Malay said beginning Jan. 1, the state will be unable to subsidize vaccines for children who are privately insured.
Full Article
Clarion Ledger: Some Mississippi parents home-schooling kids to avoid vaccinations
Sunday, October 12th, 2008
Debra Barnes has a thriving chiropractic practice in the Jackson metro
area, a nice home and family members who love living in the South.
But she said she would leave Mississippi in a heartbeat if state health
officials tried to force her home-schooled children to be immunized.
Barnes is part of a growing network of parents whose decision to home
school their children rests on their belief that mandated vaccinations
for public and private school children are a dangerous overreach by
state governments.
While the mainstream scientific community maintains childhood vaccines
are safe, Barnes relies on the work of apostate scientists who argue
immunizations can bring on autism or weaken the natural immunities of
children.
Full Article
Medscape Today: Tuberculosis: Vaccines in the Pipeline
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 TB is presenting new challenges as a global health problem, especially
with new threats of HIV coinfection and multidrug-resistant and
extensively drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The current TB vaccine, Mycobacterium bovis
bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), is the most widely used vaccine
worldwide but its efficacy against pulmonary TB in adults in many
high-burden countries is limited. Different vaccine strategies will
probably be required for the various needs that exist within a
population in which some individuals have been previously immunized
with BCG, coinfected with HIV and/or latently infected with M. tuberculosis.
In the last 15 years, new strategies to improve or replace BCG in the
laboratory have led to several promising vaccine candidates that are
actively being evaluated in human clinical trials. Some of these new
vaccines may eventually be recommended for travelers to TB high-burden
countries. This paper summarizes the progress of vaccine candidates in
animal models to improve, replace or augment BCG vaccination.
Full Article
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