IMMUNIZATION NEWS

[Guest guest]

So can anyone tell me what else causes tetnus? Just curious.

Sally

> " Tetanus Continues to Pop up in U.S. "

> Scripps News Service (www.shns.com) (06/19/03); Bowman, Lee

>

> Of note, the CDC found that just half of all tetanus

> infections in the three-year period under consideration were caused by

> puncture wounds--the cause most commonly associated with the disease.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Scratches, severe lacerations, infected umbilical cords in newborns can all

be sources of tetanus infections.

Randall Neustaedter OMD, LAc

Classical Medicine Center

1779 Woodside Rd #201C

Redwood City, CA 94061

650 299-9170

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by clicking on this link www.cure-guide.com

Author of The Vaccine Guide, North Atlantic Books

Re: IMMUNIZATION NEWS

> So can anyone tell me what else causes tetnus? Just curious.

>

> Sally

>

> > " Tetanus Continues to Pop up in U.S. "

> > Scripps News Service (www.shns.com) (06/19/03); Bowman, Lee

> >

> > Of note, the CDC found that just half of all tetanus

> > infections in the three-year period under consideration were caused by

> > puncture wounds--the cause most commonly associated with the disease.

> >

> >

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

" Anthrax vs. the Flu "

Boston Globe (www.boston.com/globe) (07/29/03) P. C1; ,

While state governments are cutting health programs across the board in

order to balance budgets during an extended declining market, state health

workers are not necessarily losing out, as federal money has been coming in

for states to begin running emergency preparedness programs, many of which

deal directly in health-related fields because of the threat of

bioterrorist attacks. Health officials, even those being switched from one

role to another, are voicing their concern that many leading diseases like

heart disease, cancer, and even influenza are dropping out of the

spotlight. Massachusetts, for example, has cut its adult immunization

programs against pneumonia, hepatitis A, and hepatitis B, helping the state

to drop its public health budget by 30 percent in just two years; yet it

has gained $21 million in federal funds to expand response networks for

possible bioterrorist attacks with substances like anthrax and smallpox,

two diseases that have not been present in Massachusetts for a half

century. As a result, state public health divisions are no longer as

prepared for diagnosing outbreaks of more common diseases, such as

tuberculosis or influenza, and they are more ready to deal with the

unexpected, such as the threat of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)

and, in recent summers, of West Nile virus.

" Vaccines Cycling to Teens: Adolescence Is the Time for Routine Prevention "

USA Today (www.usatoday.com) (07/29/03) P. 7D; Manning, Anita

The potential availability of four new vaccines for teenagers by 2010 could

make the vaccine sector a bigger part of medical practice, according to

Aventis Pasteur vice president of medical affairs Decker. The

diphtheria-tetanus vaccine might be joined by a whooping cough booster, a

better meningococcal vaccine, a herpes inoculation, and a human

papillomavirus vaccine. A subcommittee on adolescent immunization has been

created by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to consider the

development of such products and their eventual use. Two obstacles to

greater teenager vaccine use are cost and parents' wariness about

inoculating their children against sexually transmitted diseases.

" Adults Can't Be Poky About Getting Their Vaccinations "

Detroit Free Press (www.freep.com) (07/29/03); Gerencher,

Medical experts recommend that adults keep their vaccinations current.

According to Janis Hootman, president of the National Association of School

Nurses, many adults have the false impression that vaccinations are

exclusively for young children when, in fact, adults are just as

susceptible to preventable diseases such as tetanus and diphtheria. The

Centers for Disease Control reports that 70 percent of U.S. tetanus and

diphtheria cases in the last two decades were among people 40 or older.

Indeed, U.S. adults over age 60 run a higher risk of suffering from tetanus

because they did not receive regular boosters either as an adult or a

child. Hootman says adults need to recognize their vulnerability to these

diseases. In addition to tetanus, experts recommend that adults that have

not yet had or been vaccinated against chickenpox be immunized.

" Whooping Cough at 87 Cases "

ton Post and Courier (SC) (www.charleston.net) (07/29/03) P. 1A;

ez, Ray; Langley, Lynne

The total number of confirmed or probable cases of whooping cough in South

Carolina is now at 87, according to South Carolina Department of Health and

Environmental Control epidemiologist Ball. town Pediatric

Center Dr. Hletko notes that the outbreak is weak and has caused no

hospitalizations; children diagnosed with the illness spend five days at

home before returning to school to prevent further spread. Prevention

measures include covering mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing,

avoiding people with symptoms, and finishing prescribed antibiotics.

People at greatest risk of acquiring the illness are children under the age

of six months, because they have not been fully vaccinated.

" VaxGen Aims to Make It "

San Francisco Business Times (www.sanfrancisco.bcentral.com) (06/27/03);

Levine, S.

An $11 million manufacturing facility, based in South San Francisco,

Calif., will produce VaxGen's anthrax vaccine as well as its AIDS vaccine,

which failed in clinical trials earlier this year but still has potential

for the company. The facility can also produce VaxGen's other products.

The plant serves another purpose for VaxGen--as a training facility for

workers intended to transfer to its new manufacturing facility in South

Korea, part of a joint venture called Celltrion. VaxGen purposely designed

the facility for easy reconfiguration as its manufacturing needs change,

and the facility has a large amount of expansion space available. VaxGen

currently has a $16 million National Institutes of Health contract to

develop a safer anthrax vaccine, and the company plans to compete for two

additional biodefense contracts. A successful outcome could lead the

company into profitability next year.

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

" Health Agency Aims to Wipe out Polio by 2005 "

Atlanta Journal-Constitution (www.accessatlanta.com/ajc) (07/30/03) P. 3A;

Shoichet, E.

In its bid to rid the world of polio by 2005, the World Health Organization

(WHO) intends to vaccinate some 175 million children against the disease in

2003 alone, starting with campaigns in Egypt, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

The endeavor will be led by Dr. Heymann, the man credited with

quickly organizing the global response to severe acute respiratory syndrome

and containing that ailment. The agency states that all but 2 percent of

the 235 reported polio cases in 2003 have been located in Nigeria, India,

and Pakistan, while a few cases have been reported in Egypt, Afghanistan,

Niger, and Somalia. When the WHO began its eradication campaign in 1988,

there were 350,000 cases of polio in 125 countries, so the current low

levels are a testament to the agency's effectiveness in some of the most

difficult regions of the world, both in terms of geography and politics.

" Angola: Polio Vaccination Campaign Reached the Whole Country "

Africa News Service (www.allafrica.com) (07/28/03)

All of Angola received the poliomyelitis vaccine during a recent national

vaccination campaign. Previous vaccination efforts in the country have

been less successful due to widespread fighting. The last polio case was

reported in Angola in 2001, but the country will continue polio vaccination

campaigns in hopes of completely eliminating the disease by 2005. The

vaccine campaign targets displaced people within Angola as well as

populations from neighboring countries who have entered Angola.

" S. African AIDS Vaccine Research Body Calls for Doubling of Budget "

BBC Worldwide Monitoring (www.monitor.bbc.co.uk) (07/30/03)

Dr. Tim Tucker, director of the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative

(SAAVI) says that it would cost 3 billion to 4 billion rand to create a

mass production facility in South Africa for an AIDS vaccine. SAAVI is

investigating several vaccine technologies, including a DNA

candidate-vaccine in animal toxicity and an MVA candidate now in

manufacturing. Tucker believes that a successful vaccine will be ready in

seven to 10 years, though SAAVI might not be its developer. Sites must be

prepared for phase three clinical trials, and business plans for SAAVI

products and a national plan for a vaccine program rollout must be

developed. SAAVI gets money from the national departments of health and of

science and technology, as well as Eskom, the European Union, the U.S.

National Institutes of Health, and international organizations.

" Winning War on Cervical Cancer "

Montreal Gazette (www.canada.com/montreal) (07/29/03) P. A10; Laucius,

Joanne

Franco, director of the cancer epidemiology unit at McGill

University, believes that a viable vaccine could be in the works that

prevents human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted disease

(STD) that often leads to cervical cancer in women. Franco is leading a

study of 12,000 women in Montreal and Newfoundland, Canada, that aims to

prove a new screening method is a better predictor of HPV than the annual

Pap smears that are the current standard. At the same time, researchers

are moving ahead with a vaccine against HPV that could reach the market in

just five years and could be administered to children between the ages of

nine years and 12 years to ward off the illness.

" East Africa: Region's Health Ministers Sign Protocol to Prevent Epidemics "

Africa News Service (www.allafrica.com) (07/28/03)

Health ministry representatives from six nations in Africa's Great Lakes

region have signed a protocol to cooperate in preventing and controlling

epidemics in the area, through epidemiological surveillance, laboratories,

and communication systems, as well as the monitoring of drug resistance,

vaccination, sanitation, social mobilization, and safe water supply. World

Health Organization (WHO) regional director Dr. G. Sambo, speaking at

the signing of the protocol, said that the WHO will strengthen its

inter-country team to give greater support to the protocol's activities,

and noted that the signatory nations should concentrate on malaria,

HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis. Sambo urged constant information exchange

among the nations, and Uganda third deputy Prime Minister Henry Kajura

called for the creation of better information technology systems, reliable

surveillance guidelines, and strengthened laboratory capacity. The

protocol was first signed in 1997, and has now been reviewed and updated.