Measles death rates drop dramatically around world.
Deaths from measles have fallen by 60 percent worldwide since 1999, largely due to a 75 percent drop in measles deaths in Africa. Releasing the statistics in January, World Health Organization officials called the decline in deaths "a major public health success" that surpassed earlier global goals....

ACIP reviews what's new with flu.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's updated recommendations for the 2007-2008 flu season emphasize vaccinating health care personnel and catching up previously unvaccinated children aged 6 months to 8 years with two doses of vaccine. The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) published its updated...

HPV vaccine protective against more than cervical cancer.
The human papilloma virus vaccine not only protects against the majority of the strains of virus that cause cervical cancer, but also offers protection against abnormalities that can lead to vaginal, vulvar and anal cancers, according to a recent study. The study, published in the May 10...

CDC: Menactra stocks to remain low through fall.
ATLANTA -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is monitoring the shortage of tetravalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine on a biweekly basis and will announce a return to routine recommendations when the supply and demand situation improves, Dr. Gregory S. Wallace, of the CDC, told the Advisory Committee on...

I-trax, Inc. to License eImmune in all Department of Defense Healthcare System Sites Within the National Capital Region.
PHILADELPHIA, May 9 /PRNewswire/ -- I-trax, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: IMTX), a health-management solutions company, announced today that it will license eImmune, its immunization tracking software to certain Department of Defense Healthcare System sites within the National Capital Region. The program will begin at eight locations around...

Precollege rush for Menactra drove distribution in first year.
WASHINGTON -- Despite a recommendation to prioritize 11- to 12-year-olds, distribution of the meningococcal conjugate vaccine was especially high among 18-year-olds and was evenly distributed among 11- to 17-year-olds during its first year on the market, Dr. Gregory Wallace reported at a meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee....

Missionary imports measles.
A measles outbreak in Indiana in May-June 2005 has been attributed to an unvaccinated 17-year-old girl who had worked as a missionary in an orphanage and hospital in Bucharest, Romania, according to the CDC (MMWR 2005;54;1073-5). The girl returned to the United States with symptoms including prodromal fever, cough,...

CDC sends out stern flu message: doctor, vaccinate thyself.
Washington -- Doctors, get your flu shots. Get vaccinated for your patients, do it for yourselves, "do it in droves, just do it," William Schaffner, M.D., of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, said at a press conference. Julie L. Gerberding, M.D., director of the...

CDC urges: physician, vaccinate thyself.
WASHINGTON -- Doctors, get your flu shots. Get vaccinated for your patients, do it for yourselves, "do it in droves, just do it," William Schaffner, M.D., of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, said at a press conference. Julie L. Gerberding, M.D., director of the...

ACIP working group backs two-dose varicella policy.
Available data support the move to a routine two-dose varicella vaccination policy, according to members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices' varicella working group. The working group recommended a shift to a two-dose policy in early May, citing an approximately threefold decrease in the attack rate...