A study published in the open-access journal BMC Immunology suggests an intriguing hypothesis: The explosion of spread of HIV in Africa and then worldwide in the 1950s might be partially explained by the eradication of smallpox and the discontinuation of smallpox vaccination campaigns. The researchers – Raymond S. Weinstein, Michael M. Weinstein, Kenneth Alibek, Michael […]

We’re delighted and honored to be joining the ScienceBlogs community. It’s a bittersweet occasion, because we’re starting out here just as the Reveres are folding up their stellar public health blog Effect Measure. It’s fair to say that The Pump Handle probably wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the Reveres; they inspired us to launch […]

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure A good story by the AP’s Lauran Neergaard yesterday highlighted the need for better public health surveillance and the efforts being made to improve it so as to keep track of possible rare side effects from the swine flu vaccine. This is an issue we’ve talked about a lot […]

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure I just got my seasonal flu shot. It was free and my medical center is encouraging everyone to get one. I wouldn’t be telling the truth if I said I didn’t feel it at all, but in all honesty, I hardly felt it. They must be using smaller needles […]

by Rena Steinzor, cross-posted from CPR Blog After weeks of sustained attack from the right-wing on issues that are marginal to the job the President asked him to do, Cass Sunstein has emerged from the nomination process bloody but apparently unbowed (here’s this afternoon’s roll call). He is now the nation’s “regulatory czar,” Director of […]

President Obama’s address to Congress last night on health care had its high points and low points.  You can tune into your favorite spin-masters to hear those recaps.  My favorite part of the President’s speech was when he spoke of our “large-heartedness” and our ability to put ourselves in the shoes of others to offer assistance, provide comfort […]

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure One of the most feared outcomes of infection with influenza is Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS; in less severe form it mahy be called Acute Lung Injury, ALI). For reasons we still do not understand, cells deep in the lung that are involved in gas exchange (oxygen and carbon […]

by Ruth Long Yesterday, a friend and neighbor told me that she was chastised for nursing her daughter in a DC public library.  She had placed herself in a discreet corner and covered herself and her child who was nursing, while she read a book to her older child.  The librarian then confronted this woman […]

A lot of the media coverage of the healthcare debate lately has focused on the politics, probably because journalists feel like they’ve already spent several months explaining the various aspects of proposed reform. But there are a few things that bear repeating, because not everyone seems to remember them. The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein has […]

CNN’s Elizabeth Landau reported yesterday on new research suggesting that online psychotherapy is an effective way to treat depression. The original study, published August 22 in the Lancet by Dr. David Kessler and colleagues in the UK, examined the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) delivered by a therapist online in real time. When compared to […]