This is an electronic update for members and friends of the American Association of Public Health Physicians (AAPHP). We plan to issue it from time to time, whenever several items of interest come to our attention.
Please send items of interest for the E-News -- and any other feedback -- to AAPHP's Secretary Dave Cundiff, MD, MPH <cundiff@reachone.com>. Thanks!
CONTENTS:
1) New AAPHP Bulletin Available On-Line
2) AAPHP Membership Meeting Agenda for Saturday, June 18, 2005 - Chicago IL
3) Minutes of last AAPHP Membership Meeting, February 18, 2005
4) Action Alert - Dept. of Justice Lawsuit Against Tobacco Companies
5) New "Tdap" Vaccine Will Cover Adults For Pertussis
6) Smallpox among Northern Plains Tribes - Historical Article
7) CDC Recommends Presumptive Anti-parasite Therapy For Some Refugees
1) New AAPHP Bulletin Available On-Line:
The June, 2005 AAPHP Bulletin was mailed by postal mail to all recent AAPHP members in our records as of Monday, June 13, 2005. If your address with us is current, you should receive it by Saturday at the latest. Please let AAPHP's Secretary, Dave Cundiff <cundiff@reachone.com> know if you didn't receive it.
The Bulletin is also available on-line as an Adobe Acrobat (PDF) file.
Visit <http://www.aaphp.org, and click on the "Bulletins" option at the left side of AAPHP's home page.
Please send feedback, as well as articles for future Bulletins and E-News issues!
2) AAPHP Membership Meeting Agenda for Saturday, June 18, 2005 - Chicago IL AND 3) Minutes of last AAPHP Membership Meeting, February 18, 2005:
Arvind Goyal, MD, MPH, AAPHP's President, has circulated the agenda for tomorrow's meeting at the Hilton Chicago, 720 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. Our meeting will run from 6 pm to 8 pm CDT.
The agenda for this meeting, and the minutes from our February meeting in Washington DC, are available at <http://www.aaphp.org/aaphmtngs.htm>
4) Action Alert - Dept. of Justice Lawsuit Against Tobacco Companies:
Joel Nitzkin, MD, MPH, DPA -- co-chair of AAPHP's Tobacco Control Task Force
-- has requested distribution of the following Action Alert:
Dear AAPHP Member:
In one of the most brazen moves by the current administration to give favors to the tobacco industry, the DOJ, very late in the trial has announced it's decision to reduce the penalty to be imposed on the tobacco industry in it's racketeering case from $130 billion to $10 Billion. DOJ has refused to give any reason for this sudden and unexpected action -- enhancing the impression that this is due to political pressure from the White House as a favor to the tobacco industry.
If this decision is left to stand -- not only will it be a huge favor to the tobacco industry -- but it will clear the way for additional DOJ favors to this and other rogue industries. $130 Billion in fines and labeling the tobacco industry as "racketeers" will provide strong inducement for the industry to change its ways. In the context of tobacco industry advertising and expenditures, $10 billion dollars is "pocket change" -- a trivial increase in the cost of doing business -- especially when spread over many years.
I urge you to immediately contact the White House comment line at 202-456-1414, the Department of Justice comment line at 202-353-1555, and your respective senators and representative(s) to demand an immediate investigation into how and why this proposed fine was slashed unilaterally by the DOJ. You should also demand that this action be reversed.
What follows is a brief statement that I have sent to my senators and representative.
I think it important that you immediately issue a statement protesting the DOJ surprise reduction in the penalty to the tobacco industry in their RICO case -- from $130 billion to $10 billion. It is hard to imagine that this is due to anything other than pressure from the White House as a favor to the tobacco industry. The refusal by DOJ to offer any explanation for this unprecedented and shocking act reinforces the perception that this has been done as a favor to the tobacco industry, without regard to the merits of the case and the importance of the larger fine as a means of inducing change in behavior of the tobacco industry.
Please feel free to contact me if you would like additional background information on this matter. I will be happy to immediately forward it by e-mail.
Joel L. Nitzkin, MD, MPH
co-Chair, AAPHP Tobacco Control Task Force c/o/ JLN, MD Associates, LLC
4939 Chestnut Street
New Orleans, LA 70115-2941
phone (504) 899-7893 or (800)598-2561
cell phone (504) 606-7043
fax (504) 899-7557
E-mail: jln@jln-md.com
5) New "Tdap" Vaccine Will Cover Adults For Pertussis:
From a recent FDA press release:
"The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today [June 10, 2005 -- DRC] approved a new vaccine for a single booster immunization against pertussis (whooping cough), in combination with tetanus and diphtheria, for adolescents and adults 11-64 years of age. The vaccine will be marketed as Adacel by Aventis Pasteur Limited located in Toronto, Canada. Adacel is the first vaccine approved as a pertussis booster for adults. Vaccines for prevention of tetanus and diphtheria (Td vaccine) in adolescents and adults have been available for many years.
"Adacel is a Tetanus Toxoid (T), Reduced Diphtheria Toxoid (d) and Acellular Pertussis Vaccine (ap), Adsorbed. Adacel contains the same components as Daptacel, a DTaP vaccine indicated for infants and children manufactured by Aventis Pasteur Limited, but the diphtheria toxoid and one of the pertussis components are in reduced quantities.
"Recently, FDA approved a similar vaccine called Boostrix, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, for use in adolescents 10-18 years of age.
"Pertussis is a highly communicable and potentially serious illness in adolescents and adults, and can cause prolonged cough and missed days at school and work. In young infants, pertussis is more frequently severe and can be fatal, particularly in those too young to be fully vaccinated. Since 1980, the rates of reported pertussis cases have been increasing in adolescents and adults, as well as in young infants. Adolescents and adults have been implicated as the source of pertussis infection for susceptible young infants, and other family members."
6) Smallpox among Northern Plains Tribes - Historical Article
The May 2005 issue of _Smithsonian Magazine_ included an article, written primarily for non-technical people, about the 1837-1838 epidemic of smallpox among the non-immune Northern Plains tribes in what were then the U.S.
Territories of the Upper Missouri River. Successful vaccination efforts were eventually begun, after 90% of the Mandan Tribe (and many from other
tribes) had already been killed.
The article is introduced on the magazine's web site at <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian/issues05/may05/smallpox.html>.
Clicking the "PDF" link below the summary will allow a full-text download.
Below that, there is a form for new-subscriber rates on a subscription to the magazine.
The entire issue (including illustrations) can be ordered at <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian/orderbackissues.html>.
7) CDC Recommends Presumptive Anti-parasite Therapy For Some Refugees
CDC recently released recommendations for overseas and domestic presumptive therapy of schistosomiasis and strongyloidiasis for the Sudanese and Somali Bantu refugee groups. These recommendations can be found at <http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dq/refugee_health.htm>.
*** End of AAPHP E-News, June 17, 2005 ***