22nd July 2000

Polio Eradication: Ethiopia Launches Assessment On Polio Eradication.

In Africa News Online (http://www.africanews.org/) the Pan African News Agency (PANA) reports from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on July 20, 2000:

Ethiopia has launched an emergency assessment campaign to determine areas in the country that are free from the polio, the ministry of health announced Thursday.

It said in a statement that the aim of the "emergency polio assessment, which is being conducted in each district of the country," is to determine areas that are still not free from poliomyelitis.

In areas so identified, "rapid and continuous vaccination campaign will be undertaken," it added.

Ethiopia is among 14 countries in the world -- mainly in Africa and Southeast Asia -- where the World Health Organisation hopes to eradicate polio by the end of 2000.

Some 280 children die of polio each year in Ethiopia and in some parts of the country parents keep secret the death of their children from the disease due to superstition, according to the ministry.

It appealed to religious leaders, civic societies, and traditional healers to urge parents to present their children to the nearest health centre for vaccination against polio.

Ethiopia has been conducting ant-polio campaigns in the last three years with the help of UNICEF, USAID, Rotary International and the Japanese government, as part of the WHO drive to stamp out the crippling child disease.

The complete text of this news report can be found at http://www.africanews.org/
east/ethiopia/stories/20000720/20000720_feat1.html

Notification of the above news item was received via NewsIndex http://www.newsindex.com/

For Polio eradication and vaccine related resources see our directory Polio Virus, Vaccine and Eradication

Africa Development: How Aids was unleashed upon Africa.

An article from the Ghanaian Chronicle reported in Africa News Online (http://www.africanews.org/) on July 19, 2000 begins:

Accra - World scientists gather in Durban today to discuss the epidemic sweeping the continent. But still we don't know how it began. Edward Hooper returns to Uganda where 14 years ago he first charted the scale of the calamity. His fears have been confirmed, he argues: we unwittingly sparked the horror with a contaminated polio vaccine.

The rest of the long article [complete text here] would appear to have been written by Edward Hooper although there is no explicit byline or attribution in the Africa News Online version. His book, The River, ignited a ferocious dispute among the HIV and Aids research community worldwide

Notification of the above news item was received via NewsIndex http://www.newsindex.com/

Related NewsBites reports:
11th July 2000 - AIDS Virus Traced to 1675.
9th June 2000 - AIDS link study published in Science journal.
26th April 2000 - Study refutes Aids link to Fifties polio vaccine.
30th March 2000 - Royal Society accused in row over origins of HIV.
15th December 1999 - Researchers Challenge Theory That Polio Trials Led to AIDS.
30th November 1999 - Is AIDS a Man-Made Plague? New research revives the theory that HIV may have originated in a polio vaccine.

20th July 2000
Polio Eradication: Uganda Put On Polio Blacklist.

In Africa News Online (http://www.africanews.org/), July 18, 2000, Josephine Maseruka of New Vision reports from Kampala:

Uganda has been listed among African countries with a high risk of polio contraction after wild polio cases are persisting in neighbouring countries.

Dr. David Newberry of Core International based in Atlanta, recently told a polio workshop at Fairway Hotel that Uganda's chances of being declared a polio-free state within the next three years had diminished.

This follows a recent report of a wild polio case in Pokot in Kenya two weeks ago. Similar cases have been reported in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, countries in the same surveillance area as Uganda.

No country in a surveillance area can be declared polio-free unless no polio case had been reported for six years.

Newberry said Uganda was prone to wild polio attacks mainly because of the insurgency in neighbouring countries like Congo, Rwanda, Sudan and Somalia where people are forced to move.

The workshop was organised by AMREF in collaboration with Minnesota International health Volunteers (MIHV) based in Ssembabule, centered on building a coalition for polio eradication.

Dr. Peter Ngatya, the AMREF country director, said the workshop's objective was to review and renew efforts to eradicate polio in Uganda.

Dr. Issa Makumbi, the assistant Commissioner UNEPI, said the Government had put aside over sh1b to implement the sub-regional polio immunisation days in 21 districts bordering the DR Congo and Sudan.

The first round of immunisation this year will be from August 26 to 27 and the second from September 30 to October 1.

Makumbi said children would be given Vitamin A during the second round of immunisation while immunisation against both measles and polio will be carried out in 10 districts.

The complete text of this news report can be found at http://www.africanews.org/
east/uganda/stories/20000718/20000718_feat9.html

Notification of the above news item was received via NewsIndex http://www.newsindex.com/

For Polio eradication and vaccine related resources see our directory Polio Virus, Vaccine and Eradication

18th July 2000
Polio Eradication: U.N. Agency "shocked and saddened" by Attack by Bandits on Angolan 'children's Town'.

South African Bibim.com (http://www.bibim.com/) carried on Mon 17 Jul 2000 the following 14 July 2000 Sapa-AP report from Geneva:

UNICEF said Friday that armed bandits had attacked a refuge for children in Angola, killing a 16-year-old boy, injuring four children and abducting 21 others.

The U.N. children's agency said it was "shocked and saddened" by the June 9 attack on Children's Town, a residential school and training center for 80 young people, in Quissala, Huambo Province.

Some 100 bandits "did great damage" to the children's sleeping quarters and other facilities and stole blankets, mattresses and children's possessions, said UNICEF spokeswoman Lynn Geldof. The bandits made the abducted young people - aged 11-18 - carry the loot.

She said officials knew nothing about the attackers or their motives.

It was the second attack on the children's center this year, Geldof said. "Earlier this year in a similar attack, three children and one guard were killed and six children were injured."

Geldof said international organizations planned this weekend to conduct the second round of this year's dlrs 4 million national campaign to immunize Angolan children against polio, hoping to reach 2.9 million children under age 5.

She said the immunization drive would be carried out only in government-controlled areas because Angolan officials had been unable to negotiate access to areas held by rebel UNITA forces.

Some 22,250 health workers will go door-to-door to reach as many children as possible during the weekend, Geldof said.

She said figures were still being compiled on the first round of this year's drive last month, but that results had been "very good."

In last year's campaign health workers were able to reach 100 of Angola's 164 municipalities, she said.

The complete text of this news report can be found at http://www.bibim.com/anc/nw20000717/7.html

Notification of the above news items was received via NewsIndex http://www.newsindex.com/

For Polio eradication and vaccine related resources see our directory Polio Virus, Vaccine and Eradication

14th July 2000
Miller Art Museum celebrates 25th anniversary
Museum honors founder.

Duluth News (http://www.duluthnews.com/) and the Star Tribune (http://www2.startribune.com/) both carry the following Associated Press story from Sturgeon Bay, Wis.:

The Door County artist who founded the namesake Miller Art Museum will celebrate its 25th anniversary this weekend with more than 100 new works.

Gerhard C.F. Miller, 97, drew and painted the pieces last winter in a style he calls "imaginative realism."

Born in Sturgeon Bay in 1903, Miller contracted polio at age 12. Unable to walk, he began to explore art.

He kept his hand in painting even after conquering the polio, regaining his ability to walk and going into the family retail business.

"I started out as an amateur artist; all of my training was in business administration," Miller said. "My wife, Ruthie, has all the art training. So now I do all the painting, and she handles the business."

Miller sold his first painting in the 1930s for $5. In 1938, he shifted from oil painting to watercolors. In 1958, he opened a studio -- a converted two-car garage close to the home where he has lived since 1937.

"We had business right from the start," Miller said. "A lot of paintings were sold that I would like to buy back and tear up."

The idea for founding the Miller Art Museum grew out of discussion about a new library to replace Sturgeon Bay's 1913-era Carnegie building.

Miller and his wife thought Door County could also benefit from an art museum. So in 1970 he transferred the deed on a building he owned to the city library board with the stipulation that the building also house an art center.

The joint library and art center opened in January 1975. Today, three paid staff members and nearly 200 volunteers keep the museum running.

Miller is pleased with the growth of art and art education in Door County.

"When I was in high school, the only art that you did was to paint a tulip," Miller said. "Things have improved in a remarkable way."

Though he now works from a wheelchair, necessitated by a recurrence of the childhood polio that first inspired him to paint, Miller remains one of the area's most prolific artists.

"It's been wonderful to do this year after year," Miller said. "When people ask me if I've lived and painted my whole life in Door County, I tell them, 'Not yet.'"

The complete text of this news report can be found at http://www.duluthnews.com/today/dnt/local/art.htm and http://www2.startribune.com/
stOnLine/cgi-bin/article?thisStory=82109916
The first of the two documents is no longer available.

For further information see:
Welcome to the Miller Art Museum
http://www.dcl.lib.wi.us/millerartmuseum.html
and
The Miller Art Museum
http://www.sturgeonbay.net/Guide2000/Galleries.htm
#The Miller Art Museum

Notification of the above news items was received via NewsIndex http://www.newsindex.com/

13th July 2000

Polio Eradication: WHO To Support Synchronized Nids In 18 Countries.

Africa News Online (http://www.africanews.org/) reported from the United Nations, Geneva, on July 11, 2000:

For the first time, synchronized National Immunization Days (NIDs) are to be organized by 18 West and Central African countries this year in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Rotary International as part of the global effort to eradicate polio.

Announcing this in Harare on Monday, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Ebrahim M. Samba, said the synchronized immunization campaign would target at least 35 million children in the 18 countries.

The NIDs are to be carried out in two phases in October and November 2000 in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Togo.

Dr Samba explained that the high level of economic integration in the zone which facilitates massive population movements across borders had made the synchronized immunization campaign necessary.

"The peer psychology of doing things together engendered by this exercise would foster effective cross-border collaboration among health officials in the 18 countries involved, he said," adding: "the exercise will also be more cost-effective, and the logistics of the operation better streamlined and better managed."

Dr Samba appealed to the Heads of State of the 18 participating countries for their personal support to ensure that every child was reached during the exercise.

Support for the synchronized NIDs is also expected to be provided by the governments of the United States of America, Canada and the United Kingdom.

"Goodwill" ambassadors as well as religious, traditional, community and opinion leaders are expected to be mobilized for the two phases of the synchronized NIDs which will begin on 23 October and 20 November respectively.

Efforts to eradicate polio in the African Region date back to 1988 when WHO launched the polio eradication initiative after the World Health Assembly resolved to eradicate the disease by the year 2000. In 1989, the WHO Regional Committee for Africa adopted the global goal of polio eradication, and in July 1996, African Heads of State signed the Yaounde Declaration committing themselves to the eradication of polio.

The Regional Office launched the Kick Polio Out of Africa initiative in August 1996 and since than more than 140 million African children have been vaccinated against the disease.

For further information, please contact Dr Antoine B. Kabore, Director Division of Communicable Disease Prevention and Control, or Samuel T. Ajibola, Public Information and Communication Unit WHO Regional Office for Africa Harare, Zimbabwe. Tel: 1(407 ) 733 9229; (263-4 ) 703580; 706951; 707493; 705043 E-mail: kaborea@whoafr.org All AFRO Press Releases can be found at the AFRO Home Page http://www.whoafr.org/

In Lome contact: Mr. Ihou WATEBA, WHO/Togo Tel: 22 42 92/ 21 33 60; Cell: 01 43 95

The complete text of this news report can be found at http://www.africanews.org/
atlarge/stories/20000711/20000711_feat3.html

For Polio eradication and vaccine related resources see our directory Polio Virus, Vaccine and Eradication

Polio Eradication: Congo Vaccinations Called a Success.

The Las Vegas Sun (http://www.lasvegassun.com/) carried the following Associated Press report from Geneva on July 11, 2000:

A three-day polio vaccination campaign in Congo went ahead as planned over the weekend without major interruption from fighting, the U.N. Children's Fund said Tuesday.

The operation, which took place from Friday to Sunday, was the first of three rounds scheduled this year to vaccinate Congolese children against the disease.

"Local rebel groups had been brought on board," UNICEF spokeswoman Lynn Geldof said, adding that it covered all regions of the vast central African country.

Some 11 million children under age 5 were targeted in the campaign, which saw 250,000 people administer the vaccine, Geldof said.

"The initial feedback is very good, indicating that 80 percent of urban children and 60 percent of rural children have been covered," she said.

Although the operation was largely uninterrupted by fighting, "there have been a number of incidents in South Kivu," in the east of the country, in which aid workers' vehicles were targeted, Geldof said. In one area, the campaign was postponed for two days because of insecurity.

The Los Angeles-based International Medical Corps said it was suspending its work in Congo after an ambush Sunday near Uvira that left one health worker dead and two of its members injured.

Congo is a top priority in the fight against polio as it has one of the highest rates of polio virus transmission. Further immunization rounds are planned for August and September, with the total cost this year reaching $18 million.

Recent fighting in Congo's two-year-old conflict raised doubts over the campaign. Teams in eastern Congo had to overcome rumors that the vaccines had come from Rwanda, which is backing rebels opposed to Congolese President Laurent Kabila, Geldof said.

UNICEF and the World Health Organization have urged 30 African and Asian countries still afflicted by polio to help make a final push to wipe out the crippling disease.

The agencies have set a goal of eradicating polio by the end of this year, and obtaining final certification that it has been eliminated by 2005.

The complete text of this news report can be found at http://www.lasvegassun.com/
sunbin/stories/thrive/2000/jul/11/071100678.html

For Polio eradication and vaccine related resources see our directory Polio Virus, Vaccine and Eradication

Polio Eradication: Claudia Schiffer Applauds Bangladesh Polio Effort.

Yahoo Daily News (http://dailynews.yahoo.com/) carried the following Reuters report from Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Tuesday July 11 7:47 AM ET:

Supermodel Claudia Schiffer, in Bangladesh as a goodwill ambassador, said Tuesday she was impressed by the country's efforts to save children from diseases, especially polio.

Schiffer, who arrived Sunday for a five-day visit, flew to remote areas in the densely forested Bandarban hill district by an army helicopter and observed children being immunized against polio.

A United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) statement said: "The primary focus of Ms Schiffer's visit to Bangladesh is to observe ongoing polio eradication and immunization among other initiatives."

Bangladesh is still one of the few polio endemic countries along with its neighbors India and Pakistan, and therefore needs support from the international community to boost efforts to eradicate the disease, the statement said.

Schiffer, who also attended a children's program at a local radio station in Chittagong port city late Monday, said: "It was very emotional watching the children perform their interpretation of children's rights to health and education."

Monday, Schiffer drove to a village north of the capital Dhaka and spent some time talking and mixing with mostly illiterate and poor women and children.

She also administered oral polio vaccine to a few children and thanked all those involved in the polio eradication drive.

The complete text of this news report can be found at http://dailynews.yahoo.com/
h/nm/20000711/re/bangladesh_claudia_dc_1.html

For Polio eradication and vaccine related resources see our directory Polio Virus, Vaccine and Eradication

Polio Eradication: Polio Vaccination Workers Attacked In Congo.

The Hellenic Resource Network (http://www.hri.org/) reported the following in the Highlights from the Noon Briefing by the Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General Marie Okabe, UN Headquarters, New York on Wednesday July 12, 2000:

Carolyn McAskie, the Acting UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, issued a statement saying she was "saddened and shocked by the brutal attack on 9 July" on relief workers from the International Medical Corps (IMC) near Uvira, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who were participating in the polio immunization campaign. As a result of the attack, the group decided to suspend its immunization activities in the country.

McAskie called "on the Government the DRC, and all the parties involved in the current fighting in the eastern part of the country, to adhere to their commitments to enable relief workers to operate safely and to ensure that those responsible for this cowardly act be brought to justice."

The vaccination campaign was initiated after the warring parties agreed to honor a request made recently by the Secretary-General to stop fighting in most areas of the country ravaged by war so that some 10 million children could be vaccinated.

In response to a question, the Spokesman said that it was disappointing that President Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was not attending OAU Summit because the Congo issue was one of the major issues that need to be tackled.

The complete text of this news report of which the above is an extract can be found at http://www.hri.org/news/world/undh/2000/00-07-12.undh.html

For Polio eradication and vaccine related resources see our directory Polio Virus, Vaccine and Eradication

S. Florida March of Dimes announces grant recipients.

The Miami Herald (http://www.herald.com/) reported on Thursday, July 13, 2000:

The South Florida Chapter of the March of Dimes recently announced its grant awards for 2000-2001.

Local organizations got money to support programs to carry out the March of Dimes mission: preventing birth defects and infant mortality.

Founded in 1938, the March of Dimes is a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the health of babies through research, community services, education and advocacy.

The South Florida chapter covers Martin, Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.

Amongst the seven grant recipients in Miami-Dade the Miami Herald lists:

Post Polio Association of South Florida -- To print and distribute monthly newsletter to membership base, other post-polio groups and health care professionals.

The complete text of this news report of which the above is an extract can be found at http://www.herald.com/
content/today/news/dade/beaches/digdocs/041585.htm
The above document is no longer available.

For a list of Support Group newsletters that can be accessed online see Lincolnshire Post-Polio Network Library [Support Group Newsletters]

Obituary: ACWORTH: Glenn Bowdin, 48, computer programmer.

Stephania H. Davis, Staff Writer at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes of Glenn Bowdin on Thursday, July 13, 2000:

Glenn Bowdin was not bitter about his childhood bout with polio. As an adult, he was determined to make others aware that those who survive the disease still face medical challenges.

He had joined the Atlanta Post-Polio Association, a support and advocacy group, and was helping revamp its Web site.

"He came to us with enthusiasm and was eager to help out any way he could," said APPA president Cheryl Hollis of Jonesboro. "He had a lot of ideas and, since I am not particularly computer literate, I welcomed his help."

Mr. Bowdin had walked with braces and crutches from the time he was a toddler, but he stood taller than many people when it came to character, said a friend, Carol McGarity of Marietta.

"He had great pride and dignity, determination and ambition, but he was funny, too, always telling some joke," she said.

Harby Glenn Bowdin, 48, died at his Acworth residence Sunday after suffering a heart attack. The funeral was Wednesday. Collins Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Bowdin was only 2 years old when he was diagnosed with the debilitating disease. He endured shots, chiropractic adjustments and physical therapy. "But he didn't let it get him down," said his mother, Hazel Holmes of Waynesboro, Miss. "He remained a sunny boy."

Mr. Bowdin, a native of Mobile, completed high school and learned about computers at a technical school. He met his wife, Janet Bowdin, in 1975 when both worked in Washington for the National Society for Professional Engineers.

"He climbed my steps with his crutches in one hand and a bouquet of flowers in the other. It was so romantic," Mrs. Bowdin said of their first date. The couple moved to Marietta in 1977, where Mr. Bowdin worked as a computer programmer for Lockheed Martin Corp.

It was through a friend that he became involved in APPA. Mr. Bowdin, like many polio survivors, suffered other illnesses related to the disease, including high blood pressure, asthma and allergies.

"It was difficult not being able to play football with his son, but when our younger son got involved in Cub Scouts, he became a den leader," said Mrs. Bowdin, who added that her husband taught himself to swim and enjoyed landscaping, bird watching, and deep sea fishing trips with friends.

Other survivors include a daughter, Sabrina Bowdin of Acworth; two sons, Donnie Bowdin and Erik Bowdin, both of Acworth; his father, Grover Bowdin of Saraland, Ala.; a stepsister, Mary Beth Toxey of Montgomery; and three stepbrothers, Billy Toxey, Danny Toxey and Bobby Toxey, all of Saraland, Ala.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions be made to the Atlanta Post-Polio Association, Durable Medical Equipment Fund, P.O. Box 250566, Atlanta, GA 30325.

The complete text of the obituary can be found at http://www.accessatlanta.com/
partners/ajc/epaper/editions/today/local_news_93d6655db1e760c4000d.html
The above document is no longer available.

For linkage to the APPA web site see their entry in our International/National/Local Support Organizations Directory.

Polio Eradication: Vaccine programmes 'flawed' for many.

Wednesday, 12 July, 2000, 14:01 GMT 15:01 UK BBC News Online (http://news.bbc.co.uk/) reports:

Millions of children are still catching killer diseases because vaccine programmes are failing to reach them.

A United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) report into children's welfare published on Wednesday warns that despite the success of a world-wide polio vaccination drive, much work remains to be done.

In particular, the "Progress of Nations" report says the uptake of the diptheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus jab (DTP) is still poor in dozens of countries - many in Africa.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, only one child in ten receives the necessary three doses of DTP, making it the worst performer in the world.

In addition, neonatal tetanus kills 200,000 infants in the first month of life every year - nearly a quarter of these in India.

The illness can be easily prevented by immunising women of childbearing age, but the vaccine is not available in some countries.

There are still 17 countries in which there is no state funding for any common childhood vaccines, although overall, Unicef said that more low-income countries are spending more money on vaccination.

However, even in regions beset by war and other health crises such as the spread of HIV, there are some remarkable success stories.

The DTP vaccination rates in Gambia, Mauritius and Malawi all exceeded 90%.

On average, only half the children in sub-Saharan Africa are immunised fully. The world average is 77%.

Unicef also uses vaccination drop out rates as a measure of the effectiveness of national immunisation programmes.

In Mauritania, Somalia, Venezuela, Niger and Bolivia, more than half the women who bring their children for one vaccination never come back for the second.

Anything about a 10% drop out rate means the vaccination programme is 'flawed' according to Unicef.

Towering success.

However, the worldwide drive to eradicate polio has yielded enormous success over the past decade.

In 1988, when the programme was launched, there were 35,000 cases of this disabling disease worldwide.

Last year there were 7,000 cases, and there are many new countries in which polio appears to have been wiped out.

The progress has been made through huge national immunisation days - at one, in India, an estimated 147m children were given the vaccine.

Professor William Foege, a former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a key figure in the eradication of smallpox two decades ago, described the polio programme as "A stunning success".

He said: "Not since the eradication of smallpox over 20 years ago has the power of immunization been so evident.

"The world has watched and applauded as immunization efforts have pushed back the wave of disability, suffering and death brought on by polio."

The complete text of this news report can be found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_830000/830284.stm

For Polio eradication and vaccine related resources see our directory Polio Virus, Vaccine and Eradication

Notification of the above news items was received via NewsIndex http://www.newsindex.com/

11th July 2000

AIDS Virus Traced to 1675.

Laurie Garrett, Staff Writer at Newsday (http://www.newsday.com/) reports from Durban, South Africa:

The AIDS virus most probably first jumped from chimpanzees to humans as early as 1675 and didn't establish itself as an epidemic strain in Africa until 1930, according to research presented yesterday at the 13th International AIDS Conference here.

The virus, HIV-1, is ancient, reported Dr. Anne-Mieke Vandamme of the Riga Institute in Leuven, Belgium. In collaboration with colleagues in France, Germany and Ireland, Vandamme devised a technique for tracing the family trees of viruses.

"The separation between SIVcpz [chimpanzee virus] and HIV was in 1675 to 1700," Vandamme told scientists. She said that theories on a more recent origin of HIV-1 epidemics in humans, "such as the one blaming vaccination with oral polio vaccine contaminated with SIV [chimp virus], seems very unlikely."

Vandamme's findings are important because they help explain not only how the world's worst recorded epidemic commenced, but also possibly where it is going and how fast. And in one respect they coincide with estimates reached independently at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. In 1930, both research teams have found, the first M-Class form of HIV emerged in Africa.

Scientists don't, of course, have blood samples dating to 1675. The oldest known HIV sample dates to only 1959. So to figure out HIV's history, scientists need to establish what they call the molecular clock of the virus, or the rate at which it changes. But that's tough for HIV, because different strains of the virus today are mutating and evolving at divergent rates.

As for why HIV smoldered in humans invisibly for 300 years, Vandamme said, "A true explosion requires a new mode of transmission or modern behavior," such as use of non-sterile needles, non-sterile blood products and widespread promiscuous sexual behavior.

The complete text of this news report can be found at http://www.newsday.com/news/daily/belg11.htm

Notification of the above news item was received via NewsIndex http://www.newsindex.com/

Related NewsBites reports:
9th June 2000 - AIDS link study published in Science journal.
26th April 2000 - Study refutes Aids link to Fifties polio vaccine.
30th March 2000 - Royal Society accused in row over origins of HIV.
15th December 1999 - Researchers Challenge Theory That Polio Trials Led to AIDS.
30th November 1999 - Is AIDS a Man-Made Plague? New research revives the theory that HIV may have originated in a polio vaccine.

Polio Eradication: Claudia Schiffer in Bangladesh.

The Times of India (http://www.timesofindia.com/) carries the following Associated Press report from Dhaka:

Supermodel Claudia Schiffer, who is a special representative of UNICEF, is on a five-day visit to see how Bangladesh is trying to eradicate polio, which affects millions of children in the populous Asian nation.

Schiffer will visit polio immunization centers and will be a special guest at Wednesday's launching of UNICEF's Progress of Nations 2000 report in Dhaka, the capital, said a statement issued by the UN agency on Monday.

Bangladesh is trying to eradicate polio by giving free oral polio vaccines to the children twice a year. Volunteers go from house to house, urging the people to take their children to the vaccination centers and to report polio cases.

Bangladesh's polio eradication partners include UNICEF, the World Health Organization, United States Agency for International Development, Rotary International and the Government of Japan.

The complete text of this news report can be found at http://www.timesofindia.com/today/11worl15.htm

Notification of the above news item was received via NewsIndex http://www.newsindex.com/

For Polio eradication and vaccine related resources see our directory Polio Virus, Vaccine and Eradication

6th July 2000
Obituary: Dr. Marcy L. Ditmanson, 81.

Dr. Marcy L. Ditmanson, who founded a hospital in Taiwan and practiced orthopedic surgery in the Twin Cities, died in Arizona on June 26 of complications from hip surgery. He was 81.

Chris Havens writes in the Star Tribune (http://www2.startribune.com/) published Thursday, July 6, 2000:

Building a big hospital wasn't the reason he went to Taiwan in 1957, said his wife, Joyce Ditmanson. "He hated being an administrator; he just wanted to be a doctor," she said.

Ditmanson was born in Honan, China, to Lutheran missionary parents. He came to Augsburg College in Minneapolis when he was 17 but returned to China for graduate school.

His studies were interrupted when he was placed in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. There he met Joyce. They married in 1948 and returned to the Twin Cities so Ditmanson could attend the University of Minnesota Medical School.

The couple moved to Taiwan in 1957 and began a clinic in their living room. It grew to 30 beds, and now has nearly 1,000, Joyce Ditmanson said. The Chiayi Christian Hospital has branches in Laos, Shanghai and Hunan, China.

"He's a hero to me because he did what other missionaries wished they had done: He got the hospital into Chinese hands," said a childhood friend, David Edwins of Minnetonka.

The Ditmansons returned to Minnesota in 1981, and Marcy practiced orthopedic surgery. During vacations he'd goto Taiwan to treat children with polio and scoliosis. He retired in 1989.

The full text of the obituary from which the above is an extract can be found at http://www2.startribune.com/
stOnLine/cgi-bin/article?thisStory=82065427

Notification of the above news item was received via NewsIndex http://www.newsindex.com/