the good side of nicotine [really I don't smoke and i don't advise you to do!!],but there maybe never a good side to margarine or inferior food oils………..

…………….But immunologist Luis Ulloa has found that it can also reverse the condition called sepsis, which kills some 250,000 Americans a year.

We all know nicotine as the addictive substance that gets people hooked on cigarettes, which can kill you. But as this ScienCentral News video explains, now nicotine could also be a tool in defeating one of the leading causes of death in the developed world.

Putting Out the Fire

The nicotine that gets people hooked on cigarettes can be implicated in hundreds of thousands of deaths in the U.S. each year. But immunologist Luis Ulloa has found that it can also reverse the condition called sepsis, which kills some 250,000 Americans a year.

Typically, when your body responds to an infection, immune cells send out chemical messengers called cytokines. Some of these cytokines force your blood to clot, which ensures that the threatening material doesn’t spread throughout the body.

Usually sparked by trauma or a bacterial infection, sepsis is when this immune response goes into overdrive. Ulloa explains, “Your immune system becomes very strong, [and it] wants to protect your body at any cost.”
Ulloa Lab
People in the early stages of sepsis may feel confused, have a fever and rapid heart rate, and develop a rash. Sepsis is often confused with other conditions, Ulloa says, and treating the underlying infection with antibiotics misses the root of the problem. “It’s your own immune response who is killing you,” he explains. “So your own immune response becomes so strong that it’s attacking the cardiovascular system and it’s able to cause multiple organ failure.”

Previous studies showed that smokers are less prone to another disease of the immune system, ulcerative colitis. This inflammatory disease attacks the digestive system, but was found to affect a disproportionate number of non-smokers.

This led Ulloa and his team at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research to study nicotine as an anti-inflammatory for sepsis. He discovered that nicotine grabs immune cells and prevents them from spewing inflammatory cytokines throughout the body.

In laboratory tests it was able to reverse sepsis in mice. After inducing sepsis, researchers waited until the mice became sick to inject the nicotine. It worked: many of the mice, Ulloa says, got better within 24 hours. He says that this experiment closely replicates how sepsis could be treated in the real world, “because for patients, you can’t predict when someone will go into sepsis. So you have to develop different experimental strategies to be able to rescue the patient.”
Nicotine Graphic
Ulloa found how nicotine can be used against sepsis by calming down the inflammatory particles in the body.
While nicotine is useful in the laboratory, Ulloa stresses this is no endorsement of smoking. “It was very interesting to find out that nicotine have a strong anti-inflammatory potential,” he says. “However, the clinical problem [is that] you can never use nicotine. There are so many toxic effects.”

“When you’re smoking, you may have some small beneficial effect from nicotine, but you still have another thousand chemical products that is killing your body,” says Ulloa.

But since his team also found the specific receptor on immune cells that nicotine latches onto, researchers can now see if drugs that work like nicotine can help battle the fires within.

Other researchers are currently working with one nicotine-like drug, originally developed to fight Alzheimer’s, to treat inflammation. This drug, named GTS-21, was found to be ineffective in the treatment of Alzheimer’s because it wasn’t able to penetrate the brain. But Ulloa says that it has great potential as an anti-inflammatory, since it can avoid the brain and target other parts of the body.

Ulloa’s research was featured in the June 2006 Scientific American magazine, August 2005 Nature, and November 2004 Nature Medicine. His research is funded by the Faculty Awards Program of the North Shore Health System, the North Shore-Long Island Jewish General Clinical Research Center, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

‘תורה’ מסיןי Torah from Sin[ai]

‘תורה’ מסיןי Torah from Sin[ai]

הפעם ארצה לתאר מספר נקודות אקופונקטורה נפוצות עליהן ניתן להפעיל לחץ, אולי במעט פחות יעילות ממחטים אך בכל זאת לתועלת לא מבוטלת. אזכיר בעיקר נקודות לטיפול חירום. אתאר כיצד למצוא את הנקודות, אמסור את מספרי הנקודות כפי שהם מוכרים על ידי אקופונקטוריסטים במערב וכן את השמות באנגלית, שמא תרצו לחפש אותן, וראו בסוף חיבור המאמר לאתר עם איורים.

לכאב חמור בגב התחתון שמונע לעמוד או אפילו לצאת מהמיטה, יש ללחוץ בו זמנית במשך דקה או יותר די בחוזקה מתחת ומאחורי הקרסול החיצוני. אלו נקודות UB 60, UB 62 ׁ(bladder point 60, 62). נסו ראשית את הקרסול באותו צד של הגב שכואב. אחר כך תוכלו לעמוד לפחות זמן קצר או לצאת מהמיטה כדי לבקר אצל רופא. ניתן לחזור על לחץ זה לעתים קרובות. נקודה נוספת המסייעת לטיפול בכאבי גב תחתון מצויה בקו האמצע בין האף והשפה העליונה.

נקודה זו משמשת גם למטרות אחרות ויכולה להציל חיים במקרים של דימום חמור העלול – לא עלינו – לגרום למוות אם אין סיוע ישיר אחר בנמצא, דוגמת נוזל לווריד. במקרים כאלו ניתן לתקוע בנקודה זו כל מחט מצויה. זה לא מסוכן, וגם אם רשמית אין זה חוקי, יש לפעול כך כאשר ברור שיש סכנת חיים. זוהי נקודה DU 26 ׁ(governing vessel 26).

לבחילה חמורה או בעיות והפרעות בלב לחצו על הצד הפנימי של הזרוע, בערך 3 אצבעות מעל לכפל של מפרק שורש כף היד, היכן שנמצאת רצועת השעון. אפשר ללחוץ על זרוע אחת או על שתיהן. בסין (ועכשיו יש סימנים לכך גם בישראל) נשים עונדות רצועות במקום זה כדי להתמודד עם בחילות בהריון, ועל הרצועה שמות משהו בחלק הפנימי כדי ללחוץ על הנקודה האמורה, ושמה P6 ((pericardium 6.

לטיפול בעצבנות קלה, יש ללחוץ על הנקודה בין העיניים, אותה ‘עין שלישית’ של ההודים.

יש אנשים שסובלים מיסרפדת .urticaria. לעתים קרובות הגורם לא נמצא ומקבלים תרופות חריפות. כוסות רוח במרכז הטבור במשך כמה דקות מספר פעמים ביום יכולות לרפא סירפדת עיקשת וכן שלשול חוזר אצל ילדים.

צירי לידה מוקדמים יכולים להוות סכנת חיים. יש לי ניסיון טוב מאוד בטיפול בהם באמצעות מחט אחת בנקודה K9((kidney 9, לעתים די בטיפול בודד (!) החוסך לאם ריתוק של חודשים למיטה. קשה להאמין, אך אמת לאמיתה. לכשעצמי, אני משתמש רק במחטים לצורך זה אך ייתכן ועיסוי בנקודה זו גם יועיל. אזור לחץ יכול להיות פחות מדויק מאשר נקודה לדקירה. הנקודה הזו נמצאת 10-11 ס”מ (כ-7 אצבעות) – חפשו את הנקודה הרגישה ביותר – מעל לקרסול הפנימי, בין עצם ה- tibia ובין הגיד העולה מהעקב, גיד אכילס.

לתינוק הפוך-אכוז, ‘סיגר’ סיני (הקרוי ‘מוקסה’ moxaועשוי מצמח Artemisia) יכול לחמם את UB 67
(bladder point 67) בקפל הציפורן של האצבע הקטנה ברגל. שיטה זו בטוחה לחלוטין, ואינה כואבת. תוכלו להתקשר אלינו וניתן לכם את פרטי תלמידותיי העובדות עמי ויוכלו ללמד אתכם להכין את המוקסה. לפחות מחצית התינוקות המיועדים ללידת עכוז יתהפכו אם הטיפול יתבצע לפני השבוע ה-35. אחרי השבוע ה-36 ההצלחה מועטה. בהעדר אפשרויות קלות ברפואה המערבית לטפל בבעיה, רצוי להיבדק סביב שבוע 32-33 כדי לדעת את מיקום הראש.

לקשיים בהנקה (שוב, לעולם, לעולם אין לתת מזון מאבקהformula-, כולם מסוכנים) יש הרבה פתרונות: הסברים, הרגעה, צמחים, מזון וכו’. לפעמים אקופונקטורה עם שתי מחטים, אולי אפילו רק פעם אחת, יכול מאוד לסייע. אינני בטוח שלחץ יעזור במקרה זה.

לכאב ראש באזור הרקות: לחצו בין האצבע הרביעית והחמישית ברגל, בקצה ה’קרום’ היכן שהעצמות נפגשות. זו .Gb 41 (gallbladder 41) הקלה עשויה לבוא תוך שניות, וניתן לחזור על הטיפול לעתים קרובות.

את הנקודות ניתן לראות באתר המאויר www.acuxo.com/index.asp לחצו משמאל על acupuncture points. חברי הקהילה מוזמנים לפנות אלי ואראה להם את מיקום הנקודות.

תיהנו ממסעכם הווירטואלי לסין והיעזרו בו אם תזדקקו לחוכמת העם הזה. אשמח לשמוע את לקחיכם ומסקנותיכם בנדון.

“Torah” from Sin[ai]

“Torah” from Sin[ai]

Today I would like to describe you some common used acupuncture points which likely also can be used –maybe a bit less effective then needles-by pressure on these points.
I will describe mostly points used for emergencies.
I will describe how to find the points and mention the number of the point as they are used in the West by acupuncturists as well as the English names in case you want to look them up: see link at the end of the article]
At the end of the article I will copy a link from a website where you can look up the points –in pictures-if you wish.
For acute low back pain [when one cannot get out of bed or stand]:
Press directly at the same time under- and behind the outer ankle for a minute or more quite strongly. [names of the points: UB 60 and UB 62][bladder points 60 and 62]
Try first at the ankle which is corresponding to the side of the back that hurts.
Thereafter one should be able to stand at least for a while or be able to get out of bed to visit a doctor.
This pressure can be repeated very often.
Another point for the same purpose, for acute low back pain is situated in the midline between the nose and the upper lip.
This point can also be used for other purposes and can be life saving in case of severe bleeding which –lo alenu- [may we be spared from this] may lead to a deadly shock if there is no direct help available [like intravenous fluid]
In this case one may stick any needle available in this spot [not dangerous], even if you are not trained [and it may be officially "illegal"] as long as it is clear that the person has a life threatening bleeding and may die if you don’t do anything [name of the point: DU 26 [governing vessel 26]
In case of severe nausea [or any heart problems / disturbances]: press on the inner side of the fore arm [lower arm] in the midline of the arm, about 3 fingers above the wrist crease [where the watch strap is located]. One or both arms may be used.
In China [and now also known in Israel] women seem to use a wristband for nausea in pregnancy with something on the inner side of the band which presses on the mentioned point. [point: P6][pericardium 6]
For [light] nervousness press on the point between the eyes [the "third eye" of the India].
Some people suffer from recurrent urticaria.
Often no reason is found and strong drugs are given.
Cupping [kosot ruach] on the center of the navel, repeated a few times a day for a few minutes often can heal stubborn urticaria and also persistent diarrhea in children.
Early [premature] contractions in pregnancy can be life threatening.
I have extreme good experience with the treatment of this with just a single needle at the point: K9 [kidney 9], sometimes only a single treatment may be enough!! ……… and spares the mother bed rest for months, hard to belief ,but true. Maybe massage at this point, frequently done, can also be helpful. [I have always used only needles in this case]
Location of the point[for pressure one can be a bit less precise then when one works with a needle and one can use a "wider" area]:
some 10 -11 cm[some 7 fingers] [more or less: good to look for the most tender spot in that area] above the inner ankle, between the tibia bone and the tendon which goes up from the Achilles tendon]

For a baby which is “upside down” [breech] [akuz] a Chinese “cigar”[so called moxa, made from Artemisia herb] can be used to warm the UB 67 point [bladder point 67], at the nail fold of the small toe of the foot.
If this is done before the 35th week at least half of the babies may turn, after the 36th week there is little success.
The method is totally safe and painless!
For this treatment you may contact us and we can give you the telephone numbers of the “talmidot” working with me who can help you to teach you how to do the moxa.
Concerning the fact that there is not a single “easy option” in western medicine for this problem, it may be very wise to be examined around the 32-33 week to know the position of the head.

For difficulty with breastfeeding [again: never, never give a formula, all of them are dangerous] there are many advises possible [explanation, reassurance, herbs, food etc]
Acupuncture [sometimes a single time], with just 2 needles, may help tremendously.
[I am not sure if acupressure will help here]

For headache which is locate in the temple area [rakot]:press between the 4th and the 5th toe, at the end of the web where the bones come together.[point
In seconds there may be relief, can be repeated often if necessary

To get illustrations of the points you can look up on google:
http://www.acuxo.com/index.asp [and click at the left on; acupuncture points]
[If you wish I can show you where a certain point is located][for those in aderet eliyahu]
Enjoy your virtual journey to China and use it if their wisdom if ever necessary.
I would be happy to hear your experiences in these cases.

Effects of Melatonin Treatment in Septic Newborns

I am sending you a link for an-in my opinion extremely- life saving treeatment in newborns
and who knows , also in older people]
one seldom sees such dramatic results in medicine.
this article should never be “needed”-B”H- for any one’s child ,but it is good to print it out and keep it at hand ,in case you know any child in such a condition.

Effects of Melatonin Treatment in Septic Newborns

http://www.pedresearch.org/cgi/content/full/50/6/756

At 72 h after the diagnosis of sepsis, 3 of 10 non-melatonin treated
children had died, while all the melatonin-treated newborns survived,
and continue to do so. [quoted from the article]

colour [color] of bile vomit in a newborn

Conclusions There is little agreement about the colour of bile vomit in a newborn. It is more pertinent to ask parents about the colour of vomit rather than whether it contained bile. Many general practitioners and parents do not recognise green as an appropriate colour for bile in the vomit of newborns, which may delay surgical referral . Though yellow vomit does not exclude intestinal obstruction, and requires expeditious referral.

Ultrasound method may supplant biopsies: What are we waiting for????

My remark: which would make following up the success [or failure] of treatment wonderfully easy, seems to me.
What are we waiting for????

Ultrasound method may supplant biopsies

By CARLA K. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer Fri Dec 1, 8:11 PM ET

CHICAGO – An experimental ultrasound technique that measures how easily breast lumps compress and bounce back could enable doctors to determine instantly whether a woman has cancer or not — without having to do a biopsy.

In a small study of 80 women, the technique, called “elastography,” distinguished harmless lumps from malignant ones with nearly 100 percent accuracy.

If the results hold up in a larger study, elastography could save thousands of women from the waiting, cost, discomfort and anxiety of a biopsy, in which cells are removed from the breast — sometimes with a needle, sometimes with a scalpel — and examined under a microscope.

“There’s a lot of anxiety, a lot of stress, a lot of fear involved” with biopsies, said Susan Brown, manager of health education for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. “And there’s the cost of leaving work to make a second appointment. If this can be done instead of a biopsy, there would be a real cost reduction.”

Up to 1 million biopsies are performed each year on suspicious breast tissue detected by mammograms and self-exams, but as many as eight out of 10 of these biopsies find that the lumps are benign.

Biopsies can cost $200 to $1,000, depending on whether some fluid or an entire lump is removed, and it can take days or weeks to get the results. The cost of elastography is not yet clear, but some experts said the procedure might run $100 to $200. And it can yield results in minutes.

When checked against biopsies of women’s breast tissue, the ultrasound technique correctly identified 17 out of 17 cancerous tumors, and 105 out of 106 harmless lesions. The findings were reported at a national radiology meeting in Chicago this week.

Scientists said the approach may also be used someday to rapidly diagnose damaged hearts and guide the treatment of prostate cancer.

The technique was pioneered during the 1990s at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston by Jonathan Ophir and his colleagues.

Ophir describes elastography as a way to measure and picture the elasticity of body tissue. In effect, it is an extension of one of the oldest tools in medicine, palpation, in which a doctor feels the shape and firmness of body tissue.

To explain elastography, Ophir likens the body to a box-spring mattress, but “a crazy mattress made out of millions of small springs and each one is a little different. Each is moving around at a different rate, depending on their individual stiffness.” Cancerous tumors are like stiff springs. Normal tissue and benign lesions compress more easily.

Both traditional ultrasound and elastography use echoes from high-frequency sound waves to create pictures of what is going on inside the body, but elastography goes a step further.

In traditional ultrasound, a doctor or technician places a handheld device on the skin that sends high-frequency sound waves into the body. Organs and tissue reflect the sound back as echoes, which are sent to a computer that turns them into a picture. Many people have seen ultrasound images of fetuses in the womb.

Elastography, though, also gauges movement. As the doctor moves the handheld device against the breast, the device collects echoes before and after the compression or movement of the breast tissue. The resulting images show stiff tissues as dark areas and soft tissues as light areas.

Breast cancer shows up larger on an elastogram than it does on a traditional ultrasound image, perhaps because the elastogram can “see” the scar tissue around the cancer, Ophir said.

“It’s like finding a marble in Jell-O,” said Dr. Richard Barr, a professor of radiology at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine who reported his findings at the Radiological Society of North America annual meeting. Germany-based Siemens AG provided the ultrasound equipment and software for Barr’s study.

Ophir and other researchers said breast cancer diagnosis will be elastography’s first real-world application.

“If it doesn’t fly there, it won’t fly anywhere,” said Elisa Konofagou of Columbia University, who is testing elastography on animals and humans to determine the extent of damage after a heart attack. Uses in prostate cancer and thyroid cancer also are under study elsewhere.

Dr. Constantine Godellas, a cancer surgeon at Rush University Medical Center, said some patients and doctors would have trouble giving up biopsies, even if further research confirmed elastography’s accuracy. Doctors may fear lawsuits if they do not order biopsies, he said.

“With the medical legal climate the way it is, that’s a tough call to make,” Godellas said. “It won’t be until a lot more research has been done that people will really buy into it.”

Dr. Ellen Mendelson, chief of breast imaging at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, predicted the technique will be used, but may not supplant biopsies, which are becoming less invasive.

“The goal of reducing unnecessary biopsies is laudable, but you don’t want to miss a cancer,” Mendelson said.

How Animals Can Save Us

FOR ANYBODY INTERESTED IN THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE BOOK OF MARK J. PLOTKIN: MEDICINE QUEST–IN SEARCH OF NATURE’S HEALING SECRETS.
I WENT ONLY THROUGH A FEW CHAPTERS YET [LACK OF TIME].ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING AND “UNCREDIBLE”
[TRANSLATED ALSO IN DUTCH: NATUUR GENEEST]

SOME OF THE IDEAS ARE USED ALREADY FOR A 200 YEARS IN HOMEOPATHY.
How Animals Can Save Us: Creepy Crawly Healers (Part 2 of 3)
Ivanhoe Newswire — Modern surgeons are rediscovering the benefits of using leeches and maggots. Now, scientists are harnessing the paralyzing power of venom from some snakes, snails and scorpions to treat human disease. From desert predators to ocean creatures, scientists are uncovering unusual sources for new medicines.
Cancer patient Renee Relin says, how did they figure that you go from a sea squirt to a drug that s going to work on this specific, esoteric kind of cancer? She was diagnosed seven years ago with soft tissue sarcoma — a cancer that affects muscles and organs. When doctors discovered a third tumor, she volunteered for a clinical trial testing ET-743, a drug made from the toxins of a sea squirt.
When asked about the study s success rate, Harvard Medical School oncologist Bruce Chabner, M.D., says, about 10 percent of the patients respond, that is, the tumors shrink significantly. For Relin, it offered hope when there was none.
The Israeli yellow scorpion is the inspiration for another cancer drug, TM-601. This synthetic copy of the scorpions venom is helping patients with brain tumors.
There are a variety of compounds in nature which are known to specifically excite cells in very detailed ways, some of them being toxins that come from insects, snakes, things like that, says neurosurgeon Adam Mamelak, M.D., of City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte, Calif.
A Brazilian pit viper s venom is used to make captopril, an FDA-approved drug that lowers blood pressure. ABT 594 is derived from the poisonous skin of a South American frog. It blocks pain 200-times better than morphine and is not addictive.
The poisonous cone snail also helps people with chronic pain. SNX-111 is a very promising drug. It has shown efficacy in patients where nothing else has worked, says Edgar Ross, M.D., an anesthesiologist at Brigham and Womens Hospital Pain Clinic in Boston.
Pharmacist Paul Doering, of University of Florida College of Pharmacy in Gainesville, advises patients considering venom therapy to proceed with extreme caution. He says, If we are talking about snake venom, the margin of safety may be quite narrow, and you may be thinking you are given a therapeutic dose, but it may turn out to be a toxic or deadly dose. It is a matter of balancing the benefits against the risks.
Doering also worries that long-term venom treatments could trigger life-threatening allergies. They are foreign substances to the human body, and the human body s goal is to recognize them as foreign and get them the heck out of the body.
Dr. Chabner, who studies the sea squirt drug, is more optimistic about the future of these therapies. He says, these marine organisms are very, very prolific and a good source of toxins for investigation. There are still huge numbers that could be collected and tested
Relin hopes scientists continue looking under the sea. Thank God for whoever is got the patience to keep trying on stuff, but I think it s phenomenal, she says. Since her first treatment, she has been cancer-free, and credits the sea squirt with giving her extra time with her two sons.
Doctors say the drug from the sea squirt looks most promising for ovarian cancer. This past summer, the FDA granted fast track status to TM-601, the scorpion-derived brain cancer drug. Fast track is designed to speed up the approval process and get breakthrough drugs to the market quickly.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
If you would like more information, please contact:
Greg Hughes, Media Relations
City of Hope
ghughes@coh.org

marfan syndrome

do you know anybody with marfan syndrome?? then forward this article,please מרפאן

……………have shown in mice that the drug
losartan can prevent progression of Marfan syndrome and may
also restore normal architecture to the wall of the aorta.

Marfan syndrome Research News from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Blood Pressure Medication May Revolutionize Treatment of Marfan Syndrome

A commonly prescribed blood pressure medication may provide
the first ray of hope in preventing potentially deadly
complications of Marfan syndrome, a genetic disease that
weakens the structural meshwork of blood vessels. People who
have Marfan syndrome have a high risk of developing aortic
aneurysm, which can lead to rupture of the heart’s largest
artery, causing sudden death. Howard Hughes Medical
Institute researchers have shown in mice that the drug
losartan can prevent progression of Marfan syndrome and may
also restore normal architecture to the wall of the aorta.

Research published in the April 07, 2006, issue of Science.

Harry C. Dietz, M.D., HHMI investigator
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

For the full story, go to: http://www.hhmi.org//news/dietz20060406.html

vaccinations

See article below “my story”.
The article written below is only to give you an idea about some very important issues.
you should not use it to decide what to do with your child: discuss this with your doctor.

Polio vaccination [as well as vaccination against tetanus,diphtheria and pertussis[sha-elet] are extreme important .
Ask for the polio injection ,together with the other mentioned vaccinations.
I do not give advise by e-mail to anyone about vaccinations, but I do write this short “chapter” , because there are more and more parents who get absolutely irresponsible advise form health workers [and even doctors] not to vaccinate their children.
The above mentioned vaccinations have been shown to be on the big progresses in medicine and have saved endless amounts of life.
Pertussis [sha-elet] is important ,but even so this vaccination by no means cover for sure against sha-elet.[there are more and more cases of sha-elet of vaccinated chidren]
but it does reduce the mortality in the first year of life ,at least and is therefore advisable.
Children who -not with standing all [-bechol zot- ]get sha-elet [or para-pertussis,which may give sort-like symptoms]should also try to get homeopathic treatment on top of conventional treatment.
There is no proof that “homeopathic vaccination” can protect against any of the above mentioned dangerous diseases .
For that reason don’t listen to anybody who wants to convince you of this, you are endangering your child.
Some other vaccinations are unnecessary or sometime even dangerous , but as I said, this is not an e-mail issue.

Eradicating polio leaves people defenceless
* 27 July 2006
* Debora MacKenzie

POLIO is fighting back. From Namibia to the UK, more and more people are becoming vulnerable to infection in areas where it has been eliminated.

The warning comes as the number of confirmed cases of polio in Namibia has hit 19, with a further 150 cases suspected, although until this recent outbreak the country had been free of the disease since 1995. Unusually, the outbreak has affected mainly adults, who get much sicker with polio than children do. These adults probably missed childhood vaccination and had not developed a natural immunity by encountering wild forms of the virus. Levels of wild virus have plummeted since vaccination began in the country, leaving Namibians defenceless when the virus turned up from elsewhere – in this case from Angola, which in turn got it from Uttar Pradesh, India, where the disease remains endemic.

“This just shows that we have to eradicate polio everywhere, because while endemic areas persist, the virus will find susceptible people,” says Bruce Aylward, head of the World Health Organization’s polio eradication drive.

Unfortunately, there may be more susceptible people now than at any other time in history, he says. People can become immune to polio in three ways: by being infected naturally, by vaccination or by catching the live but weakened virus in oral polio vaccine (OPV) from newly vaccinated children.

Natural infection is disappearing, and vaccination rates are dropping in many countries as this risk wanes. Now the third method has also disappeared from some 35 industrialised countries that have switched from OPV to a safer killed-virus vaccine that doesn’t spread and so immunise more people.

The UK moved to killed vaccine only last year, later than other European countries, partly because of its links to endemic areas such as Nigeria and India. But with general vaccination rates also falling in the UK, WHO officials fear a growing number of people there could be at risk.
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Printed on Thu Jul 27 20:01:41 BST 2006