Disease watch

The return of measles: Extraordinary damage can be wrought by incomplete information in wrong hands. The 1998 article in the Lancet which suggested a link between the MMR vaccine and the development of autism was splashed all over in the media. Anxious parents in Britain have since been refusing the MMR vaccine. Immunization coverage plummeted from around 91% in 1988 to 85% in 2002 in UK. In some areas of London the figure is disgracefully low - just 64%, though enough data now exists to disprove the link between autism and measles. Scandalously, outbreaks of measles are becoming commoner and larger in Britain. Much public education and spadework will be required to undo the damage done (Nature news service 8 August 2003).

More than a decade after HIV invaded Indian soil who is in control - is it the incorrigible virus or is it NACO ( National AIDS Control Program)? With our record of almost no major disease under wraps since small pox- it's not surprising, HIV is on the rise. The disaster is that while the rise in 2000-2001 was 0.11 million cases, in 2001-2002 the increase in cases has shot up to 0.61 million cases. However the report released by NACO says that overall India is a low prevalence zone - less than 1%. What is interesting is the pattern of spread. Transfusion related infections have fallen from 6.07% in 1999 to 2.99% in 2002 as also the transmission among injecting drug users. But mother to child transmission has risen from 0.33% in 1999 to 2.61% in 2002 (eBMJ 2 August 2003).

White lies: Wyeth, a multinational infant food manufacturer is in the dock on counts of illegal advertising. Its subsidiary SMA Nutrition was fined $ 41,900 by a British court for advertising its infant formula in general parenting magazines. In UK formulas for babies less than 6 months can be advertised only in scientific journals which are not in circulation among the common public. Another error on their part was advertising their helpline for direct communication with the consumer. An alert mother in Birmingham who noticed the advertisement and informed the Birminghman Trading Standards set off the whole chain of events. An informed and active consumer is the backbone of a safe society (eBMJ 9 August 2003).

Gouri Rao Passi,
Consultant, Department of Pediatrics,
Choithram Hospital & Research Center,
Indore 452 001, India.
Email: [email protected]