Infectious Diseases

ABC's 'This Week' Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. 9 a.m.:WMDT (Channel 47), 10 a.m.: WJLA (Channel 7), 10:30 a.m.: WMAR (Channel 2) CBS' 'Face the Nation' Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich.; Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. 10:30 a.m.:WUSA (Channel 9) and WJZ (Channel 13) CNN's 'State of the Union' Giuliani; White House senior adviser David Axelrod; Sens. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Judd Gregg, R-N.H.; Gov. Brian Schweitzer, D-Mont.

Dr. Stephen C. Schimpff, retired chief executive of the University of Maryland Medical Center, will discuss the effects of rapid advances in science and technology on the nature of health care in the future. The Columbia resident, who continues to teach in the fields of oncology and infectious diseases and to practice, will speak at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the central library, 10375 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia. Copies of his book, The Future of Medicine: Megatrends in Health Care That Will Improve Your Quality of Life, will be available for purchase and signing.

The mesmerizing sharks on display in several exhibits at the National Aquarium in Baltimore are their own best advertisement for conservation: sand tiger sharks (collected off the coast of Lewes, Del.), nurse sharks, blacktop reef sharks, sandbar sharks, bonnethead sharks, smooth dogfish, whitetip reef sharks, a horn shark and a swell shark.Around the world, more than 370 species of sharks have been counted in all colors, shapes and sizes.Contrary to popular belief, sharks have astounding senses, including a sixth for detecting the bioelectric fields radiated by other sea creatures.

It's boom time for bugs. Nasty, microbial, hungry bugs.The mass media are crawling with them. Our daily menu of reading and viewing is infested with stories about cholera, drug resistant tuberculosis and malaria, E. coli, encephalitis, Lyme disease, hantavirus, pneumonic plague, influenza, not to mention AIDS.Not too long ago, our national nightmare was nuclear holocaust. As that threat receded, the killer bugs returned just in time to fill the anxiety void. Turns out penicillin didn't wipe them out. The bugs were just rolling over and playing dead.

INFECTIOUS DISEASES, caused by microbes such as bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi, result in illnesses such as pneumonia, influenza, tuberculosis and AIDS. The field has witnessed remarkable accomplishments in both the recent and remote past.From a historical perspective, the most substantial progress has come in the categories of antibiotics, vaccines and public health. Of these, the most important is probably antibiotics, introduced during the 1940s with penicillin, which revolutionized medicine and is sometimes viewed as the greatest curative revolution in medical history.

Academic researchers, business leaders and government officials said yesterday that they will band together to devise a strategy to jumpstart the government's Project BioShield, a stalled initiative to develop vaccines and other countermeasures against bioterrorism. "We believe that, just by being ingenious and creating a program of policy recommendations, Congress and the executive branch will run with it," Michael Greenberger, director of the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security (CHHS)

WASHINGTON -- Cancer deaths will double in many countries and heart diseases will soar worldwide over the next 25 years, the World Health Organization predicts, in part because of lethal habits spreading from the United States.The rise in these diseases will be especially troublesome for developing countries already battling infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria, WHO says in its annual report, being released today.A big part of the cause of the increase, the report's author said, is that the United States has helped sell cigarette smoking and a fatty diet to the world.

In the rush of constant news updates on swine flu, we must recognize that controlling the spread of this disease is not simply a health concern but also one of national security. And in today's globalized world, the spread of swine flu has become not just a U.S. national security threat but every country's national security threat. The serious implications of this epidemic can be seen in the language used by officials and by the appearance of government leaders taking the podium. The World Health Organization has elevated its pandemic alert level from 3 to 5, indicating increasing likelihood (albeit not inevitability)

NASA will sign an "unprecedented" agreement today that will allow a newly formed Baltimore County company to try to commercialize a space-agency invention that simulates lack of gravity in space. The start-up hopes to develop techniques for treating liver failure and treatments for exotic infectious diseases. The space agency will license Baltimore County-based StelSys to use the patents associated with the machine, known as a microgravity bioreactor. In return, StelSys will pay NASA undisclosed licensing fees, as well as royalty payments from any sales that result from the technology.

WASHINGTON -- AIDS researchers reported for the first time yesterday that a combination of drugs containing a powerful new protease inhibitor appears to have partially restored the immune system of people with moderately advanced HIV disease.Because their conclusions are based on results of sophisticated tests of immune system cells in the laboratory, however, it remains uncertain whether these "reconstituted" cells actually can protect infected individuals from developing the serious and often life-threatening infections that characterize acquired immune deficiency syndrome.