Vaccine

Flu season is officially here. Although there's no indication that the season is shaping up to be a severe one, Baltimore's health commissioner, Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, said yesterday that doctors are reporting increasing numbers of patients with flulike symptoms. In a new system designed to keep the public informed, Sharfstein elevated the city's level of flu awareness from "Minimal Flu" to "Flu Alert," which means there's evidence the virus is spreading. Now is the time, he said, for people to make sure they are vaccinated.

Billionaire investor Carl C. Icahn dropped his plans to propose an opposing slate of directors for the board of Gaithersburg-based MedImmune Inc., noting the biotechnology company's decision to seek a buyer. Icahn, in an e-mail statement yesterday, said he urged MedImmune "several weeks ago" to put the company up for sale. He also said at the time that he intended to nominate directors at the 2007 annual meeting "whose intention it would be to accomplish this." In pulling back yesterday, Icahn said he reserved the right to pursue the proxy fight if MedImmune, Maryland's largest biotech company in sales and employment, fails to complete a sale.

Maryland: Biotechnology Iomai vaccine helps with diarrhea Iomai Corp. said yesterday that one of its needle-free vaccine patches lessened the symptoms of traveler's diarrhea. In a mid-stage clinical trial, 27 people were given Iomai's vaccine and another 20 received a placebo. Then they were exposed to "high levels" of enterotoxigenic E. Coli, a common cause of traveler's diarrhea. Those who received the vaccine experienced less severe diarrhea and were less likely to require intravenous fluids than those who did not. The Gaithersburg company plans to launch late-stage clinical trials for the patch, which adheres to the skin, next year.

A flu spray made by Gaithersburg-based MedImmune Inc. is effective for young children, the Food and Drug Administration said yesterday, signaling that the company might soon win approval to market the vaccine for use in children younger than 5. Some health experts say FluMist would be a welcome tool in combating the flu because it would help immunize children who could otherwise get the illness and spread it to others. An FDA advisory panel will take up the issue tomorrow, with the expectation that the agency will make a decision before the end of May. Approval could greatly increase sales of the nasal spray vaccine by MedImmune, which agreed last month to be purchased by London-based AstraZeneca PLC for $15.6 billion.

First the flakes, now the flu. That other plague of winter appeared officially in Maryland this week with the first laboratory-confirmed case of Type A influenza. The state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported yesterday that its lab has isolated the flu bug in a specimen from an unidentified person living in metropolitan Baltimore. Last year's first flu report came much earlier, on Oct. 31. But the later start to this year's flu season is not significant, said health department spokesman John Hammond.

Doctors are hoping to prevent even more cases of chickenpox by urging that children routinely get two shots against varicella instead of just one. Recommendations released last week by the American Academy of Pediatrics call for children to get a second dose of the varicella vaccine between the ages of 4 and 6. Previous guidelines from the national group called for 1-year-olds to receive a single dose of the vaccine against varicella, the virus that...

As the first day of school approaches, parents are checking to make sure their children are up to date on their vaccines. By the time Maryland children enter kindergarten, they are required to have been vaccinated against 11 diseases -- diphtheria, pertussis, Hib (haemophilus influenza), pneumococcus, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis and chicken pox. And, this year, both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics are recommending that children receive four new vaccines: a booster for chicken pox, rotavirus, hepatitis A and the human papillomavirus, says Julie Yeh, assistant chair of pediatrics at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center.

BOSTON -- Hasn't anyone ever told drug companies to put a warning label on their lobbying? You know, the kind you find on every little prescription bottle? "Caution: Too much lobbying may result in an overdose of suspicion. Push too hard and you may experience political acid reflux." As it is, Merck seems to have rolled a million - or many millions - into a shoestring. And the real losers may be girls and women who need access to the vaccine against cervical cancer. Let's return to that magical moment when clinical trials proved that a new vaccine was nearly 100 percent effective in preventing two strains of the human papillomavirus that causes most cervical cancer.

ATLANTA -- More than a million doses of a common vaccine given to babies as young as 2 months were being recalled yesterday because of contamination risks, but the top U.S. health official said it was not a health threat. The recall is for 1.2 million doses of the vaccine for Hib, which protects against meningitis, pneumonia and other serious infections, and a combination vaccine for Hib and hepatitis B. The vaccine is recommended for all children under age 5 and is usually given in a three-shot series, starting at 2 months.

Manufacturers are on track to produce and ship more flu vaccine than ever before, averting the fears of a shortage that have marked recent flu seasons, federal health authorities said yesterday. With the supply virtually assured, officials of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged all Americans who want flu vaccinations to get them. In particular, they recommend innoculation for infants over 6 months of age, pregnant women, adults with asthma, heart disease, diabetes and other chronic illnesses, as well as all adults 50 and older.

I'm beginning to think I'd have better luck finding a needle in a haystack. But I'm not looking for just any old needle. I want one loaded with the vaccine that I'm told will guard my asthmatic daughter from developing the swine flu, or H1N1. According to scary media reports, she's a prime candidate for complications of the virus. Based on these vivid accounts of the flu's effects on vulnerable populations, it doesn't take much for me to imagine the stubborn bug burrowing deep down into the recesses of her lungs, causing uncontrollable coughing, labored breathing, and ... well, I don't allow my mind to wander any further than that.

The largest school-based swine flu immunization effort in the Baltimore region will begin in Howard County today, when the first of more than 3,000 students will receive the sought-after vaccine. The county plans to immunize 1,300 students at three elementary schools this week and an additional 1,800 students at two high schools next week with injectable doses. The only other school system in the area that has immunized students is Harford County, which had a smaller-scale effort that reached 703 students over the past two weeks.

Maryland may receive just half its expected supply of the swine flu vaccine for October, state health officials said Monday as they scrambled, along with hospitals and other providers, to confront a projected shortfall. As H1N1-related hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise, people have flocked to health department clinics to get inoculated, waiting in lines that stretched several hours. Meanwhile, in Baltimore County, officials have canceled several clinics because of a lack of vaccine.

The queue for Thursday's flu shot clinic at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute began forming two hours before the doors opened - and Ronesha Mills made certain that she and her children were among the first in line. "It's important for me, because now I don't have to worry about them getting sick," said Mills, of Baltimore, moments after she, her 11-month-old son Jameek Mobley and 3-year-old daughter Jazara Mobley were immunized for the swine flu virus, known as H1N1. They were among hundreds of city residents who visited the makeshift clinic that was formed just over a week after city health officials received the first shipment of H1N1 vaccine.

In the battle against swine flu, the first line of defense for Maryland's vaccine czar is a blue highlighter pen. That's what Greg K. Reed used this week to mark orders for vaccine against the H1N1 virus that he planned to fill. But with limited supplies, there were tough choices for the man at the center of the state's logistical effort to stem a pandemic. Reed, 42, who runs Maryland's Center for Immunization on behalf of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been hunkered down with state health department officials in their Preston Street offices, combing their lists for places that could administer vaccine the fastest to those considered most vulnerable to swine flu - children, health care workers, pregnant women and adults with chronic conditions or compromised immune systems.

Vaccines to help people recover from such addictions as nicotine, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines appear scientifically and medically achievable after doctors reported Monday that a vaccine to treat cocaine dependence had produced a large enough antibody response to reduce cocaine use in 38 percent of addicted individuals. Those results come on the heels of last week's announcement that the federal government will fund a large clinical trial of a nicotine vaccine based on earlier promising studies.

Local public health and political leaders gathered at Maryland General Hospital on Monday to emphasize the need for Marylanders to get the H1N1 flu vaccine that is expected to be available in limited quantities beginning this week. The officials were seeking to counter reports that some of the most vulnerable people fear that the vaccine is not well tested or safe. But they said the vaccine is especially important for children, who are disproportionately affected by this virus, as well as pregnant women, health care workers and adults with other health conditions.

The swine flu vaccine will be distributed when it becomes available to every student in Howard County with parental consent, the county's health officer said last week. Dr. Peter L. Beilenson said the process probably would occur in early November and would take two weeks. Parents must give written permission for their children to receive the vaccine. "It's always going to be the parents' choice," said Patti Caplan, a spokeswoman for the county school system. "We have to have a signed form from the parent in order to get the vaccine."

Forum on county reaction to H1N1 virus A public forum on the H1N1 virus sponsored by the Anne Arundel County Department of Health will be held 7 p.m. Sept. 14 at Anne Arundel Community College, Cade Building, Room 219. County Executive John R. Leopold will host the forum to update residents about the county's response to the virus. Department of Health and public schools officials will provide information. To register, e-mail CCServices@aacounty.org. Free FluMist vaccine will be offered to all Anne Arundel County Public School students through a partnership with the Anne Arundel County Department of Health Oct. 5 through Oct. 15. Administered to healthy children between the ages of 5 and 11, the nasal spray vaccine contains the live, but attenuated (weakened)

Twice as many adults could get the swine flu vaccine as scientists initially expected because the inoculation works in just one dose instead of two, federal officials announced Friday. The preliminary data from American clinical trials of a vaccine come as a surprise and a relief to public health experts who feared there would not be enough vaccine to reach everyone who would need it. The data confirm results from an Australian study released Thursday that also found that one dose is effective.