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Science Friday > Archives > 2003 > June
> June 27, 2003:
Hour One: Smallpox Update / Hormone Replacement Therapy
According to researchers a new study on five hundred thousand military
personnel shows that the smallpox vaccine has few serious side effects.
The descriptive study, published this week in JAMA, followed military
and civilian personnel participating in a Department of Defense vaccination
program that began in December of 2002. Though the researchers did
report that some recipients experienced adverse effects from the vaccines,
including 37 cases of heart inflammation, in general they reported
smooth running for the vaccine program. "Our experience suggests
that broad smallpox vaccination programs may be implemented with fewer
serious adverse events than previously believed," the authors
wrote. In this hour, we'll talk about the vaccination plan and what
can be learned from it.
Then, we'll turn our attention to a new study looking at potential
risks of one type of hormone replacement therapy. In a trial conducted
by the Women's Health Initiative, researchers found that women receiving
estrogen plus progestin had an increased risk of breast cancer --
and that it was harder to interpret the mammograms of women receiving
such therapy. We'll find out more.
Call in with your questions and comments at 1-800-989-8255 (2-3 Eastern),
and share your opinions online in our Listeners' Lounge (registration required).
Guests:
William Winkenwerder
Assistant Secretary of Defense, Health
Affairs
Department of Defense
Pentagon
Washington, DC
Joseph Henderson
Associate Director for Terrorism Preparedness and Response
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Georgia
Brian L. Strom
Chairman, Committee
on Smallpox Vaccination Program Implementation
Institute of Medicine, National
Academies of Science
Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, of Medicine, and of Pharmacology
Chair, Department
of Biostatistics and Epidemiology
Director, Center for Clinical
Epidemiology and Biostatistics
University of Pennsylvania
School of Medicine
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Gregory Poland
Committee Member, Advisory
Committee on Immunization Practices (for CDC)
Mayo Clinic
Rochester, Minnesota
D. David Dershaw
Director of Breast Imaging
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, New York
Books/Articles Discussed:
Related Links:
- JAMA
-- Abstracts: Grabenstein and Winkenwerder 289 (24): 3278
DoD
Smallpox Vaccination Program (SVP) - The Official DoD Smallpox Information
Web Site
CDC
Smallpox Vaccine Overview
Smallpox
Vaccination Program Implementation
MEDLINEplus:
Smallpox
United
States Department of Health and Human Services
JAMA
-- Abstracts: Chlebowski et al. 289 (24): 3243
The Women's Health Initiative
4woman.gov - Hormone Replacement
Therapy
This segment produced by Annette Heist
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