It is known that HIV-infected children who do not receive appropriate antiretroviral drugs experience immune depression, and may become susceptible to infectious diseases that would otherwise be prevented by childhood immunization. It is therefore important to find out to what extent HIV-infected children are able to generate adequate levels of antibodies following routine childhood immunizations. [click link for full article]

Think your allergies and asthma get worse once you bring that fresh pine tree indoors during the holidays? It may be more than just your imagination. People for years have…

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is concerned about recent reports of lead contamination in toys.Independent tests by Trace Laboratories, Inc. in Illinois and ExperTox Analytical Laboratories in Texas have both found the presence of lead and other toxic chemicals on randomly selected toys purchased in American stores. The highest level of lead found was 30,000 parts per million (ppm) in the paint on a pet toy. [click link for full article]

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) is considering imposing mandatory managed care enrollment among Medicaid beneficiaries who are living with HIV/AIDS, the New York Sun reports. Since the late 1990s, the state’s 65,000 people living with HIV/AIDS who are enrolled in New York’s Medicaid have been exempt from a statewide enrollment drive to place beneficiaries into managed care plans, the Sun reports. [click link for full article]

Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) in Europe is probably not as prevalent as is being currently stated, according to an article published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine (BMJ).The researchers wonder how useful and appropriate it is to use the Labour Force Surveys of occupational ill health - surveys which are commonly used by European governments as a reliable data source to plan their occupational health strategies. [click link for full article]

Revised legislation that would reauthorize and expand SCHIP contains a loophole that undocumented immigrants and ineligible documented immigrants could exploit to enroll in the program, according to a Heritage Foundation analysis, the Washington Times reports. [click link for full article]

President Bush on Friday in recognition of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 announced that he plans to travel to Africa next year to review the progress of programs funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the [click link for full article]

Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) on Thursday after a roundtable discussion with mental health advocates at the Carrier Clinic in New Jersey called for congressional approval of a bill (HR 1424) that would require insurers to provide equal coverage for physical and mental care, the [click link for full article]

The Galveston, Texas-based University of Texas Medical Branch is considering requiring patients who need cancer treatment to prove that they are legal residents before it provides care to those who are indigent, the Houston Chronicle reports. [click link for full article]

The New York Times on Monday published several letters to the editor that address a Nov. 27 article about how the increase in hospice patients who live longer than expected has prompted [click link for full article]