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Biomedical subjects

P Lurie

Publications and source records attributed to P Lurie.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Haemophilus influenzae Type b disease among Amish children in Pennsylvania: reasons for persistent disease.

OBJECTIVE: To identify reservoirs of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) pharyngeal carriage and assess barriers to vaccination among 2 Amish communities in Pennsylvania. METHODS: We investigated recent cases, performed community surveys for Hib vaccination coverage and pharyngeal carriage, and administered a questionnaire assessing vaccination knowledge and attitudes to 298 members of 2 Amish communities (A and B) in Pennsylvania and, as a comparison group, 136 non-Amish family members who participated in state immunization clinics. From December 1999 to February 2000, 8 cases of invasive Hib disease occurred among children who were 5 years of age or younger in Pennsylvania. Six of the case-patients were from Amish communities. None of the children had been vaccinated. RESULTS: Among children who were 5 years of age or younger, Hib vaccine coverage was low in the 2 Amish communities: A (9 [28%] of 32) and B (3 [7%] of 41) compared with the non-Amish group (19 [95%] of 20). Hib carriage prevalence was higher in both Amish communities than in the non-Amish group (A: 3%; B: 8%; non-Amish: 0%). More households in community B had 1 or more Hib carriers than in community A (8 [28%] of 29 vs 3 [9%] of 32). Among Amish parents who did not vaccinate their children, only 25% (13 of 51) identified either religious or philosophical objections as a factor; 51% (26 of 51) reported that vaccinating was not a priority compared with other activities of daily life. Seventy-three percent (36 of 49) would vaccinate their children if vaccination were offered locally. CONCLUSIONS: Undervaccinated communities in the United States still exist and allow circulation of Hib strains, resulting in disease among susceptible children. Identification of undervaccinated populations, such as the Amish, and targeted education and vaccination campaigns are essential to achieving elimination of Hib disease.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Physician prescribing of sterile injection equipment to prevent HIV infection: time for action.

Injection drug users, their sex partners, and their children are at high risk for acquiring HIV infection and other bloodborne diseases. The risk for disease transmission in the United States is partly the result of restricted access to sterile injection equipment. Physicians and pharmacists can play an important role in providing syringe access by prescribing and dispensing syringes to patients who use injection drugs and cannot or will not enter drug treatment Prescribing and dispensing injection equipment are ethical, clinically appropriate, and fully consistent with current public health guidelines on disease prevention. An analysis of the laws of the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico finds that physicians in nearly all these jurisdictions may legally prescribe sterile injection equipment to prevent disease transmission among drug-using patients and that pharmacists in most states have a clear or reasonable legal basis for filling the prescriptions. Given these medical and legal findings, physicians may wish to take a larger role in improving access to sterile injection equipment by prescribing this equipment for their patients where this practice is legal, and by joining efforts to change the law where it poses a barrier.

Drug Prescriptions↗
PubMed2000

The content and accessibility of sex education information on the Internet.

The objective of this study was to describe Web sites with sex education material and assess the accessibility of specific information on the Internet. First, the authors conducted a review of Web sites using specific sex education keywords. Second, 27 undergraduate students were asked to locate information on proper condom use and sexually transmitted disease (STD) symptoms. The time, number of search attempts, and number of clicks needed to identify each piece of information were recorded. The authors identified 41 sites with sex education material from almost 6 million pages yielded by the keywords. Sixty-three percent of the 1,556 most compatible pages were categorized as pornography. The students found the information on condom use and STD symptoms in an average of 4 minutes, using fewer then six clicks and two searches. The authors concluded that general information on sex education is difficult to locate on the Internet and often lacks essential elements, but accurate and useful information on specific topics can be more easily obtained.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Awareness and utilization of the hepatitis B vaccine among young men in the Ann Arbor area who have sex with men.

The authors conducted a preliminary assessment of hepatitis B vaccination rates among men 18- to 37-years-old who have sex with men in a college town to determine what proportion were willing to be vaccinated. Participants, who were sampled in gay bars, gay advocacy groups, a swim team, and a dance club, completed a 25-item questionnaire. Sixty-seven percent were aware of the hepatitis B vaccine, yet only 22% had received the full series of three injections; only 37% had been tested for the virus. On a scale of 1 to 10 for willingness to be vaccinated (10 being most willing), 58% indicated a 10 (M = 8.5). Thirty percent indicated they received safer sex information from university health services, and 14% reported they had received hepatitis B vaccination information there. Hepatitis B vaccination of men who have sex with men in college towns should be a high priority for university health services.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

International cigarette labelling practices.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS: Members of GLOBALink (), an Internet listserve for tobacco activists with members in 56 countries, who were asked to provide specific information on cigarette warning requirements in their countries. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Presence of specific warning labels, overall content score (based on a 0-10 scale with a point for each specific warning mentioned), size of warning label, location of warning label. RESULTS: Forty-five countries (80%) responded; 40 had mandatory labelling requirements, three had voluntary agreements with the industry and two had no requirements. In general, American companies did no more in foreign countries than required by local law. The average developing country content score was 1.6, compared with 5.0 in developed countries (p = 0.0003). Forty-two per cent of countries either had no warning requirement or had only a very general health warning. The most common warning was for heart disease (49% of countries) and the least common was for addiction (14%). All warnings were more common in developed than developing countries. Warnings in developed country were on average 27% larger than those in developing countries (p = 0.325). Seventy-three per cent of labels in developing countries appeared only on the side of the pack, whereas 78% of labels in developed countries appeared on the front and back (p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: In almost every respect measured, residents in developing countries are receiving inferior information about the hazards of smoking than residents of developed countries. Laws should be promulgated in importing and exporting countries to ensure that, where their labelling laws differ, companies would be required to provide the more comprehensive labelling.

Cross-Sectional Studies↗