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Women using hormonal contraception (HC) may face an increased risk of contracting HIV, according to a paper published online last month by The Lancet Infectious Diseases--especially women using a popular [...]

Abstract. To evaluate the recent decision of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice to increase the recommended age for initial measles vaccination from 12 to 15 months, we carried out a case control study of vaccine failure in a recent measles epidemic. Compared to children vaccinated at ages 15 months or older, we found an increased risk of vaccine failure among those vaccinated at 12 to 14 months (relative risk = 19.2, 95% confidence interval = 4.6 to 80.1). In order to sort out the influence of age at vaccination from elapsed time since vaccination, we subjected the data to discriminant analysis. Age at vaccination subsumed all of the effect of duration of time since vaccination. Thus, we find no evidence of waning immunity over time. Pediatrics 62: 961-964, 1978, measles, vaccine, efficacy, vaccination, age, duration, failure, immunity, immunization, epidemic, epidemiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a state law enacted 1972 which allowed minors to obtain contraceptive services without parental consent, births to very young women in Georgia (age 14 and less) have risen in recent years. Beginning in 1974, however, this trend has reversed. Increased access to induced abortion following the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision appears to have been responsible for the decline. Supporting this assertion are: 1) the temporal relationship between increased access to abortion and the decline in births, 2) the geographic evidence that the decline in births occurred first in Atlanta where abortion utilization is the highest and then followed in areas with somewhat more limited utilization , and 3) a similar observation that the decline occurred earlier and more markedly among young white teenagers whose abortion utilization is higher. Although abortion appears to have had to most visible impact on births, most people would probably agree that efforts toward providing contraception to these young women remain worth the challenge. The ratio of young teenagers accepting contraceptives to young teenagers getting pregnant is suggested as a useful intermediate indicator of the success of family planting program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two letters to the editor are presented in response to the article "A Tale of Two-Component Generalised HIV Epidemics," by James Shelton published in the March 20, 2010 issue, including a comment and the author's reply.

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to the article "Association of highly active antiretroviral therapy coverage, population viral load, and yearly new HIV diagnosis in British Columbia, Canada: a population-based study," by Julio Montaner and colleagues, published in the August 14, 2010 issue, along with the response of the authors.

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to the article "Maternal Mortality for 181 Countries, 1980-2008: A Systematic Analysis of Progress Towards Millennium Development Goal 5," by M. C. Hogan and colleagues in the May 8, 2010 issue.

Contraceptive prevalence has been central to family planning research over the past few decades, but researchers have given surprisingly little consideration to method mix, a proxy for method availability or choice. There is no 'ideal' method mix recognized by the international community; however, there may be reason for concern when one or two methods predominate in a given country. In this article method skew is operationally defined as a single method constituting 50% or more of contraceptive use in a given country. Of 96 countries examined in this analysis, 34 have this type of skewed method mix. These 34 countries cluster in three groups: (1) sixteen countries in which traditional methods dominate, most of which are in sub-Saharan Africa; (2) four countries in which female sterilization predominates (India, Brazil, Dominican Republic and Panama); and (3) fourteen countries that rely on a single reversible method (the pill in Algeria, Kuwait, Liberia, Morocco, Sudan and Zimbabwe; the IUD in Cuba, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan; and the injectable in Malawi). A review of available literature on method choice in these countries provides substantial insight into the different patterns of method skew. Method skew in some countries reflects cultural preferences or social norms. Yet it becomes problematic if it stems from restrictive population policies, lack of access to a broad range of methods, or provider bias.