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As former editor of Farmers Weekly, the country's bible for that fraternity, my main messages through the journal, on TV and radio, and to countless meetings were: * Stop blaming [...]

We compared the adverse reaction rates and antibody responses when influenza and pneumococcal vaccines were given simultaneously and separately. We used a double-blind, placebo-controlled protocol in which the participants, healthy university students and staff between 18 and 26 years of age, were randomly assigned to the different vaccination groups. Simultaneous administration of the two vaccines did not result in any increase in local or systemic reactions, except for transient myalgia. Study participants who received the vaccines simultaneously had pneumococcal antibody responses comparable with those of participants who received pneumococcal vaccine alone, although the response rate for both groups was low. There was also no difference between the simultaneous-administration group and the group that received influenza vaccine alone in antibody response to the influenza A/Texas antigen. Antibody responses to the influenza A/Brazil and B/Hong Kong antigens were adequate for both groups, although the group that received influenza vaccine alone achieved higher postvaccination antibody titers. We conclude that simultaneous administration of influenza and pneumococcal vaccines is as safe and effective as giving either vaccine alone.(JAMA 1982;247:2551-2554)

Antibodies to the H3 hemagglutinin of influenza A virus could be specifically measured by single radial hemolysis (SRH) when test antigens were recombinant viruses containing the relevant H3 hemagglutinin antigen and irrelevant Neq1 neuraminidase of A/equine/Prague/1/56 virus. Antibodies to influenza B virus could also be measured by the SRH technique. Antibody rises to influenza A or B virus measured by SRH agreed with results of hemagglutination inhibition (HI) tests for about 80% of the sera tested, including sera from volunteers receiving killed influenza vaccine and sera from patients naturally infected with influenza. Correlation between antibody titers measured by SRH and HI was also good. Antibodies to the N2 neuraminidase of influenza A virus could be specifically measured by SRH when test antigens were recombinant viruses containing the relevant N2 neuraminidase antigen and irrelevant Heq1 hemagglutinin of A/equine/Prague/1/56 virus. The SRH test for neuraminidase antibodies was more strain specific than was the SRH test for hemagglutinin antibodies. Probably for this reason, agreement between neuraminidase antibody determinations in human sera by the SRH test and by the neuraminidase inhibition test was poorer than agreement between the SRH test for hemagglutinin antibodies and the HI test.

• Viral antibody titers to 12 strains of influenza A virus and to 11 other viruses were determined by complement-fixation (CF), hemagglutination-inhibition (HI), and/or indirect hemagglutination (IHA) tests in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid of patients with classical postencephalitic Parkinson's disease (PEPD), idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD), and nonparkinsonian neurological and medical diseases (controls). We found significant differences of mean serum antibody titers to several viruses in the group with PEPD and the controls. Herpes simplex virus type 1 (CF, IHA), cytomegalovirus (CF, IHA), and herpes simplex virus type 2 (IHA) mean titers were significantly lower in sera of patients with PEPD than in the sera of control patients. Herpes simplex virus 1 (IHA), measles (HI), and rubella (HI) mean titers were significantly lower in sera of patients with PD than in those of controls. Serum influenza mean titers (Hsw1N1) were significantly higher in the patients with PEPD than in the controls; but, this latter finding could not be confirmed when two additional control groups were concurrently tested. We question the biological importance of these viral agents in the etiology of Parkinson's disease and suggest that none of these viruses are causally associated with the disease.

During January 1969 an epidmic of influenza B was documented in Klawock, Alaska, a remote insular community 80 miles west of Ketchikan. One person died and 149 others developed an acute respiratory disease characterized by fever, cough, headache, and coryza. A fourfold or greater rise in hemagglutination-inhibiting (HI) antibody titer to influenza B developed in 26 persons, and influenza B virus was isolated from 5 patients. Reciprocal HI testing of the Alaska strain (B/Alaska/4-69) did not disclose a significant antigenic difference from the vaccine strain (B/Massachusetts/3-66). However, 36 of the 46 persons who had been vaccinated during the preceding 3 to 12 months developed clinical influenza, and the attack rate within this group did not differ significantly from the attack rate among the unvaccinated population.

• Reye's syndrome occurred simultaneously in three siblings. All had characteristic changes in liver histology ascertained by light and electron microscopy. The two patients with the most severe disease also had serum that caused marked stimulation of mitochondrial state 4 respiration in vitro. Histocompatibility locus antigen typing showed that no unique haplotypes were shared by all three children. There was no evidence of exposure to aflatoxins, pesticides, or other substances that have been previously postulated to be associated with Reye's syndrome. Influenza A/Brazil/11/78-like virus was isolated from one patient, and all three patients had a fourfold or greater rise in hemagglutination-inhibiting antibody to H1N1 influenza virus.(Am J Dis Child 134:1032-1034, 1980)

The article presents response from readers about the efforts of their school districts to bring technology and broadband access to their students. It presents views of Caroll Y. Turpin, regarding the BrightBytes Annual technology survey about home internet access to students, Gary Noble, regarding laptops donated by them to qualifying families along with information on telecommunication firm Comcast's internet service and Toni Jones about their focus to fund 'Hot Spots for Homes'.