►March 4, 2004 - Doctors and Patients Start to Curb Use of Antibiotics (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "The inappropriate use of antibiotics has led illness-causing microbes to become resistant to such drugs. Antibiotic resistance is a major public health problem throughout the world and is particularly common among the bacteria that cause ear and respiratory infections."

►March 2004 - Decrease of Invasive Pneumococcal Infections in Children Among 8 Children's Hospitals in the United States After the Introduction of the 7-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine - journal article (Pediatrics) - "Conclusions. Since the introduction of the PCV7, the number of invasive pneumococcal infections caused by vaccine-serogroup isolates among 8 US children’s hospitals has decreased >75% among children 24 months old. In addition, penicillin resistance decreased in 2002 for the first time since our surveillance began in 1993–1994. However, we have noted that replacement may be developing with serogroups 15 and 33. Furthermore, penicillin resistance seems to be increasing among nonvaccine serogroups. Surveillance must be continued to detect the emergence of changes in the distribution of serotypes as well as antibiotic susceptibility.^"

Comment:  For more on this problem of serotype replacement, go to Scandals: Changing Disease Epidemiology Via Vaccines - Are We "Robbing Peter To Pay Paul"?.

►February 7, 2004 - When viruses start jumping - Deadly diseases can leap across the gap between species with very little warning - Taipei Times

Comment:  And yet we have blithely used animal cell cultures for vaccines and other biologicals, with no apparent concern for them crossing the so-called "species barrier".  For more on this, go to Scandals: On "mad cows" and sick monkeys: From the people who brought you SV40 in vaccines.... and Scandals: Concern About Bird Flu But Indifference to Using Avian Cell Cultures To Create Vaccines, Including Flu Vaccine

►January 26, 2004 - Study Links Ear Drops With An Increase In Resistant Bacteria - Temple University via www.sciencedaily.com -  "Eardrops, widely prescribed for the treatment of pediatric ear infection, can lead to an increase in resistant bacteria and fungi in the ear, according to Glenn Isaacson, MD, professor and chair of otolaryngology/head and neck surgery, Temple University School of Medicine. Isaacson presented his findings yesterday (January 25, 2004) at the Eastern Sectional Meeting of the Society of Laryngology, Otology and Rhinology...Traditionally, doctors have prescribed oral antibiotics for the treatment of ear infection, one of the most common disorders in children. In 1998, however, eardrops containing a very broad-spectrum antibiotic, fluoroquinolone, were introduced and billed as the treatment of choice. Recently, experts have raised concerns about overuse of the ear drops and the development of resistant bacteria."

Comment:  Why don't the "experts" concern themselves with the fact that the pathogens being "prevented" by vaccine also seem to develop such "resistance"?  It's obvious, however, why some of them wouldn't.  Those with ties to the industry don't have any incentive to do so because resistance to vaccines simply creates the opportunity for them to cook up demand for new ones.