WASHINGTON

PRODUCTION OF FLU VACCINE MAY BEGIN THIS FALL

Mass production of a new vaccine that scientists believe can protect against an avian flu outbreak could begin as early as mid-September, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said yesterday.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said the government is ready to move ahead with ordering significantly more than the 2 million doses it acquired from a French vaccine maker before testing began earlier this year to jump-start the American vaccine stockpile in case the tests were successful.

Additional tests of the vaccine are being conducted on the elderly and children.

Preliminary data from the first 115 of the initial tests on 450 healthy adults showed an immune response that scientists believe is strong enough to protect against the avian influenza that’s spreading among birds in Asia and Russia.

Dr. Fauci said he expects analysis of data from the other 300 tests will show similar results. “We’re now, given these results, going to move ahead with ordering from the company additional dozes,” Dr. Fauci said in a telephone interview. “I can’t tell you exactly how many; that’s going to depend on the production capability, but certainly it will be significantly more than the 2 million doses.”

– Associated Press

SOUTH

CITY READIES TO VOTE ON SMOKING BAN

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The largest city in a tobacco-growing state that has the highest adult smoking rate in the nation plans this week to consider a ban on lighting up in restaurants and day care centers.

The Metro Council last month decided to postpone a vote on the issue, saying that more time was needed to consider the issue. The council on Thursday is expected to revisit the proposal.

An amendment would extend the proposal to include most businesses in Louisville, along with workplaces and public buildings, except for bars.

More than 4,800 municipalities across the country are covered by smoking bans in workplaces, restaurants, or bars, or all three, according to the Berkeley, Calif.-based American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation. Fourteen states have passed similar bans. A move against smoking would be a dramatic shift from Louisville’s past, rooted in tobacco production. In the late 1800s, the city had 15 warehouses, 16 manufacturing plants, and 79 companies that made cigars and snuff.

– Associated Press

NORTHWEST

WILDFIRE FORCES EVACUATIONS IN WASHINGTON STATE

POMEROY, Wash. – Residents of at least 150 homes in southeastern Washington were forced to evacuate as a fire that had charred at least 15,000 acres moved north out of the Umatilla National Forest onto private land. The leading edge of the fire, which had covered just 150 acres on Saturday morning, was about 10 miles south of this rural community, authorities said yesterday.

“At the moment it’s 0% contained, burning vigorously in timber, grass, and brush,” said John Townsley at the Northwest Fire Coordination Center in Portland, Ore.

The cause of the fire was not yet known. No lightning strikes were reported in the area Friday, when it started in tinder-dry conditions.

– Associated Press

HEALTH

SMALLER TUMORS BOOST BREAST CANCER SURVIVAL

Much of the improvement in breast cancer survival in recent years is because the average tumor is smaller, not just because treatments are so much better, a huge new study has found. Examining 25 years of cancer records nationwide, researchers concluded that smaller tumor size accounted for 61% of the improvement in survival when cancer had not spread beyond the breast, and 28% when it had spread just a little. For women 65 and older with early-stage tumors – the most common scenario – the shift in size accounted for virtually all of the improvement in survival. The study wasn’t designed to determine the value of mammograms or treatments. But it implies much about the value of early detection. Mammograms have increased dramatically in recent years and are the chief reason that cancers today are detected sooner and smaller than they were in years past. The study was published today online by the society’s journal Cancer and will be in its September 15 print edition.

– Associated Press