- The ARC - California Edition -

Food for Preventive Thought

ATV’s -- Preventing death and injury - The most important advice for preventing injury or death while operating an All-Terrain-Vehicle (ATV) is posted right on the ATV machine:

"If you are under the age of 16, operating an adult size ATV increases your chance of severe injury or death". Do not operate this ATV if you are under the age of 16. Over 40% of ALL ATV injuries or deaths would be reduced if this was followed.

The major risk factors regarding curriculum include: (1) Always wear a helmet, (2) Never carry passengers, (3) Do not ride on pavement , (4) Do not ride on or alongside of the road, (5) And it goes without saying about drugs and alcohol.

World Population Is Six Billion - In October 1999, the United Nations declared that the world’s population has reached six billion. It seems like only a few hundred years ago that this number was one billion – in 1804; then less than 75 years ago when it was two billion – in 1927; then only 50 years ago when the population was three billion – in 1950.

The population growth rate increased over time because of high fertility rates and declines in mortality rates, especially since the early to mid-1900’s, according to the UN announcement. During 1995-2000, the world’s population has grown at an annual rate of 1.3%. If this rate remains the same, the population will double in 52 years.

Rubella Status - There has been a very substantial drop in the number of cases of rubella which have occurred since the 1969 licensure of the rubella vaccine. For those interested in the actual numbers, we are talking about over 55,000 cases in 1969 versus less than 200 cases this year through September of 1999. This is a very important achievement in light of rubella’s causal relationship to severely damaging infants.

Rubella infection during the first trimester of pregnancy often results in miscarriage, stillbirth, or infants being born with a pattern of birth defects collectively known as congenital rubella syndrome (CRS).

Within the health promotion and disease objectives in the federal Year 2000 plan is a goal to totally eliminate indigenous rubella and CRS (objective 20.1). Controlling imported rubella infection is a much more difficult task and will require a lot of cooperation with many other governments besides our own.

The Status of Disease - Over the past 50 years, vaccines have almost eliminated some of the dangerous diseases that used to be very common in the U.S. The infectious diseases of smallpox, diphtheria, tetanus, measles, pertussis, polio, and rubella are currently seldom seen by today’s pediatricians. Vaccinations are considered by many to be a very efficient and cost effective method for preventing disabilities.

But these diseases listed above and others are still out there bringing death and morbidity to some of our country’s children. Only the chronic disease of smallpox is considered to have been eradicated, but there are still questions being raised about that.

Other diseases, such as hepatitis B, varicella (chicken pox), and meningitis, are still quite common and are known to have caused serious illness, or the death of thousands of children.