BETHESDA, Md., Jan. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the January 9 issue of the CDC's Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), a recent case of fatal diphtheria was diagnosed in a U.S. citizen after he returned from foreign travel, which illustrates the importance of maintaining protection against the disease through routine tetanus-diphtheria (Td) booster immunization. The United States has done an excellent job of reducing the prevalence of diphtheria in this country but the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cautions that many people in the U.S. are still at risk for this communicable and often deadly disease.
      On October 27, 2003, the Pennsylvania Department of Health issued an advisory to public health officers about a case of respiratory diphtheria in a 63-year-old Pennsylvania male.(1) This man and several others traveled to Haiti, where diphtheria is still a common disease, to work in a rural village from October 3-10. Upon returning to Pennsylvania, the man was admitted to a hospital with a severe sore throat and respiratory distress. He was diagnosed with respiratory diphtheria and died. The clinical efficacy of the diphtheria vaccine is 97%, but the man had never been immunized.
      "With 53% of adults in the U.S. lacking up-to-date diphtheria immunizations, there is a risk that the disease could become re-established in the general population," said Susan J. Rehm, MD, president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID). "Diphtheria is an infectious disease that can easily be passed from one person to another and it is still a big problem in many countries. With our world getting increasingly smaller, we really need to take our protection against this disease seriously."
      The mortality rate for diphtheria can be as high as 20% and the disease is still active in more than 80 countries. It is contracted by inhaling the bacteria directly from an infected person, and can lead to heart failure, paralysis and coma; even death can occur in as little as a week.
      Another example that highlights how easily diphtheria can spread in an unprotected population occurred in the former Soviet Union. Beginning in 1990, a major diphtheria epidemic occurred after the government failed to keep its citizens up-to-date with vaccinations. By 1994, there were more than 157,000 cases and more than 5,000 deaths reported. This outbreak is a reminder that even a well-controlled infection can re-emerge when population immunity is not maintained. Currently, health officials in Latvia, a former Soviet state and now a popular destination for Baltic Sea cruises, are concerned that the diphtheria prevalence exceeds levels found in other parts of Northern Europe. They are working to increase immunization rates.
      In 2004, international travel to the U.S. is forecast to grow by 5%, reaching a total of 42.2 million visitors.(2) According to the CDC, diphtheria is a serious health problem in Algeria, Egypt, sub-Saharan Africa, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam, Yemen, Albania and all countries formerly in the Soviet Union. The popularity of eco-tourism and adventure vacations is also bringing people to some remote and less industrialized countries.
      To minimize the risk of diphtheria, all U.S. residents should receive a primary series of diphtheria vaccination and a routine booster every 10 years. The combined tetanus/diphtheria vaccine (Td) can be used for both the primary series in adults and adolescents and routine booster shots in all people over the age of seven years. Currently, at least 95% of U.S. children under the age of three years are protected against diphtheria and tetanus through routine pediatric program efforts, but by age 20 years, only 47% of Americans are protected against both diseases.(3)
      NFID and the National Coalition for Adult Immunization (NCAI) have developed a variety of initiatives to drive awareness and increase discussions between the public and health care professionals about the importance of immunization against tetanus and diphtheria. For more information about your risks for tetanus and diphtheria, visit www.nfid.org.
      Founded in 1973, NFID is a non-profit organization dedicated to public and professional education programs about, and in support of research into the causes, treatment and prevention of infectious diseases.
      (1) Pennsylvania Department of Health, Health Advisory #11, October 27,
      2003 http://www.dsf.health.state.pa.us/health/CWP/view.asp?A171&QUESTION--ID235525;
      (2) Travel Industry of America, Travel Statistics and Trends, 2003
      http://www.tia.org/ivis/intltourism.asp#forecast
      (3) McQuillan GM, Kruszon-Moran D, Deforest A, Chu Sy, and Wharton M,
      Serologic Immunity to Diphtheria and Tetanus in the United States,
      Annals of Internal Medicine, May 7, 2002, vol 136, p. 660.
      Contact: Craig Heit 212-886-2238 SOURCE National Foundation for Infectious Diseases; National Coalition for
      Adult Immunization
      CONTACT: Craig Heit of Cooney Waters Group, +1-212-886-2238
      Web site: http://www.nfid.org

      NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- Two companies in Belarus and Florida have been charged with laundering profits from child pornography Web sites, and more than 40 people in the United States have been charged with downloading the material.
      Regpay Co. Ltd., a credit card processing company in Minsk, Belarus, collected fees for memberships to child pornography Web sites that brought in millions of dollars, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Thursday.
      Connections USA, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is accused of receiving Regpay's membership fees and wiring the money to Latvia as directed by the company. Connections' CEO, Eugene Valentine, 38, pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to launder money for Regpay and its principals.
      Four of Regpay's leaders were indicted, and three were arrested over the summer in France and Spain. U.S. authorities are seeking to have them transferred here for prosecution.
      About two dozen New Jersey residents, and 20 other people around the nation, have been charged with downloading child pornography. They allegedly had subscribed to the sites.
      Regpay was formerly known as Trustbill, while Connections did business as Iserve. Regpay operated at least four child pornography sites from Minsk and carried advertising for other child pornography Web sites, the indictment said.
      "Today's indictment strikes at the heart of the commercial trade of child pornography by attacking the commercial profits derived from such a deplorable venture," Attorney General John Ashcroft said.

      TALLINN, Estonia (AP) -- Estonian soldiers in Iraq suffered their first injuries of the year when one of their patrols was attacked in Baghdad over the weekend, officials said Sunday.
      Two Estonian soldiers suffered only slight wounds when an attacker hurled a grenade at them Saturday and it exploded, according to Estonian army spokesman Peeter Tali. After treatment, he said they will return to their Baghdad-based platoon, which is under U.S. command.
      "These are the first injuries of the year and we hope they are the last," Tali said Sunday, speaking in Tallinn, Estonia's capital. "But it is a pretty unstable situation down there."
      No one from the Baltic state's 45-member contingent serving in Iraq since last summer has been killed, but 10 Estonians have now been injured -- including eight last year.
      Tali said he didn't think such incidents would lead Estonians to contemplate pulling out.
      "From the military's point of view, we are doing our duty," he said. "We need to protect our interests. And our interest is to be with our allies -- Great Britain and the United States."
      Governments in the Baltic states, including Latvia and Lithuania, have been outspoken supporters of U.S. policy in Iraq, all three dispatching forces last summer. Latvia has about 100 soldiers in Iraq, while Lithuania has around 90. None of the Baltic troops has been killed.

      HONG KONG (AP) -- World's economies, ranked by degree of economic freedom by Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal:
      FREE:
      1. Hong Kong
      2. Singapore
      3. New Zealand
      4. Luxembourg
      5. Ireland
      6. Estonia
      7. Britain
      8. Denmark
      9. Switzerland
      10. United States
      11. Australia
      12. Sweden
      13. Chile
      14. Cyprus (tied)
      14. Finland (tied)
      16. Canada
      MOSTLY FREE:
      17. Iceland
      18. Germany
      19. The Netherlands
      20. Austria
      20. Bahrain
      22. Belgium
      22. Lithuania
      24. El Salvador
      25. Bahamas
      26. Italy
      27. Spain
      28. Norway
      29. Israel
      29. Latvia
      31. Portugal
      32. Czech Republic
      33. Barbados
      34. Taiwan
      35. Slovak Republic
      36. Trinidad and Tobago
      37. Malta
      38. Japan
      39. Botswana
      39. Uruguay
      41. Bolivia
      42. Hungary
      42. United Arab Emirates
      44. Armenia
      44. France
      46. Belize
      46. South Korea
      48. Kuwait
      48. Uganda
      50. Costa Rica
      51. Jordan
      52. Slovenia
      53. South Africa
      54. Greece
      54. Oman
      56. Jamaica
      56. Poland
      58. Panama
      58. Peru
      60. Cape Verde
      60. Qatar
      60. Thailand
      63. Cambodia
      63. Mongolia
      63. Mexico
      66. Morocco
      67. Mauritania
      67. Nicaragua
      67. Tunisia
      70. Namibia
      71. Mauritius
      MOSTLY UNFREE:
      72. Senegal
      73. Macedonia
      74. Philippines
      74. Saudi Arabia
      76. Fiji
      76. Sri Lanka
      78. Bulgaria
      79. Moldova
      80. Albania
      80. Brazil
      82. Croatia
      83. Colombia
      83. Guyana
      83. Lebanon
      86. Madagascar
      87. Guatemala
      87. Malaysia
      89. Ivory Coast
      89. Swaziland
      91. Georgia
      92. Djibouti
      93. Guinea
      94. Kenya
      95. Burkina Faso
      95. Egypt
      95. Mozambique
      98. Tanzania
      99. Bosnia/Herzegovina
      100. Algeria
      101. Ethiopia
      102. Mali
      103. Kyrgyzstan
      103. Rwanda
      105. Central African Republic
      106. Azerbaijan
      106. Paraguay
      106. Turkey
      109. Ghana
      109. Pakistan
      111. Gabon
      111. Niger
      113. Benin
      114. Malawi
      114. Russia
      116. Argentina
      117. Ukraine
      118. Lesotho
      118. Zambia
      120. Dominican Republic
      121. Honduras
      121. India
      121. Nepal
      124. Chad
      124. Gambia
      126. Ecuador
      127. Cameroon
      128. China
      129. Romania
      130. Equatorial Guinea
      131. Bangladesh
      131. Kazakhstan
      131. Yemen
      134. Sierra Leone
      134. Togo
      136. Indonesia
      137. Haiti
      138. Syria
      139. Congo, Republic of
      139. Guinea-Bissau
      141. Vietnam
      142. Nigeria
      143. Suriname
      REPRESSED:
      144. Cuba
      145. Belarus
      146. Tajikistan
      147. Venezuela
      148. Iran
      149. Uzbekistan
      150. Turkmenistan
      151. Burma
      151. Laos
      153. Zimbabwe
      154. Libya
      155. North Korea
      Source: The Heritage Foundation

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) -- Latvia's parliament is set to adopt a law prohibiting ex-KGB agents and former hardline communists from running in elections for the European Union's parliament -- a proposal that critics contend contravenes the EU's push for human rights and equality.
      There appears to be more than enough legislative support for the measure in this small Baltic state, slated to join the EU in May, according to lawmakers who are scheduled to vote on the bill Thursday.
      The government's own human rights office criticized the proposal and it's likely to provoke anger among some in the current 626-member European Parliament, which includes communists.
      Liga Biksiniece, a lawyer in Latvia's human rights office, said restrictions on ex-KGB and ex-communists were justified in the 1990s on grounds they posed a danger to Latvian independence.
      "But after 10 years, they are no longer a threat," she said Tuesday. "So why not let them participate in elections and let the people decide?"
      The European Court of Human Rights, already hearing a case on similar bans used in Latvian national elections, could force the country to scrap all such prohibitions. The court is expected to hand down its ruling in March.
      The ban on ex-KGB and hardline communists from running for high office in Latvia was first approved in 1994, three years after Latvia regained independence amid the collapse of the Soviet Union.
      The new ban, if approved, would last for 10 years.
      Parliamentarian and former prime minister Guntars Krasts, who supports the bill, said it's similar to the way Nazi parties were banned in Western Europe after World War II.
      "We are in a completely different situation -- morally different -- than those (Western) countries are now," he said.
      Latvia, along with neighboring Estonia and Lithuania were occupied by the Red Army for 50 years, starting in 1940. The Soviet secret police, the KGB, arrested dissidents or even deported them to Siberia. During the reign of Josef Stalin, thousands were also executed.

      Vodka Wars -- Women are bottling Cristall "black label" vodka at Moscow's Kristall distillery. From this month, the brand is being produced in Kaluga.
      Once again the state is challenging a vodka trademark registration, only this time it has nothing to do with its long-standing foe, vodka magnate Yury Shefler.
      Soyuzplodoimport, the state company created to manage Stolichnaya, Moskovskaya and other famous vodka brands it wrested from Shefler's SPI Group in 2002, has filed a complaint against the registration of the trademark Cristall, Kommersant reported Tuesday, citing a source in the state trademark and patent agency Rospatent.
      The challenge could threaten the 13 vodkas from the so-called Cristall "black label" range of premium vodkas, which are produced by Sergei Zivenko's Kristall Trade and Industrial Group, a $400 million-per-year operation based around the Kristall distillery in Kaluga.
      Soyuzplodoimport argues that Zivenko's Cristall is similar to the point of confusion to one of its trademarks -- Kristal -- which is bottled in the Krasnodar region.
      On Tuesday Soyuzplodoimport spokesman Vladimir Uvatenko was unable to elaborate on the government's case, but emphasized that the Kristal trademark had belonged to the state "since time immemorial."
      But Yakov Mastinsky, a lawyer for the Kristall Trade and Industrial Group, said, "Soyuzplodoimport has no legal or factual basis for disputing 1/8this registration3/8.
      "Why are they doing this? Before they were involved only with SPI, but today they are objecting to a trademark belonging to us. The management of the group considers this action an attempt to camouflage their business failures."
      Both Soyuzplodoimport and Sergei Zivenko fell under the Audit Chamber's beady eye during investigations last year into the handling of vodka brands in which the state had an interest.
      Until now the legal efforts of Soyuzplodoimport have been focused on Shefler's SPI Group, which continues to fight in the courts over brands it argues were taken from it illegally.
      Shefler took over the brands in 1997 after gaining control of the privatized organization, founded in Soviet times, to which the brands were registered. As president of that company he sold some 42 trademarks, including the internationally popular Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya vodkas, to a company that was to become SPI's representative office in Russia for a mere $300,000.
      In late 2001, Deputy Agriculture Minister Vladimir Loginov launched the government's campaign to take over the trademarks.
      The privatization of the former Soviet-era agency was ruled illegal, as was the subsequent sale of the trademarks, and Shefler was later banned from exporting his vodka from Kaliningrad.
      By mid-2002, the trademarks were under the control of Loginov as the newly appointed head of Soyuzplodoimport.
      According to the findings of the Audit Chamber's investigation, unveiled last October, Soyuzplodoimport generated just 25 million rubles ($870,000) in revenues over the first nine months of the year.
      "It spent all the money on itself, nothing was transferred to the budget," a chamber spokesman said at the time. But he added, "This is not a criminal offense."
      Meanwhile, SPI continues to control the international rights to export vodka from its Latvijas Balzams distillery in Latvia -- a business worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
      Shefler now manages his business from outside Russia, after the Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against him in the light of allegations by Loginov that Shefler had threatened to kill him.
      Soyuzplodoimport's new target, Zivenko, featured in the second Audit Chamber probe.
      This time the chamber was looking into the sale of trademarks at Moscow's Kristall distillery, the biggest in Russia, in which the state controls a 51 percent stake through Rospirtprom, a government holding company created in 2000 to manage the state's interests in distilleries throughout the country. Zivenko was its general director until July 2002, when he was replaced by a former Tax Police major general.
      After his ouster, management loyal to Zivenko dug in at the Kristall distillery.
      The standoff was defused in August 2002 when Kristall sold the popular Gzhelka trademark and the 13 Cristall brands to structures affiliated with Zivenko for 131 million rubles and 35 million rubles, respectively.
      At the time observers said Zivenko had won his golden parachute from Rosspirtprom and predicted the trademarks would form a cornerstone of his Kristall Trade and Industrial Group.
      The Audit Chamber, however, ruled that these sales were "ineffective for the state" though there was, again, no evidence of a criminal offense.
      SPI board member Andrei Skurikhin said that Soyuzplodoimport was most likely trying to save face.
      "The Audit Chamber put together compromising materials on Zivenko and they have latched on to this."
      Asked if there was a possibility that the low-production Cristall brands might be sacrificed, Skurikhin said this could not be ruled out.
      "But I think he'll fight," he said.
      The case is due to be heard by the chamber for patent disputes on Feb. 16.

      RIGA, Jan 6 (Reuters) -- Nordic telecoms group TeliaSonera said on Tuesday that Latvia had agreed to seek an out-of-court settlement to end a long dispute over joint ownership of two Latvian telecoms firms.
      TeliaSonera's Baltic spokesman, Kjell Lindstrom, told Reuters the Latvian government had sent a letter proposing direct negotiations to end a case in international arbitration court, although without specifying any terms.
      TeliaSonera, which owns 49 percent of fixed-line operator Lattelekom and 60 percent of mobile operator LMT, made its own settlement offer in June, which included a bid to buy the remaining shares of both from the Latvian state at market value.
      "It is in both our interests that we reach an agreement as soon as possible," Lindstrom said, declining to comment on media reports that TeliaSonera offered Latvia 150-226 million lats ($280-420 million) for its 51 percent of Lattelekom shares.
      He said the government's letter was mainly about the court case but could open the way to eventual stake sales.
      TeliaSonera is tightening its grip on the Baltic countries, where mobile and fixed-line market saturation are relatively low compared with Sweden, TeliaSonera's main market in which nine of 10 people have a mobile phone and sales are declining.
      In Estonia, it owns 49 percent of fixed and mobile service provider Eesti Telekom, and in Lithuania it has 60 percent of fixed-line provider Lietuvos Telekomas and 90 percent of mobile operator Omnitel.
      "We are interested to increase our ownership in Baltic telecommunication companies as a form of consolidating through shared competence," Lindstrom said, adding that TeliaSonera had not discussed merging any of its Baltic companies.
      Latvia and TeliaSonera have quarrelled since 1997, when the state decided to terminate Lattelekom's fixed-line monopoly from the end of 2002, 10 years earlier than previously planned.
      TeliaSonera sued Latvia over the move and Latvia filed a counter claim alleging the Nordic group had failed to meet its pledge to modernise the fixed network.