Health Highlights: March 2, 2008

Mar. 24 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

U.S. Disposes of Last of Its Original Smallpox Vaccine

America's oldest smallpox vaccine is no more.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced late last week that it had arranged for the elimination of the last of its 12 million doses of Dryvax, the vaccine that was largely responsible for eliminating the worldwide scourge of a disease that killed millions of people in the 1700s and 1800s.

The Associated Press reports that Dryvax, developed by the pharmaceutical company Wyeth in the late 1800s, was actually used quite recently -- in 2003 -- to help stem an outbreak of monkey pox in the United States. The last case of human smallpox was reported in Somalia in 1977.

No one in the United States gets smallpox vaccinations anymore, but because of concern about biological terrorism, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved replacing Dryvax with more than 200 million doses of a vaccine known as ACAM2000, made by Acambis Inc. of Cambridge, England, the wire service reports.

Despite its effectiveness, Dryvax had its problems, the AP reports, with evidence of heart attacks and heart inflammation in some cases.

But overall, the vaccine's importance can't be overlooked, Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of Vanderbilt University's department of preventive medicine, told the wire service. He called it a "historical moment, because it's our oldest vaccine."

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Solution Offered for U.K. Binge Drinking: Smaller Bottles of Wine

A recent report of binge drinking among wine aficionados in some of the more affluent British circles has prompted a rather simple solution: offer wine in half bottles.

BBC News reports that Trish Groves, the deputy editor of the British Medical Journal, made the suggestion because people in the United Kingdom have little choice when buying wine. The amount of wine in a standard bottle is 750 milliliters, about 1.6 pints.