Nation roundup for April 15
Polio vaccine developer Koprowski dies in Pa.
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Dr. Hilary Koprowski, a pioneering virologist who developed the first successful oral vaccination for polio, has died. He was 96.
Although not as well-known as fellow researchers Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin, Koprowski in 1950 became the first to show it was possible to vaccinate against polio, the crippling and sometimes fatal disease that’s now all but eradicated.
Koprowski’s son, Christopher, said Saturday that his father liked the scientific recognition his work received without the celebrity of Salk and Sabin.
“He enjoyed not having his scientific work disrupted,” said Christopher Koprowski, chief of radiation oncology at Christiana Care Health System in Wilmington, Del. “Not that he was a modest individual, mind you.”
Christopher Koprowski said his father had been sick for several months before dying Thursday in the same Wynnewood home he’d lived in since 1957.
Hilary Koprowski self-administered the live-virus oral vaccine he developed before the 1950 clinical trial — about two years before Salk’s injectable version using a dead form of the virus began testing with the backing of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, now the March of Dimes.
Sabin, who Koprowski’s son said sometimes collaborated with his father, was the first to get the more effective oral version, which didn’t require boosters, licensed for use in the U.S.
Koprowski went on to be the director of The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia from 1957 to 1991. Under his leadership, the independent research institution developed a rubella vaccine that helped eradicate the disease in much of the world, Wistar officials said. It was during that time the institute also developed a more effective rabies vaccine.
A talented musician, the Poland-born Koprowski was a penniless immigrant in Rio de Janeiro making money teaching piano before hooking up with a lab there and eventually moving to the United States, his son said.
“He was a great dad. He was colorful, charismatic,” Christopher Koprowski said. “He’s still the most brilliant person I’ve ever met.”
San Francisco cable car accidents costs millions
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — In this city of innumerable tourist attractions, the clanging, hill-conquering cable cars stand out as a top draw.
The quaint conveyances also stand out for the inordinate number of accidents and the millions of dollars annually the city pays out to settle lawsuits for broken bones, severed feet and bad bruises caused when 19th-century technology runs headlong into 21st-century city traffic and congestion.
Cable cars average about an accident a month and routinely rank among the most accident-prone mass transportation modes in the country per vehicle mile traveled annually, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Over the last 10 years, city officials have reported 126 accidents injuring 151 people.
After the latest serious accident — when seven people were injured after a cable car slammed to an unexpected stop after hitting a small bolt in the track — The Associated Press obtained through a public records request a listing of cable car-related legal settlements over the last three years.
Those figures show the city paying nearly $8 million to settle about four dozen legal claims.
The city has paid on average $12 million annually to settle all claims connected to its mass transportation system that in addition to cable cars consists of electric street cars and buses, which travel many more miles and carry many more passengers.
City officials acknowledge that the open air cable cars, which ply only eight miles of track, produce a disproportionate amount of accident-related costs.
But they say the cars are a much beloved and valuable part of the city’s life and character.
Their images are inscribed on the San Francisco Giants World Series rings. The cars have been immortalized in song and in television ads selling rice. And tourists line up dozens deep even in freezing weather for a chance to ride over the city’s Nob and Russian hills.
“The iconic cable cars of San Francisco are a National Historic Landmark and we work every day to make them safer,” San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said, adding, “While accidents and injuries are down from just a few years ago, we are always working to improve the system as a whole.”
Federal transportation figures show 19 injuries and 16 accidents last year, the second highest amount reported in the last 10 years. There were 36 accidents reported in 2004.
Two months ago, five passengers and two workers were injured after the bolt caused their cable car to slam to a sudden stop, tossing them violently inside the vehicle. The conductor had facial and tongue injuries and the driver suffered internal injuries and cracked ribs, transit officials said.
Legal claims are expected, as they always are after a cable car accident.
The city has been settling lawsuits almost since the cable cars began operation in 1893. One woman won a 1970 jury verdict of $50,000 after she claimed that a minor accident on a cable car she was riding turned her into a nymphomaniac.
“The 19th Century technology of the cable cars does pose some challenges,” said Paul Rose, a spokesman for the city agency that oversees San Francisco mass transit. “While one accident is too many and we’re always working to improve safety, these incidents are rare.”
San Francisco remains the only place on the planet with a true, manually operated cable-car system serving the public.
First introduced in the late 1800s to save the strain on horses hauling carts up the city’s steep inclines, the 15,500-pound cable-powered cars grip a continuously moving underground cable with pliers-like gear to travel the streets of San Francisco.
They are a San Francisco icon vital to the city’s booming tourism industry.
A survey commissioned by the San Francisco Visitors and Conventions Bureau found the top four tourist activities in the city were dining, shopping, visiting museum and riding the cable cars. An estimated 7 million ride the cable cars annually, the vast majority tourists.
The biggest single payout over the last three years went to John Gainor, who received $3 million in November 2011 because his foot had to be amputated after it got caught between the cable car he was standing on and a parked vehicle.
Another $4 million went to the four victims of a runaway cable car that sped down a notoriously steep San Francisco hill before leaving the tracks and careening onto the sidewalk. The brakeman fell down outside the cable car as he was pushing it and couldn’t get back aboard. A tourist from Texas suffered a broken femur and three others were seriously injured.
Linda Cvilikas, who tore tendons in her knee when a cable car she was riding came to a sudden halt on Nob Hill in 2011, said: “One minute I was standing and the next minute I was on top of my husband and a really large gentleman fell on top of me.
“That thing stopped and we all fell like dominoes,” she said. The city paid Cvilikas $16,000 and her husband John another $2,500 to settle the Nebraska couple’s legal claims. “It’s safe to say that I won’t be riding the cable cars again if I return to San Francisco,” she said.
Prices for Carnival cruises are lower than normal
NEW YORK (AP) — Carnival Cruise Lines prices have taken a dip this spring, according to pricing data, and some industry observers are blaming headlines over problems on several Carnival ships.
Todd Elliott, owner of Cruise Vacation Outlet, said his agents have seen a drop in price of 20 percent or more for equivalent cruises.
“Rates are far lower than I have seen in a while for example, the Carnival Dream, seven nights, Eastern Caribbean out of Port Canaveral, May 4 is $299 per person,” he said. “Last year a similar Carnival cruise would have been at least $399 or higher.”
Elliott added that this “seems to be 100 percent a Carnival Cruise Lines issue and not across all cruise lines.”
The drop in fares began following an engine fire on the Carnival Triumph in mid-February. The ship lost power and passengers endured filthy conditions as the Triumph was towed to Mobile, Ala., resurrecting stories of a similar incident from 2010 aboard the Carnival Splendor. A number of sailings on the Triumph were cancelled as it undergoes repairs. Since then, cruises were cancelled aboard the Carnival Sunshine while it undergoes a makeover; a trip on the Carnival Dream ended early, with passengers flown home from the Caribbean due to a generator failure, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s Vessel Sanitation Program gave a failing grade to the Carnival Fascination.
Priceline Cruises data showed Carnival prices down from a year ago for April-June departures, including Alaska trips down 20 percent, Bermuda down 18 percent and Mediterranean down 21 percent, but spokesman Brian Ek said Carnival fares appeared to be holding up for July on.
Prices for inside cabins on the Carnival Glory’s July 21 sailing to Canada are down 40 percent — $479 per person now compared to $799 last December, according to the price predictor at AllThingsCruise.com.
But there are also seasonal factors in lower prices. Stewart Chiron, who covers the industry at Cruiseguy.com, says “sailings this time of the year tend to have booking weakness as spring break ends and families are preparing for fourth quarter of school year.”
Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor in chief of CruiseCritic.com, said prices dip in late spring not just because of the school calendar, but also due to seasonal popularity in destinations: “The Mediterranean and Alaska are just getting started and the Caribbean is winding up its high season.”
Asked to comment, Carnival spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz acknowledged “there are some really fantastic rates available right now. That being said, the rates are not completely unprecedented. This sort of pricing has been offered tactically in the past” in the pre-summer, post-spring break period.
An April 4 industry research report from Morgan Stanley, the financial services corporation, blamed “recent incidents onboard various Carnival ships” for what travel agents said were “record levels of cancellations and very low bookings from new cruisers. We hadn’t seen such a negative report since the Concordia incident.” The Costa Concordia sank off Italy in 2012, killing 32 people.
Data in the Morgan Stanley report showed Carnival prices down 7 percent in April from a year ago for future sailings, compared to an increase in prices at other lines like Princess and Celebrity.
“When a major event affects cruise travel, prices will drop to increase volume,” said Brad Tolkin, CEO of World Travel Holdings, a large seller of cruises. “This is evident with pricing on Carnival Cruises Lines, as well as on other cruise lines with similar itineraries.” But he added that the price drop has stimulated “a significant increase” in bookings.
Liberty Travel said that while Carnival fares are lower in the past month than they were a year ago or at the start of 2013, there has been an overall increase in fares on other cruise lines for those periods.
Mike Driscoll, editor of Cruise Week, said that “historically, customers are tolerant of problems that happen on ships.” But “some agents don’t think that the media or late night comedians will leave Carnival alone anytime soon. This raises the potential of creating prolonged pricing problems” for the Carnival brand.
FDA finds safety issues at specialty pharmacies
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration says it has uncovered potential safety problems at 30 specialty pharmacies that were inspected in the wake of a recent outbreak of meningitis caused by contaminated drugs.
The agency said its inspectors targeted 31 compounding pharmacies that produce sterile drugs, which must be prepared under highly sanitary conditions. The FDA said Thursday it issued inspection reports to all but one of the pharmacies citing unsanitary conditions and quality control problems, including: rust and mold in supposedly sterile rooms, inadequate ventilation, and employees wearing non-sterile lab coats.
The agency generally issues such reports before taking formal action against companies. Inspectors visited pharmacies in 18 states, including Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Tennessee and New Jersey.
The wave of inspections comes in response to a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak linked to contaminated steroids from the New England Compounding Center, a Massachusetts pharmacy. The company’s injections, mainly used to treat back pain, have been linked to 53 deaths and 733 illnesses since last summer.
Compounding pharmacies are supposed to mix customized prescriptions based on individual doctors’ instructions. However, some pharmacies like the New England Compounding Center have grown into larger businesses, supplying bulk quantities of injectable drugs to hospitals across the country.
The FDA has stepped up its oversight of the pharmacies since the outbreak was identified in September, but agency officials say they have been slowed by the complex overlap of various state and federal laws that govern the industry. Pharmacies are licensed and overseen by state pharmacy boards, though the FDA sometimes intervenes when major safety issues arise.
In a blog post to the FDA’s website Thursday, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg noted that four pharmacies initially refused to admit the agency’s inspectors. In two cases the agency had to return with search warrants and U.S. marshals to complete the inspections.
“These challenges and others highlight the need for clearer authorities for FDA to efficiently protect public health,” Hamburg stated.
Hamburg has asked Congress to pass new laws giving the FDA explicit oversight over large compounding pharmacies. Under the proposal, large compounders would have to register with the FDA and undergo regular inspections, similar to pharmaceutical manufacturers.
But the FDA proposal has faced pushback from some members of Congress, particularly House Republicans, who have been investigating whether the FDA could have prevented the meningitis outbreak using its existing powers.
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee for Oversight and Investigations will hold its second hearing on the issue next Tuesday. Hamburg is scheduled to testify, according to committee staffers.
1 dead, 1 missing in avalanches east of Seattle
SEATTLE (AP) — A female snowshoer has died hours after she was dug out of an avalanche by fellow hikers, and a man remained missing Sunday, one day after a pair of spring avalanches struck separate groups hiking in the Cascade Mountains east of Seattle, authorities in Washington state said.
Sgt. Katie Larson with the King County Sheriff’s Office said a team of rescuers worked through the night in blizzard-like conditions to carry the female snowshoer off the mountain just after midnight.
Medics confirmed that she had died when they reached the base of the mountain, Larson said.
“The conditions yesterday were horrific,” Larson said Sunday. “It took 25 rescuers about five to six hours” to bring her off the mountain in a sled.
The woman, whose identity was not known, had been hiking with her dog near a group of a dozen other people Saturday afternoon when an avalanche hit Red Mountain near Snoqualmie Pass east of Seattle.
She was buried in five feet of snow but was dug out with the help of the group of snowshoers, who had also been caught in the avalanche.
Members of that group told authorities that it took them 45 minutes to find the woman. “They did their best to try to warm her up,” Larson said.
This is the first avalanche fatality reported in Washington state for the 2012-2013 season, according to the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center in Seattle. Nationwide, 16 others have died avalanches this season, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
Meanwhile, the search for a 60-year-old hiker who was swept down the mountain in a separate avalanche at Granite Mountain on Saturday was suspended indefinitely due to the poor weather conditions.
“There was a heavy snow dump last night, and conditions are still very hazardous,” Larson said.
The man, from Kent, Wash., was with two other friends when the avalanche carried them more than 1,200 feet down the mountain. The two friends emerged from the snow, but their friend did not. The two men suffered injuries that were described as not life-threatening. One of them was taken to a hospital for treatment, but Larson did not know his condition.
The avalanches occurred as heavy snow fell near Snoqualmie Pass.
Kenny Kramer, director of Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center, said between 20 and 30 inches of snow fell over the weekend and the center warned of dangerous avalanche conditions.
“We had a considerable danger,” the meteorologist said Sunday. “We were expecting a lot of snow.”
All that new snow was weakly attached to the old snow crust, making it more unstable, Kramer said.
Avalanches during the spring aren’t a rare occurrence, he said, noting that there’s a secondary peak of incidents during this time because the Northwest still sees winter-type storms that brings lots of snow. When that snow falls in the spring, it often warms up quickly, creating unstable conditions, he said.
Won Shin, 56, of Mukilteo, Wash., was among the group of 12 snowshoers who were on Red Mountain at the time of the avalanche.
He told The Seattle Times that when the avalanche hit, “the only thing I thought about was just, ‘Get out of here.’ I’ve never felt anything like that.”
