Childhood vaccination has been blamed for a long list of disorders. One possible example is type 1 diabetes mellitus, which has become more common in developed countries which have also been urged to adopt an ever growing number of vaccines for use in children. Now the New England Journal of Medicine (2004;350: 1398-404) has published the results of a vast study in Denmark of 681 children with 4,720,517 person years of follow up and found no link between diabetes and childhood vaccination.

Up to a third of patients with fibromyalgia are eventually diagnosed as having irritable bowel syndrome as well. The connection is strengthened by a finding of abnormal results on the lactulose breath test in both groups (Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 2004;63: 450-2). The practical value of these findings is that the bowel symptoms can be relieved by treatment with antibiotics to eliminate the overgrowth of bacteria in the intestines.

Should someone who has just been found to have a primary infection with HIV be treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HARRT)? This seems likely to be a valuable treatment, but a review in AIDS (2004;18: 709-18)concludes that there is no clear evidence that patients with access to acute antiretroviral therapy have any benefit from its immediate …