The four dengue virus (DENV) serotypes are mosquito-borne flaviviruses of humans. The interactions between DENVs and the human host that lead to asymptomatic, mild, or severe disease are poorly understood, in part, because laboratory models are poor surrogates for human DENV disease. Virologists are interested in how the properties of DENVs replicating in people compare with virions propagated on laboratory cell lines, which are widely used for research and vaccine development. Using clinical samples from a DENV type 1 epidemic in Sri Lanka and new ultrasensitive assays, we compared the properties of DENVs in human plasma and after one passage on laboratory cell lines. DENVs in plasma were 50- to 700-fold more infectious than cell culture-grown viruses. DENVs produced by laboratory cell lines were structurally immature and hypersensitive to neutralization by human antibodies compared with DENVs circulating in people. Human plasma and cell culture-derived virions had identical genome sequences, indicating that these phenotypic differences were due to the mature state of plasma virions. Several dengue vaccines are under development. Recent studies indicate that vaccine-induced antibodies that neutralized DENVs in cell culture assays were not sufficient for protecting people from DENV infections. Our results about structural differences between DENVs produced in humans versus cell lines may be key to understanding vaccine failure and developing better models for vaccine evaluation.

Obstet Gynecol 2000;96:653–6 The purpose of this article was to determine what high‐school‐age adolescents know about HPV infection. A total of 523 inner‐city high school students completed a written survey that contained questions regarding HPV, STDs, and Pap smear screening. Over 87% of the study population claimed they had not heard of HPV. These students had considerably more knowledge about all other STDs. The students stated that school classes and media sources were their prime methods of gaining information concerning STDs. Interestingly, only 27% of the students completing this survey stated they had ever been involved in sexual activity, a markedly lower percentage than would of been expected. Comment: While there seems to be some questions surrounding either the appropriateness of this sample or the validity of the answers since only 27% of those students surveyed admitted to current or past sexual activity, the fact that few of these adolescents knew anything about HPV infection is disturbing. It continues to surprise me when reports such as these appear in the literature, as it appears that women (and men) of all ages know little about HPV despite multiple articles in very high‐profile media sources. (KLN)

This study analyzed the causes, types, administrative measures taken and suggestions concerning medication errors according to the perspective of professionals involved with the medication systems in four Brazilian hospitals. It is an exploratory, survey-type, multicentric study. The sample consisted of professionals from the medical clinic and pharmacy in the above-mentioned hospitals. Semistructured interviews were used for data collection. Results showed that the most frequently error types mentioned by the professionals were related to medication ordering/transcription. Lack of attention, individual mistakes and problems in service management were the major causes of errors. Reports were the main measures taken in view of errors, and changes in individual attitudes were the most frequently mentioned form to prevent them.

Community-based population-level interventions for promoting child oral health,

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