Tuesday July 31, 2001
Code RED Today?
Government and private security officials are trying to stir up a posse to stamp out an infectious computer worm they say could disrupt the operations of the entire Internet Tuesday evening. Representatives from the FBI and other federal agencies are warning that the ãCode Redä computer worm, which infected 300,000 computers and disrupted several U.S. government Web sites last week, will renew its attacks at 8 p.m. ET tonight
Poynter's Mike Wendland says, "What does this have to do with the average Net user? Plenty. This Code Red worm is among the most troubling and potentially destructive virus yet unleashed on the Net. If the hundreds of thousands of machines believed to be infected haven't been screened through anti-virus software that kills the worm, the massive attack could bring the entire Internet to a crawl.
BE SURE you see this fantastic list of resources that my Poynter pal David Shedden pulled together for you.
By the way, did you see that Kaspersky Labs, a Russian developer of antivirus programs and operator of the www.viruslist.com Web site, declared SirCam the most widespread virus of all time.
The West Nile Virus
(You can tell I was a TV producer, I am always looking for transitions between story ideas.) While we are talking about viruses, let's NOT get too crazy about this. You could do your public a service by telling them they don't have to worry about the West Nile virus unless they live in
one of the infected areas, and even then it is not currently much of a risk, the feds say. Still, West Nile virus sounds so exotic and dangerous.
Florida is getting ready to start spraying for the mosquitos. You can bet that will attract more coverage.
The CDC says, "Human illness from West Nile virus remains rare in areas where it has been reported, and the chance that any one person is going to become ill from a mosquito bite is low. You can further reduce your chances of getting ill by protecting yourself from mosquito bites.
-See map where
infected mosquitos have been found
-See map where
people have been infected-See map where
animals other than birds have been infected
-See map where
birds have been infected
Many people now know that the virus hits many types of birds particularly hard and that dead birds in a neighborhood may mean that mosquitoes carrying the virus are in the area. Most of the time, the bird's death was not caused by the virus. However, if you see a dead bird, you should tell your local or state health department. They may choose to pick up and test the bird for the virus.
See the links to state and local government sites page to find out how to report dead birds in your area. We have links to West Nile virus alert pages from nearly every state, even though most states have no virus
.
The Feds May Seek to Regulate Cemeteries
Steve Koff at the Cleveland
Plain Dealer sent us
this story by Sabrina Eaton: "The federal government may tighten its reins on the funeral industry after hearing complaints of bait-and-switch burial schemes, price gouging and sniping among mortuaries, cemeteries and casket shops. Currently, the
Federal Trade Commission oversees only funeral homes. With cemeteries, casket retailers and crematories branching into more aspects of the funeral business, the FTC is deciding whether they, too, should be under its regulatory umbrella.
A decision on which aspects of the industry to regulate, and how, is expected this fall after a nationwide review of hundreds of comments."
The funeral homes are regulated, but the cemeteries are not. "FTC requires that funeral homes give customers written price lists, and it bans unethical practices like embalming bodies without relatives' permission or lying about legal, crematory and cemetery requirements. Cemeteries are not regulated
by the
FTC, but in Ohio they are licensed by the state Commerce Department. The department uses an arbitration board to mediate disputes between cemeteries and consumers but has limited enforcement power
.
1,000 OxyContin Calls to One Poison Center
The OxyContin story just keeps rolling. The folks at
Pittsburglive.com sent this fascinating story to The Morning Meeting. The story says:
"Almost 1,000 calls placed to the Pittsburgh Poison Control Center last year asked about the powerful painkiller oxycodone or its time-released version, OxyContin. The number of calls is consistent with tremendous growth in OxyContin legally delivered to the Pittsburgh area, said U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency Special Agent Dennis Johnson."
The story also says, "From Jan. 1, 2000, to May 23, 2001, the center was called 797 times about oxycodone and 271 additional times about OxyContin specifically, which is chemically identical, Krenzelok said. Last year, the center received about 78,000 calls. During the first six months of the year, the center was called 45,000 times.
"We had about 1,000 calls about oxycodone and OxyContin. This is a lot of calls for a single drug," he said."
