September

In your article “Availability of electronic full text (BCMJ 2002;44(4):181), you looked at 44 articles in the February issue of Sites and Bytes.

I have tried to do research in cardiovascular subjects, and my findings are significantly different from yours.

The title above appears to have been adopted as a motto by our governments. If they allow a 12-month waiting period for a particular treatment, are we to deduce that earlier treatment than that is not medically necessary?

The recent debacle over the firing of Russell Mills, the publisher of the Ottawa Citizen, is a nice macro of the pressures all editors are faced with in their daily struggle to maintain editorial independence. The Asper family added Conrad Black’s Canadian newspaper empire to CanWest Global after prolonged testimonials to regulatory agencies that they would play no role in dictating editorial content. In addition, they declared that CanWest was fiercely dedicated to the freedom of the press from any and all political/economic pressures.

Introduction

In November 2000 a group of provincial experts, including representatives from the BC Centre for Disease Control, doctors who provide abortions, and staff from the three major abortion clinics in Vancouver, met to define the standards for antibiotic prophylaxis at the time of induced abortion.

Background

Case presentation

A 43-year-old man who has sex with men and who has advanced HIV disease, a CD4 count of 360 cells/µl, and a viral load of 3320 copies/ml presented with a 5-month history of anal pain and rectal discharge. The patient had a long history of anal symptoms, and initially thought his rectal bleeding was indicative of worsening hemorrhoids. The anal pain increased to the point where he sought medical attention for pain control.