New research published in the International Journal of Toxicology (IJT) by Gary S. Goldman, Ph.D., reveals high rates of shingles (herpes zoster) in Americans since the government's 1995 recommendation that all children receive chicken pox vaccine. Goldman's research supports that shingles, which results in three times as many deaths and five times the number of hospitalizations as chicken pox, is suppressed naturally by occasional contact with chicken pox.

Neonatal herpes, infection of newborns with herpes simplex virus type 1 or type 2—the causes of genital herpes and cold sores—should routinely be reported to health authorities, say experts. In a commentary published in the September issue of the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases, some of the nation’s leading researchers in herpes infections point out that unlike all comparable health problems in newborns, neonatal herpes is a reportable condition in only 7 states.