Bacteria's role cited in pandemic

Bacterial pneumonia might have killed most people during the 1918 flu pandemic, and antibiotics could be as crucial as flu drugs to fight a new pandemic, US researchers reported yesterday in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. Such co-infections also cause many influenza-related deaths today. "The virus landed the first blow while bacteria delivered the knockout punch," Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which conducted the study, said in a statement. (Reuters)

NEW YORK - New York City has agreed to pay $2 million to protesters arrested at a 2003 rally against the Iraq war who said their civil rights were violated, lawyers for both sides said yesterday. The 52 plaintiffs were among 94 arrested at the midtown Manhattan offices of the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm with holdings in the defense sector. Two protesters, Eva Hageman and Sarah Kunstler, went to trial on charges of disorderly conduct and were acquitted, said a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which brought the case. (Reuters)

RALEIGH - A mental patient died after workers at a Goldsboro, N.C., hospital left him in a chair 22 hours without feeding him or helping him use the bathroom, said federal officials. A report released Monday found that Steven Sabock, 50, died in April after he choked on medication and was left for close to a day. Video showed staff watching TV and playing cards a few feet away. (AP)