Correction: A next generation vaccine against human rabies based on a single dose of a chimpanzee adenovirus vector serotype C.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0008459.].

Prevalence and correlates of initiation of smoking behavior among preteen black and white children.

This study estimated smoking prevalence and identified factors associated with initiation among preteens in Nashville, TN. An anonymous, self-administrated questionnaire was given to 238 fifth- and sixth-graders in a middle-class neighborhood school. The mean age at initiation was 8.5 years (range 6-11 years). Overall, 10.5% of students had ever smoked; 16.1% of blacks and 9.3% of whites. Eighty-six percent continued to smoke. Black sixth-graders smoked (26.9%) four times the rate of black fifth-graders and 2.5 times that of white sixth-graders. Relatives initiated 78% of blacks while friends initiated 68% of whites. One-quarter of smokers got their cigarettes at home. Regular attendees of religious services had a lower smoking rate (6.9% versus 16.4%; p=0.01). Smoking rates decreased with increased knowledge of risks (p=0.00001). Among smokers, none believed that smoking is a risk factor for heart disease, 96% did not believe that smoking has any short-term health effects or is a risk factor for stroke. Few ever-smokers had a complete understanding of the health risks. Targeted messages and curriculum should be developed to teach preteens about the short- and long-term dangers of smoking. Clinicians can play a major role in educating their clients about the risks of smoking.

Impact of a Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E) program in preventing the initiation of cigarette smoking in fifth- and sixth-grade students.

An alarmingly high number of children become addicted to tobacco use. To teach children the skills to resist the influences surrounding the initiation of tobacco and other drug use, a Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program is being implemented in three fourths of the schools in the United States. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of this program in preventing smoking. A survey was conducted among 236 fifth and sixth graders in Nashville, Tennessee. Of the students included in the survey, 88% graduated from D.A.R.E. Approximately 11.6% of respondents had ever smoked cigarettes; 86% of them continued to smoke. The D.A.R.E. group had a significantly lower rate of smoking compared with their non-D.A.R.E. counterparts (8.7% vs. 28.0%; p = 0.0001). Logistic regression analysis shows that the D.A.R.E. group was five times (odds 4.9; p = 0.003; 95% CI: 1.7, 14.0) less likely to initiate smoking compared with the non-D.A.R.E. group. The D.A.R.E. group had a significantly (p = 0.002) higher knowledge score on the risk of smoking. The knowledge score has strong opposite correlation to smoking behavior (p = 0.00001). Students with top-quartile knowledge scores had a substantially lower rates of smoking (1.4% vs. 14.4%; p = 0.001). This finding is consistent for both African-American (0% vs. 19.6%; p = 0.001) and white children (1.9% vs. 13%; p = 0.001). The D.A.R.E. program may have an impact in preventing the initiation of smoking behavior.