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The article describes the features of the concrete bridge built on the River Nanny in Ireland. Some of the features of the design are: single span in steel, but with moment fixity at each end to maintain appearance of "arch"; piles driven to avoid artesian water pressure problems; reinforced earth (RE) abutments, self-supporting; narrow pile cap, the weight of the RE abutment counter-balancing the moment from the span; pile caps restrained horizontally by tying into RE abutments, traction and braking resisted by plinths fixed to the pile cap at one end and problems of high skew.

The article presents the author's response on the occurrence of vertical movement occur across the joint after the completion of the River Nanny Bridge in Drogheda, Ireland. According to the author, joints in the bridge structure, and all bearings, have been eliminated, in the spirit of integral bridges, while joints in the carriageway have not. Consideration was given to eliminating the carriageway joints as well, perhaps by continuing the bridge deck longitudinally, tapering the slabs for flexibility and directing them downwards under the road construction.

Since the early 1990s hepatitis A virus (HAV) infections among recipients of solvent-detergent treated factor VIII concentrates have occurred in Europe, South Africa and the United States. A review of the epidemiological and laboratory-based investigations of the outbreaks in Germany and Ireland were consistent with transmission by factor concentrates but limited information about transmission based upon nucleic acid sequences was obtained, and no clear chain of transmission could be established. Within the United States, hepatitis A infections associated with solvent detergent concentrate occurred in a single patient in 1993, and a cluster of cases in 1995. Although the 1993 factor concentrate was positive for virus, samples from the patient were not available. The virus present in the cluster of 1995 factor VIII patients, the factor concentrate they received, and the original plasma pool was identical, while the virus identified in the factor IX patient differed by a single base., (Copyright 1998 The International Association of Biological Standardization)