Community Chat

[Tinkrbl44]

Okay, first I want to preface this by saying I'm going to step on my soapbox here .... briefly ...

I'm really thrilled that our Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill to make childhood vaccinations MANDATORY,  and I hope that other states will follow suit.      Hooray for California!!

We've become a Global Community ..... I can go over to the International Terminal at LAX and board a plane that will take me to any number of countries ......  and I'll be sitting on that plane, breathing the same recirculated air that any number of people from third world countries are breathing ....  people who haven't had the benefit  of the preventative vaccinations and routine health care that we have in this country.

Great, huh?      Remember the Ebola Virus scare we had recently?    Should anyone really  be letting their guard down now?

Did you know that there's approximately 1/2 billion cases of Malaria worldwide each year?

There is no reason to assume that there won't be ongoing "virus cross-pollination"  from other countries ...... and Americans need to stay protected against whatever major problems we can prevent .... polio, mumps, measles, whooping cough, etc  etc  etc ..... whatever.

I have no use for irresponsible people who "just don't think" their kids need to be vaccinated ......   where did this theory come from, anyway?    

Okay .... I'm stepping off my soap box now     .......    I just had to vent.   

[Drythe]

tinkerbell

I think you make a fair point.  

Added to the fact that without leaving the country we STILL all breath the same air is reason enough for me to believe that Vaccinations are a national public health issue and as such such should be under the leadership of the CDC.  Or some other responsible agency (provided one can still be found - just me on my soapbox.)

[SuiGeneris]

You asked, "Where did this [vaccines cause autism] theory come from, anyway?"

Here's your answer [rather lengthy]:

Any conversation about the anti-vaccination movement will inevitably revolve around the 1998 study that claimed to prove the MMR vaccine contributed to a spike in autism cases from 1988 to 1993.

“The vaccine controversy began with publication of a deceitful, improperly vetted research paper by the fraud Andrew Wakefield in The Lancet in 1998,” Aileen M. Marty, M.D., professor of infectious diseases at Florida International University in Miami. “That discredited article claimed that autism spectrum disorders could be caused by the combined MMR vaccine.”

The study was partially retracted in 2004, as evidence mounted against the claim.

“Reviews of the evidence (were conducted) by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Institute of Medicine, the U.K. National Health Service, and the Cochrane Library,” said Dr. Marty. “All of these careful and properly done studies found that there was no link between the vaccine and autism.”

In 2010, the study was fully retracted after it became clear that lead author Dr. Andrew Wakefield operated under a conflict of interest.

“It was found that Wakefield had multiple undeclared conflicts of interest, and that he had manipulated evidence,” added Dr. Marty. “Wakefield was found guilty by the General Medical Council of serious professional misconduct in May 2010 and was struck off the medical register, meaning he could no longer practice as a doctor.”

“Not only have multiple studies disproven that idea, but the author has been completely discredited,” Paul Spearman, M.D., division chief of pediatric infectious diseases, told weather.com. “All of the science has disproven that report.”

An investigation by Brian Deer, published in the journal BMJ, exposed that Wakefield fabricated data because solicitors — working for parents who believed the MMR vaccine harmed their children — paid him.

Even with the study retracted by The Lancet, and the claims debunked by Deer and others, the damage had been done. The initial paper caused a dramatic drop in vaccination rates across the United Kingdom, and the impact has been felt worldwide for more than a decade.

“[The connection] has been very much discredited,” said Dr. Spearman. “It’s clearly not related to volume of vaccines, or any ingredient in vaccines.”

But there is a correlation between increasing vaccine rates and several autism diagnoses. The scientific consensus is that the dual rise in autism and vaccines is coincidental, probably brought on by advances in medical diagnosis, health care and awareness of autsim.

“I think there’s certainly increased attention,” explained Dr. Spearman. “I heard a recent expert in the area say that it’s the way we characterize autism spectrum disorder — it’s a broader definition. More attention and the broader definition have lead to [more] cases.”

[BTW, the statistic you gave for malaria is incorrect, according to the CDC:  "In 2012, malaria caused an estimated 207 million clinical episodes, and 627,000 deaths. An estimated 91% of deaths in 2010 were in the African Region." And, besides, malaria is not contagious, FWIW.]

[Kachina624]

I wholeheartedly agree with you, Tinkrbl. We had all but eradicated TB in this country until we started taking in refugees from Southeast Asia. When we allowed Haitian refugees in we had our first AIDS cases. Ebola is still out there.

Why should we care what happens in Africa? Because of the diseases that arise from the filthy conditions under which people live. West Nile Virus is a case in point. It killed my mother, so it became personal.

[Justice4all]

Kachina, patient zero in the US was a Canadian flight attendant, not a Haitian! I'm very sorry about your mom

[chi5925]

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@Justice4all wrote:
Kachina, patient zero in the US was a Canadian flight attendant, not a Haitian! I'm very sorry about your mom

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Yes - you are right.  He was a Canadian flight attendant whose name was Gaetan Dugas. 

The book "And the Band Played On" by Randy Shilts tells the story beginning with patient zero.

Fascinating book although since I read it (years ago) there have been so many inroads into the disease.

[Lila Belle]

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@Tinkrbl44 wrote:.

I have no use for irresponsible people who "just don't think" their kids need to be vaccinated ......   where did this theory come from, anyway?    

Okay .... I'm stepping off my soap box now     .......    I just had to vent.   

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 Mainly from those who mistrust the government and those who Dmod has deemed bsc.

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[JustJazzmom]

I had a patient many years ago as a teen who came from a Central American country who ended up having TB of the lymph nodes. He had night sweats so all of us on staff thought he had AIDS until the lymph node at his neck was biopsied. Turns out he had TB!! He immediately went on respiratory isolation and we had to shut the door and put up signs in English and Spanish for his visitors and for all of us to wear masks upon entering and before exiting the room. He did get discharged to go to where he was living at the time and he had to get the Rx filled at the hospital pharmacy. Because he had no insurance, his subsequent Rxs would be filled at the major County run hospital a bus ride or two away from where he lived.

My point of this story?

The biggest problem with TB patients is compliance with taking these drugs (usually for 9 months with chest X rays to see the TB resolving). If you do not take these drugs for the entire 9 months, drug resistant TB occurs. This is why we have had a resurgence of TB and in particular the drug resistant kind because of the non compliance of people to finish the prescribed dosages of their TB drugs.

I think about this person and wonder to this day, if he did comply with taking these drugs for the 9 month duration.

[Say Nay]

Malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes. 

[Johnnyeager]

On an almost daily basis I see people spitting onto the sidewalks and on the subway tracks here in NYC.  My first thought is always to those antibiotic-resistant strains of TB that are circulating.

Funny thing is in a few of the old subway stations you can still see the sign that says "No Spitting" from the early-1900s.   Some things never, ever change.