Tracking the next pandemic: Avian Flu Talk |
A Lesson About Vaccination |
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Technophobe
Assistant Admin Joined: January 16 2014 Location: Scotland Status: Offline Points: 88450 |
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Posted: April 05 2018 at 4:35pm |
[Technophobe: I am pretty certain that vaccines are not quite as safe as we have been told. BUT, I suspect that the reason for this is because we often get the wrong end of the stick and fail to understand the statistics. There are small risks, but the risk of not vaccinating is far higher.]
At least 70 children dead in Venezuela measles outbreak: NGOApril 5, 2018At least 70 children from an
indigenous tribe have died from an outbreak of measles in a remote
jungle region of eastern Venezuela, a human rights group said Thursday. "The propagation started in early January and we are calling for a health alert," said Armando Obdola, head of the Kape Kape NGO. Obdola said he had been recording the deaths in the state of Delta Amacuro, where children of the Warao indigenous community have been dying since the beginning of the year. "There are no medicines, and there's nothing the doctors and nurses can do." Latin America was declared free of measles in 2016, but the Pan American Health Organization last month reported a virulent outbreak in Venezuela. The country has the highest number of confirmed cases, 159, among nine Latin American countries that reported cases in the first three months of 2018. The second biggest outbreak, in Brazil, has 14 confirmed cases, all of them imported from Venezuela. "All confirmed cases were reported in unvaccinated Venezuelan citizens between the ages of nine months and 18 years," said PAHO. Measles, a highly contagious viral disease that affects children in particular, is preventable with vaccination. Venezuela's deepening economic crisis has caused chronic shortages of food and medicines. Access to affected areas are difficult. The Warao settlements are located on the edge of the Orinoco River, eight hours' travel from the regional capital Tucupita. "Sometimes getting to a sick person is impossible. The boats do not have fuel, and despite the seriousness of the situation the silence of the authorities has prevailed," said Obdola. Venezuela's Health Minister Luis Loez said Tuesday on Twitter that
the government of President Nicolas Maduro is fine-tuning details for
the launch of a national vaccination plan for diphtheria, measles and yellow fever. [Enough said?] Source: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-04-children-dead-venezuela-measles-outbreak.html |
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carbon20
Moderator Joined: April 08 2006 Location: West Australia Status: Offline Points: 65816 |
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look what happened when the Spanish gave contaminated blankets to the Aztecs and Incas..............
i think it killed 20 million people and decimated the native populations of the Americas
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Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.đź––
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carbon20
Moderator Joined: April 08 2006 Location: West Australia Status: Offline Points: 65816 |
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Spanish conquer the Aztecs and Incas
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Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.đź––
Marcus Aurelius |
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carbon20
Moderator Joined: April 08 2006 Location: West Australia Status: Offline Points: 65816 |
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Quickly, smallpox spread among the population. The people had no resistance and no idea how to treat it. In many cases, everyone in a house died. With no time to bury so many people, houses were simply demolished over the bodies. It is estimated that 5-8 million died.
(Actually, there were a series of epidemics over the next 50-60 years, which killed far more than the first epidemic. Called by the Aztecs cocoliztli, much of the death toll may have been caused by salmonella enterica - typhoid (enteric) fever.) TacticsThe tactics of the Spanish army certainly played a role. The Mexicas were simply used to playing by different rules. However, the Aztecs soon got wise to the ways that the Europeans fought, and this almost led to their victory. But Cortes still used clever tactics in the final siege that, in combination with his native allies and the epidemics of disease, brought about the fall of the Aztec empire. |
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Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.đź––
Marcus Aurelius |
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EdwinSm,
Moderator Joined: April 03 2013 Status: Offline Points: 24065 |
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I live on a smallish island (peak population around 1900 of over 2 000 souls) that was on the sailing route between the two (then) capital cities of Stockholm and St Petersburg. It provided an important sheltering point after some open sea. From burial records there were at least two times when the ships brought some sort of disease that killed 25% of the island population. I will have to get the book from the local library to see which disease it was, but it does point to a similar death rate for populations that were isolated from diseases in other parts of the world. |
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Technophobe
Assistant Admin Joined: January 16 2014 Location: Scotland Status: Offline Points: 88450 |
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Technophobe: I found this opinion piece whilst trawling for disease "stuff". It specifically refers to hashimoto's disease, but could apply to 99% of autoimune conditions.
Personally, having arthritis - which has an autoimune component - I can understand the caution expressed by the hashimoto's sufferer. But, the risk of death outweighs the risk of discomfort - at least for me. I am not sure I agree 100% with the doctor where Guillain-Barré syndrome is concerned. Had I had that, I would probably avoid ANY unnecessary medical interventions whatever the root cause (Any risk is too big a risk!) at least in non-pandemic years. Your Good Health: Hashimoto’s thyroiditis no reason to avoid flu shot
Dr. Keith Roach
/ Times Colonist
April 13, 2018 10:27 PM Dear Dr. Roach: I have never gotten the flu vaccine. Years ago, it was believed to be too dangerous for anyone with an autoimmune condition. They said that the body could not handle the vaccine and that it was actually dangerous to receive it. I have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Please tell me if that’s true. I had the flu in 1993 and have not been ill with anything but a cold since. I was not hospitalized in 1993.I.D.C. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is a condition where the body’s immune system attacks the thyroid gland, in the neck. The thyroid level initially increases in the body, but then over time, it decreases. In most, it eventually will come back to normal, but people require treatment with thyroid hormone, often for years. I don’t agree with the advice you received about the flu vaccine. The clearest reason not to give a flu vaccine (I mean specifically the flu shot, which does not contain live virus) is if people have a severe allergy to any of the components of the vaccine. People who have had Guillain-Barré syndrome within six weeks of a previous influenza vaccine generally are not vaccinated again. Hashimoto’s is not a reason to avoid the flu shot. 2017-2018 has been a severe season for influenza, and while I am glad you haven’t had the flu in many years, I still recommend the vaccine every year. It provides protection, even if incomplete, for a disease that kills up to 50,000 people per year. People who are vaccinated also help protect those people who are unable to be vaccinated. Dear Dr. Roach: If a person who is 75 or older has high blood pressure — say, 175/80 — in what circumstances would you suggest not taking any hypertensive drugs to lower pressure (to 130/80 or less)? Aren’t there some fragile people who require higher blood pressure to meet the body’s demands? R.I. It used to be the case that older people with high blood pressure were not treated. In fact, the term “essential hypertension” (which now means “high blood pressure with no identifiable cause”) initially was used to indicate that high blood pressure was essential for adequate blood flow. However, study after study has shown that older people with systolic blood pressure above 160 can have a dramatic reduction in the risk of stroke with treatment. It certainly is true that the blood pressure should be brought down slowly and judiciously. By using low doses of medication at first, we can reduce the symptoms of having too low a blood pressure. In people whose blood pressure is chronically very high — such as a diastolic (that’s the second number) pressure over 110 — the blood flow to the brain might no longer be regulated properly, so the blood pressure is brought down very slowly indeed. There have been many situations where what was thought to be common wisdom was upended by the results of carefully done, large clinical trials. How a large-scale trial applies to a given individual is not always obvious, and it still requires a skilled clinician with knowledge of both the individual patient and an understanding of the biology of the condition. It would be a very unusual situation for me not to recommend treating a blood pressure that high. Dr. Roach regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters,
but will incorporate them in the column whenever possible. Readers may
email questions to ToYourGoodHealth@med.cornell.edu |
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His lips or pen are moving. |
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CRS, DrPH
Expert Level Adviser Joined: January 20 2014 Location: Arizona Status: Offline Points: 26660 |
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It is true that side-effects can occur with even routine vaccinations, including GB syndrome.
However, these are extremely rare, and are more than compensated by the individual and population protection afforded by widespread vaccination. Everyone should have the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, mumps vaccine, and seasonal flu inoculation. Tetanus is also highly recommended. Others are more voluntary and based upon personal choice. Healthcare workers should have Hep B, foreign travelers Hep A, etc. I never turn down a vaccine that I am offered. Once, I had a bit of myalgia in my right hand from MMR vaccine as an adult, no big deal. Older adults such as myself should have pneumonia vaccine. These are life-saving procedures, with hundreds of years of documented safety. Don't believe the pop literature about them.
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CRS, DrPH
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