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Vintage Diseases Making a Comeback

An anonymous reader writes "MSNBC has a piece on a recent resurgence in some old-timey diseases. Mumps, Whooping Cough, and Rickets are making a comeback, back in style like it's 1955." From the article: "Public-health officials certainly weren't expecting to get 'bitten' by mumps this year. Although the virus has been circulating in British kids since 2000, it hadn't caused much trouble in the United States since an outbreak in Kansas 18 years ago. The Midwest is the epicenter again, but the victims are primarily college students, not children. Once a childhood disease, the virus has now taken hold in university towns. That's partly because crowded dorms and cafeterias are breeding grounds for germs that are spread by sneezing and coughing."

403 comments

  1. Innoculations? by SeaFox · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Isn't MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) a standard set of vacines everyone gets before they go into school? How long are those supposed to be effective?

    In a side note: the girl sitting next to me right now (at work) was gone with the mumps a couple weeks ago.

    1. Re:Innoculations? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They were, but then the public started believing the media which overhyped the fact that a small number of vaccinations can cause health problems and I've seen far too many parents who don't get their kids vaccinated.

    2. Re:Innoculations? by NoTheory · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It's not clear. NPR had a story discussing this last week. The outbreak is wide enough that people are beginning to wonder if there's a hole in the efficacy of the MMR vaccines. Normally the vaccine is inneffective in 10% of the population, but the way it's spreading makes it seem like there's a wider problem of some sort.

      I also wonder if it could have been that there were bad batches of vaccine or something. Then again, i don't know what the demographic background of the people effected is. If it's people from all over the country (a possibility with college students) then the cause will be different if it's just people from a cluster of states in the mid-west.

      --
      There are lives at stake here!
    3. Re:Innoculations? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      You would be surprised at the number of parents who refuse those vaccinations. "Oh, it will cause autism", "Oh, it's the evil government injecting us with implants", "Oh, it will cause mumps",...

      As usual, superstition is going to cause incredible suffering by bringing back these old diseases.

    4. Re:Innoculations? by SeaFox · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Oh! Dammit! I forgot to say First Post! And for once I actually got it.

    5. Re:Innoculations? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem is not the MMR vaccine, it's the fear of autsism that was plastered over UK news papers as a risk of being given the vaccine.

      The middle classes are weighing the small risk of autism against debilitating childhood diseases and death.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMR_vaccine#1998_Lanc et_paper

    6. Re:Innoculations? by PhysicsPhil · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It's not clear. NPR had a story discussing this last week. The outbreak is wide enough that people are beginning to wonder if there's a hole in the efficacy of the MMR vaccines. Normally the vaccine is inneffective in 10% of the population, but the way it's spreading makes it seem like there's a wider problem of some sort.

      I also wonder if it could have been that there were bad batches of vaccine or something. Then again, i don't know what the demographic background of the people effected is. If it's people from all over the country (a possibility with college students) then the cause will be different if it's just people from a cluster of states in the mid-west.

      The article and other news outlets are blaming it on two major factors. The mumps-measles-rubella vaccine shifted from a one-dose variety to a two-dose in the late 1980s. Many people didn't get the second dose, leading to a lowered immunity. That same generation are now going to school and meeting other susceptible people. Instant outbreak.

      Also there was a medical study that indicated some links between the vaccin and autism some time ago. The claim was largely retracted, but it was scary enough that some families didn't have their children vaccinated.

      What does somewhat surprise me is the university students getting this disease. Don't the universities require proof of up-to-date innoculations for incoming students?

    7. Re:Innoculations? by bcmm · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There is also the problem of people avoiding the vaccine because of the autism scare. I've heard teenagers refusing school MMR vaccinations because of it, because no one has explained to them that they are too old to "catch autism" from the jab.

      --
      # cat /dev/mem | strings | grep -i llama
      Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
    8. Re:Innoculations? by bcmm · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Pressed submit too soon...

      A population is considered protected if greater than a certain percentage of people are immune, because beyond that point an outbreak will tend to die out as people get better faster than others are infected. If the vaccine fails in 10% of people, it shouldn't really matter. However, worries (and tabloid scares) about side effects lead to too many people refusing the vaccine, which starts to put a lot of people in danger.

      --
      # cat /dev/mem | strings | grep -i llama
      Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
    9. Re:Innoculations? by thebdj · · Score: 1

      It wasn't too long ago I was applying to school, and only one school to which I applied required medical records to show proof of vaccination. I did not have to provide proof to my eventual school after enrolling either. Though, I am properly vaccinated and even have two non-mandatory vaccinations. Another aside, I think there has also been talk about needing to give another booster shot for MMR.

      --
      "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."
    10. Re:Innoculations? by quentin_quayle · · Score: 2, Informative

      Part of the problem is that many parents now associate the significant increase in autism in recent decades with the MMR. In many cases the condition becomes manifest *immediately* after the vaccination causing a drastic difference in the child.

      One theory holds that it's the combination all three at once that brings on the disease in susceptible individuals. Another is that it's mercury. Until recently these vaccines were laced with Thiomersal (Thimerosal?) which contains ethyl mercury. Methyl mercury is extremely toxic; elemental mercury is relatively inert in the body; the effects of ethyl mercury are officially unknown. The questioning of the MMR, or the mercury-containing version, seems to be a bigger controversy, and more acted upon by parents, in the UK than in USA, but there's a lot about it on www and many parents are concerned here too.

      Of course the health authorities reactions to these parental concerns have ranged from derision to contempt to hostility. They refuse to offer the vaccines separately and then blame parents who are reluctant to give them together. They reject any concerns about the mercury as quackery. Studies in journals have purported to show no effects from the doses of mercury. The ingredient (a preservative) has been officially banned now, but was not recalled, so it is still in doses in stocks used by doctors, clinics.

    11. Re:Innoculations? by bluelark · · Score: 2, Informative

      As far as bad MMR batches go, there was knowledge that the MMR vaccines given in the mid 1970s were possibly ineffective. How I found this out was at a pre-college physical back in 1992, I got another MMR dose "just in case" because I was a female of childbearing age. Anyway, a few years later, when I was in school, there were cases of measles on several different college campuses, which lead to universities demanding proof of immunization before registering for classes.

    12. Re:Innoculations? by Stickerboy · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's called herd immunity.

      Here are the equations relevant to immunizing a large populace from a disease.

      --
      Light a fire for a man and he'll be warm for a day. Light a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
    13. Re:Innoculations? by caenorhabditas · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I live in the area that the mumps outbreak is affecting, and some friends of friends have contracted it. It's mostly affecting college students in and around the University of Iowa. Because the UI is a state school and because the people affected are all roughly the same age, I'd say that a bad batch would be a good possibility. It's also possible that it's just a different strain that has the wrong antigens for the vaccine.

    14. Re:Innoculations? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And that autism is usually only discovered by doctors, and when the children are in the age to get MMR vaccines, has nothing to do with it. Nope, no siree.

    15. Re:Innoculations? by ElectricOkra · · Score: 2, Informative

      a bad batch of vaccines were to blame for a measles outbreak in Texas in 1986-87... I was only 13 at the time, but I don't remember it breaking out nationwide... hundreds of kids 15-16yrs old got it... my brother was one of them, but both my sisters and I were unaffected...

      The thing with the MMR vaccine now is that they suggest a booster at about 18, but it isn't manditory (or even widely known that it is offered, really) so I imagine that is why we are seeing an outbreak among college-age people...

      --
      Great Spirits have always encountered violent opposition from Mediocre Minds - A. Einstein
    16. Re:Innoculations? by ElectricOkra · · Score: 1

      getting a disease due to a vaccination isn't far-fetched... it happens a lot, but the disease is greatly reduced in its severity... When I was 9 and my family and I were moving overseas, I had to get all kinds of additional vaccines (smallpox, polio, cholera, etc) and ended up getting a small case of cholera that kept me out of school for quite a while...

      --
      Great Spirits have always encountered violent opposition from Mediocre Minds - A. Einstein
    17. Re:Innoculations? by NVP_Radical_Dreamer · · Score: 2, Informative

      I'm not sure if it is this way everywhere, but here in West Virginia at around 5th grade it is offered at school, but your parents must sign a permission slip. It is free of charge, but many students do not take the paper home because they do not want to get the shot.

      --
      The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

      - Winston Churchill
    18. Re:Innoculations? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful
      Of course the health authorities reactions to these parental concerns have ranged from derision to contempt to hostility.

      And the reason for that is that there's no evidence whatsoever that vaccines cause autism (but there are a whole lot of studies disproving it). False, unfounded beliefs should be met with derision.
    19. Re:Innoculations? by duffbeer703 · · Score: 1

      Many evangelical christian sects are notorious for their opposition to vaccines in general. In addition to cooking up laws pushing things like intelligent design, they also push for laws that make vaccination optional for school-age children. (Most states require innoculation before you enter primary, middle, and schools. Some require proof of vaccination before entering college)

      Considering that these outbreaks are taking place in the Midwest, there should be no suprise that mumps are making a comeback in these places.

      --
      Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
    20. Re:Innoculations? by JohnFluxx · · Score: 1, Troll

      Something particularly funny in the UK is that in an area with a low number of vaccinations due to stupid parents, there was an outbreak recently and quite a few number of children died. 90% of them weren't vaccinated because of their stupid parents. I find it funny that science wins again.

    21. Re:Innoculations? by Exocrist · · Score: 1

      I would assume also that the viruses would mutate over time, and possibly making the vaccines ineffective.

    22. Re:Innoculations? by katrinatroll · · Score: 1

      I've got a vingate disease. Fucking dem babies. Man, I love fuckin dem babies.
      delicious crunchy babies. mmmm.
      fuck the babies.

    23. Re:Innoculations? by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 1

      When I was 9 and my family and I were moving overseas, I had to get all kinds of additional vaccines (smallpox, polio, cholera, etc) and ended up getting a small case of cholera that kept me out of school for quite a while...

      I can relate to that: when I did my military service, I didn't have proof that I was vaccinated for common disease, so they gave me a sort of "super shot" supposed to immunize me against many disease. Well I don't know what was in that shot exactly, but I sure got sick for three days.

      --
      "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    24. Re:Innoculations? by Cymerc · · Score: 0, Troll

      I think it's because of all the illegals from mexico that haven't been vaccinated for these diseases. They then spread it to us.

    25. Re:Innoculations? by masdog · · Score: 4, Informative

      The link between vaccines and autism had to do with a preservative that included mercury in it. This has been replaced with a non-mercury preservative, and I believe most of those batches have since been used or replaced.

    26. Re:Innoculations? by TubeSteak · · Score: 4, Informative

      I don't recall hearing about autism claims directly related to the MMR vaccine, but I do recall hearing a bunch of noise about Thimerosal.

      Thimerosal is a preservative (used since the 1930's) to increase the shelf life of vaccines. It has ethylmercury in it, which is where the possible link to autism came from.

      According to the CDC: "Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), varicella (chickenpox), and inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) have never contained thimerosal."

      Even though the CDC says there doesn't seem to be anything to worry about (most vaccines have no Thimerosal in 'em), you can ask for vaccinations without the Thimerosal preservative. AFAIK, the only vaccine that still uses it is the flu vaccine.

      --
      [Fuck Beta]
      o0t!
    27. Re:Innoculations? by pyat · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The BBC programme In Our Time recently did a show on immunisation:
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inou rtime_20060420.shtml
      The series is billed as "history of ideas" and is generally of very high quality (presenter Melvyn Bragg with a panel of 3 academics working in the area of discussion). This show is a good example.

      It's particularly interesting to see that popular opposition to immunisation is not in any way a modern phenomenon.

    28. Re:Innoculations? by vought · · Score: 1

      My school required MMR booster or proof thereof and I believe (!) tetanus. You were not allowed to live in the dorms without proof of your MMR - the lines in the infirmary were always quite long during fall admissions.

    29. Re:Innoculations? by bhiestand · · Score: 1
      The link between vaccines and autism had to do with a preservative that included mercury in it. This has been replaced with a non-mercury preservative, and I believe most of those batches have since been used or replaced.

      They didn't just replace them. They sold them to the military at half the price :'(
      --
      SWM seeks new sig for a brief fling
    30. Re:Innoculations? by MindStalker · · Score: 1

      They didn't just replace them. They sold them to the military at half the price :'(
      So what??
      1. This study was eventually invalidated and the link is still up in the air. As a caution they took them off the market.
      2. Mercury has a much larger effect on infant than adults (obviously) a small dose of mercury (there is an extremly small amount in one dose akin to eating a few fish) to an adult should have no effect whatsoever.

    31. Re:Innoculations? by Tim+C · · Score: 1

      Here in the UK the possible link between the MMR jab and autism was all over the press a few years ago, and is still mentioned now and again as yet another study proves or disproves it. Uncomfortably enough, the stoyr was at its height around the time we had to get our daughter vaccinated. After some soul-searching, we went ahead with it, with (as far as we can tell) no ill effects.

      I don't recall the supposed link being blamed on anything but the vaccine itself; certainly, when people were calling for separate jabs to be offered, no-one pointed out that it wouldn't make any difference because the preservative was the same. (In fact, the argument was that the jab was safe and that there was no hard evidence for the link)

    32. Re:Innoculations? by sconeu · · Score: 1

      They fade, or don't always work.

      I had the DPT series as a kid. So did my daughter. We both got Pertussis (Whooping cough) anyways (this was in 2001). It doesn't always take (or in my case, the immunity faded).

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    33. Re:Innoculations? by JavaManJim · · Score: 1

      Its also called "The Tipping Point" by Malcom Gladwell.

      Tipping point applies for disease outbreaks as well as ideas, products, messages, etc. It much less than 100 percent of individuals to be protected from mumps to curtail its spread.

    34. Re:Innoculations? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful
      "Don't the universities require proof of up-to-date innoculations for incoming students?"

      I'm so happy they don't. The day people are forced to pump stuff into their body in order to get an education will be a sad day indeed.
    35. Re:Innoculations? by BluBrick · · Score: 1

      So what?

      As a former army brat, I can assure you that military medical personnel treat both adults AND children.

      THAT's what!

      --
      Ahh - My eye!
      The doctor said I'm not supposed to get Slashdot in it!
    36. Re:Innoculations? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      +1 informative? Try -1 RTFA.

    37. Re:Innoculations? by rynthetyn · · Score: 1

      I too can relate. When I was in about 5th grade, I fell out of a jungle gym and ripped my arm open on a rusty bolt, the resulting tetanus shot that I had to get made me sicker than I've ever been in my life before or since.

        My doctor agreed at the time that it wasn't safe for me to get another one in the future, but even so, when I've had to go to the health department to get shots for overseas travel, they give me the 3rd degree like I'm some sort of wacko anti-vaccine crusader.

      --
      Eagles may soar, but weasles don't get sucked into jet engines...
    38. Re:Innoculations? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I love how you blame "Evangelical Christians" for the world's evils. Your post clearly shows you know nothing about them, nor care to.

    39. Re:Innoculations? by ccmay · · Score: 0, Troll
      90% of them weren't vaccinated because of their stupid parents. I find it funny that science wins again.

      Not just science, but evolution itself. Stupid parents tend to breed stupid children, and now there are fewer to reproduce. A pity, to be sure, but what can you do? Stupidity is its own punishment.

      -ccm

      --
      Too much Law; not enough Order.
    40. Re:Innoculations? by hazem · · Score: 1

      False, unfounded beliefs should be met with derision.

      Right... because the best way to get someone to examine a belief and possibly change it in the face of evidence is by ridiculing them. It certainly works well with Christians and Muslims. /sarcasm

    41. Re:Innoculations? by sitarah · · Score: 1

      "What does somewhat surprise me is the university students getting this disease. Don't the universities require proof of up-to-date innoculations for incoming students?"

      Yes, but they don't follow up in my experience.

      I went to college in a year that saw a shortage of the tetanus [i think] vaccine, to the extent that they were only letting the elderly and children get it. As I don't particularly like vaccines to start with, I told them I simply couldn't get this shot, and, in addition, all 3 rounds of hepatitis couldn't be completed in the summer before enrollment. I showed I had had one, and I 'intended' to get the additional shots. They accepted that. I never heard about it again.

      My roommate plain-out did not get them and never showed proof. They occasionally notified her for close to two years. She left the college soon after, perhaps still without getting them.

      I am not sure how they would keep up with these people in their systems, frankly -- a reminder service every 3 months to follow up with student X that they finally had the vaccines? I doubt there is vaccine management software.

      Anyway, as I recall, they wanted menengitis, hepatitis, tb, mmr [mumps, measles, rubella], and chicken pox vaccinations, but only mmr, tb, and tetanus were necessary. The rest of the cocktail was 'recommended'.

      Further, you could claim a pregnancy or religious exemption on all of the shots. The religious exemption, if a school attracts a certain demographic, could create a core of unvaccinated students. Further, I remember once reading that there are people who purposely do not have their children vaccinated on the premise that every other child in the school will be vaccinated and so no one will spread anything anyway.

      These social non-vaccinations probably account for a small percentage of a student population, though.

    42. Re:Innoculations? by spectre_240sx · · Score: 1

      Do you have any idea what things were like before all of these vaccines were around? People used to die from this type of crap left and right. I think a few cases of autism or whatever other side-effect are a decent trade-off for being able to put these illnesses at bay. Those who aren't inoculated don't just put themselves at risk, they put others at risk too by helping this crap spread.

    43. Re:Innoculations? by Kemanorel · · Score: 1

      Public schools already do require proof of vaccinations (at least here in California) and have for more than a few decades at least. So it would appear that your sad day has long since come and gone.

      Thank you, come again.

      --
      Mess not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
    44. Re:Innoculations? by Achromatic1978 · · Score: 1

      And that autism most commonly occurs around the same age, and has done since long before MMR vaccines is all part of a complex plot designed to reassure us, too, right?

    45. Re:Innoculations? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, and also because a huge group of hippie tree huggers around this great nation of ours are creating "vaccine free" communities. I am so pleased that they are relying on my kids to keep their kids from getting sick.

      cept, it aint working so well... they seem to be spreading diseases through their own collectives. Natural selection I say.

    46. Re:Innoculations? by hinux · · Score: 0
      It's called herd immunity.

      It's a pity there is no vaccine for stupidity and dishonesty. Or at least, most of the world leaders belong to the 5-10% who don't develop immunity to them. :(

    47. Re:Innoculations? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      I don't recall hearing about autism claims directly related to the MMR vaccine, but I do recall hearing a bunch of noise about Thimerosal.

      There were claims about the MMR vaccine and autism. It is mostly unrelated to the claims about thimerosal. The simplistic version is: in the English speaking media, the people who complained about MMR were mostly in the UK, while the people who complained about thimerosal were mostly in the US.

      Subsequent studies have generally indicated that neither thimerosal nor MMR make a significant contribution to the rate of autism.

      Of course, vaccines can have serious side effects, including death and lesser ailments. But OTOH getting vaccinated is much safer than getting a disease like measles, whooping cough, etc.

    48. Re:Innoculations? by ncstockguy · · Score: 1

      A lot of people, more than generally believed did NOT get their full series of immunization shots starting in the 80s. The problem will only get worse because of the problems with mercury in the vaccines, fewer and fewer folks are having their kids immunized.
      Wait till 2020.

    49. Re:Innoculations? by Sipos · · Score: 1

      In the UK lots of parents didn't let doctors give it to their kids because of scare stories about link between it and autism (which has been shown to not exist). It is the low uptake of the vacine (which is not very effective and so needs near 100% uptake to prevent outbreaks) which is causing cases here. I think that the resurgence of mumps in the UK is a completely different issue to the growing numbers of cases of dieseses like rickets here and abroad. Mumps outbreaks here are simply a result of irresponsible scare mongering by the british tabloids.

    50. Re:Innoculations? by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      My doctor agreed at the time that it wasn't safe for me to get another one in the future, but even so, when I've had to go to the health department to get shots for overseas travel, they give me the 3rd degree like I'm some sort of wacko anti-vaccine crusader.

      Do you tell them that you had a bad reaction? Tetanus is potentially fatal, that's probably why they're concerned.

      Personally, I'd check the box 'Have you ever had a bad reaction to...'. That'll get their attention.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    51. Re:Innoculations? by Bloke+down+the+pub · · Score: 1
      getting a disease due to a vaccination isn't far-fetched... it happens a lot, but the disease is greatly reduced in its severity...
      I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on television, but isn't that the point of vaccines? As in that's how they work - they give your immune system a practice run against a weakened opponent so it can like learn their playbook and stuff.
      --
      It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
    52. Re:Innoculations? by jrjarrett · · Score: 1

      I think the "bad batch" theory is likely. When I was 11, both my brother and I had the measles. IIRC, there was a minor outbreak of it for kids our age at the time.

      This makes me wonder now if the mumps portion of my vaccination took.

    53. Re:Innoculations? by BeBoxer · · Score: 1

      Also there was a medical study that indicated some links between the vaccin and autism some time ago. The claim was largely retracted, but it was scary enough that some families didn't have their children vaccinated.

      I have to admit that I find quite a bit of credence with the autism-vaccination link after doing some reading. Just some little tidbits to think about:

      1) The linkage is based on the use of Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, in childhood vaccines.
      2) No safety studies on Thimerosal were done, as far as I can tell.
      3) The first diagnosed case of autism was just a few years after we began giving kids Thimerosal containing vaccines. Severe autism is pretty noticable. It's not the kind of thing which just wouldn't have been noticed. It's definitely a new disease.
      4) The symptoms of autism are similar to those of mercury poisoning
      5) Autism rates rose in parallel with increasing numbers of vaccines given to kids. From 1989 to 1999, the number of vaccines given to kids increased from 3 to 22, many of which contained mercury.
      6) In 2001 they stopped putting Thimerosal in vaccines given to kids under the age of six. California tracks autism cases more closely than any other state. The rate of autism slowed it's growth in 2002 and began dropping in 2003. And it's been dropping ever since. This is now showing up in academic papers

      I think in ten or twenty years, we will collectively look back and think what the f*** were we thinking injecting babies with mercury.

    54. Re:Innoculations? by h4ck7h3p14n37 · · Score: 1
      The mumps-measles-rubella vaccine shifted from a one-dose variety to a two-dose in the late 1980s. Many people didn't get the second dose, leading to a lowered immunity.
      That statement's a bit misleading; some schools were requiring two doses of MMR long before the late 1980's. I'm now 30 and I'm almost certain I had two doses back before I started high school.
    55. Re:Innoculations? by charleste · · Score: 1

      Apparently anyone born after 1965 and before 1980 needed/needs to get revaccinated (when they went to the 2 dose vaccinne for MMR). Although the "R" part of the vaccine wasn't in place until 1969. When I went to grad school at GaTech in 1991 (sigh), I had to get revaccinated because the vaccines back then apparently didn't last. I asked for and received an official explanation at the time. So, what we have is anyone over 25 and under 41 didn't get a strong enough/long lasting vaccine. Those under 25 probably didn't get a booster. In general: anyone under 41 is most likely NOT vaccinated against MMR. As a side-bar: Rubella was declared eliminated in the U.S. last year (WebMD).

    56. Re:Innoculations? by diewarzau · · Score: 1

      As a parent of an encephalopathic child (so-called "Austism spectrum") you come into contact with a lot of crazies. There's a "theory" put forward by a father/son duo of scientists-cum-professional-witnesses that Autism is linked to mercury preservatives in vaccines. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. until recently evangelized this point of view, saying that big pharma is part of some sort of conspiracy to harm your children. RFK has since divorced himself from this viewpoint, and the "scientists" have had their funding yanked. Not to mention, the preservative has not been part of vaccines in the US since circa 2001. But parents, particularly those with at least one Autistic child, are not vaccinating their kids. If you tell them that the mercury preservative is gone, they'll tell you they have "heard of this time that someone's doctor lied to them." So many parents are opting to take on the very real danger of these deadly diseases in favor of the smoke and mirrors about Autism. Oh, and both my kids have been vaccinated.

    57. Re:Innoculations? by Grab · · Score: 1

      Good call. And you won't find any ill effects, because every study has shown that it's 100% safe. Even the guy who raised the original concern says it's safe.

      He was right to raise the concern - if you don't flag up that something looks dodgy, no-one will never know to look closer. The problem came with the tabloids (Sun/Star/Mirror/Mail) jumping on an easy scare story. The media equivalent of a zero-day exploit, basically. People naturally panicked, and the media naturally said nothing when their scare stories turned out to be pure bullshit.

      Grab.

    58. Re:Innoculations? by thebdj · · Score: 1

      I have a little card that shows all the dates of my shots. So luckily, I know I am up-to-date on those. Scary thing is that I have a card. I feel like a pet or something. "Why yes, I do have all my shots, see."

      --
      "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."
    59. Re:Innoculations? by Ginnungagap42 · · Score: 1

      I had mt DPT shots years ago. in 1998, I was one of the first people in the Washington DC area to contract pertussis (whooping cough). My regular GP could not identify the disease because he (and I for that matter) were assured that I had had my shots. But I ended up goiing to a pulmonologist who ran antibody titers and determined that, yes, I did indeed have pertussis.

      And let me tell you, pertussis is no fun. When you get it, you keep it for 4 to 6 months. You cough so hard, you can break ribs. You frequently can't breathe. And it damages your lungs, so if you didn't have asthma before, get ready for some mild asthma afterwards. If you contract it as an adult, you probably won't die from it, but it is an extremely unpleasant experience. The pulmonologist wrote it off to vaccines only being effective for so long combined with an influx of people into the country that have never been vaccinated for it. Just lucky, I guess.

    60. Re:Innoculations? by ElectricOkra · · Score: 1

      in essence, yes... they give you just enough for your body to build antibodies but not enough to get sick... but in several cases, like mine, the body does not produce the antibodies fast enough or is too busy producing them for other vaccinations received at the same time and the person actually gets sick...

      There's a difference between getting the vaccinated with the disease and getting the disease because of the vaccination...

      YMMV...

      --
      Great Spirits have always encountered violent opposition from Mediocre Minds - A. Einstein
    61. Re:Innoculations? by SillySlashdotName · · Score: 1

      Not neccessarily weakened. Most frequently it is DEAD virus or even PARTS of a dead virus (Purified Protein Coat method springs to mind) that is used to make the vaccine.

      It isn't so much of a 'practice run against a weakened opponent' as a chace to recognize the surface pattern and create (and remember) the corresponding 'key' for the next time that surface configuration is found.

      Remember, the first vaccinations were for smallpox (frequently fatal) and were achieved by giving cowpox (rarely fatal). The surface configuration of cowpox is "Close Enough" to the surface configuration of smallpox for the body to recognize the smallpox invader as cowpox and fight it off using the cowpox antibodies.

      I am not a doctor, but I DID stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night! (and worked as an ER nurse for over 10 years...)

      --
      Acts of massive stupidity are almost never covered by warranty. --me.
    62. Re:Innoculations? by kwieland+in+stl · · Score: 1

      BBC only keeps mp3s for 7 days (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/downloadtrial/faq.shtml #q2 ) I couldn't find the transcript anywhere, do you know if it is available? Kristopher

    63. Re:Innoculations? by rynthetyn · · Score: 1

      Yes, my stock line, upon being asked if I've had a recent tetanus shot is, "I had a really bad reaction to the last tetanus shot I got, my doctor said that if I am ever exposed to anything that I'm supposed to be given Human Tetanus Immunoglobulin because it's not safe to risk giving me the tetanus vaccine." Even though the paperwork for every vaccine that I've ever been given says that if you've had a serious reaction to the vaccine in the past you shouldn't get the vaccine again, and even though I always launch into what my doctor said I should do if I am possibly exposed to tetanus, I am still treated like a vaccine nut. In fact, more often than not, they act like they don't believe me that I've had a reaction.

      Not that the nurses at the Health Department even know what they're talking about though, because despite being given the 3rd degree on the tetanus thing, I had to argue with them to convince them to give me a polio booster shot because the CDC says that in the country I was visiting, the oral vaccine was not effective against the strain of polio that is prevalent and that travelers need to get the shot. They kept insisting that because I'd been given the full course of the oral vaccine I didn't need the shot, contrary to CDC guidelines.

      --
      Eagles may soar, but weasles don't get sucked into jet engines...
    64. Re:Innoculations? by pyat · · Score: 1

      MP3/podcast for 1 week.
      RealPlayer files back through the archive. The one I mentioned is here:
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/rams /inourtime_20060420.ram

      Some of the oldest realmedia files are no longer supported by the real networks player. However, I found that mplayer was more than happy to play the files (both on windows and linux)
      m

  2. I always knew University was bad for me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And our parents are trying to kill us.

  3. Wait, whatever happened to MMR? by TexasDex · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Doesn't the UK vaccinate kids for this sort of thing? The US has shown the power of childhood vaccination programs, and only a few whackos object to it because of unfounded theories that it causes Autism/Aspergers.

    --
    The Cheese Stands Alone.
    1. Re:Wait, whatever happened to MMR? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes they do, but as you said there are some who object.

    2. Re:Wait, whatever happened to MMR? by RobertLTux · · Score: 3, Insightful

      the big problem is what happens if a bug somehow (RC or ID) gets a mutation to
      1 blank the vacciene (like we know the flu bug does)
      2 increases the inucubation period
      3 ramps the bug to LETHAL
      4 includes the "airborne vector"

      --
      Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
    3. Re:Wait, whatever happened to MMR? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The media started hyping the 'dangers' of the MMR jab over here in the UK around 5-10 years ago. So loads of parents, in a Daily Mail induced 'intelligence distortion field' decided to not allow their kids to have the MMR jab.

      Bang. Suddenly all these diseases are growing in number again. Decades of hard work and effort in protecting the population against these diseases up in smoke because of the media's hyping of a still UNPROVEN link (indeed, all but one study appears to prove the opposite, but people still panic) between MMR and autism, etc.

      Sadly media is business, and sales require sensationalism, and the plebs need something to talk about and worry about and fear, so they'll continue with their irresponsible behaviour that is actaully damaging and dangerous. Quite why there aren't balances in place against this irresponsibility is beyond me...

      I'll just assume that it is survival of the fittest, where intelligence is the 'fitness' aspect. If you can't think past the lies and hype, then you stand a greater chance of your offspring not surviving when you don't give them vaccinations. Sadly too many of the plebs will survive because medicine is so good these days that even when the runts get sick because of the parent's thick fear-driven behaviour they'll mostly survive.

    4. Re:Wait, whatever happened to MMR? by WarwickRyan · · Score: 2, Informative

      We do vaccinate against all of the usual suspects - MMR, TB, Tetinus etc.

      However, thanks to Rupert Murdock's rag http://www.thesun.co.uk/ a large number of parents became afraid of the MMR jab, and thus let their children go without.

      All of that flies in the face of the scientific evidence, and of the risks - i.e. your kids are at more risk from the diseases themselves than they are a reaction to the MMR vaccine.

    5. Re:Wait, whatever happened to MMR? by Homology · · Score: 2, Insightful
      The US has shown the power of childhood vaccination programs

      Whatever gave you that idea? Vaccination was not invented in USA, nor where USA first out to have vaccination programs.

    6. Re:Wait, whatever happened to MMR? by Virtual+Karma · · Score: 1

      *cough**cough* I dont think *cough* the vaccination *cough* was effective for me *cough* *cough*

    7. Re:Wait, whatever happened to MMR? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People who take The Sun seriously deserve to be removed from the gene pool.

    8. Re:Wait, whatever happened to MMR? by jbengt · · Score: 1

      Your kids are at more risk from the diseases themselves than they are a reaction to the MMR vaccine - unless everyone else is vaccinated, then they aren't going to catch it anyway, and whatever small risk the vaccine poses, they're better off without it. This is the sort of thing that shows that enlightened self-interest won't always serve society's interest.

    9. Re:Wait, whatever happened to MMR? by TwoTailedFox · · Score: 1

      In a young body, MMR is like stomping on a child's immune system not once, not even twice, but 3 times. Nowhere in Biology do three simultanious infections occur at once.

      Now, offering 3 seperate jabs... remove the threat, even if potential, from MMR, so each vaccine can work as it was designed to: On it's own.

      --
      ~The TwoTailedFox posts again....
    10. Re:Wait, whatever happened to MMR? by JohnFluxx · · Score: 1

      Please read up on this so you don't stay yet another ignorant person.

    11. Re:Wait, whatever happened to MMR? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You do know they use mercury as a preservative in some of the vaccines...right?

      And mercury causes autism in children if they are given high enough of a dose. It's also found that after a detox program the kids return to near-normal.

      Vaccinations are a good idea, but if my kids are getting mercury along with it, you can kiss my ass; they aren't getting vaccinated until I find some vaccine without mercury in it.

  4. For Fun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    Overlay a map of illegal immigrant concentrations with out breaks of these and related outbreaks. You will notice something.

    1. Re:For Fun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What, that there's no particular relationship and you're a fucking bigot?

    2. Re:For Fun by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      Flame bait? Perhaps. None the less, it's an interesting hypothesis. Given the current healthcare status in Mexico, it doesn't not surprise me most of these illegal immigrates are potential carriers of such diseases. I still want relevant facts to back up your claim however. Got any links for further investigation?

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    3. Re:For Fun by Hogwash+McFly · · Score: 1

      The foreigners are taking our immunity!

      --
      Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
    4. Re:For Fun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In addition to mumps, the illegal mexicans are exposing the American citizenry to a whole host of horrible and incurable diseases: "Super" TB, Chagas disease, Hepatitis C, and malaria.

    5. Re:For Fun by leon.gandalf · · Score: 0

      Actually there is a huge problem with illligals from Mexico bringing diseases with them.... Just look at the mexican Health and Emplyment programs... its all info on how to get across the border...

  5. Vintage? by richdun · · Score: 4, Funny

    1864 Mumps: A little fruity, but solid, bold taste. Goes well with chicken (pox).

    1. Re:Vintage? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I had some of those when they were "childhood diseases". I feel so vintage.

    2. Re:Vintage? by spongebue · · Score: 1

      Dude, that stuff is over a century old. I wouldn't recommend having it, it could make you sick.

  6. Vintage? by escapedlabmonkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    Vintage diseases huh? I guess that makes them retroviruses.

  7. Rickets is not an infectious disease... by racecarj · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's caused by a lack of vitamin D. Children develop Rickets, typified by "bow bones." Adults get osteomalacia, with an increase in fractures. Rickets has nothing to do with "vintage diseases." All someone has to do to prevent it is a) better diet b) multivitamin c) suntan. mumps, pertussis, etc. are a different story...

    1. Re:Rickets is not an infectious disease... by Watson+Ladd · · Score: 2, Informative

      They mean rickasseti. I know I misspeled it. They cause Typhoid, Rocky Mountian Spotted Fever, and are intracellar parisites. Chalydima is one.

      --
      Inventions have long since reached their limit, and I see no hope for further development.-- Frontinus, 1st cent. AD
    2. Re:Rickets is not an infectious disease... by hwyengr · · Score: 1
      Moe: Hey Homer, a bunch of us are going to tear down Burns' sun-blocking machine. Wanna come?

      Homer: Sure, I've had it up to here with these damn rickets.

  8. You know. by kitsunewarlock · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well, the part about university students being a breeding ground for virus' and disease is nothing new. Oh wait, you said universities! Nevermind then.

    --
    Ginga no Rekshiya Mata Each page.
    1. Re:You know. by tcgroat · · Score: 1
      At college age, contracting mumps is no joke. Mom was right to let us "get it over with" in grade school, back in those prehistoric, pre-MMR vaccine days. From the Wiki:
      While symptoms are generally not severe in children, in teenagers and adults, the symptoms can be more severe and complications such as infertility or subfertility are relatively common, although still rare in absolute terms.

  9. Naaawww baby!! by mangus_angus · · Score: 1

    That rash is from...uhhhh....whooping cough! I swear! Would I lie to you cindy..I mean mindy?

  10. Bioterror? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm not trying at all to be alarmist, but after reading about some of the bio-weapons engineering work done in the former Soviet Union I do wonder if it's ONLY mumps (etc.) or if there is something sinister "piggybacking" on the "normal" disease.
    I know, this is kind of a consipiracy theory, but an article about the research in Russia gave me pause when I saw this headline. It's not likely, but not outside the realm of possibility either.

    1. Re:Bioterror? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shut the fuck up

  11. A number of issues by WindBourne · · Score: 2, Insightful
    1. One is that parents are forgetful or not knowledgable. Many parents do not know what is suppose to be done, and with insurance changin all the time, it means that a child can drop through the cracks.
    2. Illegal aliens are afraid to go to the docs, so do not get vaccinated.
    3. Finally, you have the neo-con/far right wing religious types (focus on the family) that believe the gov and science is out to get them. So they do not vacinate, even though it is irresonsible on their part. This was partialy due to the fact that the small pox vacinne was killing several hundred kids a year throughout the world even though there was no apparent outbreaks. Sadly, it was required to rid ourselves of the menance.

    What is needed is a program that is designed to track kids and even require them to get into schools. Until then, we will see more and more outbreaks.
    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    1. Re:A number of issues by zippthorne · · Score: 1, Insightful

      you neglected

      4. the New-ager/Far Left wing hippie types that believe the gov and science is out to get them. So they do not vacinate, even though it is irresonsible on their part.

      I keep hearing about "mercury levels" and Thimerosal on the radio from the "organic foods," chiropractic, and "alternative medicine" types that think vaccines are some kind of conspiracy put forth by the eeeevil medical establishment to make you treatably, but not curably ill, so they can continue to make money treating you.

      --
      Can you be Even More Awesome?!
    2. Re:A number of issues by EnronHaliburton2004 · · Score: 1

      you have the neo-con/far right wing religious types

      To be fair, there are many hippyish/far left wing types and centrist-types who don't vaccinate their kids either, or who choose to use some sort of 'homeopathic' alternative to vaccinations.

      From my perspective, the primary motivation for these parents is the fear over mercury/thimerosal in the vaccines, grouping many vaccines together in a single doctor visit for an infant, etc.

      I find it all pretty scary.

      (My family is all vaccinated)

    3. Re:A number of issues by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      My 2 y.o. daughter is going through all of her shots.

      So far, I know of several ppl who are not going through it because they believe the vaccines are not safe. Interestingly, they will home school and are FOTF types. But they pointed out about the Small Pox and gov. oversight as being their issue (and faith in god).

      But in my close COFs, I know of one person's daughter who is not getting MMR. What is intesting is that she is a bio-staticians for CU med. But her issue is that she believes that natural exposure is better. In fact, we talked about the mercury thing, and she looked into it and found nothing to back it. Another friend at the poker party is a Children's hospital emergency room doc. They are like myself, vacinating their daughter.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    4. Re:A number of issues by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      While I agree with points 1 and 2, regarding point 3 I must point out that one should not build straw men to burn down. I am a very conservative Christian, and have found the group you mentioned to generally fall in line with the same beliefs I hold. Most of the people I know, whether through church, work, etc. hold very similar views. The point is I can't say I know anyone who has refused to have their children vaccinated. Are there Christians that have done this? Probably so. Are non-Christians that have done this too? Again, probably so. I only ask that you refrain from making sweeping generalizations either to make a point or to "villainize" a group of people holding views that differ from yours.

    5. Re:A number of issues by Thing+1 · · Score: 1
      Many parents do not know what is suppose to be done, and with insurance changin all the time, it means that a child can drop through the cracks.

      I think what they perhaps should have done is carpet the floor. Or linoleum. Barring that, put the damn boards closer together.

      I also think it amusing that Kansas was the only place affected 18 years ago. I suppose, in Kansas, neither diseases nor humans evolve?

      Illegal aliens are afraid to go to the docs, so do not get vaccinated.

      Many illegal aliens can't read english, so it's understandable that documentation would scare them.

      The humor comes to an abrupt halt:

      Sadly, it was required to rid ourselves of the menance.

      What is needed is a program that is designed to track kids and even require them to get into schools. Until then, we will see more and more outbreaks.

      "Required?" No, killing children is never required. Your conclusion sounds like both the RFID and national ID card proponents, wrapped into one nice little rights-averse package.

      Does your plan include banning home-schooling? What if the parents refuse? Is it jail time for them, for not wanting "the state" to indoctrinate their offspring? Or, simply fine them until they lose their house? (Might as well have put them in jail, then, because you're most likely going to afterwards.)

      --
      I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
    6. Re:A number of issues by Jack9 · · Score: 1

      Lemme do a quick reality check. How many ppl do I know who are not vaccinating their kids because they are liberal whack-jobs afraid of autism? 0. How many illegal aliens from Mexico (with no health coverage) do I know, about 200. I think the "number of issues" is much like the "number of issues" with the spread of HIV. Yes you could theoretically spread it through toilet seats. How many people do I know who got AIDS that way? 0 More likely it's the young, poor, irresponsible, and needle users...of which I have known 5.

      --

      Often wrong but never in doubt.
      I am Jack9.
      Everyone knows me.
    7. Re:A number of issues by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      The several ppl that I refered to another post, are conservative christians, they live in the springs and attend the mass there, are associated heavily with FOTF. And yes, they said that they thought that gov could not be trusted with this (even though the serum is not from gov.).

      In addition, now that I recall it, my nephew and nieces were not vaccinated in the 80's. They were home schooled, and taught that vaccination was against god (But to be fair, their mother was more whacky, than religious).

      This was not a strawman. There is a fairly large group that does not vaccinate due to religion pushing it. It is very strong in the bible belt.

      I personally find that behavior irresponsible and illogical. They run higher risks on their children as well as on other in the society (if we could get back to the high rates of vaccination, we could irradicate some of these and then would be able to stop doing them). You may not like what I said, but you did notice where the incidents occured? Basically, along the lines of the bible belt. 'Nuff said.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    8. Re:A number of issues by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's probably an equal number of right-wing nutzoids that think vaccination is a communist plot, and/or home-school their kids and never get the vaccinations.

    9. Re:A number of issues by WindBourne · · Score: 1
      "Required?" No, killing children is never required.

      ALL of the nations ran the small pox program for some time, until it was thought that Small pox had been eradicated. Had they stopped too soon and kids had not had it for some time, then the outbreak would have caused many times more deaths than what happened by running the program as long as they had. In fact, it would have been highly illogical to stop too early, as it would nessicaitate that more ppl die in the future. It does sound cruel, but it has been decades since anybody (let alone a child) died of the pox.

      Or do you think that you would have ended it early and allowed future children to die by the millions?



      Does your plan include banning home-schooling? What if the parents refuse? Is it jail time for them, for not wanting "the state" to indoctrinate their offspring?

      Far from it. I am not opposed to home schooling. I suggested requiring vaccinations if the child attends school; as in public school. Once they are together, they are now a risk to each other.

      Any other red herring, straw man and ad hoiman attacks that you care to make?

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    10. Re:A number of issues by linvir · · Score: 1

      I've got a little red herring here for you: "ad hoiman"?

    11. Re:A number of issues by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "ad hoiman"? s/ad hoiman/ad hominem/; sad, isn't it.

    12. Re:A number of issues by mrpeebles · · Score: 2, Informative

      The fact that these outbreaks are college kids in the midwest implies to me that there significant vaccination problems with groups outside of illegal aliens. Do you ever go to Whole Foods? If you do, take a look at some of the literature there sometime. I remember seeing a magazine with a cover story about a pregnant woman who had proudly refused AZT and other AIDS medicine because, i guess, she didn't "believe" in it. Of course, to be fair I guess, the idea that you even might be giving your kid autism is scary as hell.

    13. Re:A number of issues by Gojira+Shipi-Taro · · Score: 1
      Many illegal aliens can't read english, so it's understandable that documentation would scare them.


      Maybe they should make it a priority to learn English then? or to paraphrase a certain movie "maybe you should learn a little English, if you plan on working in the states today..."

      I don't think it's too much to ask. Might make Citizens a little more inclined to accept attempts to grant them free citizenship after commiting a felony. I know I'm not particularly inclined to want someone who refuses to learn "gringo" to stick around once he's caught. Someone who actually wants to be part of the country (as opposed to just shipping money back to Mexico) I'm much more inclined to sympathize with.

      And no, it's not my responsibility to learn Spanish to help them assimilate.
      --
      "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
    14. Re:A number of issues by fermion · · Score: 3, Insightful
      pretty much these all boil down to the fact that we are at two generation that have no experience with the deadly impliciation of these childhood illnesses. I suspect that very few people even have a grandparent that has been striken by polio of mumps or cholera.

      It is not that we, at least in the US, do not try to immunize everyone. Every child who attends school must be immunized. No exceptions. I do not believe that health providers, unless the fucked up congress has done something lately, need to ask about anything before giving a shot. These shots are so critical to our public health that we ought to just be giving them away for free to every child. I mean the cost of the shot versus the cost of treating the illness and all. There is no reason to track kids. Just make sure they have shots before putting them in closed groups. Colleges should do the same.

      Again, the issue is people not understanding the security implications. Before vaccine, the number of cases and deaths were measured in thousands every year. Two generations ago Polio paralyzed at least 20,000 people per year, and now we are worried about a few hundrend with autism allegedly caused by the vaccine? Would these kids have been strong enough to survive without the vacine anyway? Sure we should make it as safe as possible, but get some perspective. In the case of mumps, there were a few hundred thousand people a years that got mumps, and perhaps a hundred died. Now the number of cases are a few thousand, with perhaps no one dies. Which world do you want to live in? It is like all thes fanatics wanting a simpler world, but who many woulg give up the air conditioning, car, fast food, non-wood stove, or TV?

      I am sure that the left and right wing wackos will be the first to complain when an outbreak occurs, but it will be their fault. There is no absolute security, but vaccines has certainly seem to make the world an overall safer place. Whether it is good to have children who would have died under normal circumstances live is up for debate, but what is not is that vaccines seem to help us all.

      On a last note, in this case it may be that the virus has outgrown the vaccine, and certainly the overuse of antibiotics and anti-viral agents, especially hand sanitizer, will help create a supervirus that could destroy us all. But vaccines are not there to kiil the virus, just to prepare our bodies for the eventual attack.

      --
      "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
    15. Re:A number of issues by zippthorne · · Score: 1

      perhaps, but they were not mentioned in GP's post.

      --
      Can you be Even More Awesome?!
    16. Re:A number of issues by hazem · · Score: 1, Informative

      4. the New-ager/Far Left wing hippie types that believe the gov and science is out to get them.

      Actually, most of the "the government is out to get me" people I know are right-wingers and libertarians. Of the people I know that won't vaccinate, all but one of them are of that variety. The one that is a hippie liberal is against most artificial things like vaccinations, but also including things like pesticides, growth hormones, chemical fertilizers (rather than good old bullshit), etc.

      Both ends are a little "out there" for me, but I'm more afraid of right-wing wackos than left-wing wackos. The right-wingers tend to kill people when they get upset, lefties just get stoned.

    17. Re:A number of issues by russellh · · Score: 2, Insightful

      4. the New-ager/Far Left wing hippie types that believe the gov and science is out to get them. So they do not vacinate, even though it is irresonsible on their part.

      Here's just one problem. Start with a healthy kid. He gets a vaccine. He falls into the small percentage of kids who get the side effects. Maybe he just gets sick. Or has seizures. Or even dies. The problem is that he was healthy, then the parents did what they were mandated to do by the government, and their kid suffered these things and is now disabled/dead.

      The only responsible thing to do is to evaluate your own risk. We need to be free to make the choice. We can't be potential sacrifices for the greater good.

      --
      must... stay... awake...
    18. Re:A number of issues by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We "do your own thing" hippies are actually libertarians. For example, Melanie is a Libertarian as documented here. Often the radical left is mistaken for hippies as can, superficially, look similar. However, the radical left follows this guy, and this guy, and this guy. Those guys are the antithesis of "do your own thing".

    19. Re:A number of issues by maxume · · Score: 1

      Antibiotics don't act against viruses. In any way.

      Most hand sanitizers are alcohol jellies which bacteria and viruses simply won't gain much resistance to, they are chemical, not biological(imagine yourself gaining immunity to a sword). Antibacterial soap has certainly done some damage to the effectiveness of that particular family of antibiotics, but if you are gonna bitch, please bitch about livestock as they're the biggest problem at the moment.

      As for anti-virals, have any of them been shown to work or do they only maybe-do-something?

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    20. Re:A number of issues by arminw · · Score: 1

      (....even require them to get into schools....)

      For many kids, public schools are the worst thing you could do to them. Inflicting some kids on public schools is about the same. Home schooling has consistently shown to result in a far better education on average than even the best public schools. Of necessity, public schools have to cater to the least common denominator students. This means that the intelligent kids are bored to tears and the slower ones are left behind. Parents should have complete freedom to decide what is best for their children. In some cases parents are irresponsible and may need some help. However, forcing all children, across the board into the mold of public education, is about the most absurd and stupidest thing anyone can advocate seriously. Crowding in schools or other ways is an excellent way to spread diseases also.

      --
      All theory is gray
    21. Re:A number of issues by Jack9 · · Score: 1

      My mom is from Kansas. The midwest is the first stop in illegal alien trafficking. The concentrated urban areas are heavily monitored, with an expensive cost of living. If you are from Kansas, you know the towns that are pure illegal aliens and probably know some traffickers. I have no reason to think that the mandatory vaccination records at Kansas colleges are forged, causing the outbreaks.

      --

      Often wrong but never in doubt.
      I am Jack9.
      Everyone knows me.
    22. Re:A number of issues by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      As for anti-virals, have any of them been shown to work or do they only maybe-do-something?

      Think about all the AIDs drugs. They work, at least for a time.
      There are a number that work, it's just that they're only effective against one virus, so it's just not worth it to develop them for non-fatal diseases. Many of them work kinda like artificial antibodies. They connect to the virus's protein body, preventing it from injecting it's payload. Some bind to the same sites as the virus, again, preventing it from injecting.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    23. Re:A number of issues by smellsofbikes · · Score: 1

      >We can't be potential sacrifices for the greater good.

      Yeah, you say that, and so does your neighbor, and the guy across the street, and thirty thousand other people.

      *I* have to be a potential sacrifice to the greater good by obeying the speed limit, even though I know I can drive faster than it sometimes. What makes you so special?

      --
      Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
    24. Re:A number of issues by stevejobsjr · · Score: 1

      It's easy to get a school immunization waiver. Furthermore, health care professionals do of course have to ask before giving immunizations.

  12. Re:Border control by cowboy76Spain · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yes... all of the illegal aliens go straight into midwest universities. That's why the illness is developing there, and not in the cities / neighbourhoods with more aliens, isn't it?

    Nice biassed theory, don't let reality stop you from quoting it...

    --
    Why can't /. have a rich-text editor? Editing your own HTML is so XXth century.
  13. Re:Border control by Dr.+Eggman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So they are infected with mumps and they cross right over the boarder, right over Texas, right over the south and settle in Iowa? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! Unless your saying they came in illegally from Canada, in which case that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

    --
    Demented But Determined.
  14. Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Have you done this already? Does such a reliable map exist? These outbreaks are in the midwest .. not in California or big cities.

    But whatever, I suppose you wouldn't hate immigrants less if they're carrying smallpox and wiping out the native population.

    1. Re:Really? by tropicdog · · Score: 1

      Hate to burst any bubble. If you knew what you are talking about, you would know that the Midwest has a very large immigrant population.

  15. I call bullshit! by WML+MUNSON · · Score: 0

    Diseases?! Originating from college dorms?!?! This just can't be true!

  16. Twenty-five percent of Americans can't be wrong! by TerranFury · · Score: 1

    (That's the percentage that has an STD. And that's just genital herpes...)

    Yay college!

  17. Not really. by WindBourne · · Score: 2, Insightful

    While aliens are a source of it, it would only be in them if everybody had their shots. Sadly, it is not. In fact, it is showing up in regular Americans due to several reasons.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  18. Holy hell.. by Khyber · · Score: 3, Informative

    Taking a look at some of the downmodded posts, I took one of their ideas, and took a nice overlay of (known) illegal immigrant population centers and outbreaks. The similarity? About 75% of the areas do overlap. That doesn't necessarily mean anything but it does raise interesting thoughts/possibilities.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    1. Re:Holy hell.. by MBCook · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Well that kind of thing can be a possibility. I have no idea if it is though.

      But here in the US everyone (more or less) gets MMR vaccines. In most places you often can't get into middle/highschool without it. The few people who were born and grew up in this country who didn't get it (and were children of citizens) didn't get it because their parent were nuts or hyper-suggestable (there is a 0.001% chance that taking vaccine X will enhance the possibility your kid will get Y by 7%, we better not give it to him).

      But with immigrants, we don't know. With legal immigrants they may get the same same (either in their home country they came from, were forced to when they moved here, etc) but if you come from some country where vaccination is not common, you may slip by (I don't think I had to prove I had my vaccinations to go to college).

      This is only made worse by many illegal immigrants being afraid of hospitals/doctors/police/etc because they think they may get reported and sent back (not all are like this, and while unfortunate I can understand the fear).

      This is just one more issue in the immigration debate. It's a smaller one (I think the drain on the tax, medicaid, and other systems are bigger), but it is still something. When someone sneaks in, we don't know what they have, what they don't have, what they are vaccinated against, etc.

      --
      Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
    2. Re:Holy hell.. by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      First off, what maps did you overlay? We would certianly like to see them. But I can think of a much better map; Consider mapping the poor and universities on the outbreaks. I suspect that we will see a higher correlation. or even the maps of income from say the last 15-20 years compared against children below age 5. I would suspect that you will see a high correlation amongst high growth areas where couples were fairly mobile and jumping across insurances. As to the associations with illegals, well, they do not tend to live in beverly hills.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    3. Re:Holy hell.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't know when we started calling University students immigrants. Anyways, there is a reason why very intelligent people say that universal health care is a basic human right. It has something to do with: we all benefit from the health of the people around us. Thank God the Republicans torpedoed Hillary Clinton's health care initiatives!! We would not want for people to be healthy -- they might want a responsive government then.

    4. Re:Holy hell.. by quarkscat · · Score: 1, Interesting

      The co-relation of 75% overlap between areas of increased (and formerly controlled)
        infectious diseases and that of increased population density of illegal aliens is not
      casual.

      There was a good reason for medical screening and innoculations that was such a
      large part of the legal immigration process at such historical sites as Ellis Island.
      Based upon monitoring of immigration news aggregators such as "www.cis.org",
      every contiguous TX, NM, AZ, and CA county to the USA's southern border, as well
      as every internal focal point of illegal immigration, has seen dramatic increases in
      HIV/AIDS and drug resistant STDs, TB, hepatitus, and even malaria.

      Border states are now (or in the process of) suing the Federal government for
      additional Medicare/Medicaid funding due to the fiscal stress on hospitals and
      urgent care medical clinics that are legally forced (and morally obligated) to
      provide free health care to the indigent, especially illegal aliens. It is only a
      small percentage of illegal aliens who, without false papers, are forced to work
      as "off-the-books" day laborers. Most illegal aliens do have documentation -
      through ID theft or ID fraud that includes SSNs, health certificates, driver IDs,
      and innoculation records. The service industry, especially restaurants, meat
      packing plants, K-12 schools and universities, all hire low wage labor whose
      documentation will not bear close scrutiny.

      If you support the USA May Day demonstrations, you can blame the next
      disease you catch on your own political inclinations.

    5. Re:Holy hell.. by DAldredge · · Score: 1

      That is because mexico doesn't have nearly as an effective childhood imunization program as the USA and Canada.

      Not a racist comment - it is fact.

    6. Re:Holy hell.. by natrius · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If you support the USA May Day demonstrations, you can blame the next disease you catch on your own political inclinations.

      Oh come on. That's bullshit. There's a difference between supporting illegal immigration and supporting changes in immigration laws to make it easier for foreigners to work here legally. If they were here legally, they wouldn't have to avoid getting medical treatment, such as vaccinations, due to a fear of getting deported.

      This is veering a bit off topic, but it's common knowledge that immigrants come here illegally because there is a demand for their labor. Why not allow them to come here legally, and in return, get the tax revenue we need to support their presence?

    7. Re:Holy hell.. by WML+MUNSON · · Score: 1, Insightful

      You're all missing the point and jumping to conclusions. "Racist post! Quick, mod this down instantly without thinking!"

      I saw the original downmodded post mentioned by the parent within the first couple minutes this story was up. Regardless of the posters intention, it had almost instantly been modded way down, and that was way before anyone put any thought into the implications brought up by his post.

      Doing what the original poster suggested, and what the parent of this post did, raises an interesting question: Is there a correlation between higher illegal immigrant populations and the spread of these outbreaks?

      The resulting data shows that often there are higher populations of illegal immigrants in the affected outbreak areas.

      This in no way suggests that Mexicans or any other race are inferior in any way. However, it brings to light the idea that these illegal immigrants (we'll assume they're from Mexico for arguments sake) come from a country where immunizations against these diseases are not as commonplace and regulated as they are here. As a result, their presence in the affected areas could very likely be a contributing factor to the spread of these diseases.

      Please don't mod posts without thinking first. Thanks, I owe ya one.

    8. Re:Holy hell.. by Gojira+Shipi-Taro · · Score: 1
      Oh come on. That's bullshit.


      Not really, but your arguement has an odor about it...
      --
      "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
    9. Re:Holy hell.. by Peyna · · Score: 1

      urgent care medical clinics that are legally forced (and morally obligated) to
      provide free health care to the indigent, especially illegal aliens


      They're only required to provide "life-saving" care, or at least care enough to bring the patient to a stable state. Once you're not in risk of dying, they can kick you out the door.

      --
      What?
    10. Re:Holy hell.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is because mexico doesn't have nearly as an effective childhood imunization program as the USA and Canada.

      Really? I think you are just assuming that is a fact and have no actual basis for your claim.

    11. Re:Holy hell.. by fermion · · Score: 1
      So we start blaming the immigrants for everything. The fact that joe is not working has nothing to do with the fact that he is an unskilled lazy person, it is that some immigrant took his job. The fact that jane is not pretty is not because she looks like a pig, but becaue the immigrants are so much prettier and will put out for half as much.

      The reality, at least in Texas is that every child must have immunizations to go to school or attend a child care facility. If no immunizations, no school. This is taken very seriously. I see kids kicked out of school all the time because of this. I missed a day of school because of this. This is practcially the only requirement to be let into a public school.

      Even day care centers are required to have all children immunized. Some immunizations have to happen as early as two years old. Now, parent may choose to put their kids into day care centers of private schools that are not in complience, but all public schools and reputable day care centers must follow these rules. There are public health centers set up everywhere to give these shots, no questions asked. Unfortunately the shots do cost around $10.

      The only exception is if the doctor thinks the shot might harm the child, or if the parent does not want to have the child have the shot. If the parent chooses not to, it still requires significant effort in terms of an affidavit. Now, tell me, who do you think is going to get such an affidavit. An immigrant that is worried about status, or a US citizen that has been watching too much daytime TV?

      This only has to do with the immigration debate if we start forcing health care providers to screen patients for status, while allowing employer to hire whomever the wish. The last thing we need is a bunch of kids afraid to get thier shots, wandering the street because they can't get into school, while their parent pack chickens at Tysons, cleans the Wal*mart, or keep the house and lawns in the nice area of town. Ultimately the firms want these immigrants for cheap labor, and the rich people want them for cheap housekeeping, and it is not costing us that much for education, and most pay taxes, at least on goods they buy, and it is always good to give kids an american education so they are biased to our way of life and don't feel like everyone in the US is evil, so all we really need to do is manage the labor supply, create a felony for those that don't do due process and hire them, create a tracking system so employer can conduct due process, and continue to provide basic healthcare for all persons who need it.

      --
      "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
    12. Re:Holy hell.. by Valar · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Actually, he's dead on. The only reason these people are a 'burden to society' is that they don't pay taxes (because they aren't in the system), but they still use government services (because hospitals can't turn away the sick [and for good reason too]. If you allow them to be here legally, they pay taxes and pay into the system like everyone else. People want to deport illegals, but don't want to give them the option to be here legally, because they don't understand the economics of the thing.

      By the way, you can't be fiscally conservative and in favor of a free market without being in favor of open immigration policies. Well, at least without being a hypocrite. Economic conservatives would be against tariffs or quotas for capital equipment or raw materials. Why do they support quotas on the import of the other input of production? Doing so keeps our markets from clearing, hurts our ability to compete internationally, and prevents our economy from operating at its full potential. Why do people support this? Politics politics politics...

    13. Re:Holy hell.. by MBCook · · Score: 1
      Thanks for the information.

      Don't misunderstand, I was not blaming the the immigrants, I was just responding to the comment. I live near Kansas and I have been hearing about this for a while now. My personal theory? These are college kids. It's not called "the kissing disease" for nothing. I think it just is an outbreak year for no good reason. I just responded because I thought the idea was interesting.

      Based on how hard it is is most places to get into school without shots like the MMR, I think the only thing illegal immigrants could do would be to bring it up here (since it is so scarce in the wild here due to vaccinations. I think they are a non-factor in this. Just thought the idea was interesting.

      But let's take it out of MMR. What if it was some disease that there is a vaccination for (doesn't "everyone" get the Chicken Pox vaccines these days?) but isn't required to get into schools (I don't know if that vaccine is). Just an interesting idea.

      As I said in my original post, other issues (taxes, medicaid, etc) are far more meaningful and important in the immigration debate than this is or probably will ever be.

      Again, thanks for the info. I'm 23 so I have little experience in what kids need to be vaccinated for to get into schools and such, just memories about what happened to me.

      --
      Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
    14. Re:Holy hell.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If they become legal then they will qualify for EITC which refunds all income and social security taxes back as long as they have kids.

    15. Re:Holy hell.. by MBCook · · Score: 2, Insightful
      And that is the rub.

      Personally I'd like to see them all deported and then have to apply to get back into the country. They broke the law and came here illegally and should have to suffer the punishment.

      That said, I also realized that for dozens of reasons that is COMPLETELY unworkable. I'm a hard-core republican but I have to break with my party on this one. There was that proposal (I think it came from Kennedy and a few others) that these aliens could pay backed taxes, learn English, and pay a fine. I think that (combined with fixes to keep new aliens from streaming in like better fencing, more visas, and a guest worker program) are the best we can do.

      They blatantly ignored our laws. I'm as mad about that as anyone else. But saying "too bad, leave the country and then come back" ignores problems like the one you mentioned (no tax revenue) because very few people will do that.

      That said, I think these protests that are scheduled for tomorrow are a very serious mistake and will only hurt support for their cause (like the Spanish Star Spangled Banner did), but that's another topic.

      --
      Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
    16. Re:Holy hell.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah I think that's likely due to the diseases we're discussing having a much higher transmission rate in climates that are like those in which there happens to be illegal immigration. By this I specifically mean 4 things, higher humidity, more warm days per year, and increased urbanization (good for getting an job, good for getting infected), high rate of frequent travel in populace (mostly legal btw). This means that the diseases affecting these areas do so for factors coincidental to immigration and should be considered unlinked.

    17. Re:Holy hell.. by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      Personally I'd like to see them all deported and then have to apply to get back into the country. They broke the law and came here illegally and should have to suffer the punishment.

      And I agree with you, while thinking that legal immigration should be far easier. Of course, I didn't like the pardon they gave all the vietnam war era draft dodgers either.

      I'll accept a pardon/amnesty if I have to to get the overall fix of reforming our immigration policies.

      Then we put some of them to work building the wall on the southern border. Being military, I think two walls, with a minefield in between would be good. Of course, they find 2-3 tunnels a season, often hundreds of yards long, that are mostly used for smuggling drugs. Of course, I'd legalize them as well.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    18. Re:Holy hell.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Being military, I think two walls, with a minefield in between would be good. Of course, they find 2-3 tunnels a season, often hundreds of yards long, that are mostly used for smuggling drugs

      Personally, I'd forego the mines and settle for a daily driveby with a truck towing some ground sonar equipment, and dropping beacons to lob some leftover bunker busters at. After all, if we're going to ever get around to killing bin Laden, we'll have to have some practice blowing up stuff thats pretty deep underground.

    19. Re:Holy hell.. by Forbman · · Score: 1

      Why not then work also to make Mexico more receptive to American individuals to own real property in Mexico, etc.?

      It ALL should more or less be a two-way street, but everyone *except* the US is allowed to be as discriminatory against American citizens, but it's bad for the US to be. That's bullshit.

    20. Re:Holy hell.. by Forbman · · Score: 1

      Parents can opt-out of MMR vaccinations for "religious" reasons in the US as well, and schools cannot resist these kids for enrolling if they refused said vaccinations because of said "religious" reasons.

      If mercury thiosulphate (or whatever it is) is such a "bad" preservative for vaccines, why is it used as a preservative in eye drops, contact lens solutions and other opthalmic products?

    21. Re:Holy hell.. by Reziac · · Score: 1

      We had an amnesty back in the 1980s. Far as I can tell, the only result was an increased flood of new illegals. (Pretty obvious here in SoCal.)

      Personally I've become all for gun turrets at the border.

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    22. Re:Holy hell.. by Ihlosi · · Score: 1
      Being military, I think two walls, with a minefield in between would be good.



      Sorry, you are thinking military. You measures are intended to slow down a surprise ground assault, but they are inadequate for keeping scores of often desparate people with lots of time and ingenuity (and sometimes little regard for human life on the side of the smugglers) on "their" side of the border.



      The following items need to be added to your design:


      * guard dog patrol facilities (they basically let the dog patrol on a fixed route, with no immediate need for a human supervisor).

      * guard towers.

      * regular patrols. Any purely "technical" security measure will sooner or later be disabled or circumvented. Therefo
      * More than just two walls, and of course lots of barbed wire.

      * Electrified fences would be nice. Set to "well done", of course.

      * floodlights. More for the psychological impact than for lighting.

      * a cleared, cover-free security zone at least 1500' wide.



      As an example of how to do it right, have a look at the German-German border (especially before 1983, when the guard dog facilities and anti-personell mines were still in place). Of course, the commies had it a lot easier with only a few hundred miles of border.

    23. Re:Holy hell.. by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      Don't need the whole thing along the entire border. That'd be the spots at highest risk of crossings.

      Heck, if they reformed immigration & drug policy like I'd like them to, we'd be able to assume anybody crossing illegally is really bad. Tamper resistant motion sensors & cameras backed up by armed patrols. And of course the walls would be topped by concertia wire.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    24. Re:Holy hell.. by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      Personally I've become all for gun turrets at the border.

      How about declaring a hunting season along the border? I mean, you'd get people to pay to play.

      Of course, I have to point out this part of my post: thinking that legal immigration should be far easier

      I'm talking of a level where it's cheaper(compared to hiring a mule), safer, and easier to come legally.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    25. Re:Holy hell.. by Reziac · · Score: 1

      But our LEGAL immigration is already EASIER than anywhere else in the world. And the whole idea of limited immigration is to keep it at a manageable trickle, to avoid overwhelming our resources (particularly at the expense of our own people). If it were as easy as some folk would like (to the point where it's no more difficult than walking across the border -- and there are a lot of areas along the border where that's all you need to do) we'd have an unmanageable flood that would dwarf even the current illegal immigration numbers.

      BTW check this article for an interesting viewpoint from an American Indian: http://www.vdare.com/misc/yeagley_indian_view.htm

      Another with some interesting points:

      http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/viewAr ticle.asp?articleID=7272

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
  19. Actual Answers... sort of... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Isn't MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) a standard set of vacines everyone gets before they go into school?

    Yes, but most schools allow a waiver. In which case the parents sign away the rights to sue the school.

    How long are those supposed to be effective?

    As a educator, my school recommends the staff gets boosters every 10 years, due to our higher then normal exposure.

  20. new age by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    "that are spread by sneezing and coughing"

    that's the new term for farking like rabbits?
    there's a reason this is huge in university towns.

    (not that i'm some prude against such acts, but come on, in this day in age you got to be reasonable)

  21. a Game Theory view of Innoculations by Hextor_Freebish · · Score: 5, Interesting

    These resurgences stem from the growing proportion of un-inocculated people in the U.S. When the proportion of people who are invulnerable to infection and transmission goes below a critical threshold, these diseases can spread through the population. The proportion of people who are not innoculated is growing because a calculated cost-benefits analysis reveals that it is wise to avoid some vaccines. There are some diseases that are now so rare in the U.S. that the expected health impact from the vaccine outweighs the risk of being unvaccinated in a by-and-large vaccinated society. In game theory terms, we have a game with two coalitions, Vaccinating and Non-vaccinating, and a couple hundred million players. All players will not join the Vaccinating coalition, because when the proportion of players is significantly above the critical virulence threshold, parents see an advantage to be gained in abandoning the Vaccinating coalition strategy and safeguarding the health of their children to some non-trivial degree. Given that the players in the game are going to continue to be free to choose whether to be vaccinators of their kids or not, not all people will make that choice. And not just because of some primitive superstition or political inclination, either. It's simple opportunism. The only thing that will shift the equilibrium of populations of vaccinators to non-vaccinators are environmental factors that affect each players' benefits analysis, such as: Fear - hysterical news coverage about the mumps and such Conformity Pressures - public shame upon those parents who break with the Vaccination Coalition of the Willing Misinformation - hysterical news coverage that insists that vaccinations don't have any negative health consequences Legislation - rolling back of laws that allow parents to not vaccinate, such as the one in Texas Such actions can be taken, but beg the question of whether they should be taken. Unless we are going to actually eradicate a disease, the Nash Equilibrium that results in the greatest good for society is the equilibrium set by the disease's virulence, A.K.A. only enough people get vaccinated for it to be an advantageous strategy to the rest to not get vaccinated.

  22. Don't forget... by Max+Threshold · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Bubonic plague, now available in California!

    1. Re:Don't forget... by alfrin · · Score: 1

      Up at Lake Tahoe Nevada/California for as long as I have known there are signs warning against bubonic plague telling people not to play with squirels because of it. As far as I know there are quite a few places with those warnings, it may not be a problem but it sure isn't gone.

  23. this could be good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "That's partly because crowded dorms and cafeterias are breeding grounds for germs that are spread by sneezing and coughing."

    Maybe this will persuade university authorities to get off their backsides and do something about the shambles that is university accomodation - at my university it's four to a flat - I understand that people have seperate rooms, but that such a thing is not the case everywhere

  24. Re:Border control by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://newsroom.hrsa.gov/speeches/southwestborder. htm

    If U.S. territory within 100 kilometers of the border were a state, its 11 million residents would rank:

            * last in access to health care, with about 30% of the population uninsured;
            * second in deaths due to hepatitis; and
            * third in deaths related to diabetes.

    Rates of several serious communicable diseases are far higher there:

            * tuberculosis along the border is six times the national rate;
            * measles and mumps are twice the national rate; and
            * HIV/AIDS is spreading rapidly, especially in the California sector.

  25. Whooping Cough Sucks by TedTschopp · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I got Whooping cough last year for about 5 months. Man did that suck. You can't sleep well at all. You wake up all the time not being able to breath. The bigger problem is that my Dr. didn't believe me and thought I had a bunch of other problems until the CDC sent out a letter. Anyway, the basic problem, I think, is that the shots I got back in the early 70's last only 30 years. So guess what. It's 30 (well 29) years later, and I got it, almost 29 years to the day that I got the shot.

    --
    Fantasy remains a human right; we make in our measure and in our derivative mode... -- JRR Tolkien
    1. Re:Whooping Cough Sucks by Goddessmisca · · Score: 1

      I also caught wooping cough last year, only lasted me about three months though, maybe four with it finally tapering off. Everyone in my dorm had it, but it wasn't until I went home from college for christmas that I found out what it was. Go figure my Family doctor knew it was going around colleges, but not the student health clinic.

    2. Re:Whooping Cough Sucks by r00t · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Strategy:

      1. Be extremely careful for two years after birth. This is when whooping cough is really dangerous. No day care!

      2. Don't worry about the disease for the next 15 to 20 years.

      3. If you haven't caught the disease by the time you are a young adult, kiss a sick person.

      4. Be immune for longer than the vaccine would give you. Getting sick at age 20 may suck, but it beats getting sick at age 50.

      5. Be paranoid again as you get to be 100 years old.

    3. Re:Whooping Cough Sucks by jbengt · · Score: 2, Interesting

      My daughter got whooping cough when she was about 2. She was sick for a while and had a miserable cough for a few months. We were pretty concerned, but after the first few days she was active and alert didn't really seem that sick - except for the cough.

      Her oldest brother had gotten the standard DPT (Diptheria/Pertussis/Tetanus) shot, which scared the crap out of us because it made him sick for a week and he had a 106F fever for 2 days. So my wife refused to let my other kids get the Pertussis (whoopping cough) part of the vaccine and they only got a DT shot.

      Funny thing, my middle kid never got the shot or the disease symptoms, despite living in close quarters with the disease (2 parents & 3 kids, 1 bathroom & 2 bedrooms).

      So I'm wondering whether the natural disease will give better immunity in the future than the vaccine did for the author of the parent comment.

    4. Re:Whooping Cough Sucks by wiljefv · · Score: 1

      Luckily for adults, the tetanus booster now contains a pertussis component. TDaP. Finally approved. I work for a state health department in the immunization section and pertussis was a major problem in our state last year because adults often carry it but show no symtoms. TDaP will save a lot of other adolescents and adults the agony you went through.

  26. Special Report: "Disease, unwanted import" by reporter · · Score: 3, Informative
    According to a special investigative report by the "Washington Times", "Contagious diseases are entering the United States because of immigrants, illegal aliens , refugees and travelers, and World Health Organization officials say the worst could be yet to come".

    The author the report further states, " In 2003, nearly 26 percent of foreign-born TB patients in the United States were from Mexico ".

    The author also warns, "Federal data suggest that as many as 10 percent of the approximately 1,000 Mexicans who emigrate to the United States daily probably are infected with Chagas , said Dr. Louis V. Kirchhoff, a Chagas specialist and a professor at the University of Iowa's medical school". Chagas is fatal and kills you via a set of debilitating chronic conditions which manifest themselves decades after initial infection.

  27. Perceived association to autism by benhocking · · Score: 1

    And, #4, some parents believe that the thimerosal (a mercury-containing organic compound) that was present in most vaccines (but is now present in only a few - such as inactivated influenza) was responsible for the meteoric rise in autism rates. Thimerosal is a preservative, and the CDC and FDA do not believe it has any connection to autism. However, many parents refuse to vaccine their kids out of the fear that their might be a connection. This is even more likely to be true in families where relatives have autism - as autism (or at least some forms of it) definitely does have a genetic component. And, of course, families that have relatives with autism are more likely to have heard of the thimerosal theory. (I say theory, not myth, because I'm not 100% sure that there isn't something to it. Time should help answer those questions since the decision to drop thimerosal from most vaccines should result in a drop in autism if thimerosal was a contributing factor to it.)

    Oh, and even though thimerosal is not present in vaccines such as MMR, there are still parents who refuse to vaccinate their kids on the theory that it could have been something else in the vaccines that was responsible. Timing is no doubt one culprit here, as autism does not usually surface until 2-3 years old, although I am aware of one child whose brother had autism who had it diagnosed prior to his first birthday.

    --
    Ben Hocking
    Need a professional organizer?
    1. Re:Perceived association to autism by SillySlashdotName · · Score: 1

      And I was diagnosed with Aspergers (a form of autism - rather "a range on the autism continuum") at 45.

      'Course I had the signs and symptoms as well as the effects (and affects) and mannerisms before then, they just were not put together as a diagnosis until then.

      --
      Acts of massive stupidity are almost never covered by warranty. --me.
  28. Illegal Aliens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They're also bringing in drug resistant Tuberculosis (it costs about 250,000 to cur it, and takes about 2 years), Leprosy (we had about 700 cases in the previous 40 years. There were about 7,000 in the last 3), Malaria, and Chagas Disease (no cure, and it's infecting our blood supply), and other previously unknown diseases.

    1. Re:Illegal Aliens by Xiroth · · Score: 5, Funny

      Foreigners coming into America and afflicting the people living there with new dieseases? For some reason, I feel like I've heard that one before.

    2. Re:Illegal Aliens by randito · · Score: 1

      Yeah right, foreigners are the only people who are guaranteed to have a medical plan. ;-)

    3. Re:Illegal Aliens by MurphyZero · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Exactly, you have heard of it before--it's a potentially VERY deadly consequence of immigration, ask the Native Americans--if you can find one. So it should come as no surprise that when some disease that is relatively unheard of in this country has an outbreak, the first thought should be that it was brought in from a foreign country. Not necessarily an illegal alien, it could have been a visitor. I haven't been paying attention lately, but the early guesses was that it came from someone visiting from England. That's the key for the initial vector. For how it spread, well, that's been talked about with regularity on this thread.

      Now, among other things, this is one of the better reasons to be against illegal immigration--see Typhoid Mary for what could happen with a legal one. Heck, for some it may be a good enough reason for some to want to really restrict LEGAL immigration.

      --
      Our founding fathers removed the guys in charge. Be American. Vote incumbents out.
    4. Re:Illegal Aliens by JonnyCalcutta · · Score: 1

      What the US should do is allow in, say about 250 million immigrants and then shut the borders.

    5. Re:Illegal Aliens by Reziac · · Score: 1

      I recall once seeing an assertion (in some college class that covered epidemiology -- my major was biochem/microbiology) that smallpox killed many times more Native Americans than all other causes combined, said smallpox being unwittingly brought over by the early European settlers.

      Smallpox had been endemic in Europe for centuries, and most Europeans had some immunity, either from having had it or by exposure to someone who had recovered from it. Conversely the North American population had NO immunological "experience" with smallpox, thus no ability to cope with this to-them new disease.

      It can work the other way around, too -- just hie yourself to Mexico City, drink the water, and experience Montezuma's Revenge. The residents have immunity to the various pathogens in the water because they've lived with them all their lives. But your first exposure will be, um, memorable...

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
  29. Just a friendly constructive comment... by TooMuchEspressoGuy · · Score: 1

    Using paragraphs makes something like this much more readable. You should use 'em in the future. :)

    --
    Many Bothans died to bring you this sig.
  30. Very Good! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You never have mod points when you need them. :-)

  31. Keep your germs to yourselves. by Scrameustache · · Score: 0, Troll

    If there's one thing that make me want to kick people in the teeth, it's seeing them cough wetly with their mouths gaping open in public places.

    Bonus: In the teeth with steel-toed boots if, after you tell them nicely to put their hands in front of their mouth, they claim they are "not contagious anymore".

    I think the japs have it right: Face mask for the sick.

    --

    You can't take the sky from me...

  32. OT Historical Note by fm6 · · Score: 1

    Rickets used to be very common before they started adding vitamin D to milk. My father had ribs that didn't quite line up because of a childhood case.

  33. They really did mean rickets by Stickerboy · · Score: 4, Informative

    They didn't call rickets an "infectious disease", they called it an old disease that is making a resurgence.

    From the article:

    "As if they didn't have their hands full with mumps and whooping cough, doctors are also starting to worry about other blasts from the past. National statistics haven't been collected, but many papers in the medical literature argue that rickets--a vitamin deficiency long thought to be a relic of the 19th century--is increasing among African-American and Hispanic kids, particularly in the North. Doctors blame it on everything from an increase in breast-feeding (breast milk doesn't contain much vitamin D) to the overuse of sunscreen (the body needs ultraviolet light to produce the vitamin).

    --
    Light a fire for a man and he'll be warm for a day. Light a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
    1. Re:They really did mean rickets by freehunter · · Score: 1

      "Overuse of sunscreen" Ummm... what was the point of preaching sunscreen then if we are all going to die from using it anyway?

    2. Re:They really did mean rickets by ChildeRoland · · Score: 1

      From that quote, it doesn't even call it a "disease" it says: "vitamin deficiency."

      --
      The mark of a mature person is not creating arbitrary criteria for considering others mature.
  34. Relax by WindBourne · · Score: 3, Informative

    Plague has been around for a LONG time. In fact, one of the hottest spots in the world for it, is Colorado. That is why the branch is located at CDC-Ft. Collins.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    1. Re:Relax by smellsofbikes · · Score: 1

      Hey now! Since I grew up in and around The Fort, I have to defend the honor of my hometown: Greeley's had more people die of the plague lately than FC! But yeah, it's all over colorado and new mexico.

      There are probably four types of plague infections: bubonic, the traditional swollen armpits and groin, infection of the lymph system; pneumonic, the traditional coughing, quick-moving infection of the lungs; septicemic, what the previous two turn into when it invades the blood and kills you right quick; and probably a long-term chronic infection in prairie dogs. Almost anywhere you have a high prairie dog population, you'll find the plague. When you have a human population and a prairie dog population intermingled, cats go find dead prairie dogs and chew on them and get pneumonic plague, come home coughing, get taken into the vet, and die before the vet can figure out what's wrong with them, and then owners or the vet come down with it -- and oftentimes die before other health providers can figure out what's wrong with THEM. The last death in Greeley was a vet just as above. One of my friends came out from New Hampshire or somewhere like that and I took him out hiking and he saw one of the signs on a fence around a prairie dog colony beside Horsetooth Lake, that said, "keep out: plague danger" and he freaked. He was all "plague? What plague? Like you mean *the* plague?" He got on a plane the next day and hasn't ever come back to visit.

      --
      Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
    2. Re:Relax by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      Went to CSU 1980-84 (microbio/gen-eng.), worked at CDC back then, and then back to CSU from 1991-93, but in C.S.. I stayed in Ft. Colley until '94.

      Where did you go to school at?

      What is funny about all this, is that even back in the 80's, they recognized that aircrafts/airports were going to make a major impact on spreading of diseases. In fact, the big threat was something like plague, which is recognized in Colorado, making its way to Chicago, NY, etc. due to some easterner who cuts off a dead squirrels tail and does not question why a squirrel dies in the west (most are killed by preditors; almost all of what is left is disease process, which is partially why we do not have vultures).

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    3. Re:Relax by smellsofbikes · · Score: 1

      Microbiology, CSU, 90-95. We probably met. I stayed in FC until 2000.

      I remember one of the epidemiology classes, maybe the one that Ian whosehistoes the guy with the british accent was teaching, they were talking about vectors and how the most recent anthrax cases in the US were from people who had purchased horse blankets made of ox or yak wool from SE Asia, that had spores in them. People don't think about where natural products have been, and what they might be bringing with them.

      --
      Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
    4. Re:Relax by PitaBred · · Score: 1

      It mostly only kills prairie dogs, though. Only a few human cases a year in Colorado.

  35. Re:Special Report: "Disease, unwanted import" by alienw · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The Washington Times is a right-wing tabloid, and this is exactly the type of BS they are known to spew. Are you going to start posting articles from the Weekly World News next?

  36. KISS by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Then why the absense of veneral diseases?

    More likely the reason is that unis cramp as many people into 4x4 yards room as they can without having troubles with PETA 'cause they have less room than laying hens.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:KISS by belg4mit · · Score: 1

      Indeed, like syphilis.

      Rickets is not a communicable disease and is completely irrelevant.

      Also of note, Gaps in Health Insurance: An All-American Problem.

      --
      Were that I say, pancakes?
    2. Re:KISS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's because universities are cults whose #1 objective is to maximize revenue, and damn the consequences for the "meat".

    3. Re:KISS by houstonbofh · · Score: 1

      Because they give condoms away at registration, not mouthwash and tissues.

    4. Re:KISS by Legion303 · · Score: 1

      "unis cramp as many people into 4x4 yards room as they can without having troubles with PETA"

      Wait, PETA cares about humans now?

    5. Re:KISS by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Well, look at it that way, if they didn't complain about college students having less than a square foot of room, they can hardly complain about hen having less than a quarter thereof.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    6. Re:KISS by Qzukk · · Score: 1

      Also of note, Gaps in Health Insurance: An All-American Problem.

      The average "Health" insurance policy isn't the answer, it's the problem.

      Before the War (when the government froze wages, forcing companies to turn to "alternative" benefits to attract employees), preventative healthcare (yearly checkups, vaccines, etc) was perfectly accessible to the average person. Back then, people didn't rush their baby to the ER because it coughed, and somehow a significant portion of them managed to survive. Back then, if you were worried about being in an accident and losing a leg or something serious, you bought "major medical" insurance.

      Enter "health" insurance. Which insures that you'll always be healthy, which is ridiculous on the face of it. Regular checkups, sick kids, the flu... just about everyone sees the doctor sometime and thats not even including cancer, broken legs, and other things that used to be the provenance of major medical insurance. Naturally, insurance that always pays out is an incredibly bad bet. So to make their money, they take in as much money as possible and hold it in investments for as long as possible, before paying out as little as possible. This is a terrible deal for everyone but the insurance company (unless the stock market takes a dive, and then it's just terrible), but the insurance companies prosper anyway, because of the above: the vast majority of working people expect to be insured by their employer. This lets the insurance companies' costs to the patients be partially hidden by the company providing their policy to their employees. And of course, on the doctors' side, the larger insurance companies hold the fact that they bring to the table millions of patients on their insurance plans against the doctors as well.

      Some might say "so? Just don't use the insurance". This problem is of the chicken-and-eggs variety (which do you kill first?). If a doctor stops taking insurance, their masses of insured patients will go elsewhere. A small handful of doctors have opened cash-only shops, mostly being regarded as either "botiques" for the rich, or "clinics" for the poor, neither of which would be frequented all too often by the middle class. Of course, the patient could give up their insurance and use their newfound cash to pay for healthcare out of pocket, but they would have their own set of problems. Doctors are often seen as "inflating" charges for uninsured patients to make up for low payments by insurance companies. While this is certainly true in a good number of cases, it's not the whole story: Most of the major insurers contractually set the doctors' charges for uninsured patients, through a simple little clause that requires the doctor to never charge uninsured patients less than they charge the insurance company. Thus, if the doctor charges the insurance company $100 for an office visit so that they can get $20 back, the doctor is required by the contract to charge the uninsured patients at least $100. After all, if the doctor thinks an office visit is worth $50, then they shouldn't try to charge the insurance more. This has the (probably fully intended) side effect of scaring the patients into staying on the insurance: after all, everyone knows how EXPENSIVE it is if you aren't insured.

      So my answer is to somehow abolish what we now know as health insurance. Return to the days when the doctors could set their own rates for what they do, and patients could make their choices on the free market. Return to the days when insurance companies offered policies that measured risk, rather than offered a guaranteed payout. Sure, some patients will band together and make agreements with a doctor ("I employ 3000 people. Give them a 10% discount and I'll send them all to you") and I'm fine with that as long as it no longer reaches the point where these groups are ordering how the doctors will treat non-members.

      Until then, we're living with a market distortion so large that socialist medica?? is merely an insect smeared upon the windshield of a runaway ambulance.

      --
      If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
  37. Mumps in adult males can be evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    F34r teh mumps! This is one disease I'm glad I got when i was a child. I'm most likely immune to getting it again. As an adult male, these knots can result in orchitis (inflammation of the testicles.) I had a friend in college get it and he said it felt like he was kicked in the balls and the pain wouldnt go away. Have fun with that.

  38. Fake science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If U.S. territory within 100 kilometers of the border were a state, its 11 million residents would rank:

                    * last in access to health care, with about 30% of the population uninsured;

    Ok, how is this a disease they're importing?


                    * second in deaths due to hepatitis; and
                   


    Which state is first?


                    * third in deaths related to diabetes.

    Which state is first and second. Also DIABETES IS NOT CONTAGOUS! Are you ignorant? Actually these deaths are more than likely because these people don't have access to diagnosis treatment (caused by lack of access to health insurance and would explain the hepatitis stat too).

    Rates of several serious communicable diseases are far higher there:

                    * tuberculosis along the border is six times the national rate;


    Which state has the most ..has this to do with environment? Ok whatever .. you found an anomaly. What's the numbers for toenail fungus prevalence?

    * measles and mumps are twice the national rate; and


    Who's first? Also, as proven above they dont have access to health care insurance

    * HIV/AIDS is spreading rapidly, especially in the California sector.

    Mexico has a lower HIV prevalence than the United States!

      http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ mx.html

    --

    Anyway whatever .. you hate these people and you'll interpret whatever half ass "science" and "statistics" to favor you. You'd hate them regardless of what they're carrying. "No room in the inn" is the phrase we're hearing. "Reject the lepers". Etc.

    Not all illegal aliens are here to steal! They may have broken the law (ever speed?), but it's a) it's a misdemeanor b) they are seeking to work and improve their family's lives while providing a service

    ===

    Leviticus 19:10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 19:33 "'When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Deuteronomy 10:18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.

    Jeremiah 7:6 if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm,

    Jeremiah 22:3 This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

    Matthew 25:
      42
            For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
    43
            a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.'
    44
            18 Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?'
    45
            He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.'

  39. Way too much sleep deprivation... by DigitalHammer · · Score: 1

    Did anyone else first read the title as "Venereal Diseases Making a Comeback?" :/

    1. Re:Way too much sleep deprivation... by BCW2 · · Score: 1

      The sad thing is VD is getting worse. Check the CDC stats, it's getting worse than the late 70's, in many parts of the country.

      As for the "vintage" diseases, the vaccines don't seem to last for ever. I only had the smallpox one in the late 50's. I had most of the other diseases as a kid, mumps, measles (both), chickenpox. They hadn't invented the vaccines yet. Should I get vaccinated, at 49, for anything I already had? My kids were vaccinated for everything and several have been repeated.

      --
      Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
  40. many other problems though by r00t · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The immune system is an unstable beast. Get it confused, and it kills or maims you.

    Without the benefit of technology or even neurons, the immune system must somehow learn to attack the right things. Don't destroy the skin. Don't destroy the ear. Destroy the mumps virus. Don't destroy the pancreas. Destroy bacteria in the heart. Keep the intestinal bacteria from getting out, but don't destroy the intestines while doing so.

    Now, you poke this unstable beast. Most likely you get the desired result. There is a decent chance that nothing happens at all. Sometimes, the unstable beast goes into a fit of rage and decides that nerve cells are evil, maybe because there was a nerve cell found at the injection site or, well, "just because". Maybe it decides that the liver is an alien parasite growing in your chest.

    There are plenty of military examples. The famous one was a female Apache pilot. (bias? no, of course this never happens to males...) She never flew again.

    A vaccine is only good if the benefit exceeds the risk. Risk depends on your exposure to the disease and your general health. A kid in a low-cost L.A. daycare center has far more risk than a kid growing up in an isolated community of people who value personal space and extreme sanitation, but far less risk than a malnourished kid in a refugee camp. Evaluate your risk.

    1. Re:many other problems though by shawb · · Score: 1

      In addition, LACK of exposure to vuruses/bacteria is also the number two or three suspect behind the drastic rise in allergies and asthma that the medical community has seen (number one suspect being smoking parents, I believe.) The purported link has something to do with the immune system not being trained to attack organisms. This means there is not as much of a buildup of the B cells which make up specific resistance to pathogens, so the body assumes there is a failure in the immune system and therefore kicks the C cell resistance, which is far more general than B cell resistance into overdrive. The more general resistance is more likely to cause autoimmune and hyperimmune effects.

      --
      I'll never make that mistake again, reading the experts' opinions. - Feynman
    2. Re:many other problems though by From+A+Far+Away+Land · · Score: 1

      The risk to humanity long term is greatest if we don't wipe out these bugs while we have the infrastructure and effective vaccine to do it with. Mumps is one disease that I think we could eliminate with a well pressed vaccination effort worldwide. Slacking off in one area only leaves a zone for the disease to make a comeback eventually.

      It's crazy though that they ever put a mercury product in an injection, however. That is just too stupid.

  41. It's a side-effect of illegal immigration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    A slew of illigal immigrants from the poorest countries in the latin America are coming across our borders without passing any medical tests. Since they come from the poorest regions and have not had any sort of innoculations, they're the perfect carriers for these diseases.

  42. Re:Special Report: "Disease, unwanted import" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    alienw (585907) asserts that the claim, " In 2003, nearly 26 percent of foreign-born TB patients in the United States were from Mexico. ", is an outrageous lie.

    There is just one problem. What is alienw's source for his refutation?

  43. Re:Special Report: "Disease, unwanted import" by Dis*abstraction · · Score: 1

    That's why we should grant them permanent residency. Proper documentation makes it easier to get health care, including treatment and proper immunizations for children.

  44. No one posted the obvious pop-culture reference? by kimvette · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Remember this Brady Bunch episode?

    --
    The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
  45. Re:Border control by quarkscat · · Score: 1

    I will respect you enough to merely consider your remarks as "uneducated" rather than either an ignoramous or a troll.

    Illegal aliens that cross the USA's southern border, including Mexicans (largest percentage),
    Latin Americans, East Asians including those from China, Korea, Indonesia, and Phillipines,
    West Asians including those from India and Pakistan, Africans, and Arabs all migrate to
    all parts of the USA, including along the USA's northern border.

    The web is a great tool for gathering news and information, if one should decide to dedicate
    some time and effort instead of a knee-jerk reaction. News aggregators such as www.cis.org,
    google, and yahoo have had links to local news stories about public outcry over Mexican
    day laborers in such places as Idaho, West Virginia, and New Hampshire, Mexican document
    mills run in such places as Washington, Tennessee, and Georgia, MS-13 gang activity in such
    far-flung locales as Arkansas, Iowa, and Maine.

    Please engage the tools available on the internet prior to unthoughtful posts.

  46. Vintage Disease Styles? by highfructose · · Score: 2, Funny

    New vintage styles available at Old Navy! Hawaiian tanks in all sizes, starting at $8.95! Whooping Cough, for man woman and baby, starting at just $14.95! Smallpox-infested blankets FREE with purchase!* Come see what's new this week! *Minimum 100 per store. Must be purchased on same receipt.

    1. Re:Vintage Disease Styles? by MBCook · · Score: 1
      Not worth it.

      Call me when Leprosy is back in style with the free trip and lifetime lodging in Hawaii.

      Now THAT'S a deal!

      --
      Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
  47. Right Approach: Enforce the Immigration Laws by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    The right approach is to enforce the immigration laws. We should station American troops on the American side of the Mexican border. Our first obligation is to prevent Mexicans from entering the USA and infecting the American population.

    At the same time, we eliminate Mexican politicians (by forcing them to resign) who enact policies that destroy the Mexican economy. Mexican society is a substantial fail. Mexican society is a failed society. The Mexican people, without aggressive and invasive American intervention, cannot build a successful society. The Mexicans (and the Indians) are a failed, substandard people.

    The right way to fix the illegal-alien problem is to impose a workable solution on Mexican society.

  48. one side only? by r00t · · Score: 1
    If you can't think past the lies and hype, then you stand a greater chance of your offspring not surviving PERIOD.


    I can find plenty of lies and hype on both sides of this. Can you?


    Check the domain registrations for $DISEASE.com some time. I did. Hmmm...

  49. Re:Right Approach: Enforce the Immigration Laws by Dis*abstraction · · Score: 1

    Sure. You go plant the WMDs in Tijuana and I'll go notify the Post. We'll have the country on our side in no time.

  50. we are really dumb about where we live by r00t · · Score: 1

    Why do pale-skinned people live in Arizona and Utah? Do they like skin cancer?

    Why do dark-skinned people live in Chicago and Detroit? Do they like Rickets?

    If we ever get around to genetically engineering a fix: make the body produce Vitamin D in a sane way, and either reflect the excess light with silvery skin or re-emit it with fluorescent skin. Absorbing the UV just turns it into heat, which is lame.

  51. Some Facts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    This article provides the necessary statistical data buttressing your assertions.

    Unfortunately, the Mexican and Indian moderators have denoted the SlashDot article as "overrated". That's Mexican and Indian, for ya.

  52. Re:Special Report: "Disease, unwanted import" by Descalzo · · Score: 1

    But he didn't make that assertion. He didn't have anything whatsoever to say about the article or what it says or means. He seems to be changing the subject.

    --
    I cried real tears when Li Mu Bai died.
  53. Scare story of the month... by evilviper · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I guess we're getting this story now because people wised-up about "Bird Flu". Which, of course, was the successor to the short-lived "Super Volcanos" scare, which was itself the successor to the "World-ending Asteroid" scare story.

    It's not that the stories themselves are complete nonsense, it's the way that they are handled. It's as if each one is the focus of world attention for a few weeks, then COMPLETELY disappearing when the ratings drop. Then a short intermission, and the next one comes along with more hype than the last.

    I sure am glad that asteroids and bird flu aren't a threat anymore (who fixed them, BTW?), and I can focus on being scared by this new thing.

    --
    Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    1. Re:Scare story of the month... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Psst: Water wars, global dimming, global warming, fish stock collapse, mercury and pcb contamination of fish, extinction events, nano-particulate pollution, clear-felling, strip mining, deep sea coral beds wiped out by trawling etc. etc.

      Face it: None of these things will be solved. Everyone will ignore them even beyond the point at which they begin to affect them, and one or more will seriously fuck human society over within our lifetimes.

      (My guess is the fish stock collapse. Fish stocks worldwide (both commercially hunted and non-hunted species) are at 10% of pre-Industrial levels. Fish protein makes up over 50% of all protein supplied to humans worldwide, and indirectly even more as fish byproduct is used for supplementation of farmed fish and animals. Guess what happens in 20-50 years when supplies are wiped out and all useful species are either commercially or actually extinct?)

      I mean, I agree with you about the media and most people's blatant ability to ignore anything that makes them feel uncomfortable - I just don't think there's a solution. This society is pretty much fucked for the majority of people.

  54. Rickets? by crmartin · · Score: 2, Informative

    Rickets??

    That's Vitamin D deficiency. That's not an infectious disease --- that's people having a panic about suntans and fat in the diets. Let kids have regular whole milk (which is Vitamin D enriched) and play in the sun without dipping them in sunscreen and it'll go away.

    1. Re:Rickets? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Okay, this has nothing to do with fat in the diets. Skim milk has the same amount of vitamin D.

      Sunscreen is a good idea no matter how you slice it. Sunburns, premature wrinkles and skin cancer aren't my idea of a good time.

      If you are living to the north, have darker skin and won't eat food to make up for the lack of naturally occurring vitamin D, a vitamin supplement would probably be a good idea. Honestly, given how few people get adequate vitamins and minerals, a supplement is probably a good idea regardless.

  55. Here's a link to the facts. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    This article provides the statistical data supporting the fact that immigrants are bringing contagious disease into the USA.

    Unfortunately, the Mexican and Indian moderators have moderated the SlashDot article as "overrated". That's Mexican and Indian, for ya.

  56. State Universities by daemonenwind · · Score: 1

    In WI, it doesn't take much to prove residency and get the "in-state" rates for the University of Wisconsin system. Between that and the various financial aid programs, you'd actually be surprised how many kids are the children of immigrants and going to colleges. Even here in the midwest.

    Milwaukee, for example, has a very large population of Mexican immigrants in the SE part of the city. For example, the 13th Street Viaduct is called the longest bridge in the world....because it connects Mexico to Africa. (large black population is in the NE part of the city)

  57. Nifty! by Rachel+Lucid · · Score: 0

    The diseases of yesteryear are infecting the workers of tommorow! How Ironic!

    1. Re:Nifty! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The diseases of yesteryear are infecting the workers of tommorow! How Ironic!

      It's just like rain on your wedding day!

  58. Kansas, huh? by TACNailed · · Score: 1

    My bet is they're praying rather than immunizing.

  59. Statistical Data Confirming Immigrant Diseases by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    This article provides the statistical data supporting the fact that immigrants are bringing contagious disease into the USA.

    Unfortunately, the Mexican and Indian moderators have moderated the SlashDot article as "overrated". That's Mexican and Indian, for ya.

  60. Re:Special Report: "Disease, unwanted import" by Gojira+Shipi-Taro · · Score: 1

    Excellent point, and an excellent reason to SECURE our borders and stop the flow of illegal invaders.

    --
    "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
  61. Mumps in adulthood=bad by Goonie · · Score: 1

    Mumps is considerably worse as an adult than as a kid; notably, there is a chance (if a small one) that it can leave you sterile. Vaccinate your kids...

    --

    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
    --Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
    1. Re:Mumps in adulthood=bad by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 1
      ...notably, there is a chance (if a small one) that it can leave you sterile.

      Like that would make a difference to most Slashdotters.

      Vaccinate your kids...

      OK - now I know it's a joke. I think you meant "Make sure people who have kids vaccinate their kids."

      --
      That is all.
  62. Proof of Immunizations by Errandboy+of+Doom · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm a law student at the University of Kansas, where the outbreak hit a few weeks ago.

    The outbreak hit despite the school's immunization policy, which has always required proof of two vaccinations against MMR.

    It would seem, as a previous commenter suggests, and as some news reports corroborate, that the outbreak is affecting those already vaccinated.

    ""
    Most of the current cases have been among people who were vaccinated. But that doesn't mean the vaccine has become less effective, Seward said.
    No vaccine is capable of protecting everyone who receives it, she said. Five percent to 10 percent of people vaccinated for the mumps will fail to gain immunity.
    These are probably the people who are becoming ill.
    "The mumps vaccine is still protecting huge numbers of people," Seward said. "We would expect thousands of people to get sick if there wasn't good immunity in the community."
    ""
    -The Kansas City Star

    1. Re:Proof of Immunizations by garcia · · Score: 1

      The outbreak hit despite the school's immunization policy, which has always required proof of two vaccinations against MMR.

      In Minnesota, an area that hasn't seen too many mumps cases but is very close to the 650+ cases in Iowa, students aren't required to show proof of immunizations if they attended a MN high-school after 1997.

      I work in the college system in Minnesota and they generally don't have any problems accepting the word of students when they are admitted when they write in the month/year of their vaccinations.

      I am going to assume that most people lie because you'll rarely see proof attached to their forms.

    2. Re:Proof of Immunizations by rmckeethen · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It was trivial to get an immunization waiver at my state college in California. I wouldn't be surprised if it was equally easy in other colleges across the country. As I recall, all I needed to do was say, "I have religious objections to immunizations." After that, the health center staff handed me a form, I signed it and the college never bothered me again about the issue. I was fairly certain that I'd had the proper immunizations as a child, but I just didn't want to spend hours and hours hunting down the paperwork to prove it. A couple of months later, just to be on the safe side, I took advantage of a free immunization offer at the student health center and recieved the MMR injection. I can easily imagine that other students took the same out I did, but had never had their immunizations in the first place.

  63. Except... by CarpetShark · · Score: 1

    Yep, retrovirus. Except, when MSNBC is writing about it, it's a self-referential document.

  64. Lack of Links to Sources by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Where's your god-d**ned sources to support your claims? The grandparent post gave a link to the facts.

    Where is your hypertext link?

  65. Re:Border control by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 1

    Doctor Michael Savage? You mean Doctor of nutrition science, right?

    I'll ask my mechanic for medical advice first, thanks.

    --
    Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
  66. Re:Rickets and Vitamin D Sources by billstewart · · Score: 1
    The article _says_ it's a deficiency disease, not an infectious disease (and yes, it's pretty shameful that we've got problems like that these days.)

    Whole milk vs. skim milk doesn't make a difference - it's vitamin-enriched milk vs. non-vitamin-enriched milk, and milk-drinking vs. non-milk-drinking. But a lot of the problem is that rather than educating the population about getting enough vitamins, the public health folks are doing top-down solutions like drugging milk, grains, salt, and drinking water, and making monocultural assumptions about how effective that is. Some African-Americans, most East Asians, and some other ethnic groups don't generally drink milk the way those of us with Northern European ancestry do, because they have trouble digesting it, so vitamin-enriching milk isn't very helpful, in spite of the US dairy industry's attempt to get everybody to drink milk. (I've seen articles on the net suggesting that various ethnic groups, particularly Europeans, have inherited mutations that make cow milk more digestable than in standard humans. I'm not sure which African groups have trouble with it - I'd expect that cattle-herding societies like much of north-eastern Africa would also be able to digest milk well, so maybe it's more regional.)

    And then there's sun-screen - Black people bring their own, and living in cities in the North as opposed to farms in the South or Africa cuts down a lot on sunshine. Recent articles have suggested that Europeans and light-skinned Asians have separate mutations for the Vitamin D bit that let their ancestors move north.

    --

    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
  67. And to actually learn something... by Estanislao+Mart�nez · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Go and look up at actual statistics that directly correlate measured health with ethnicity in the USA, and you will find that Mexican immigrants are actually healthier than the population at large. (And note that this is the New Republic I'm citing here.)

    What does your claim tell us? That you don't care to look at actual facts. You have your set of preconceptions, and are on the lookout for facts that confirm it.

    1. Re:And to actually learn something... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cram it up your ass you fucking wetback spic piece of shit.

      Want to hear my dream? Every nigger in this country swimming back to Africa with a beaner under each arm.

  68. Re:Special Report: "Disease, unwanted import" by alienw · · Score: 1

    I'm not refuting the claim, you fucktard. I'm pointing out the xenophobic spin. Read the statement:

    In 2003, nearly 26 percent of foreign-born TB patients in the United States were from Mexico

    First, is TB a significant problem in the US? It's not. Second, we are only looking at foreign-born patients -- given that the vast majority of immigrants in the US are from Mexico, 26 percent is a rather small number. So what's your point again, you racist shitbag?

  69. fear mongering by cahiha · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The immune system is an unstable beast.

    Insects alone inject so many different proteins into you during your lifetime that if each exposure to a new protein carried a big risk, everybody would have immune system problems. In reality, malfunctions of the immune system tend to be due to specific defects, not some sort of general instability, as you claim.

    A vaccine is only good if the benefit exceeds the risk.

    Except when there are known medical reasons against vaccination, the benefit always exceeds the risk for childhood vaccinations. That's no accident, it's the result of a long approval process that looks at exactly this question in detail.

    1. Re:fear mongering by r00t · · Score: 1, Interesting
      I guess you didn't notice that immune system problems are indeed common. Lots of everyday problems, both major and minor, are related to the immune system. Example: eating sesame seeds may make your throat get constricted. That's an immune system problem. Have any joint pain? How about pollen that makes your eyes itch?

      If you think the benefit always exceeds the risk, one of these is true:

      • You didn't read what I wrote.
      • You didn't understand what I wrote.
      • You play at game theory, wanting yourself to benefit by maximizing the number of other people (not you) who vaccinate. (it's benefit to you if others bear the risk)

      No two people have the same risk. My risk may be higher or lower than yours. The government is not about to issue personalized risk assessments.

      Government isn't an all-knowing benevolent servant. I suggest you consider why drug companies hire lobbyists. The "campaign contributions" happen for a reason, and they get results. (no different from telecom, defence contractors, the RIAA and MPAA, etc.)

    2. Re:fear mongering by cahiha · · Score: 1

      I guess you didn't notice that immune system problems are indeed common.

      I didn't say they were "uncommon", I said that you were wrong to claim that the immune system is "unstable". If you have a hypersensitivity or a runny nose, you're not experiencing some random behavior by a normal immune system, you're experiencing either a defect or a pathogen.

      No two people have the same risk. My risk may be higher or lower than yours. The government is not about to issue personalized risk assessments.

      You don't need a personalized risk assessment--the risk of complications is so low for people with normal immune systems that there simply is no tradeoff--otherwise, a vaccine doesn't get approved. Furthermore, the risk for the complications that can occur is much higher for the actual disease than for the vaccine, and chances are you will get the disease if you don't get vaccinated.

      You play at game theory, wanting yourself to benefit by maximizing the number of other people (not you) who vaccinate.

      I have gotten all my childhood vaccinations, plus several vaccinations that have become available more recently. And I'm very much looking forward to several new vaccinations in the pipeline against common diseases--in each case, the vaccination handily beats not only the discomfort, but also the health risk from actually getting the disease.

      If you think the benefit always exceeds the risk, one of these is true:

      You left out the fourth possibility, the correct one: you are a tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy nut.

      On the one hand, we have scores of medical experts looking at risks during the approval process, conducting one study after another, looking for side-effects and other problems, and writing report after report. On the other hand, we have you, making unsubstantiated assertions and providing no data at all.

    3. Re:fear mongering by Reziac · · Score: 1

      It's the new religion: if there's a proper scientific explanation, it must be wrong! After all, everything bad is caused by cell phone and UFOs. Otherwise there's no reason for having such a tightly-fitted tinfoil hat. :)

      [BTW you're absolutely right on all counts.]

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
  70. No, it doesn't raise any thoughts. by Estanislao+Mart�nez · · Score: 1
    That doesn't necessarily mean anything but it does raise interesting thoughts/possibilities.

    No, it doesn't raise any of your thoughts. You already had the thoughts in question beforehand, and you feel whatever correlation you have in mind justifies you in what you've believed all along. That's very different.

    Now, there are facts you could seek out that would seriously support or disconfirm your expectations. You could actually look for real statistics correlating the incidence of various diseases with factors such as ethnicity, gender, social class, population density, and so on. However, you clearly do not care to do so, because you are only interested in "evidence" that merely sounds as if it might confirm what you want to believe.

    Meanwhile, in actual public health circles, there is a discussion going on about what has been called the "Latino Health Paradox." This is a collection of facts that a number of people have measured, indicating that Mexican immigrants to the USA, overall, tend to be in better health that the American population at large. Here's, for example, a New Republic article on the phenomenon.

    1. Re:No, it doesn't raise any thoughts. by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      Makes sense, many of them have to travel miles and miles on foot in order to enter the USA. Many don't have vehicles even in the states. The ones in bad health tend to stay at home, or die on the way.

      However, just because they're healtier on average doesn't mean much if they're not vaccinated and become a vector for spreading disease.

      My quick solution: free vaccinations, no questions asked.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    2. Re:No, it doesn't raise any thoughts. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      No, it doesn't raise any of your thoughts. You already had the thoughts in question beforehand,
      You seem to have disregarded the possibility that someone else might read it. Perhaps they should force all you wetbacks to learn English.
  71. Stay realistic by Opportunist · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Terror only works if you manage to "inform" the victim that they're attacked. What's terror good for if there's no panic? Panic is one of the key goals of terror.

    Imagine 911 would have gone unnoticed. Ok, hard to do, but let's imagine. 3000 people dead. Now, if you take gunfights, accidents and all those other opportunities to loose your life prematurely into account, you get a WAY higher number when you only count the deaths of a year, in the US alone.

    And it's not like Al Quaida blew up a building per month, now did they?

    Now, while it was certainly quite unpleasant, if you only take the body count into account, it was not really something to write home about.

    So what's the big deal about it? The big deal is that an outside force attacked the USA. That's it, in a nutshell. And that's what created the panic. Not that people died. Not that 2 (actually a few more) buildings crumbled. But that some outsider could do it.

    Now imagine nobody would've noticed. Imagine Al Quaida wouldn't have stood up and said "Yeah, it's us over here. We did it." It would've been brushed off as the actions of some loonatics. Clever loonatics. Well prepared loonies, but loonies.

    So what is a bio attack good for if there's no panic? It's not like you can kill a sizable portion of the US population that way. At least not enough to actually cause any weakening of its. commercial or military power. If any place, such a "sneaky" attack would have to occur to its military forces. But a civilian attack without an accompanying message to create the panic is pointless.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  72. Humans? by CCFreak2K · · Score: 0, Troll

    I thought it was humans that were the disease of the planet...

    --
    "Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master."
  73. Smallpox and Polio issues are different by billstewart · · Score: 1
    Smallpox hasn't been seen in the wild in a long time - the only known stockpiles of the germs are in US and Russian germ-warfare labs. The Bush Administration (particularly Scooter "Germ Boy" Libby) made a big political push to scare the US into developing lots of smallpox vaccine, innoculating a big chunk of the population, and therefore risking some resurgence of the disease because of occasional vaccine problems, allegedly because the Russian supplies of the germs might be stolen by or sold to terrorists. (After all, there's no risk that the US WMD stockpiles would ever be compromised or abused, unlike, say, the US military weaponized anthrax that was used in the attack on Congress after 9/11.)

    Polio's a much different problem. It's still out there in the wild, and while most of the world has been innoculated against it, there are places that haven't been. The most serious outbreaks have been in Nigeria, where a bunch of evil stupid self-aggrandizing demagogue politicians have been telling their people not to get vaccinated because the vaccine is a Western Christian CIA Whitey plot against African Muslims and will do Terrrrible Awfulllll things to their children like sterilize them or give them AIDS. That's led to thousands of children being crippled by a disease that's easily preventable, and keeps the disease circulating where it's more likely to infect people who weren't successfully vaccinated (either because they didn't have access to the vaccine or because it was randomly ineffective with them or they got a bad vaccine batch or whatever, or because they've got AIDS or other problems compromising their immune systems.)

    --

    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
  74. Old school! by musakko · · Score: 1

    Soon we'll all be getting vague Victorian maladies, and things like Consumption, and taking a trips to the warmer climes on doctor's orders..

    1. Re:Old school! by spike1 · · Score: 1

      Consumption never went away...

      Oh, we all got the jabs, but it's mutated into a resistant strain since then and is starting to be a problem again.

      (You may remember it as TB or Tuberculosis)

    2. Re:Old school! by JonnyCalcutta · · Score: 1

      That's not a problem if you take regular doses of Doctor Crabtrees Patented Unction, like I do.

  75. Childhood disease strengthens the immune system by usurper_ii · · Score: 3, Informative

    A lot of these childhood diseases actually help strengthen the immune system. Here is an article from The Lancet, which explains that, while the measles vaccine does stop you from getting a rash...the rash is actually the body killing the virus. By stopping the rash, many vaccinated people get MUCH MORE SERIOUS diseases later on in life because they still have the virus, but because of the vaccine, the body can't get rid of it. The biggest majority of these diseases are a pain, but rarely life threatening. I would much rather have measles than lupus erythematosus, Scheurmann's diseases and chondromalacia, which are all chronic degenerative diseases...which means the doctor says, "it sucks to be you." -- Usurper_ii

    More info:

    -=-=-=-=-

    An article in the January 5, 1985 issue of The Lancet is titled "Measles Virus Infection Without Rash in Childhood is Related to Disease in Adult Life." The research, based in Denmark, investigated the histories of people who claimed they did not have measles when they were children. Many of these people with no measles rash as a child, however, were found to have in their bloodstream antibody evidence of the measles infection. Significant numbers of these people had been vaccinated for measles, and "A high proportion of such individuals were found in adult life to have developed immuno-reactive diseases such as sebacious skin disease, tumours and degenerative disease of the bone and cartridge. These included cervical cancer, skin cancers and cases of multiple sclerosis."

    The fact that the normal progression of measles was halted by the vaccination appears to have prevented the body from destroying the measles virus. This destruction of the virus takes place in the "spots" for which measles is known, but when the vaccine prevents the spots and fever from occurring, the measles virus is not destroyed, and stays in the body through adulthood, the medical journal article explains.

    The Lancet article is further quoted by Chaitow, concluding that, "If this association is correct, absence of a rash may imply that intracellular virus escapes neutralization during the acute infection, and this, in turn, might give rise to developmental disease subsequently."

    "Put simply this means that, as part of the process of neutralizing the invading virus, the body literally 'burns' up the cells which contain (measles virus). This incineration takes place at the site of the spots or rash, which measles are known for. If this is stopped in some way (as by an inoculation with a vaccine) then the rash is prevented and the virus survives and lives on in the body, only to cause havoc later," Chaitow writes. Among these people vaccinated for measles and who did not have a rash, the diseases they displayed later in life included lupus erythematosus, Scheurmann's diseases and chondromalacia, which are all chronic degenerative diseases.

    "This research confirms the worst fears of those who have speculated on the possibility of viruses remaining dormant for many years after immunization. It also shows the folly of suppressing a self-healing mechanism, such as is displayed by the healthy body in response to infection. A healthy child will suffer no ill-effects from infection by measles virus. A child whose immune function has been modified and impaired by immunization methods, will be unable to adequately deal with such a virus, and may later suffer chronic degenerative disease, of one sort or another. This is no longer mere speculation but is, of course, not proved beyond all doubt. However, there is sufficient evidence to allow for the calling of a halt to the direction in which immunization is taking the human race, and to ask for emphasis to be restored to that aspect of the defense mechanism which has been neglected, the nutritional effort which can boost defenses without harmful potentials," Chaitow suggests.

    And the British author concludes, "We have seen earlier that the possibility exists for transfer of genetic material from viruses in the body, to the cells of the body, thus altering their code and their future pattern of reproduction. If malignant changes are part of that new genetic code, then that is what will be produced as the cell reproduces."

    1. Re:Childhood disease strengthens the immune system by Forbman · · Score: 1

      By stopping the rash, many vaccinated people get MUCH MORE SERIOUS diseases later on in life because they still have the virus, but because of the vaccine, the body can't get rid of it. The biggest majority of these diseases are a pain, but rarely life threatening. I would much rather have measles than lupus erythematosus, Scheurmann's diseases and chondromalacia, which are all chronic degenerative diseases...which means the doctor says, "it sucks to be you." -- Usurper_ii

      The vaccine makes the body already produce the antibodies necessary to fight the disease. But this part isn't bad. Perhaps the protein package introdoced by the vaccine contains other protein chunks that the immune system also reacts to, and these protein chunks are close enough to various cell protein markers so that the body learns to react to them also.

      The problem with those diseases is that somehow the body gets tricked into thinking that some of the protein markers on the cells affected by those diseases are bad, so it trys to fight them off. Condromalacia is also a condition (pain behind knee cap is the presenting symptom if you're a cyclist, in which case it's a repetitive motion disorder possibly amplified by disfunctioning knee joint action or alignment...), but I suppose if your body is fighting itself, there's nothing from stopping similar pains in other joints.

      Doesn't explain how or why a high ANA or ACA titer is usually a good risk factor (but not sole) for getting a lupus diagnosis if you meet other diagnostic criteria for it... How does the body learn to react to red blood cells, free hemoglobin, or cell nuclear material or DNA fragments?

  76. Evolution, Bird Flu, Scaremongers by billstewart · · Score: 1
    > I also think it amusing that Kansas was the only place affected 18 years ago. I suppose, in Kansas, neither diseases nor humans evolve?

    This is another example of Bush Administration scaremongering that contradicts their other propaganda. The scaremongers keep talking about bird flu "acquiring the ability to spread from human to human". But what does that mean? It means "evolving", even though the Bushie Pandering-to-the-religious-right policy is to encourage them to deny evolution and keep them isolated from the rest of the marketplace of ideas.

    But it's not just Darwinian Evolution - it's Lysenkoist Evolution. Those bird flu germs aren't just randomly aquiring traits that might cause a problem some day - they're actively trying to find ways to attack the human race and compromise our Precious Bodily Fluids. So even if you slip off-message and notice that there's evolution involved, it's still a Threat To Your Family that needs a Powerful Paternalistic Government to protect you and your family from Evil.

    (Yes, this is somewhat off-topic from the main article thread, but it does seem pretty tightly connected here.)

    --

    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
    1. Re:Evolution, Bird Flu, Scaremongers by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      First, we know there have been a number of human bird flu deaths. So we know that it at least occasionally mutates into a form that can infect humans. Thus far, those mutations haven't been found to be infectious from a human host. This limits it's spread in humans, but your average viral infection involves millions of viral bodies, many of them mutated. All it takes is a 'lucky' mutation, then you have a highly infectious, highly deadly virus spreading among humans and killing a good percentage.

      My hope is that when it does find that mutation, it's no longer infectious with birds. That'll at least limit the spread.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    2. Re:Evolution, Bird Flu, Scaremongers by billstewart · · Score: 1
      It's not trying to "find" human-to-human transmission - that might happen at random (and I agree with you that humans will be happier if a mutation that does that reduces its transmissability in birds.)


      Most of the major influenza versions have the capability to infect humans as well as birds, pigs, whatever, as long as there's a transmission mechanism that can get enough virus particles into susceptible tissue in the host. Disposing of infected dead birds seems to be at least somewhat effective for getting it to humans, just as eating infected birds seems to be somewhat effective in getting it to cats.

      --

      Bill Stewart
      New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
  77. Me and my mom have whooping cough. by atomicthumbs · · Score: 2, Funny

    Don't annoy us. If you do, we'll cough on you.

    --
    http://pinopsida.com
  78. Re:Special Report: "Disease, unwanted import" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    alienw (585907) now concedes that he cannot refute the claims in the special investigative report by the "Washington Times".

    Allow me to quote more shocking statistics from that report. Namely, " the American Red Cross estimates that nationally, the risk of a blood donor having antibodies to Chagas or being infected with the disease is 1 in 25,000. The risk is 1 in 5,400 in Los Angeles and 1 in 9,000 in Miami. The Red Cross says it will begin screening donors for Chagas, once a suitable test is found ." Chagas is a fatal disease that has no known cure. Due to the presence of Mexican illegal aliens (of whom about 10 percent are infected with Chagas), if you live in Los Angeles, you are 5 times more likely to die.

    " Federal data suggest that as many as 10 percent of the approximately 1,000 Mexicans who emigrate to the United States daily probably are infected with Chagas, said Dr. Louis V. Kirchhoff, a Chagas specialist and a professor at the University of Iowa's medical school. "

    Now, let's move onto tuberculosis. " The report found that people from outside the United States accounted for 53.3 percent of all new tuberculosis cases in this country in 2003. That was up from fewer than 30 percent in 1993. In 2003, nearly 26 percent of foreign-born TB patients in the United States were from Mexico. " Note that 0.3 * 0.533 = 0.1599. In other words, about 16% of all new tuberculosis cases in the United States is due to Mexicans aliens.

    The attitude expressed by alienw (585907) is widespread in Mexico and other failed societies. alienw (585907)'s kind of attitude is precisely the kind of attitude that has destroyed the society of Mexico. alienw (585907), Mexicans, and Indians reject science in favor of racist bigotry and race "power". What matters to alienw (585907) and his ilk is espousing raw racist bigotry in the name of "Hispanic Power".

  79. Re:Innoculations? --- not what they used to be by AnonymousMous · · Score: 1

    My wife caught pertussis (whooping cough) within the last couple of years. We were scared shitless about any new babies we may have contacted (only one, fine now, thank God). There were at least 400 cases in our state, but she was among the thousands not included in that number.

    Here's what the doc said about innoculations and why the don't work as well as they used to: Several years ago, they made the switch to the "safer" acellular pertussis vaccines. They're safer in the sense that per every 1,000,000 vaccinated, there are fewer bad effects (illness and death). But these vaccines are also weaker, so the total amount of pertussis (bacterial load) within the population has increased dramatically. So now we have outbreaks.

    What I took away was that if we had the vintage vaccines back to treat the vintage pertussis, her illness may never have happened, but there may be somewhere between 1 and 5 per million vaccinated dead or seriously ill who are fine today.

    BTW: Pertussis leaves a heavy burden of toxins that remain long after the bacterial are all gone. It's awful. I simply can't describe how nasty it is to have a bad hack for 3 months. It exhausts a body. It can kill a baby who catches it. The one thing that provided any relief was a shot of vodka after supper and before bed. The doc agreed that was the best known treatment for non-alcoholics.

  80. blame "new age" medical movement by Gothmolly · · Score: 1

    In a time when people don't trust "the big drug companies" and "the government coverups of the mercury", or believe in some sort of higher power, or taking minute doses of chicken farts or similar as a way to "boost your immune system", and in a culture where causality is for losers, is anyone surprised that overall immunity to these trivial diseases is dropping, leading to an upswing in outbreaks?

    --
    I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
    1. Re:blame "new age" medical movement by argoff · · Score: 2, Informative

      In all fairness, pharmacutical patents and medical regulations create a deep bias in the industry that make it so that the medical systems best interests are not aligned with our best interests. Just because a person doesn't trust the pharmacutical/medical system doesn't mean that they distrust scientific method or rational thought. The pharmacutical industry has earned this reputation, every year there is a new big mega lawsuit over some miracle drug whose side effects were covered up. Every year there is a new push to outlaw or regulate vitimans and natural herbs.

      In many countries, they try to share medical info with the community. In the US they try to hide it and the only response you will ever get to a symptiom is - "go see a doctor". In many countries you can just walk into a store and pick up an antibiotic, here you need to go thru half a dozen specialists and a pharmacist.

    2. Re:blame "new age" medical movement by adpowers · · Score: 1

      In many countries you can just walk into a store and pick up an antibiotic, here you need to go thru half a dozen specialists and a pharmacist.

      Actually, that's probably for the best, at least in America. I wouldn't trust us to self medicate with antibiotics when improper usage can cause huge problems for everyone (drug resistance).

      Now, going through a huge hassle and having to give away my privacy to buy my cold medicine of choice: pseudoephedrine... well, that's a whole 'nother story.

    3. Re:blame "new age" medical movement by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, doctors used to give patients anti-biotics for colds & flu because it was easier than trying to explain the difference between bateria and viruses. You can't neccesarily trust them any more than the guy on the street, who at least has the excuse of ignorance.

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
    4. Re:blame "new age" medical movement by Bloke+down+the+pub · · Score: 1
      Just because a person doesn't trust the pharmacutical/medical system doesn't mean that they distrust scientific method or rational thought.
      Agreed. But if you assume someone who does the former also does the latter I suspect you'll be right more often than you'll be wrong.
      In many countries you can just walk into a store and pick up an antibiotic
      As pointed out by others, that's not really a good thing. I wonder if there's a correlation between distrusting scientific method and not knowing the diffwerence betreen bacteria and viruses?
      --
      It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
  81. Re:How many Sexeses? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How many sexeses you wan'? I no talk about genders...I mean essense of sexualses...essenses that only the brain melanin gives you the vibrations for. you wan' 5 sexeses? 6 sexeses? Or do you just wan' one sexeses, honky?

  82. another friendly comment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You just repeated what I read in the other posts, nothing new other than you titled it "Game Theory" and turned it into win/lose terms.

    Game Theory can talk about certain things and sound all official and elite, but in the end, it's not that useful. Shut the fuck up and go to some other trendy bullshit ok?

  83. As a college student... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can completely understand this. Not only does all the promiscuity cause all sorts of nasty diseases to get passed around (such that everyone is deathly ill by week 3), there are a lot of "vintage" viruses and worms running around the network such as Blaster & variants (thought to have been eliminated by the rpc patch).

  84. Two Words: Illegal Aliens by synaptic · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    One of the steps in the process of LEGALLY migrating to the United States of America is a health examination. With 5,000 illegal aliens crossing the southern border of my state every day (according to Tuscon Sector Border Patrol reports), we have a population of foreign nationals bypassing our first line of defense against the diseases that, despite being largely eradicated in the USA since the 1950s, continue to affect the third world to this day. Diseases such as tuberculosis are making a big comeback throughout the heartland of America, and especially in border regions.

    So when these criminal aliens march down the streets of your city tomorrow demanding civil rights and other entitlements, remember that these people are putting you and your fellow citizens at risk. Not because they are all filthy disease carriers but simply because the kind of vaccination programs we have in place to control disease here don't exist in their country of origin. It would be one thing if this country closed it's borders and prevented new immigrants from moving here, but we _do_ have an established immigration process designed to prevent new immigrants from unknowingly importing a disease that will affect the lives of our citizens. With over 70 visitor and guest worker programs already on the books and immigration policies that enable you to become a legal resident on the path to citizenship within a few years, we should hold no sympathy for the illegal aliens who are now demanding special rights under the law.

    Your basic rights are threatened by every foreign national who chooses to ignore our laws. These people threaten your rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Not only when they unknowingly carry in a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis, infecting you or your family, and destroying your dreams but also when increasing the burdens on your children's school district and vote to raise your property taxes beyond your ability to afford your own house.

    Something to think about, anyway..

    1. Re:Two Words: Illegal Aliens by Physician · · Score: 1

      Somewhat mod up the parent. He's absolutely right. The 10% of the population that does not become immune to mumps following a vaccination would never get infected if the virus was not being carried across the border.

      --
      Does God treat us as servants or friends? Check my homepage.
    2. Re:Two Words: Illegal Aliens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except that the victims are university students.

      You have illegal imigrants employed as university students?
      Is this another example of illegal immigrants doing the work Americans don't want to do, in this case, study?

    3. Re:Two Words: Illegal Aliens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      God, why can't I ever have mod points to mark something as "Funny" when I REALLY want to use 'em? :D

    4. Re:Two Words: Illegal Aliens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "vote to raise your property taxes beyond your ability to afford your own house" Yes, clearly these non citizens are responsible for voting to raise property taxes.

    5. Re:Two Words: Illegal Aliens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In fact, illegal aliens have voted in spite of being noncitizens -- surely you've heard about the various proposals to verify citizenship at polling places?

      However, the point is that illegals often have children or bring their families into the US, and thus take advantage of the public school system (which doesn't bother to check citizenship status). In many areas the schools are funded through property taxes. Increases in property taxes make it more expensive to own a home, and in some instances people have lost family property which they owned outright because the taxes exceeded their income. Simple enough even for you to understand, I think?

  85. Re:Special Report: "Disease, unwanted import" by mrpeebles · · Score: 1

    I enjoyed the article you linked, but the chagas numbers don't make any sense. Another quote in the article claims that 15 million people in latin america are "suffering" from chagas. And Wikipedia claims that 18 million people in latin america are "affected" by chagas. Also according to wikipedia, there are 100 million people in Mexico. Then if the entire 15 million people infected (assuming "affected" and "suffering" means infected) with Chagas are in mexico, that is only 15% of the mexican population. It doesn't make any sense to me that 10% of the mexican aliens could have chagas. My guess is someone is being imprecisely quoted here. I wonder if 10% is an upper limit (the quote does say "as many as"), which would mean that not more than 10% are infected, but it could be much lower. That seems much more sane. Also, sorry to nit pick, but this doesn't make you 5X more likely to die of you live in LA; it just makes you 5 times more likely to get blood infected with Chagas if you get blood from an anonymous doner.

  86. Racism? Yawwwwnnn.... by ccmay · · Score: 1
    you racist shitbag

    Lefties should watch how casually they fling that word around. It's losing its sting, in fact I have got to the point that I'm no longer personally offended to be called a racist. To the contrary, it usually means that I am embarrassingly correct in my observations. An accusation of racism has become nothing more than playground prattle from a left-wing dimwit who is losing an argument with a conservative.

    If everyone to the right of Joe Lieberman is a racist, then nobody is. I think that we need a "racism" corollary to Godwin's Law, because that is usually a sign that someone has nothing more of value to add to the discussion.

    -ccm

    --
    Too much Law; not enough Order.
  87. Damn by Mark_MF-WN · · Score: 1

    Damn you and your calm, reasonable attitude! Without fear and panic, we have nothing! Nothing I tell you!

    1. Re:Damn by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Sorry, but panic doesn't serve any purpose in this case. It can be beneficial if you're in the trench with bullets flying over your head, adrenalin rushing into your blood to boost your energy and giving you that kick that just might offer you a chance to survive.

      But in a fight where you don't know when or where your enemy strikes, with no chance to avoid it or defend against it? Sorry, waste of energy to worry about it.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  88. You are clueless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Some of us object to the vaccine because they use mercury in it.

    I don't expect a hick like you to know that. But it pleases me greatly to see your natural selection weeding out your gene pool due to utter ignorance.

    I pity your children though. But noo doubt a lack of education is bliss.

    1. Re:You are clueless by Easy2RememberNick · · Score: 1

      And my response to that is you get more mercury from eating fish than you get from a vaccination. Fish won't stop you from getting a virus which may kill you.

    2. Re:You are clueless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Perhaps certain kinds of fish. But you should really lay off of those, as they appear to be affecting your mental capabilities.

      Clearly you haven't the foggiest idea of what you are talking about. MMR shots are given at a very young age. It used to be 6 months; now some are recommending it at 3 months. Kids that young don't eat fish, you twit. Any effect on their nervous system will have a bigger impact than on adults.

      But at least you've established that not only are you clueless, you are completely ignorant on the subject. Nor does that stop you from having an opinion on the subject; one which you pretend to be an expert on. I'm glad you've established that.

      Let's see; closeminded, clueless, ignorant, and an opinionated asshole to boot. With possible braindamage. You must truly be a joy to work with. Truly pathetic.

    3. Re:You are clueless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      MMR at 3 months, now who is clueless here?

      My daughter is 2 and a half. She had her MMR at 15 months and the booster at 18 months. In the UK the first MMR jab is due between 12 and 15 months and the booster is 3 months after. There are immunisations (I think it is just one actually, but I don't have my daughter's red book to hand to check what she had) given at 3 months, but not certainly not MMR.

    4. Re:You are clueless by iXiXi · · Score: 1

      I expect that you will have a private moment within yourself when studies show linkage between cancer and some of the preventive measures we blindly follow. My mother and 2 of her brothers suffered from polio back in 1949. She has a weak underdeveloped leg due to the disease. She now suffers from post-polio syndrome. Could immunization have helped her, maybe, but it wasn't out at the time. I had a battery of immunizations when I was in the Army, now I am suffering from poor health, fatigue and symptoms of lymphoma. Are these issues a direct result of the shots? I don't know but I wouldn't be surprised. To call someone an ignorant hick while hiding behind the Anonymous Coward flag is in itself, pitiful. Why don't you show some character and post your personal experience with disease and health issues. Anyone can spout rhetoric and call names while still being ignorant. Life and death is not a science to everyone. There are people that do not believe in playing god, whether you believe in that or not. We have grown into a society that reacts on fear. Fear of losing our homes, cars, social status and health while sacrificing our souls every day. I was on the nuclear, biological and chemical warfare team in the Army. I have seen some really nasty stuff out there. None of it scares me worse than losing my character.

    5. Re:You are clueless by Easy2RememberNick · · Score: 1

      "Let's see; closeminded, clueless, ignorant, and an opinionated asshole to boot."

        lmao it's ironic you say that.

  89. Re:you let the lobbyists decide by JohnFluxx · · Score: 1

    Good sir, I think you don't really understand immunisation. I recommend reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity for a tiny introduction.

    Have a look at this graph:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Rubella-us-1966 -93-cdc.gif

    which shows how when you immunise children you can start to wipe out diseases. That was from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMR_vaccine

    I think just reading that would be fine. I realise that you feel insulted about immunising against STDs etc, but please realise that the need to reduce STDs world wide is bigger than your pride. STDs are one of the most serious problems facing society.

  90. Wilful multi-culti ignorance KILLS by ccmay · · Score: 1, Troll
    Chagas can only be transmitted via its vector insect, which is an assasin bug native to South and Central America. The bug does not exist in the States, therefore chagas cannot spread. Conclusion: fearmongering and xenophobia.

    You don't have a clue what you are talking about. The trypanosome (a protozoan) can definitely spread in blood transfusions. There are three pages of papers about this topic on PubMed. Transfusion-associated Chagas' disease has been recognized for decades.

    Seems to me that a little xenophobia and fearmongering on this particular issue is not only justifiable, but praiseworthy. Thumb-sucking multi-culti wish-mongering won't make the problem go away.

    I will graciously accept your apology whenever you think you're ready to handle the truth.

    -ccm

    --
    Too much Law; not enough Order.
    1. Re:Wilful multi-culti ignorance KILLS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >> Chagas can only be transmitted via its vector insect, which is an assasin bug native to South and Central America. The bug does not exist in the States, therefore chagas cannot spread. Conclusion: fearmongering and xenophobia.

      > You don't have a clue what you are talking about. The trypanosome (a protozoan) can definitely spread in blood transfusions. There are three pages of papers about this topic on PubMed. Transfusion-associated Chagas' disease has been recognized for decades.

      You DO realize that that vector is pretty much irrelevant, right? They don't generally let illegal aliens donate blood & they do test it.

      > Seems to me that a little xenophobia and fearmongering on this particular issue is not only justifiable, but praiseworthy. Thumb-sucking multi-culti wish-mongering won't make the problem go away.

      Umm, no. Grandparent clearly forgot a possible vector, but it's totally irrelevant to the fearmongering you seem to think is not merely justified, but praiseworthy. If you're anti-immigration, at least choose sensible reasons. That they might have a disease with a rather unlikely transmission vector isn't terribly sensible, especially when it would likely appear in just as many legal immigrants from the same country.

      Frankly, I don't see fearmongering as *EVER* being praiseworthy. If that's your only reason for advocating or opposing something (and here, to be clear, I do not claim that it is--immigration isn't a good place for simplistic policies) then you are insensible.

      > I will graciously accept your apology whenever you think you're ready to handle the truth.

      So you want them to say "I'm sorry that I forgot a possible disease vector that is totally irrelevant to this discussion" or what? Nevermind. You just find one loose end someone forgot and then act like that "proves" their entire point wrong. That's not an honest debate, that's just sniping, unless you can show how that actually undermines some central premise of their argument.

      But that actually requires work...

  91. Tuberculosis by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I am currently into my 8th month taking Isoniazid because I tested positive for TB the last time I was tested. I had TB in my joints, and got it either from the immigrants I work closely with (in construction) or from eating queso fresco (cheese) in Mexican restaurants and used in food made in the "Taco Trucks' common here in California.

    There have been several outbreaks of TB associated with the soft fresh cheeses used in Mexican restaurants, some leading to deaths (take a Google). While TB is virtually non-existent is US cattle, only about half of Mexican cattle are vaccinated. It is illegal to make cheese from non-pasturized milk in the US, and illegal to import it. Of course those who are in the country illegally are unlikely to worry about violating rules about cheese when they need cheese for a quesadilla.

    I can only hope that the variety I have is not one of the ones that is resistant to the currently used antibiotics.

    Why is it racist to note that diseases once virtually non-existent in the US are making a comeback, and that immigration is *one* of the causes?

    (Please note that nothing I have said above it any way indicates my race(s)).

    1. Re:Tuberculosis by Forbman · · Score: 2, Informative

      Why is it racist to note that diseases once virtually non-existent in the US are making a comeback, and that immigration is *one* of the causes?

      It's not. If all immigration went through centralized locations it could possibly be dealt with as well.
      Most people who are getting TB these days anyways are getting drug-resistant TB. Either they're indigent (homeless/drug addicts), work with indigents, or work with patients in a hospital setting.

      Anyone who says it is is trying to utliize victimization propaganda to suit their agenda.

      Don't forget, that medicines like Rumicade and Humira (monoclonal antibodies for treating rheumatoid arthritis) oddly enough increase chances of getting Tb as well. I think it's becasue the action these monoclonal antibodies target, Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF), somehow makes it easier for Tb bacteria to take hold.

      Most of the people who typically get Anthrax infections (rare, but it still happens) are wool handlers, shearers, or handle sheep hides at slaughter houses. Oddly enough, at least for slaughter house workers, prior to 1991, they were the only group really required to get the existing Anthrax vaccination. So, if it so happens that most of the people who do these jobs these days are immigrants (central americans, probably undocumented, working in sheep slaughterhouses, Kiwi or Aussie shearers working on work visas), does making them get Anthrax vaccine constitute job-related racism? No.

      Besides, if you're leaving your western civilization country to go to various tropical locations, you're required to get various prophylactic shots to guard against various nasty tropical diseases as a condition of getting your passport in-line as well, so it's hard to see the inverse as being "racist", too. Isn't it just as racist/colonialist/whatever to decide that every country in Africa is just a festering cesspool of malaria, sleeping sickness, etc.?, and that continuing to push this requirement creates a mindset that these countries are just inherently 4th-class to the rest of the world?

      Again, because unpasteurized milk comes from cows, the biggest problem isn't with TB, it's with shit-borne contagions (E. Coli, Listeria, etc) finding their way into the raw milk, either through contamination getting into the milking equipment or being passed into the milk via the cow itself. Do aged cheeses have problems with these bacteria, or is it only soft cheeses (these two types of cheeses have far different pH levels that are probably key factors in which bacteria grow in the cheese and which don't).

      Besides, it's far, FAR easier to get farm eggs that haven't been "inspected" than it is to get raw cow's milk in the US, at least. Just drive around a rural area, and someone's gonna have a shingle out trying to sell farm eggs for $1.50/dz (common around where I live) or something outrageous like that.

      FDA regs for selling non-USDA chicken eggs are:
      1) meet criteria for Grade B eggs: shell intact (no cracks or checks), ungraded (i.e., egg isn't candled to determine size or quality of yolk or white, check for blood spots or meat spots, etc), and sell in an unmarked, new package. They DON'T have to be cleaned, although they sure do look better in a eggcrate if they are! Farmer does *not* have to be registered with US Dept of Agriculture to sell the eggs off the farm or farmer's market, but some states (e.g., Washington) require farmer to register with state and have a permit. No one checks on off-the-farm egg sales. Is the risk any worse for contacting a nasty salmonella or e. coli infection from these eggs compared to the commercially grown eggs? WEll, the only problems from eggs I can recall hearing about involve...commercially grown eggs and undercooked product.

      USDA regs require stores to sell only USDA-inpected eggs.

      Don't worry, the USDA uses the best statistical and sampling methods to mechanically and optoelectronically grade and evaluate egg quality, and to ensure the safety of eggs maximizes their quality in a retail environment.

  92. the bigees by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Welcome to the wonderful world of massive illegal immigration and multiculturalism. Can you say *leprosy*? On a huge comeback now. Tuberculosis? How about hepatitis?

    These are *food workers* in a lot of cases, people handling your food, on farms, in restaurants and kitchens, in the grocery stores. Going to school with your kids. Overwhelming the local hospitals. Just remember that on monday with the big rallies and all the news reports leaving out that one critical word-ILLEGAL. I just read several news articles in a row, NONE of them used the word illegal in front of the word immigrant, all the major large main stream news sources from the networks. Immigration is NOT the issue, rampant out of control second worlding of the US IS the issue, with the massive ILLEGAL immigration. CRITICAL DIFFERENCE HERE.

    We are losing 50 years or more of expensive and hard fought national improved health, and an overall good increase in the middle class and nice drops in poverty. It was working, UNTIL around 6 years ago when the massive waves began. Want to talk "terrorism"? How about over 300,000 armed criminal gang members from the illegals? Legit stats, look it up! That's real terrorism right here in river city, not osama bin forgotten over in rock and sandville half a planet away.

    Legal immigrants, a slow, steady, well thought out number, a *controlled* number, vetted, health inspected, criminal background check, useful skills and etc? Committed to learn english and not demanding their "native tongue" everywhere they go, just because they are bullies? Sure! We can take some, good idea, a little mixing it up is good, but not untold millions and millions with no end in sight, that has been and continues to be *quite insane*.

    I don't want to hear "but we are a nation of immigrants!" etc noise, this ISN'T the wild wild west years with near unlimited free land and "wide open spaces" anymore, it's a totally different scene from the 1800s.

    Illegals by the MILLIONS?? No! And we HAD an amnesty in 1986, a full complete amnesty for all the illegals, the government promised-and there are laws on the books, to ENFORCE the immigration laws at that time. What happened? Why do we have two hundred thousand expensive military people overseas guarding OTHER NATION'S BORDERS, and we can't do that here?

    Just remember, YOU pay for it, higher local property taxes for schools and police, much higher medical costs because YOU are paying for them, because the cheap scumbags who hire them won't provide insurance, higher car insurance costs, higher lower end housing costs, and etc, and driving down wages to the point that millions of native born are struggling with two paychecks just to get by, in competition with people who just don't care who they screw, who they put out, what impact they have on the system. Want to know the dirty little economic secret? Illegals don't contribute to the economic well being of society as a whole, the entire first generation of illegals cost the US 55,000$ APIECE! there is no "payback" for an entire generation, all it does is make a few already wealthy people wealthier, THAT'S IT, and YOU pay for it.

    If their old place was so snazzy, their "culture" all that superior, WHY do they need to leave and come here? shouldn't it be just paqradise on earth, the way you hear the gushing multiculturalists expound on it? So where is it, not seeing it?

    Want to make it so they can stay home, make something of their own nations? VOTE against globalism, VOTE AND LOBBY against those politicians on the left or right who make excuses that shipping good jobs overseas is "good" or that importing illegals by the millions for the other jobs is somehow "good", when it clearly isn't. IF their globalism was working, we WOULDN'T have the planets largest ever debt! If globalism worked, why do legitimate kids born in the US have an automatic DEBT they will be forced to pay? We do we now have a savings rate that is LOWER than during the height of the Great Depression? why

    1. Re:the bigees by rmpotter · · Score: 1

      "So you want legal labor only? You/me/we are too cheap/lazy/spoiled to pay the real cost of the goods and services we consume. Ergo illegal aliens are here to stay. Unless the U.S. government decides to crack down on employers. That would be as interesting as it is unlikely, what with the need to keep the wheels of commerce perpetually greased and all that.

      As for blaming immigrants for disease, well, it seems our North American forebears were experts in biological warfare. With our "advanced" European diseases we wiped out 90% of North American first peoples in just a few decades. So, a few thousand cases of Mumps doesn't seem like much to sneeze at compared to the millions that were wiped out when Europeans first reached this continent.

      Want to stay healthy? Don't blame illegal aliens for your own dirty habits -- or the thousands of tons of heavy metals, PCBs and dioxins we pour into our environment every day. Some of that stuff will really futz your immune system. Wash your hands a little more often -- especially after you touch chrome or glass in public places. If you take public transit like I do, do not to touch anything. I make a habit of levitating on the bus during my morning and afternoon commute. If you live in a northern climate, take a little extra Vitamin D, at least in Winter. Lay off the fast food. Take a walk now and then. Try not to nuke food in plastic containers (or covered with plastic wrap). Use common sense and beware of all free advice (especially free Slashdot advice) ;-)

      --
      Is this sig nificant?
    2. Re:the bigees by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have no problems paying my legitimate nighbor a fair working wage with normal benefits. The money stays in circulation that way, it doesn't get shifted out of the nation. My neighbor would stay content as a worker most likely and would remain civilized, and we all prosper. making him frantic and desparate wouldn't be very prudent now, would it? I have no problems buying domestic over foreign-if I can find it-the cash doesn't get shipped out of the nation to fund the tyrannical goons at the PLA and their massively fast growing war machine. The PLA runs china, those "civvie" looking goofs on TV are for show, it is just as much a military dictatorship as it ever was. No reason to be making them more wealthy and powerful. They have had 30 years to prove they could enter the community of civilized nations and they haven't conceded on ONE issue yet. Still one party. No religious freedom. No press freedom. and etc. sorry, that part of globalism fails it. Trading cheap walmart crap is not worth trashing GLOBAL security over. Mexico? the most corrupt slimy governm,ent around outside of haiti or zimbabwe. a nation run by a very monied elite, total corruption in the police and military. bribery is a way of life. sorry, that culture sucks, it makes the current US government look 100% clean and honest. that's why those folks try to leave there, because it is so screwed up, so it is their duty to clean that mess up, not abandon it and come here. Their job, not mine. My job is here.

      Sorry friend, I am old enough to remember when we actually had normal controlled immigration and most of the stuff you bought was made in USA-it worked, it worked well. The money stayed circulating INSIDE. We had a 50 "nation" "common market", with a common language, and it worked. Just big enough to be successful, a full wealth CREATING economy, not a wealth rearranging ponzi scheme economy geared to exxon and enron and world com and walmart CEOs. It was a successful, we had little national debt,little corporate debt, great personal savings rates, and etc. It was at least an economically successful time period in our nations history. Not perfect, I am the first to admit that, no problems, but it was MUCH better than what we have now, no comparison. I remember when even crappy jobs (adult type jobs) had full benefits, health care, vacation, pension, etc, not just the higher end white collar jobs and you didn't worry about losing your job either. A mid level simple blue collar job had all the perks, and still some savings for kids to colege, etc, on ONE income, one breadwinner check, it didn't take two checks for that. When you could get health insurance that wasn't the equivalent of another house note if you paid for it yourself. It worked. And we still had immigration, it worked too, because it was controlled numbers and legal.

      What exactly is wrong with that idea?

      Conversely, if you are so pro massive illegal immigration, do you have a cut off point? How many more people over the next ten years should we let in? Another 30 million? 50 million? Really, how many? give me an exact number, or do you have any, just set it on the 'we don't care" level. Do you have a personal water fairy to supply the fresh water needed for all those people? Are you aware that many huge areas of the US are RIGHT NOW at *maximum* water carrying capacity? How about the electrical infrastucture, do you have an extra couple trillion to double all the exisiting powerlines to handle the demand? Are you ready to pay to double all the police and fire forces? build three or four times as many public schools as we have now?

      THINK, MAN --wargae this out realisticaly with logic, not feel good emotion and political correctness. And why again are we supposed to reward those dismally corrupt and inefficient governments south of the border? Don't we have enough on our hands keeping our own house in order? shouldn't thoise people be back down there making something out of their own nations? Do you go over and bitch at the neighbor over his lawn when yours

    3. Re:the bigees by rmpotter · · Score: 1

      Sure, I'm totally for highly controlled growth -- zero-growth preferably. I always have been. The ecology of the planet will "adapt" to end the current economic ponzi scheme at some point. But corruption begins at home along with charity. You point fingers at Mexico and China (and well you may!) but the greed and corruption of the current system make your nostalgic memory nothing but a shadow of a dream. If all 300 million Americans were nice happy citizens and legal immigrants, the water, power and oil resource problems would be just as bad as ever. Stuff would just cost more.

      --
      Is this sig nificant?
    4. Re:the bigees by GrandTurismoOmologat · · Score: 1

      I am glad I am not the only one fighting my way through all these sheeple. All I can say is, thanks for making educated comments. Cooking in plastic is bad, mkay. And to everyone else, do some more research on what actually reduced these diseases, like cleanliness. Vaccines don't work. Look at the diseases that we vaccinate against? Are they fatal? Measles? Mumps? chicken pox? Hep?(You should really rap your junk for this one) Look at the CDC website and see that that most of the polio cases were causes by the vaccinations themselves. Furthermore, Mercury poisoning is real.(Autism culprit) Aluminum poisoning is real.(Alzhemer's culprit) Lead poisoning is real. baaa... pathetic.

  93. Autism is not linked to the MMR vaccine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just to head off any confusion about MMR and autism...

    No connection has ever been shown between autism and the MMR vaccine. In fact, there have been numerous epidemiologic studies and retrospective studies that have conclusively shown that there is no connection (A US study showed that the number of autism cases increased even when the number of MMR vaccinations administered decreased. A British study showed that the number of autism cases did not increase after the introduction of the MMR vaccine in 1988). The only reason this ever became a concern is because the first signs of autism typically present around the same time that the first MMR shot is administered (12-15 months). This is simply a coincidence.
    Unfortunately, many parents have bought into the rumor and hype about the possible connection and have therefore chosen not to have their children vaccinated. The fear associated with these diseases has also dramatically decreased as many people living today have never seen a case. Thus, parents are less motivated to ensure vaccination in their children and the overall percentage of the population that has been vaccinating is gradually decreasing. This opens the window for reemergence of these diseases.

  94. Re:you let the lobbyists decide by r00t · · Score: 1
    I know about herd immunization. Now, you read up on game theory and lobbyist.

    As for wiping out diseases, you can only count diseases with huge ongoing efforts in places like Somolia and Nigeria. That would be polio currently. Even then, see game theory.

    Come to think of it, vaccinating (and hopefully immunizing) my baby against an STD is worse than saying my daughter will be a dumb slut. It's saying that I would allow or cause her to be raped as a baby. Eeeeew.

  95. Two words: Universal healthcare by metamatic · · Score: 1

    Almost every industrialized nation has some form of universal healthcare.

    In America, in contrast, 60% of people have no medical coverage, and many have no paid sick leave and little vacation time.

    This means that when poor people get a disease like TB, whooping cough or bubonic plague, they can't get any effective treatment, and can't afford to take time off work. So they carry on getting the bus and coughing and sneezing through the day, and infect lots of other people.

    Remember that TB was eradicated by putting sufferers in sanitoriums, isolating them and giving them rest and whatever other treatments proved helpful. Your average McDonalds worker can't afford to spend 3 weeks in a sanitorium, so enjoy your burger.

    --
    GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
  96. Yeah. Some people need worms! by r00t · · Score: 2, Interesting

    In what must have been an enjoyable study... :-)

    patients with an auto-immune-related intestinal problem were given worm eggs to drink. The results were dramatically positive. Gut worms are good for you. :-)

    If we ever eliminate disease, we'll all need to take immune suppression drugs.

    1. Re:Yeah. Some people need worms! by Reziac · · Score: 1

      There's also some evidence that puppies should be allowed to have a few worms, at least in the short term, for the sake of intestinal health. Having a FEW worms (not enough to load the gut or deprive the puppy of nutrients) probably stimulates immune response; we've known for decades that the reason most normal mature dogs have very few worms is because the immune system kicks them out (unless the worms are "sheltered" by a diet low in meat or high in soy, leading to more moisture and mucus in the stool).

      [puts on pro dog breeder/trainer hat] I've noticed myself that pups who are born without roundworms (rare, but can happen) are more prone to neonatal diarrhea.

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
  97. Inappropriate teen-2-peer choice behaviors by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

    You are conveniently leaving out the possible correlation between debilitating gold rush era diseases (such as the cholera and inappropriate teen-2- peer choice behaviors.

    It's too early to tell, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that those college kids that have come down with the mumps had engaged in littering, loitering, latering, lootering, and other things that cause inappropriate teen-2-peer choice behaviors.

    --
    It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  98. Legal Immigrants by grahamsz · · Score: 1

    I had to go through a fairly extensive medical as part of my US immigration. I had to fly down to london to meet with their embassy doctor. I had to bring my full vaccination records (and catch up on a couple of late ones), i was checked for HIV and possibly other blood diseases and I was given a chest x-ray to check for tb.

    I'm probably better vaccinated than most US citizens :)

    1. Re:Legal Immigrants by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      Just what I was thinking. I've done some international travel, and yes, they really like looking at vaccination records.

      In many cases, 'it's against my religion' won't work. Some countries will even tell you not to come if you can't be vaccinated due to having medical problems with vaccines such as being allergic to them.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
  99. You are so right here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I blame my cirrosis of the liver on drinking too many margaritas. Damn illegal Mexicans!

  100. Easyier to fake than a driver's license by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 1

    Given that the average student probably had a fake driver's license to get drunk a couple of years back, it would quite suprising if there are not a few fake MMR certs out there.

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.
    1. Re:Easyier to fake than a driver's license by Chelloveck · · Score: 1
      Given that the average student probably had a fake driver's license to get drunk a couple of years back, it would quite suprising if there are not a few fake MMR certs out there.

      You don't even need to fake it. All you need is a doctor's note stating that the vaccine would be harmful for this individual. It's easy to find some newage quack with a chiropractic degree who's willing to sign off against anything not homeopathic.

      --
      Chelloveck
      I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
  101. Re:you let the lobbyists decide by Achromatic1978 · · Score: 1
    Come to think of it, vaccinating (and hopefully immunizing) my baby against an STD is worse than saying my daughter will be a dumb slut. It's saying that I would allow or cause her to be raped as a baby.

    Wow. I like how you equate a mild form of a disease with a physical assault of power, malice and aggression in order to demonise a process which you (are free to) dislike.

  102. That was fast... by GhaleonStrife · · Score: 1

    I was reading this in the doctors office this evening in Newsweek, and BAM, it's on /. What's up with that?

  103. So get vaccinated now by Animats · · Score: 0
    I've always been a big fan of vaccination. I grew up on a Marine base, was in the Army briefly, and have been vaccinated against almost everything for which there's a vaccine. No big deal; everyone in the military goes through that.

    Getting the full vaccination series against hepatitis A and B, as an adult, is a good idea. It's a hassle, because it takes three separate injections (five if you get them as separate vaccines), but the protection is quite good. It's a genetically engineered vaccine, not a live-virus one, so side effects are unlikely.

    1. Re:So get vaccinated now by Jesus_666 · · Score: 1

      Are you still allowed to donate blood? As far as I know the Red Cross won't let anyone who has ever been in the same room as the label of a bottle of hepatitis C vaccine anywhere near them. I don't know whether A and B have similarly severe effects, but I went to school with a girl who went through hepatitis and as a result isn't allowed to donate blood for the rest of her life.

      --
      USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
    2. Re:So get vaccinated now by Animats · · Score: 1
      What hepatitis C vaccine? Chiron has one in clinical testing, but it's still experimental and only about 60 people are involved in the study.

      None of the hepatitis vaccines are live-virus, so they can't transmit anything. They're all genetically engineered small molecules. Some of the older live virus vaccines (rubella/rubeola and smallpox) aren't wanted in donated blood, but that's only a limitation for a few months. The smallpox vaccine (the first vaccine ever developed) is the most troublesome. A modern smallpox vaccine is under development, but it's only in phase I/II testing.

    3. Re:So get vaccinated now by Jesus_666 · · Score: 1

      I used the vaccine as a metaphor to point out how unwanted hepatitis patients are there. I know that thre is no vaccine against C yet.

      --
      USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
    4. Re:So get vaccinated now by Animats · · Score: 1

      The point is that if a heathy person gets the vaccinations against hepatitis A and B, they won't get those diseases.

  104. Lying with statistics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In America, in contrast, 60% of people have no medical coverage

    That sounds suspiciously like a figure you pulled out of your ass. So, I checked with the National Coalition on Health Care (a nonprofit which advocates universal government health care, BTW), and according to them almost 16% of the US population had no health insurance in 2004. Nowhere close to 60%, and even 16% may be overstating the case.

    In any case, lack of universal health care has precisely nothing to do with the recent resurgence of tuberculosis. The US almost completely wiped out TB without the help of government health insurance. The only reason it's back now is thanks to the influx of immigration from countries less interested in maintaining their public health, as the grandparent post suggested.

    There certainly is something the government can do to help, but creating a nationalized health care bureaucracy isn't it. The federal government is just about capable of building a wall and digging a few ditches, given the political will; but keep the bureaucrats out of my personal health decisions, thanks.

    1. Re:Lying with statistics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That sounds suspiciously like a figure you pulled out of your ass. So, I checked with the National Coalition on Health Care (a nonprofit which advocates universal government health care, BTW), and according to them almost 16% of the US population had no health insurance in 2004. Nowhere close to 60%, and even 16% may be overstating the case.

      In any case, lack of universal health care has precisely nothing to do with the recent resurgence of tuberculosis. The US almost completely wiped out TB without the help of government health insurance. The only reason it's back now is thanks to the influx of immigration from countries less interested in maintaining their public health, as the grandparent post suggested.

      There certainly is something the government can do to help, but creating a nationalized health care bureaucracy isn't it. The federal government is just about capable of building a wall and digging a few ditches, given the political will; but keep the bureaucrats out of my personal health decisions, thanks.
      There certainly is something the government can do to help, but creating a nationalized health care bureaucracy isn't it. The federal government is just about capable of building a wall and digging a few ditches, given the political will; but keep the bureaucrats out of my personal health decisions, thanks.
      ============
      If I had points.. I'd mod you up...
      (Of course, I'd loose points too..)
      Never let facts get in the way of liberalism....this is slashdot!!

      (Can you believe the confirmation word for posting is "IMPEACH".. Wow! Talk about an agenda!! But.. again.. Say it with me.. "Thats Liberalism!"

  105. Why not later? by r00t · · Score: 1

    Vaccines usually wear off. They are also less effective when given before the immune system is well developed. If STD protection is needed, why give the vaccine so early? I know people lose their virginity early these days, but dear my! (besides, my kids will be nerds)

    Maybe some company wants to sell a second dose when it is shown that the early doses wear off. Maybe the idea is to just assume that the mother has an STD. (now THAT is really offensive too) Maybe the idea is that, while recovering from birth, the family won't question why an STD vaccine is required for a tiny baby.

  106. What did Spock say? by Kreigaffe · · Score: 1

    The needs of the many . . .

    --
    ... still waiting for this free-as-in-beer free beer I keep hearing about. :|
    1. Re:What did Spock say? by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 1

      Lucky for Spock, Kirk didn't share that belief. :-P

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
  107. Australia and rickets by apathy+maybe · · Score: 1

    Rickets are becoming more common in Australia also. The message that too much sun is bad for you (slip slop & slap) got through, now kids aren't getting enough. Added to which they are probably spending more time indoors in front of the idiot box and computers. It also affects elderly people in nursing homes.

    --
    I wank in the shower.
    1. Re:Australia and rickets by apathy+maybe · · Score: 1

      And here is an article from that never biased paper the Australian on the issue. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867 ,18961105-23289,00.html

      --
      I wank in the shower.
  108. Re:Special Report: "Disease, unwanted import" by J.+Dunlap · · Score: 1

    The author the report further states, " In 2003, nearly 26 percent of foreign-born TB patients in the United States were from Mexico ".

    Also from the article: "The report found that people from outside the United States accounted for 53.3 percent of all new tuberculosis cases in this country in 2003."
    So the 26% figure is of the 53% of cases that involved foreign-born people - which means the percentage of all TB cases that are from Mexican-born patients is 14%.

    As for Chagas: The only significant ways of contracting the disease are through an insect vector, to a baby from its mother, and through blood transfusions and organ donations. If it is a major concern, perhaps donors from Latin American countries should not be allowed to donate until a suitable screening test is available for the disease. That will ensure that there is a very miniscule chance of contracting it even among those who have blood transfusions.

  109. Vintage Diseases Making a Comeback by suv4x4 · · Score: 2, Funny

    A list of diseases making a come back:

    - Possessed by as ghost
    - A little midget living in your stomach
    - Selling your soul (most characteristic: you start believing Earth isn't flat and start doubting it's the center of the world)
    - Going blind when you... uhmm you know.

    1. Re: Vintage Diseases Making a Comeback by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 1
      - Going blind when you... uhmm you know


      Actually, some people HAVE gone blind after taking Viagra!
      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
  110. Just recently had mumps by Centurix · · Score: 1

    4 weeks ago for a week and a half. It sucked, but it wasn't as bad is it could have been because I made the mistake of looking it up on Wikipedia. That 5% chance of contracting viral meningitis just kept swimming around in my head, plus the possible chance of sterility. Curse you Wikipedia!

    --
    Task Mangler
  111. Re:you let the lobbyists decide by JohnFluxx · · Score: 1

    Game Theory only supports my point. You need a large percentage of the population immunised. The need of the many out weigh the need of the one.
    Why did you think that game theory supports your point?

  112. What about rickes, then? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm mamazed to see how the discussion has been completely about vaccination. Doesn't anyone think that, even if it's just amongst poor people with brown skins, it's just as serious that a disease of malnutrition is making a comeback in the richest couintry in the world?

    1. Re:What about rickes, then? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Haven't seen anyone starving the last time I was in Luxembourg... And they eat a fairly healthy diet, too.

  113. did that study count people who officially exist? by petermgreen · · Score: 1

    it would not be a contridiction for legal immigrants to be helthier than the general population and illigal immigrants less so.

    --
    note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
  114. Re:you let the lobbyists decide by Firethorn · · Score: 1

    But, as we're seeing in this article, if you allow immunity levels to drop such as by dropping vaccinations, the diseases can quickly come back.

    My grandfather had polio, ended up on the iron lung for a while. He still walks with a limp, and he was one of the lucky ones.

    I've been vaccinated for just about everything under the sun. Polio, Smallpox, you name it, I've had it, likely a couple extra times(docs lost my records a few times when I was a baby).

    As for vaccinating your baby daughter against an STD, well, I'll say that vaccination should occur shortly before the potential infectious period. Given todays habits(and I'm talking averages, not your daughter), I'd say 15 is a good start time. By the way, what STD vaccine are you talking about?

    --
    I don't read AC A human right
  115. What does mercury have to do with MMR? by GuloGulo · · Score: 1

    From the CDC

                "Do measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccines contain thimerosal?

            No, MMR vaccine does not and never did contain thimerosal. Varicella (chickenpox), inactivated polio (IPV), and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines have also never contained thimerosal."

    MMR never had thimerosal in it. If parents are refusing to vaccinate their kids because of a fear of something that was never present, what's wrong with countering their intentional ignorace with derision.

    --
    "The government grants you rights, not the other way around."-- beav007. Yes, these people really exist...
  116. Here's his point by GuloGulo · · Score: 1

    "So what's your point again, you racist shitbag?"

    His point, I assume, is that you engage in ad hominem attacks, most probably due to a lack of supporting evidence.

    So, since I've not given my opinion on the subject one way or another, let's see what your response is.

    Are you going to call ME a racist shitbag too? Or are you going to support your assertions with more that "I disagree, so I'll start throwing around epithets and ad hominem attacks"?

    Here's the real point. Immigrants may not be receiving the necessary vaccinations. This may be due to several factors, but ultimately there needs to be attention drawn to this fact. If there are a high number of immigrants without vaccination, that is a health risk that needs to be examined.

    Now, proceed to call me a racist shitbag, even though I said IMMIGRANTS, not a particular race, and gave no indication about which groups of immigrants I was discussing.

    --
    "The government grants you rights, not the other way around."-- beav007. Yes, these people really exist...
    1. Re:Here's his point by alienw · · Score: 1

      Here's a clue, fucktard: Americans don't get vaccinated against TB, either. In fact, there is no effective TB vaccine. What's your point again?

  117. They broke the law by GuloGulo · · Score: 1

    Justify it to yourself any way you like, there are immigration laws and if they are here illegally, they broke them.

    Please stop suggesting appeasement is the answer. Until the fact that these people are here ILLEGALLY is addreseed, they deserve nothing.

    --
    "The government grants you rights, not the other way around."-- beav007. Yes, these people really exist...
    1. Re:They broke the law by Dis*abstraction · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Have you jaywalked lately? Broken the speed limit? Then you're a criminal too. Being in U.S. territory without documentation still isn't a felony, last I checked.

    2. Re:They broke the law by GuloGulo · · Score: 1

      "Have you jaywalked lately? Broken the speed limit? Then you're a criminal too."

      Yay, what's your point? That because CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES commit crimes that we should overlook the NONCITIZENS when they commit crimes?

      Because that's an idiotic position any way you look at it.

      "Being in U.S. territory without documentation still isn't a felony, last I checked."

      So? What point did you think you made here? It's still illegal. SO unless your point is that you have a dire need of rhetoric classes, you failed to make it.

      I'm so tired of limp wristed apologists like you spouting off garbage about immigrants while totally ignoring that the illegal ones BROKE THE LAW.

      The rest of your argument is totally irrelevant until that FACT is dealt with.

      And really, why is it that people like you simply aren't intelligent enough to realize that if they come here illegally and you REWARD them with amnesty/semi-legality, that is AN INCENTIVE for them to break the law.

      God, I wish you and your ilk would smarten up and stop allowing yourselves to be so easily manipulated. All it takes is a few epithets, someone shouting "civil rights" and someone esle shouting "racism" and you completely ignore reason in favor of blind emotionalism.

      Why are you allowing yourself to be manipulated? Why aren't you smart enough to understand when you're being played?

      --
      "The government grants you rights, not the other way around."-- beav007. Yes, these people really exist...
    3. Re:They broke the law by Dis*abstraction · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So give them the proper documentation to become legal residents. Problem solved.

      Hard as you try, you can't just wish them away. Mass deportations just aren't going to happen as long as intelligent people remain mayors of cities like New York and Los Angeles, so you're just going to have to learn to accept the fact--obvious to everyone who lives in these cities, but perhaps not so obvious to morons like you--that the people who are here illegally are essential to the nation's economy, and more importantly, they're people just like you and me.

    4. Re:They broke the law by GuloGulo · · Score: 1

      "So give them the proper documentation to become legal residents. Problem solved"

      No, problem not solved, because that's not the problem. The problem is that people like you don't hold them accountable when they come here illegally. Giving them amnesty (like Reagan did) just leads to more illegals.

      Why not give them the opportunity to leave, re-apply for a visa, and FOLLOW THE FUCKING RULES?

      Oh wait, that's got to be racist somehow...

      "that the people who are here illegally are essential to the nation's economy"

      And now we've reached the big lie. Just because you're too easily manipulated by rhetoric to recognize an obvious fallacy when you see it is no reason to assume others are as ignorant.

      They ARE NOT essential to the economy. They simply make things cheaper. PERIOD. Without them, the price of certain goods would go up. BFD, stop changing "cheap lettuce" into "essential to the economy".

      "Hard as you try, you can't just wish them away."

      Strangely enough, THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT YOU SUGGESTED. Giving them "proper documentation" doesn't SOLVE anything, it only postpones the decision until more immigrants come here and need to be given "proper documentation".

      "they're people just like you and me."

      NO, THEY ARE NOT. I HAVE NEVER INTENTIONALLY FLOUTED THE LAW IN AN ATTEMPT TO LIVE ILLEGALLY IN A COUNRTY.

      They are here illegally. They are here illegally. One last time because you don't want to admit it, THEY CHOSE TO BREAK THE LAW IN AN EFFORT TO LIVE HERE. They have already demonstrated overt disregard for the law of the land.

      Why do you want to reward them for that.

      And as an aside, no I have neither jaywalked (because it's not illegal here) no sped. So try arguing your point without red herrings to fall back on.

      I know it's hard for you to admit you've been manipulated, and because of that, it's hard for you to back off an obviously wrong position.

      But until you address that the very people you want to give legal status chose to come here illegally, while MANY others have waited their turn, you have NO argument. NONE.

      --
      "The government grants you rights, not the other way around."-- beav007. Yes, these people really exist...
  118. Tough by GuloGulo · · Score: 1

    "Maybe the idea is to just assume that the mother has an STD. (now THAT is really offensive too)"

    She probably does. From wiki

    "HPV is by far the most common sexually transmitted infection. It is said to be the cause of 99% of both cervical and prostate cancers. It is estimated that 80% of sexually active adults have been infected with one or more genital HPV strains at some time.[1]"

    Read that over, until the smug look disappears from your face.

    MOST people have been infected with an STD of they're sexually active, if not HPV, then Herpes.

    I don't know why people like you are so arrogant when they openly advertise their ignorance like you did.

    --
    "The government grants you rights, not the other way around."-- beav007. Yes, these people really exist...
    1. Re:Tough by r00t · · Score: 1

      Viruses are not created in the act of sex.

      Look, it's simple: pair up with one other person for life.

      Aside from the diseases and any moral issues, it's just better. There are no awkward feelings about somebody else being a better fuck. There is no child support to pay. There is no searching for a date or wasting money on somebody who doesn't care about you.

      Fucking random people is not too much to give up to have a happy family life without icky diseases and other worries.

  119. Re:you let the lobbyists decide by duffbeer703 · · Score: 1

    I'm sure homeschooling your kid will be really easily when she gets polio and loses the ability to walk.

    People like you sicken me -- why would you want to subject anybody to easily cured disease?

    --
    Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
  120. Re:Rickets and Vitamin D Sources by crmartin · · Score: 1

    In the immortal words of my metaphorical ancestor Tonto, "what you mean 'us', white man?"

    But there are a couple things there: first, vitamin D (cholecalciferol) is fat-soluable, so even supplemented skim milk isn't a very effective way of absorbing vitamin D. Second, if you're going to make a point of RTFA, you might read down and note the article calls out sunscreen too.

  121. Few hundred for very large values of hundred by benhocking · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Two generations ago Polio paralyzed at least 20,000 people per year, and now we are worried about a few hundrend with autism allegedly caused by the vaccine?

    Sure, if by a few hundred you mean 163,773 (as of 2003). Or, in annual terms, 26,067 new cases in 2003 alone. Sure, we're talking about allegedly caused by the vaccine, but I think you should at least understand why people can be legitimately worried about this! Personally, I think it's unlikely that the vaccines are related to this explosion in autism, but still, if there's even a chance it should not be dismissed lightly. (I'm not suggesting the government has dismissed it - both the CDC and FDA have performed studies and found no connection.) The timing between when vaccines are administerd and the typical onset of autism makes the vaccines a convenient target. However, if thimerosal was the problem, we should soon see autism rates decreasing, in which case the government should expect to see a large number of related lawsuits. If, on the other hand autism rates continue to rise (as I suspect they will) we should look to other causes - such as mercury poisoning in our waters - for the culprit. Actually, we should be looking everywhere we can for the culprit.

    --
    Ben Hocking
    Need a professional organizer?
    1. Re:Few hundred for very large values of hundred by NewWorldDan · · Score: 1

      As for autism, much of it is just more liberal diagnosing of the disease. Anyone remotely borderline gets labeled because that leads to subsidies for parents and schools.

      There are also a growing number of religious sects that seem to feel that vaccines are somehow wrong or immoral. Frankly I think there ought to be special schools set up for these people so they can infect themselves and not bother the rest of us.

      And can someone tell me why Mumps and Polio haven't been wiped from the face of the earth yet? I mean, we did it for smallpox. Is there some sort of zoonotic reinfection path? I would think that it would be economically worthwhile as a worldwide cure would save the cost of innoculating millions of children every year (after year after year). I suppose someone could run the numbers... how much it costs to innoculate children in the first world countries on an annual basis compared to about 5% of the cost of wiping out the disease.

    2. Re:Few hundred for very large values of hundred by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I do not know if the the epidemic is real, i.e. if the new cases are statistically significant based on historical trends or if the epidemic is caused by changing patterns of diagnosis.

      What is clear is that vaccines, which has been in place for nearly 50 years, are not the only major change in the past 50 years, and not the major change associated with this epidemic. When allegeding cause, one must not only have correlation, but some mechanism of causation.

      For instance, the brain develops about 25% prenatally, and an additional 25% the first year. By the time most vaccines are given, the brain is largely grown, although not organized. So, if organization is the thing, then vaccines may have an effect, but what if it is growth as well.

      In fact one thing we are learning is that many of our problems are caused by epidemic consumption of nutrionally nuetral articificially produced food. When mother each twinkies and McDonalds, and kids eat twinkies and McDonals, and the kids I see everyday make me even now look thin, and diabetes and cancer are becoming epidemic in kids, I must wonder if the vaccines are just a convinent scape goat for parent that do not want to take the time to raise their children. It would be my thesis that delivering massive doses of MSG and presevatives tot he fetus would be much more detrimental than a vaccine, especially since the original virus did not seem to express itself in this way.

  122. It's not just the lack of universal healthcare by technoextreme · · Score: 1
    This means that when poor people get a disease like TB, whooping cough or bubonic plague, they can't get any effective treatment, and can't afford to take time off work. So they carry on getting the bus and coughing and sneezing through the day, and infect lots of other people.

    TB has to be one of the most annoying diseases ever. Lack of treatment for some people is probably the result of the fact that they don't know they are at risk at developing the disease. A carrier of TB has no signs whatsoever that they are sick because they aren't yet. They only develop the infection if they contract a disease that affects the immune system like HIV/Aids. Very rarely does a person walk into a doctors office and ask that they have a test for a diease that affects only 41 people out of a 100,000 in the United States when they feel perfectly healthy.
    --
    Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
  123. Re:Special Report: "Disease, unwanted import" by shani · · Score: 1

    Due to the presence of Mexican illegal aliens (of whom about 10 percent are infected with Chagas), if you live in Los Angeles, you are 5 times more likely to die.

    Actually, P(death) is 1.0 for everyone. :)

  124. Re:Special Report: "Disease, unwanted import" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    So what's your point again, you racist shitbag?


    So when the hell did "Mexican" or even "Hispanic" become a race? There's a load of indigenous folks down there mixed in with some Europeans, but that's about it. At least know what you're talking about before playing the race card, moron.
  125. Comforting idea by benhocking · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's a comforting idea that the increase in autism is purely due to more liberal diagnoses. I'm certain that it explains part of it. Well, that, and increased awareness. On the other hand, if you look at a curve that describes that increase, it's really hard to accept that this is all due to a more liberal diagnoses or increased awareness. I know several kids with autism (~30 or so). Only two of them might have escaped some kind of diagnosis twenty years ago. Most of the rest of them fall into the category of barely verbal. For these kids, at least, this is not just a liberal diagnoses. (For the two that might have escaped diagnoses, I nevertheless agree with their diagnoses as being autistic. They just have a milder version. Of course, IANAP.)

    --
    Ben Hocking
    Need a professional organizer?
  126. Not quite by gr8_phk · · Score: 2, Interesting
    "The link between vaccines and autism had to do with a preservative that included mercury in it. This has been replaced with a non-mercury preservative, and I believe most of those batches have since been used or replaced."

    That was one concern for many vaccines. Another theory had to do with the combination of vaccines (Mumps in particular) allowing other things to get through the gut and the blood-brain barrier. Some places used a separate Mumps and MR instead of the tripple MMR.

    What's disturbing to me is the attitude of the agencies in charge of this stuff. I heard about these concerns from a few people and decided to look into it. On the US side, there is no mention of any issues. The brits at least listen to the concerns and claim to be looking in to it, or recommending some research. When my kid got her first DTaP dose, they gave us some an info packet on the vaccines. They really hype the stuff - one of the vaccines is promoted as the first "anti-cancer" drug, because one of the diseases it protects against on some occasions caused cancer. Then there's the whole issue where DTP vaccine was replaced with DTaP - a newer safer version - not that they ever indicated a problem with the old one.

    The only conclusion I reached is that you can't trust anything the FDA or NIH have to say on these "issues". They are clearly pro-vaccination to the point of insanity.

    BTW, one of the side effects we were supposed to look for with DTaP was "high fever greater than 105" which occures in 1/16000 cases. Holy crap! 105 can do serious damage to an adult. One is 16000 isn't that much, but how many will get a 104, or even 103 fever from it? It looks like they just used a higher temp to reduce the occurence rate to something more reasonable. And what's this chickenpox vaccine? Kids are supposed to get chickenpox aren't they? They make it sound like your kid will die if they don't get vaccinated. In another 50 years the public will actually believe that crap.

    My kid survived her first DTaP just fine, and will continue to get injections containing foreign DNA/RNA as prescribed. There are some documented down sides to actually getting the diseases. There is probably some truth to the claims against the vaccines too, but since the government is in denial it's hard to make a valid comparison of the risks. Most the other sources on the net claim just the opposite - OMFG your kid will die or be a vegetable if they get vaccinated. Their attitude is no better than the gov.

    1. Re:Not quite by rikkards · · Score: 1

      OMFG your kid will die or be a vegetable if they get vaccinated. Their attitude is no better than the gov.

      The only satisfaction I get out of these attitudes is that if there is an outbreak they may think twice about what they have said at their kids funeral

    2. Re:Not quite by smellsofbikes · · Score: 1

      Children, especially very young ones, seem to handle high temperatures much better than adults, maybe because they're still growing and can route around nerve damage. I'm not saying it's good for them, but it won't decimate them like it would an adult.

      As for the chickenpox thing -- well, I'm sure 70 years ago people were saying "kids are SUPPOSED to get measles and whooping cough, aren't they? Now, POLIO vaccine: that makes sense." Every generation has its own triumph over childhood disease. Just ask someone who has had shingles how much a chickenpox vaccine is worth. Priceless, will be the reply.

      In general, the side-effects of vaccines seem to negatively affect something like 1/50,000 children, whereas the side-effects of the diseases they're preventing affect more like 1/2000 children. That's massively simplifying, but childhood diseases were responsible for a lot of deaths, heart damage, brain damage, blindness, and other generalized awfulness that widespread vaccination has made us forget about. (I'm getting those side-effect numbers from some virology and microbiology textbooks; I don't have a web resource handy to back them up: sorry.)

      --
      Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
    3. Re:Not quite by Grab · · Score: 1

      The Brits have succumbed to a bunch of media hype. One guy released one study saying there might possibly be a connection between MMR and autism - more info needed. The media went ballistic. Further studies were done - no link found. The guy who did the first study says categorically that there is NO link. The media says fuck all. Yes, the government's "in denial" - bcos the media were WRONG! If someone stands up and said "The Earth is flat", could he just say "well you're in denial" when you call bullshit on him and still expect people to believe him?

      Meantime a bunch of parents who didn't understand what that guy was saying but could understand a tabloid editorial in the Sun/Mirror/Mail saying "Keep your children safe - don't give them MMR", didn't get their kids vaccinated. Result? There's a serious risk in Britain of epidemics of mumps, measles and rubella (German measles) from unvaccinated kids.

      Kids' temperatures - well a child is about the most robust thing you're going to find, immunity-wise. They have to be, to transition from a totally sterile environment (the womb) to an outside world full of diseases. For a kid's immune system, mumps, measles, rubella, chickenpox, smallpox, they're just are an irritation - 2 weeks off school and that's it. (High temperature spikes for a day or so are *incredibly* common, and if you haven't seen it yet with your kid then don't worry, you will. ;-) The danger comes when an adult gets the same disease - entire tribes of American Indians (North and South America) were wiped out by those diseases. Rubella doesn't often kill, but usually leaves female survivors infertile. Great idea for all those Brits skipping those shots, huh? If their kids are lucky enough to survive these diseases, they'll be left sterile, and what are they going to say to Mummy and Daddy then? "Hey, thanks for saving me from having a temperature of 105?"

      Grab.

    4. Re:Not quite by masdog · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but what damage comes from Chicken Pox? You get a bunch of sores for up to two weeks, some time out of school, and a lifetime immunity (unless you have an immune system disorder).

      I can understand immunizing for diseases like polio and the mumps.

    5. Re:Not quite by tarkas · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but what damage comes from Chicken Pox. -masdog

      Shingles - look it up. It sucks. Trust me - I know =(

    6. Re:Not quite by smellsofbikes · · Score: 2, Informative
      It's a moving goalpost. People said the same thing about smallpox: once you get it, you don't ever have to worry again, so why immunize? These days, chickenpox is the thing. Maybe in 50 years it'll be colds. The point is that it's a net good. Overall, more people suffer less because of a chickenpox vaccine.

      By the way, it was my understanding that shingles is the return of chickenpox that has remained in the body since a childhood infection, and it can return multiple times. While I'm at it, some of the complications from shingles include deafness, blindness, and facial paralysis. I'd really really like to not experience that.

      --
      Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
    7. Re:Not quite by Seraphim1982 · · Score: 1

      Studies have shown the occurance of shingles increased after vaccination for chicken pox started.

      From what I've read it is believed that exposure to chicken pox helps prevent shingles, so vacinating people reduces the number of people having chicken pox and increases in people having shingles.

    8. Re:Not quite by masdog · · Score: 1

      People said the same thing about smallpox: once you get it, you don't ever have to worry again, so why immunize?

      Smallpox is much more fatal than chicken pox. And yes, I am aware of shingles, but that tends to be a rare condition.

    9. Re:Not quite by BluedemonX · · Score: 0

      It can kill people. It also can cause reproductive problems. It's not just "ya get a few itchy bumps but that's it."

      From the CDC:

            5. Can a healthy person with varicella die from the disease?

              Yes, many of the deaths and complications from chickenpox occur in previously healthy children and adults. From 1990 to 1994, before there was a vaccine available, there were about 50 chickenpox deaths in children and 50 chickenpox deaths in adults every year; most of these persons were healthy or did not have a medical illness (such as cancer) that placed them at higher risk of getting severe chickenpox. Since 1999, states have been encouraged to report chickenpox deaths to CDC. In 1999 and 2000, CDC received reports that showed that deaths from chickenpox continue to occur in healthy, unvaccinated children and adults. Most of the healthy adults who died from chickenpox contracted the disease from their unvaccinated children.

      --

      --- Jump!! Fire!! Bullet time!! - Lego version of the Matrix
    10. Re:Not quite by smellsofbikes · · Score: 1

      Something like 20% of people who have had chickenpox have shingles later in life. Those aren't attractive odds. I'm not saying chickenpox vaccination is anywhere nearly as vital as polio or smallpox were, but now that they're mostly gone, and measles/mumps/rubella/tetanus/pertussis are vastly less common, why not work on what's left? Thus far I haven't seen any evidence for negative chickenpox vaccine side-effects (unlike polio, for instance, or to a lesser extent smallpox and measles) so I can't see any reason to *not* give routine chickenpox vaccinations. There's an upside, there's no downside (I may be wrong on that, but time will tell) so it seems like a no-brainer.

      --
      Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
    11. Re:Not quite by Clod9 · · Score: 1
      This is true, but doesn't state the whole case. Reduce the number of carriers now, and you increase the number of cases of shingles in people who have previously had chicken pox; but all those kids who never get chicken pox will never get shingles. Over a century, the number of cases of shingles should go up and then way down.

      I had chicken pox as a kid; and my kids are getting vaccinated. Statistically, it's bad for me but good for them...and given such a choice, I don't need to think about it much to get my answer.

    12. Re:Not quite by jabuzz · · Score: 1

      Oh, how about viral pneumonia, encephalitis with all the associated side effects of that (basically any type of brain damage you can think of) and finally death.

      Anyone who thinks any of these sorts of childhood diseases are all right to catch and only have minor none serious effects is a uninformed fool. They *all* have serious complications and can kill.

    13. Re:Not quite by smellsofbikes · · Score: 1

      I'm going about this in totally the wrong way. I just can't understand why people are opposed to the vaccine. What sort of things make you think it's a bad idea? Side-effects, known or unknown? A general feeling that we're overprotected?

      --
      Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
    14. Re:Not quite by Reziac · · Score: 1

      Chickenpox causes "shingles" in older adults. In a few kids it has serious complications. Both are a considerably higher risk than any "vaccine reaction" (which itself is probably more symtomatic of an immune system defect rather than a problem with the vaccine itself).

      As to other diseases we used to vaccinate against and had nearly wiped out... POLIO is also making a comeback due to a whole generation that was never vaccinated, thanks to fears of "vaccine reactions". Anyone else here remember when iron lungs and leg braces were a major part of the pediatric medicine landscape, back before polio vaccine became commonplace??

      As to whooping cough, it has a high fatality rate; would you rather your kid had a 0.000006% chance of a "vaccine reaction", or a ~10% chance of dying from this preventable disease? (the death rate was MUCH higher 50 years ago, but I'm allowing for Modern Hospitalization)

      We see the same paranoia about "vaccine reactions" among the new generation of dog breeders, who don't remember when 50% of all puppies died of distemper, who haven't had a whole litter die of parvovirus, and who haven't seen lepto kill 1/3rd of a whole town's canine population. And thanks to clients with ill-fitted tinfoil hats, most vets have stopped vaccinating against lepto AT ALL; consequently lepto has returned from near-extinction, and there are now occasional epidemics.

      [Side note: I am a professional dog breeder/trainer with 36 years experience. In my kennel I've given about 15,000 doses of vaccine, mostly 7-way combo. I have NEVER seen a "vaccine reaction". But I don't breed from dogs with immune-system disorders, either.]

      As to TB, remember when schools tested every child every year? what with the huge influx of illegal immigrants from poor countries where TB is still an issue, why are we no longer testing kids -- if only to protect their schoolmates??

      As to rickets, it isn't a disease, it's a deficiency disorder, generally due to lack of calcium and/or vitamin D (but can also be caused by a lack/imbalance of phosphorus and potassium, or by megadoses of vitamin C), and most commonly a result of not letting your kids drink enough milk. Those who try to blame it on "too much breast milk" or "too much sunscreen" should perhaps note that residents of low-sun countries and cultures where all kids are breast-fed don't seem to have this problem...

      Ah, the wonders of our Modern Healthy Diets -- epidemics first of obesity and now of rickets!

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    15. Re:Not quite by Reziac · · Score: 1

      "People said the same thing about smallpox: once you get it, you don't ever have to worry again, so why immunize?"

      Or to be more accurate: "Once you SURVIVE it, you don't ever have to worry again, so why immunize?"

      Also, see above where I rant about the fallacy of "vaccine reactions", and why polio is also making a comeback.

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    16. Re:Not quite by masdog · · Score: 1

      I think most of it comes from the general feeling that we're becoming overprotected. Life is starting to become antiseptic with all these new medicines and vaccines. We'll lose our ability to treat and handle diseases, and when the next big-thing comes along in the future, we won't know how to deal with it.

      I'm not against all vaccines. I think that there are some great uses to protecting people from serious diseases like polio or protecting those with weakened immune systems.

    17. Re:Not quite by tigersha · · Score: 1

      In pregnant women, Rubella also causes serious defects in the unborn child.

      In South Africa girls at immunized against it but not boys.

      http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/681_1225 .asp

      --
      The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
    18. Re:Not quite by Ihlosi · · Score: 1
      Or to be more accurate: "Once you SURVIVE it, you don't ever have to worry again, so why immunize?"



      Why ... once you're dead, you don't need to worry about diseases anymore.

    19. Re:Not quite by SillySlashdotName · · Score: 1

      Reye's syndrome.

      KILLS PEOPLE.

      Can't get much more damage than that!

      --
      Acts of massive stupidity are almost never covered by warranty. --me.
    20. Re:Not quite by Reziac · · Score: 1

      Good point :)

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
  127. 28 shots by peter303 · · Score: 2

    The currently recommended shot for the first five years is up to 28 shots. Used to a quarter of that when I was a kid. No wonder some parents are overwhelmed, especially the less educated ones.

  128. Re:No one posted the obvious pop-culture reference by kimvette · · Score: 1

    Off topic?

    Mumps is on topic, that Brady Bunch episode is the one where Bobby Brady thought he might have gotten the mumps, and it's off-topic?

    What the hell are you wasting your mod points for? Go mod up an insightful or interesting post, and if you can't be bothered to click a link to check the context, leave a post the fuck alone. Don't waste mod points modding posts down, dumbass. Read the fucking FAQ, n00b.

    --
    The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
  129. Pah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Newbies :-) I've had mumps, chickenpox and measles when I was a kid. And I'm not that old!

    But I thought that Tuberculosis for one might be a problem in the USA, because right-wingers (not Bush though) think that if all their household servants (who don't legally exist) and farm workers catch something, it won't affect anyone else.

  130. I had it by sepharious · · Score: 1

    A few weeks ago I had symptoms that are an exact match to Mumps (swollen throat, muscle pain, sensitivity to citrus) and I live in Alabama. The virus has spread this far, one can only assume it will continue to spread throughout the world as people continue to travel. So don't act surprized, they told us it would happen and so it has. We will never be able to be rid of some diseases until we have a working knowledge of exactly how they work. That's why things like genetic sequencing, stem cell research, advanced mathematics, and massive cluster computing will be important for our future. It's sad that America is continually reported to have a "brain drain" going on. For people who went to the moon, developed computers and the internet, and have built up one of the most powerful nations to have ever existed we sure seem to have a real problem maintaining our edge. Methinks perhaps all the extra fat America has accumulated might have gone to our heads.

    --
    Did you know that you can be apathetic to apathy? Not that I give a shit...
  131. Lying without statistics by metamatic · · Score: 1

    I guess I misheard the statistic. The US Census Bureau confirms that 18.9% of people are uninsured.

    But on to the actual point: How was TB eradicated? Let's ask the CDC. Well, what do you know, it was tax-funded public health departments who ran treatment facilities, not private industry. There was federal funding from 1944 thru the 1960s.

    Still, never let the facts get in the way of right-wing dogma, eh?

    --
    GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
    1. Re:Lying without statistics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did you learn to read at a public school or something? As I said, TB was not eradicated through a universal government health insurance program. Amusingly, the link you provided mentions the early efforts of private organizations in eliminating TB, and it's also important to note that the first effective antibiotics for TB became available during that timeframe, which was surely a critical factor.

      I'd be interested to hear your solution for the increased crime perpetrated by illegals; build more prisons, hire more cops? For their massive poverty and lack of modern job skills; more government schools, more welfare benefits? Why not just correct the underlying problem, which is that these people are here in the first place?

    2. Re:Lying without statistics by metamatic · · Score: 1

      I didn't say TB was eradicated through a universal government health program, so stop trying to set up straw men.

      Crime is also irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

      --
      GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
  132. Re:Special Report: "Disease, unwanted import" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As the Daleks might say, "Exterminate"

  133. Preaching to the choir by benhocking · · Score: 1

    No doubt. I don't claim that vaccines are the cause, and, in fact, think they probably aren't. However, that they might be just means that it's worth keep tabs on what happens now that (most) vaccines no longer use Thimerosal.

    --
    Ben Hocking
    Need a professional organizer?
  134. I notice by GuloGulo · · Score: 1

    That you cahnged the subject.

    How is it people like you, when confronted with facts that directly contradict their statements, resort to changing the subject?

    I showed you why you were wrong. Own up, or shut up. I'll take either, but no more rambling half-coherent posts in response please.

    --
    "The government grants you rights, not the other way around."-- beav007. Yes, these people really exist...
  135. It's not demand for their labor by phorm · · Score: 1

    It's demand for cheap labor. When somebody lacks the rights of citizenship, it's a lot easier to underpay, abuse, and overwork them. If they're unhappy, what can they do, complaining to a labor board will most likely get them deported.

  136. Why the stir? by mdecarle · · Score: 1

    I don't understand the stir this is creating. When I was a little kid (1980-1985) I had at least 2 of those diseases (I am sure I had measles and mumps), and possibly rubella. All the kids had them.

    They are childrens diseases, because you are supposed to get them when you're a child.

  137. Mumps?? by Marcos+Eliziario · · Score: 1

    Gosh! What other old-times bugs are coming back this season to haunt us? Natural, Adabas, COBOL?

    --
    Your ad could be here!
    1. Re:Mumps?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh my god ... I hadn't thought about Adabas and it's oh-so-'Natural' two-character field names in ... oh, about two decades now ... those were the days when DB2 v1.0 was incubating ... :-)

  138. riiiiight.... by hoborocks · · Score: 1

    That's partly because crowded dorms and cafeterias are breeding grounds for germs that are spread by sneezing and coughing.
     
    ....Sure, sneezing and coughing. That's that thing that helps us whippersnappers spread germs in college... ;-)

    --
    AccountKiller
  139. Iowa adjusts to flood of Hispanic immigrants by JonTurner · · Score: 1

    http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?typ e=domesticNews&storyid=2006-04-30T201936Z_01_N3043 1831_RTRUKOC_0_US-USA-IMMIGRATION-MIDWEST.xml&rpc= 22
    Notice it's posted on that well-known, ultra rightwing network known as Reuters. (And I say that, dripping with sarcasm.)

    I know that due to your leftwing bias it's difficult to understand, but just because a news story doesn't fit your worldview that doesn't mean it's untrue. Try to be open minded and do some research before hurling insults.

    Besides, the Weekly World News is known for reporting different types of Aliens.

  140. the subject evolved + I may have misinterpreted by r00t · · Score: 1
    1. Me: Maybe the idea is to just assume that the mother has an STD.
    2. You: She probably does ... 80% ... infected ... Read that over, until the smug look disappears from your face.
    3. Me: Viruses are not created in the act of sex. ... pair up with one other person for life.

    So in my case, no, the mother probably does not have an STD and it's an insult for the government to just assume she does.

    I supppose you may have meant "any randomly selected mother probably has a disease" instead of "the mother of r00t's children probably has a disease (and r00t doesn't know about it)".

    Still, it's highly offensive to mandate vaccination on the assumption that the mother has an STD. Even if 99% of mothers had STDs, it would be wrong to mandate treatment based on an assumption of sickness.

    1. Re:the subject evolved + I may have misinterpreted by famebait · · Score: 1

      No, the wrong thing to do would be to allow rampant and completely predictable sickness and injury, even when it could be easily be prevented, just out of fear of insulting the kind of poeple who will obviously be insulted about something in any case.

      --
      sudo ergo sum
  141. Re:you let the lobbyists decide by r00t · · Score: 1

    Me, as a game player: "What is the best strategy for me?" ("me" is including blood relatives)

    I do not ask what is best for the group. For me it is best that vaccination be for everybody else. Perhaps I should be less honest on Slashdot: vaccination is critical for your health and does not have any risks.

  142. as diseases come back, the risk changes by r00t · · Score: 1

    As the disease risk rises, vaccination becomes more beneficial. I'd sure get vaccinated if a disease were spreading around my town, assuming the disease is bad enough to care about. Polio definitely counts. Chickenpox probably does not.

    The STD vaccine I refer to is the one for Hepatitis B. (like AIDS, you can get it via non-sexual stupidity like sharing needles, but we still call it an STD) The HPV (warts) one is interesting too, but I've yet to hear of that one being given to 1-day-old babies.

    1. Re:as diseases come back, the risk changes by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      Chickenpox- You might want to have your kids to have the vaccine for chicken pox. Turns out that there's a chance 40-60 years down the road of developing shingles, a more serious disease, if you've had the chickenpox.

      I've read enough literature that indicates that the body is designed such that it expects a certain amount of attacks, if it doesn't get them, you run an increased risk of immune response.

      That's doesn't necessarily mean that you need to give all the shots at once, that's a political/cost savings measure, they're afraid that parent's won't bring their kids in often enough to get all the shots.

      I mean, to get the full list of shots* now is something like 5-8 visits over the course of 20 years, and there are still lots of kids without them, enough to reduce the effectivness of herd immunity in some areas.

      Then there's the difference between live and dead vaccines. General wisdom is that dead's safer, live results in better immunity. Why not give them the dead vaccine first, then switch to the live for a booster?

      *Disregarding some of the more unusual ones I've had like smallpox and anthrax. The new lots of anthrax are far better than the old ones, side effect wise(the last old one I got burned like a SOB)

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
  143. Re:Border control by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, actually, they DO come over the border and high-tail it for Iowa. And South Dakota, Kansas, and Nebraska, where there are lots of meatpacking plants run by corporations that dont care (cough *Tyson*). I live in Norfolk, Nebraska, a town of population 24,000. In the past 10 years our Hispanic population has gone from 3% to 34%. To quote Carlos Mencia: "There's more b**ners here than in Mexico!"

    If you don't know the facts, please don't act like you do.

  144. Rickets, really? by Forbman · · Score: 1

    Rickets? That's just Vit-D deficiency. Hardly a cause for concern, really, for most people. It's supplimented into milk, for one. Any exposure to direct sunlight produces enough Vit-D in the skin to make up for minor dietary deficiencies, too.

    Did you mean Rubella?

    1. Re:Rickets, really? by CupBeEmpty · · Score: 1

      You are thinking, quite rightly, of something else. I am almost certain that they do not mean rickets in the article, which is probably the source of the confusion. They probably mean infection with rickettsiae. It turns out that my lab neighbor is in fact one of the small handful of researchers worldwide who study the rickettsiae family of bacteria. They are obligate intercellular bacteria that are the causative agents of typhus, scrub typhus, and rocky mountain spotted fever ("old timey" diseases"). Since they live only inside human cells they are hard to treat and even harder to study, one of the reasons for the comeback.

  145. clearly: ban all travel to and from the USA !!! by fantomas · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "According to a special investigative report [washingtontimes.com] by the "Washington Times", "Contagious diseases are entering the United States because of immigrants, illegal aliens , refugees and travelers, and World Health Organization officials say the worst could be yet to come"." (my bolds)


    Clearly then the solution is easy. Ban all travel to and from the USA and everybody will be safe.
  146. Re:Innoculations? --- not what they used to be by fain0v · · Score: 1

    Vaccines take years and years to get on the market. The safety testing can take decades, and there is very little money to be made in making new and better vaccines. There is an enormous risk of being sued, which can eliminate any profits and easily bankrupt the vaccine maker.

    The technology to create many vaccines is very old because of these reasons, often dating back 50 years +.

    We can make vaccines that are substantially better than what we have, but the government will have to get involved because no companies will ever do it.

  147. chickenpox by r00t · · Score: 1

    It's not that simple either.

    Vaccine-induced immunity to chickenpox wears off. Getting the disease in old age is far worse than getting it as a kid. I'd rather get shingles. Full-blown chickenpox in old age could be deadly.

  148. Re:you let the lobbyists decide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Homeschooling is a damn fine way to avoid horrible diseases.[...] The sickest thing is that some places vaccinate newborns against STDs. That's like the government telling me that my baby is going to be a dumb slut.

    Slut is less certain, but homeschooling by a retard like you is a damn fine way to make sure she ends up dumb.

  149. Re:Special Report: "Disease, unwanted import" by Detritus · · Score: 1

    You've obviously never read the Washington Times. Too busy curling up with the latest issue of the People's Weekly World?

    --
    Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat