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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."
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.
1864 Mumps: A little fruity, but solid, bold taste. Goes well with chicken (pox).
Vintage diseases huh? I guess that makes them retroviruses.
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...
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Bubonic plague, now available in California!
"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
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
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.
Whatever gave you that idea? Vaccination was not invented in USA, nor where USA first out to have vaccination programs.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
Are you adequate?
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.
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."
Ron Paul
Don't annoy us. If you do, we'll cough on you.
http://pinopsida.com
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
Bonsai Kitten: TNG
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.
Bonsai Kitten: TNG
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.
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.
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.
"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.