Category: Vaccines
Some Flu Vaccine Updates
It is always flu season somewhere in the world. As Australia’s flu season comes to a close, we are getting ready for ours in the Northern Hemisphere. This is a good time to start thinking about getting the flu vaccine, and as always there is a lot of flu vaccine news to sort through. Mark Crislip has already reviewed the evidence for...
When (Anti-Vax) Politics Intrudes
Over the last decade there has been a needed discussion about the relationship between politics and science. This has mostly been spawned by the perceived “Republican War on Science,” at the center of which is the global warming debate. In reality, both ends of the political spectrum (as evidenced, for example, by the Huffington Post) tend to trump science with ideology. That...
Short Attention Span SBM
The bar on this blog is set high. The entries are often complete, with no turn left unstoned. Yet, not every topic needs the full monty with every post. The blog has extensive evaluations on many topics, and new medical literature doesn’t require another complete analysis. Many new articles add incrementally to the literature and their conclusions need to be inserted into...
Using attacks on science by the anti-vaccine movement as a “teachable moment”
A new study on the connection between vaccines and autism demonstrates two things: there is no connection, and those who think there is are not interested in science unless it supports what they already believe.
The final nail in the mercury-autism hypothesis?
Another study. Another failure to link thimerosal to a higher risk of autism. Can we just bury the claim that thimerosal in vaccines causes autism, already?
A pox on your bank account: failure to vaccinate and its legal consequences
Here’s a question anti-vaxers may want to consider: Can the parents of an unvaccinated child be held liable if their child becomes infected with a vaccine-preventable disease which then spreads from their child to another child or children? Yes, they can. In fact, for over 125 years, courts in this country have recognized a cause of action for negligent transmission of an...
How to make a difference – Responsible vaccine advocacy
I lost a patient this season, an infant, to pertussis. After falling ill he lived for nearly a month in the intensive care unit on a ventilator, three weeks of which was spent on a heart/lung bypass machine (ECMO) due to the extent of the damage to his lungs, but all our efforts were in vain. The most aggressive and advanced care...
Pertussis Epidemic 2010
Bordetella pertussis is the bacterium that causes whooping cough – the main clinical feature of which is a severe lingering cough that can last for weeks or even months. Right now we are in the midst of an epidemic of pertussis cropping up in pockets throughout the US, most notable California. According to the CDC: During January 1– June 30, 2010, a...
Germ theory denial: A major strain in “alt-med” thought
As hard as it is for most physicians today to believe it, germ theory denial is a major strain of belief underlying disturbingly large swaths of alternative medicine, as well as antivaccine beliefs. Yes, infectious disease is more complex than the simplistic version of germ theory understood by the public, but the complexities do not invalidate germ theory.