Results for: vaccine
The 2018 Flu Epidemic: Hives and other Influenza Related Nonsense
While it isn't likely to be the flumaggedon, it is shaping up to be a really bad flu season. Unfortunately there is a lot of overzealous news coverage that I fear is causing more anxiety among parents than is warranted.
Death by Gardasil? Not so fast there…
There is a type of "vaccine injury" story promoted by the antivaccine movement that is particularly pernicious, a narrative I call "death by Gardasil." The stories, which use tenuous connections between vaccination against HPV to prevent cervical cancer and the unexpected death of a teen or young adult, are always tragic, and you can't help but feel incredible empathy for the parents....
Rabies Claims the Life of a 6-Year-Old Florida Child: The Tragic Case of Ryker Roque
Rabies is an incredibly deadly infection, but one that is virtually 100% preventable. Unfortunately a Florida child recently paid the ultimate price when his parents failed to seek out appropriate medical care for a bat bite, and despite an experimental but flawed treatment protocol.
Georgian College’s Homeopathy Program: Magical Thinking Presented as Fact
Georgian College in Ontario, Canada is now offering a 3-year advanced diploma in the pseudoscience of homeopathy.
Legislative Alchemy 2017: Acupuncture
Acupuncture is nothing more than a theatrical placebo. Yet acupuncturists, defined as primary care practitioners in some states, are succeeding in licensing and practice expansion efforts in state legislatures.
Cancer quack Colleen Huber sues Britt Hermes over criticism
Naturopathic cancer quack Colleen Huber is attempting to silence criticism of her practices by suing Britt Hermes. Help Britt fight back with a donation to help defray legal expenses.
Legionnaires’ Disease: The Other Disneyland Outbreak
As 2017 came to a close, Disneyland again played a role in the outbreak of an infectious disease, this one much more deadly than measles.
Cancer Deaths Continue to Decline
Overall cancer incidence has been stable in women and declining steadily in men. Changes in specific cancers reflect known risk factors and the effect of screening methods. What is not seen in this data is any mysterious increase in any specific cancer or cancers overall.
“Raw water”: The latest dangerous “natural health” fad
In pseudoscience, appeals to nature are everywhere. It's not surprising, then, that there is profit to be made selling "raw" (i.e., untreated) water at very high prices for its nonexistent health benefits, those benefits all claimed to be due to the "naturalness" of the water. I can't help but note that cholera, Giardia, amoebic dysentery, and a wide variety of waterborne illnesses...
Infiltrative Pseudoscience
If you don't think that CAM is the enemy of science in medicine, then you don't understand CAM and its proponents. Don't be fooled by their marketing. They want a return to the pre-scientific days when health gurus could sell any snake oil they want at exorbitant prices, with any hyped claims that they want, without going through all that tedious science.