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Chicken vaccine viruses recombine in wild, anti-vaccine conspiracies abound

For the past five years, there have been large outbreaks of infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) in chickens in Australia. ILT is a highly contagious herpesvirus, and one of a group that includes herpes and chickenpox. The chickens become very ill with red and swollen eyes, along with sneezing, coughing and gasping, while occasionally producing a bloody nasal discharge. Mortality is quite high, and surviving chickens produce fewer eggs, which, of course, is very bad for chicken farmers.

The diseases are usually prevented by a vaccine against ILT. Many vaccines against viruses, including the ILT version, contain live attenuated viruses (LAV), which are viruses that have reduced virulence, though still alive, so that the immune system recognizes it to develop an immune response. Attenuation takes an infectious agent and alters it so that it becomes harmless or less virulent.Read More »Chicken vaccine viruses recombine in wild, anti-vaccine conspiracies abound

Anti-science hysteria vs. dengue fever

Four hundred years ago, the world was so afraid of Galileo’s scientific ideas that the Catholic Church put him under house arrest for the rest of his life. And he was just describing heliocentrism, the astronomical model where the earth revolves around the sun. Very important to our understanding of the universe, but it was not a life or death matter. You would assume that if a new scientific idea that would help people live longer and healthier, then there would be no fear. However, that assumption is disproven again and again with the anti-vaccine gang and the Big Pharma ad hominems that we hear frequently.

The British newspaper, the Guardian, is reporting that a small UK based biotech firm, Oxitec, is running into public resistance to testing a genetically modified mosquito that may stop the spread of the species of mosquito that spreads dengue fever in the Florida Keys. Dengue fever is a disease caused by any one of four closely related dengue viruses (DENV 1, DENV 2, DENV 3, or DENV 4) that are transmitted by the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti mosquito, the most important transmitter or vector of dengue viruses in North America.Read More »Anti-science hysteria vs. dengue fever

Whooping cough update: Washington state epidemic exceeds 2800 cases

The Washington State Department of Health has reported (pdf) that the current whooping cough (Bordetella pertussis) epidemic has hit 2883 cases, over 10X more than the 210 cases reported at the same time last year. The epidemic seems to have peaked a few weeks ago, although concerns will remain as children return to school in the autumn.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pertussis (whooping cough) can cause serious illness in infants, children and adults. The disease usually starts with cold-like symptoms and maybe a mild cough or fever. After 1 to 2 weeks, severe coughing can begin. Unlike the common cold, pertussis can become a series of coughing fits that continues for weeks. In infants, the cough can be minimal or not even there. Infants may have a symptom known as “apnea.” Apnea is a pause in the child’s breathing pattern. Pertussis is most dangerous for babies. More than half of infants younger than 1 year of age who get the disease must be hospitalized. Approximately 1-2% of infants who are hospitalized from pertussis will die.Read More »Whooping cough update: Washington state epidemic exceeds 2800 cases

The best reason to detest the anti-vaccine movement

There are many reasons to loathe the anti-vaccine lunatics. Their decisions are based on pseudoscience and uninformed opinions. They listen to uneducated individuals instead of researchers who spend their lifetimes trying to understand the nuances of vaccines, the immune system and infectious diseases. They look for nonexistent conspiracies to such a point that they sound like a schizophrenic undergoing a psychotic break. They pretend to be interested in their children, and you almost want to believe them, but their conclusions are based on so little evidence, you begin to think that it’s all about the hype rather than the children.

Read More »The best reason to detest the anti-vaccine movement

Colon detoxification is full of…it

Listen to the radio for a few minutes. Or watch late night television for a bit. Through the commercials hawking insurance with talking geckos, promoting treatments for erectile dysfunction, and, exhibiting the coolest, fastest, most fuel efficient car, you will run across the reason for all that ails you: your improperly cleaned colon. The treatment is called colon cleansing, and sometimes, detoxifying. It’s one of those silly alternative medicine ideas that hangs around without one single bit of evidence supporting it.Read More »Colon detoxification is full of…it

Placebos cannot replace antipsychotics

As I’ve discussed previously, placebo effects are mostly a myth, and if a new drug has an effect barely above that of a mythical placebo effect, it’s considered a failure. In a recent article in Reuters Health, Rising placebo response seen in schizophrenia trials, Amy Norton states that clinical trials of anti-schizophrenia drugs, in a class of drugs called antipsychotics, are finding lesser effects because patients are responding positively to placebos (that presumably does not contain anything but sugar).

Treating schizophrenia or any psychosis is difficult because different patients respond in different ways to each drug. For some individuals, these drugs can treat many of the symptoms of schizophrenia, including hallucinations and delusions, which allows them to live relatively normal lives. But for some individuals these same drugs have significant side effects, including sedation, weight gain, and hyperglycemia (which can be serious for a diabetic). Eventually, individuals stop using the drugs because of the side effects and their psychotic symptoms return.Read More »Placebos cannot replace antipsychotics