The swine flu maneno in the 1970s was actually a key moment in the history of epidemiology politics. It also relates to the history of anti-vaccine activism in important and interesting ways. I should probably write a whole post about it. For now, suffice it to say that the government reaction to the sudden appearance of swine flu on the scene was somewhat bungled, it is probably true that the wrong people got screwed, and the swine flu itself turned out to be a false start. But please also note that the epidemiology of the present swine flu is very different from what we had then. And, we have a Democrat in the White House so the government won’t screw it up as badly.
Tag Archives: Health
Latest Swine Flu Reports
While it is still true that no deaths have been reported for the new swine flu outside of Mexico, the virus has been identified in additional countries.
Continue reading Latest Swine Flu Reports
Swine Flu Threat Update
The most significant thing that has happened over the last 24 hours or so is that the CDC has confirmed a handful of Influenza A (H1N1) Swine Flu cases in new locations. Previously, cases were only identified in Texas and California. Now, there are cases in Ohio (1 case), New York (8 cases), and Kansas (2 cases). In at least some cases, there is a Mexico connection. I think it is reasonable to assume that new cases will start showing up in other locations over the next day or two.
WHO has some updated information on the situation in Mexico:
…as of 26 April, the Government of Mexico has reported 18 laboratory confirmed cases of swine influenza A/H1N1. Investigation is continuing to clarify the spread and severity of the disease in Mexico. Suspect clinical cases have been reported in 19 of the country’s 32 states.
This is not a lot of new information from 24 hours earlier. Reuters has reported that a teacher visiting Mexico from New Zealand has returned with a flu. Of course, a zillion people have the flu every day, so this may not mean anything….
At the moment no travel or trade restrictions are being recommended by WHO.
One question I have that I have not seen any information on is this: We see cases showing up in the US with an apparent Mexico connection, suggesting that this flu may have an origin in Mexico. What about Central America and other points south? Is there any movement in that direction? (And could that explain the family of people I know of who returned form Panama with the “flu” a few weeks ago???) I wonder how good reporting is in countries south of Mexico …
The CDC web site is here.
The WHO web site is here.
The Tex-Mex Flu: Current Situation
Here is a brief summary of what we seem to know now.
Continue reading The Tex-Mex Flu: Current Situation
How do you know when to start worrying about the new Swine Flu threat?
Well, at some level, you should be worrying now. This is serious. But there are a lot of other things you should be worried about as well, such as the nuclear threat and, if you live in tornado alley, tornadoes. But when do you have to start paying attention to current information, bulletins, and so on, and to perhaps start planning to alter your behavior (like, not going to Mexico, or wearing around a mask and staying in the house, or perhaps something in between)?
Continue reading How do you know when to start worrying about the new Swine Flu threat?
Vaccine for E. coli developed
From a Michigan State University Press Release:
A Michigan State University researcher has developed a working vaccine for a strain of E. coli that kills 2 million to 3 million children each year in the developing world.
Enterotoxigenic E. Coli, which is responsible for 60 percent to 70 percent of all E. coli diarrheal disease, also causes health problems for U.S. troops serving overseas and is responsible for what is commonly called traveler’s diarrhea.
The First Pacemaker
I heard an interesting story today from someone involved in heart surgery research, a story about the first battery powered pacemaker to be used on a human. I don’t know if any aspect of this is apocryphal or not, but I can tell you that the source is pretty reliable, and parts of this story are widely repeated on the Intertubes, so they must be true.
Continue reading The First Pacemaker
Innate Immune Response Defines Pathology and death in Those Infected by Highly Pathogenic Influenza
For the last couple of decades, perhaps beginning around the time of the publication of Laurie Garret’s excellent thesis (The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance
If you read the better done public-oriented literature of this period, you will learn that the nature, cause or origin, and pattern of the 1918 epidemic has been very mysterious. The same level of mystery (but with only a few victims) arose in connection with the Swine Flu threat of the 1970s (see expecially Garret’s book for how this event links to current attitudes as well as public policy regarding vaccines).
This brings us to some time last year or so, when key papers were published (and I presume presented at conferences) regarding what may ultimately be seen as the most important single step in the history of understanding the way the flu vaccine works, and thus, how to combat it. (See this to explore one of those key moments in research history.)
The new knowledge is essentially an improved evolutionarily and developmental understanding of how influenza virus strains change over time. To put it very simply, these viruses are made of chunks that come apart in the host and then recombine. If there are multiple ‘strains’ (think species, more or less) of influenza in an individual, these genetic chinks, each representing a huge percentage of the influenza genome, can and do re-combine to form entirely new strains.
That is in a sense macro-evolution of a pathogen in situ, in the host. What is an immune system to do!?!!?!?? Not much, really. This can be very fatal.
It is now understood that these epidemic or pandemic influenza outbreaks arise from these recombination events. If you now look back at the quirky data, the odd logic influenza seemed to be patterned by, the epidemiological dead ends that seemed to confound everyone through the lens of knowledge of these genetic chunks, called “reassortants,” things suddenly become much much clearer.
A paper has just come out in PNAS reporting research using a primate model to explore immune response and associated pathology under the influence of a recombinant influenza virus, and this research is a direct outcome of this new way of looking at the flu. I offer it here without comment largely because you can get the article yourself, since this one is an OpenAccess piece from the normally not OpenAccess PNAS. Here.
Yer in big trouble if you buy this woo
A Bolivian woman has died from an injection of urine allegedly administered by her friend as a form of health therapy, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Investigating prosecutor Oscar Flores told The Associated Press that 35-year-old Gabriela Ascarrunz died Saturday of an “infection caused by urine that was injected by fashion designer Monica Schultz.”
Local newspapers reported that Schultz, who is known across Bolivia for her clothing lines, is a practitioner of urine therapy — a form of alternative medicine using human urine for cosmetic purposes or to treat various diseases. Some people rub it on their skin, while others inject or drink it.
Skeptical scientists and physicians say there is no evidence urine treatment works and that chemicals it contains could potentially be toxic.
Important Information on the MMR Vaccine-Autism Link
An investigation by the Sunday Times (UK) indicates that the doctor who reported information suggesting a link between MMR vaccine and autism may have “misreproted results in his research.” The investigation purpots to show that …
…Andrew Wakefield manipulated patients’ data, which triggered fears that the MMR triple vaccine to protect against measles, mumps and rubella was linked to the condition.
The research [originally] claimed that the families of eight out of 12 children attending a routine clinic at the hospital had blamed MMR for their autism, and said that problems came on within days of the [vaccinatoi]. The team also claimed to have discovered a new inflammatory bowel disease underlying the children’s conditions.
However, our investigation, confirmed by evidence presented to the General Medical Council (GMC), reveals that: In most of the 12 cases, the children’s ailments as described in The Lancet were different from their hospital and GP records. Although the research paper claimed that problems came on within days of the jab, in only one case did medical records suggest this was true, and in many of the cases medical concerns had been raised before the children were vaccinated. Hospital pathologists, looking for inflammatory bowel disease, reported in the majority of cases that the gut was normal. This was then reviewed and the Lancet paper showed them as abnormal.
(Emphasis added)
The story is here.
See also:
A Quick Note to Huffington Post
Did the founder of the antivax movement fake autism-vaccine link?
Anti-vax study a case of scientific fraud?
The anti-vaccination movement—rotten to the core
Study on voluntary vaccination reveals interesting complexities
When word of this study gets around, you may start to hear that voluntary vaccination “works.” This would not be an accurate statement. There is a new study just now out in PLoS Computational Biology that reveals that under certain conditions, which may actually be quite rare, voluntary vaccinations might lead to the eradication of a disease (contrary to ‘popular wisdom’). However, you must realize that the study has some important limitations and the results do not suggest that most (if any) current vaccination issues be voluntary rather than mandatory.
Continue reading Study on voluntary vaccination reveals interesting complexities
Link Between Vitamin D Deficiency and MS
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common serious neurological disease that affects young adults, wiht about 2.5 million victims worldwide. The disease involves a loss of myelin in brain and spinal cord neural tissues. Myelin is the protective and insulating layer that covers most axons in the mammalian nervous system.
can be caused in part by a particular set of genetic variations in the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC), which in turn cause significant neurological effects. There is compelling epidemiological information to suggest that there is also an important environmental factor. The present study makes the argument that vitamin D deficiency, especially during pregnancy and early development, is one such important environmental factor.
How much is the world spending on neglected disease research and development?
How much are we actually spending on the development of pharmaceutical tools to treat HIV/AIDS, TB, leichmaniasis, malaria and sleeping sickness?
Today, PLoS Medicine Policy Forum asks this question. According to a press release from PLoS:
The first comprehensive survey of global spending on neglected disease R&D, published in this week’s PLoS Medicine, finds that just over $US 2.5 billion was invested into R&D of new products in 2007, with three diseases–HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria–receiving nearly 80% of the total.
However, the survey finds that many neglected diseases, responsible for killing millions of people in developing countries, are significantly underfunded.
Continue reading How much is the world spending on neglected disease research and development?
Vaccines and Autism: A Tale of Shifting Hypotheses
A paper coming out in the next issue of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases addresses the question of the link between vaccines and autism. This new review article examines three hypotheses linking vaccines to autism:
(1) the combination measlesâ?mumpsâ?rubella vaccine causes autism by damaging the intestinal lining, which allows the entrance of encephalopathic proteins;
(2) thimerosal, an ethylmercuryâ?containing preservative in some vaccines, is toxic to the central nervous system; and
(3) the simultaneous administration of multiple vaccines overwhelms or weakens the immune system.
Continue reading Vaccines and Autism: A Tale of Shifting Hypotheses
Tara Smith: New Staph Strain Found in U.S. Pigs
A strain of drug-resistant staph identified in pigs in the Netherlands five years ago, which accounts for nearly one third of all staph in humans there, has been found in the U.S. for the first time, according to a new study.
Seventy percent of 209 pigs and nine of 14 workers on seven linked farms in Iowa and Illinois were found to be carrying the ST398 strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
The study marks the first time researchers have tested for the strain in the U.S., so there’s no way yet to tell when or how it arrived or how widespread it may be, says Tara Smith, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Iowa in Iowa City and lead author of the study published today in the online Public Library of Science journal, PLoS ONE.
Sciam Writeup is Here
The Paper is Here
Tara Smith is Here