If You are an Anti-vaxer You Are at the Root of this Outbreak

I attend Salt Lake Community College where we received this email:

IMPORTANT

SLCC Measles Exposure Notice

On April 11th, 2011 you were potentially exposed to a person who was infectious with measles. This exposure occurred at the Nicholas Kristof presentation, held at the Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) South City Campus.

In an effort to help reduce the possibility of spreading the measles to others, the Utah Department of Health (UDOH) is requesting that you as a recipient of this email contact the Utah Department of Health at 801-538-6191 if you begin experience signs and symptoms of measles.

Signs of symptoms of measles include: (People generally become ill from measles 7-18 days after exposure to the virus)
Fever of 101 degrees or higher
Cough
Runny nose
Red, watery eyes
Rash (The rash usually occurs about 14 days after exposure and begins at the hairline and spreads to cover the face, trunk and arms.)
Sensitivity to light (symptom for some people)

Additional important information regarding measles:
If you develop symptoms of measles, please contact your healthcare provider immediately. Call ahead before visiting your healthcare provider or any medical facility so precautions can be taken to avoid potential exposure to other patients.
Measles is very contagious, 90% of people exposed to measles who have not been vaccinated against measles will get measles.
Measles is spread by close contact with an infected person. Just being in the same room as an infected person can be enough for a person to get infected with measles, even after the infected person has left the room.  The measles virus can live on surfaces for up to 2 hours.
If you have never received a MMR vaccine or only one dose of the MMR vaccine it is strongly recommended a first or second dose of MMR vaccine immediately.
If there are people in your home who are not completely immunized, it is strongly recommended that they receive their first or second dose of MMR immediately.
If you have had prior measles illness you are protected and need not do anything.
Additional information on measles can be found at www.cdc.gov/measles


Utah Department of Health
Office of Epidemiology
PO Box 142104
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-2104
801.538.6191
801.538.9923 (fax)

To report a disease or outbreak
1-888-EPI-UTAH

This outbreak coincides with an outbreak on the eastside of Salt Lake County in the Granite School District. According to a study outlined in the Journal of American Academy of Pediatrics parents who are most likely to skip vaccines are mothers who are educated, white, with above average incomes. The Oprah generation who get their medical advise from Dr. Oz, Deepak Choprah, and Dr. Phil. The same parents who bought off on the Wakefield study and who continue to practice this dangerous abstinence.

Because of the MMR vaccine learning and physical disabilities such as congenital and acquired deafness have a much lower incidence. If you are a teen or young mother who was not immunized and you get rubella there is a 60% likelihood your child will be deaf. If your infant gets the measles there in a likelihood they will suffer from hearing loss. There is NO chance they will get autism. None. ZERO.

Fundamental thinking is bad for humans with or without a god!  If you deny your child vaccines against childhood diseases like measles, mumps, rubella, polio and pertussis you should not only not be allowed to keep your children but you should be voted off the island as well. You have no business endangering your children or the herd. In exercising your right to abstain you impair their right to life and happiness.

If you believe this..... you will believe anything!

Utah has a reputation for being the fraud capital of the country. There has been a correlation between the exploitation of the local beliefs and the predominate religion and the fraud. If you can show that you are a card carrying mormon (or you pretend to be) you can get into peoples wallets and manipulate their emotions based upon your connection to their belief system. I have found two examples of this manipulation in the last week.

The first was an amusing billboard and corresponding website for "LDS Agents". It seems that these capitalists have found a way to connect with Mormons around the country through real estate transactions. It is not that they are great real estate professionals that sets them apart it is the fact that they share a similar religious ideal and as a result they are more qualified to serve you in your home purchase. The premise is laughable however it must be an effective marketing tool to justify their overhead.

The second is a little more concerning. I was in our local grocery store and saw a poster on the community board for a conference on holistic living. I have been a vocal critic of alternative medicine for a while. This conference is called LDS holistic living.  There seems to be an attempt to sell someone something based upon a common religious belief.  While I say "sell"  you might say "exploit" based upon a common religious belief.

I am always concerned about niche markets designed to prey upon religious people; because, the devout  seem to be ripe to manipulation in many ways based upon their ability to suspend disbelief.  They also have an admirable quality of wanting to believe in the inherent good in people....again leaving them ripe.

Of concern with the above listed organization is the list of speakers and the suspect level of expertise they have in their field.  Included are Natropathic Physicians, Vaccination deniers, and yoga instructors all of which have taken on the suspect roles of encouraging the potential attendees to give up on traditional western medicine and practices in favor on unproven and in many cases dis-proven remedies.

Here are some facts.  First not only is there no link to vaccinations and autism but it has been studied, published, and peer reviewed and proven not once but in at least three major medical studies.  Second, there is no proof that organic food is better for you than commercially grown food.  Third, there is no evidence that vitamin supplements, herbs, and Acai  berries do anything but give you expensive strong smelling urine.

So why do I care?  Because bad science results in attacks on our health.  Not just the health of the person engaged in the "alternative" therapies but the health of the community as a whole.  This is evidenced in the recent out break in pertussis discussed here:  Follow the link article and view the video.  For some reason I cannot get it to embed.

Pertussis is preventable but we are choosing snake oil over science.  Even in the face of overwhelming evidence the vaccine deniers refuse to let go of their ill informed beliefs at the expense of our health, their children's health and even their own.

The problem as I see it is "snake oil" salesmen are exploiting a faithful people.  They do not have to really quantify their claims and any real effect of their treatments is largely anecdotal.  There is no causative correlation to their claims and the result their patients feel.  In many cases the resulting confirmation bias is self deluding and the real underlying problem is at least temporarily denied.  When allowed to go unchecked many of the underlying problems will be debilitating and some fatal.

The video below (originally posted by PZ Myers)  has some language and it does not tread lightly on ones beliefs.




I just have one question to those who sell this.... when your child is in imminent jeopardy of dying... do you continue down the holistic path or do you seek the best doctor and highest trained specialist western medicine has to offer.  Do you defer to faith alone or do you bring a scientist into the room?

Skepticism doesn't just question religion

I found this on Skeptchick. This is second post about alternative medicine I have seen on their blog in the last couple of days. The topic of "Alternative Medicine" is one of my biggest pet peeves next to religion. I question why we are so willing to dump concentrates and compounds into our body that have not been evaluated by the FDA.

So I am ready for the responses which indict the FDA, the Drug Companies, the Capitalists, Communists, and Fascists who are trying to keep us sick by feeding us scientifically evaluated medicine which have gone through peer reviewed studies. This idea that a grand conspiracy has been has been invented to keep us sick and dependant on the medicine is ridiculous. Doctors who are acting in good faith do not put their patients at risk. The day of the snake oil salesman were gone almost 100 years ago. However with our regression back toward religion we are seeing a rebirth of miracle cures.

Doctors who abandon scientifically based medicine like Deepak Chopra are radical quacks who found away to exploit our willingness to believe everything. PZ Myers posted on his blog this story: Cancer is a Disease. The story outlines the suffering that can be imposed on someone who is already suffering from a potentially fatal disease. The prescription offered is criminal. Much like religion's premise that if you do not feel the spirit you should pray more, fast more, give more money, and if that doesn't work...its you! Deepak offers the prescription that positive thinking and meditation will rid you of your disease and if that fails...its because you were not positive enough early enough.

Equally criminal is the marketing of products that have miracle properties. The Acai Berry, Tahitian Noni Juice, oxygen drops, homeopathic remedies, many vitamins and the nearly credible Airborne "created by school teachers" and packaged to look like real cold medicine. Because they do not claim to be traditional medicine they do not have to go through the rigorous FDA evaluation process. US senators like Orin Hatch have worked overtime to keep them from being regulated. In most cases we find they do not do what they claim and in many other we find they are harmful. In most cases the only benefit the consumer gets from the ingestion of theses products in anecdotal.

In another article Elyse of Skepchick answers an offer by a Doctor peddling his new alt. migraine remedy. I love her her response and think it is well worth your time to read and this one which really got me started on the topic at the first of the year.

7. Good for You or Healthy As opposed to what? Says who?

I think that is the question. Whether we explore the claims of religion or alternative medicine we should be asking...Who says and with what proof. A feeling is nice but at the end of the day it is anecdotal. In the case of alternative medicine "if alternative medicine has been proved to work then its medicine."

Talk among yourselves....