Tag Archive for immunization

This New Virus Scares Me

February 25, 2014 2 comments

Polio-like symptoms in California (and Asian and Australian) children…that’s scary, for two reasons.

First, as a polio survivor, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.  I’ve had a good life but with a good dollop of struggles.  I’m not complaining, just saying that I wish all children to be healthy and free of pain and encumbrances to their daily lives.

Second, I fear for another type of virus that will likely spread–the virus of misinformation.  I can foresee parents learning that all of these California kids had been immunized against polio, then, as often happens, making the illogical leap to say that the immunization caused the disease. From there they’ll refuse to immunize their next child and convince other parents to do the same.  Soon polio (which isn’t really wiped off the face of the Earth) has returned full force, in epidemic form.  Impossible? I wish it were.

That’s why I’m frightened.

 

 

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Disease and Choice

February 14, 2014 Comments Off on Disease and Choice

Possible measles outbreak at UC Berkeley?  Or even further?  Unbelievable but true.  Because a Berkeley student  who didn’t know he’d been infected (probably while traveling overseas) rode public transportation (BART) around Contra Costa County and interacted with strangers, friends, family, and other students.

Measles is  easily spread and is very serious, often causing pneumonia, brain damage, seizures, or death.  We don’t see it too often anymore in the U.S., though, because so many Americans have been immunized.  But not this young man.

Why not?  There are nine other diseases, besides measles, that are preventable: chickenpox, lockjaw (tetanus), whooping cough, polio, mumps, German measles,hepatitis B, and type B flu.  All it takes is preventative vaccinations, which everyone should have.

But that interferes with my Constitutional rights, my freedom of choice, some will say.  My answer to them is this: protect yourself, and therefore the rest of us, or become a hermit and live somewhere totally away from us.  Now, THAT’S your choice.

 

 

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Polio & War

October 30, 2013 Comments Off on Polio & War

Despite what the WHO said years back, polio has NOT been eradicated. In fact, unrest in the world is helping the previously fewer cases to grow toward an epidemic in some areas. In 2012, Nigeria reported 122 cases, Pakistan 58, and Afghanistan 37.  Today’s news tells us that at least 10 cases have been reported recently in Syria. What do these countries have in common? War.  Violence and fear among people drives them into lifestyles that allow them simply to survive.  People get spread out into less accessible (and, they hope, safer) areas, and the last thing on their minds is to get immunized against polio. Under these circumstances, even countries with mandatory immunization–and Syria is one of them–find that avoiding gunfire and bombs trumps compulsory programs that no one is enforcing.

Maybe it’s because I contracted polio during the time when America was recovering from WWII. Or that I see so many preventable diseases (malaria, pneumonia, antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, etc.) spreading during and right after  a war. Or that the most common victim of such diseases is someone living in poverty and the ravages of war. But it seems clear to me that a major preventative of polio and other communicable diseases is peace.

 

 

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Protect your Friends & Loved Ones

October 1, 2013 Comments Off on Protect your Friends & Loved Ones

Your lack of action can bring great harm to your friends and loved ones.  It can even contribute to their death if they have COPD or lung infections that reduce their chances of living through the flu (or even a cold).  The CDC says that 200,000 people land up in the hospital annually due to flu-related illness, probably because only 42% of Americans tend to get vaccinated against the flu.

Some people play Russian Roulette.  Knowing that the vaccination is good for only a year, they wait until late in the year to get their shot so it “lasts longer.”  Yet, the virus is already floating around, and it does take two weeks after the shot for the body to develop the necessary protective antibodies.

I got my inoculation, partly to protect myself but also because I feel a responsibility to help protect those around me.  The flu is a potential killer.  It’s up to each of us to stop it and to take care of each other.

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