Measles and Cloudy Thinking
y Ralph Campbell, MD
(OMNS Mar 26, 2015) The recent measles epidemic with its scary media presentation has me asking, "What is going on here?" How much distortion of the facts is necessary in order to produce a compelling TV news story?
Apparently, an airline traveler from an unknown part of the wide world went to Disneyland in Southern California. Along came the measles virus, which produced ambiguous precursory symptoms similar to an ordinary viral bug. The media, from the onset, treated the mini-epidemic that followed with all the fear-promoting intensity of the recent Ebola crisis. So what should we expect? Is the answer an airport scanner that can keep those coming down with an infectious disease from traveling on airplanes?
Measles "epidemic"?
Medical authorities apparently had no knowledge of measles in the pre-vaccination days and unanimously recommended the only thing they knew to do: vaccinate. Nevertheless, since people no longer stay in one place, the recent "epidemic" grew to 140 cases in several States. Imagine: 140 cases in 320 million U.S. citizens. Immediately the blame game began. The epidemic spread more rapidly in California. Its liberal vaccination laws, which allowed parents to opt out of vaccinating their children, somehow made the kids of "good" (vaccinating) parents more susceptible. Sides were chosen between "vaccers," with backing of all the authoritative bodies, and "anti-vaccers," characterized as naive or thoughtless. More fear was generated by quoting worldwide mortality figures which are high in areas of the world in which nutritional deficiencies prevail. However, in the United States over the past 10 years the CDC reported zero deaths from measles. Read more
(OMNS Mar 26, 2015) The recent measles epidemic with its scary media presentation has me asking, "What is going on here?" How much distortion of the facts is necessary in order to produce a compelling TV news story?
Apparently, an airline traveler from an unknown part of the wide world went to Disneyland in Southern California. Along came the measles virus, which produced ambiguous precursory symptoms similar to an ordinary viral bug. The media, from the onset, treated the mini-epidemic that followed with all the fear-promoting intensity of the recent Ebola crisis. So what should we expect? Is the answer an airport scanner that can keep those coming down with an infectious disease from traveling on airplanes?
Measles "epidemic"?
Medical authorities apparently had no knowledge of measles in the pre-vaccination days and unanimously recommended the only thing they knew to do: vaccinate. Nevertheless, since people no longer stay in one place, the recent "epidemic" grew to 140 cases in several States. Imagine: 140 cases in 320 million U.S. citizens. Immediately the blame game began. The epidemic spread more rapidly in California. Its liberal vaccination laws, which allowed parents to opt out of vaccinating their children, somehow made the kids of "good" (vaccinating) parents more susceptible. Sides were chosen between "vaccers," with backing of all the authoritative bodies, and "anti-vaccers," characterized as naive or thoughtless. More fear was generated by quoting worldwide mortality figures which are high in areas of the world in which nutritional deficiencies prevail. However, in the United States over the past 10 years the CDC reported zero deaths from measles. Read more
No comments:
Post a Comment