Sunday, October 4, 2009
British doctors plan to refuse swine flu shots
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1208716/Half-GPs-refuse-swine-flu-vaccine-testing-fears.html
Saturday, October 3, 2009
http://general-medicine.jwatch.org/cgi/content/full/2009/917/2
check out how many folks have high levels of antibodies naturally to swine flu
check out how many folks have high levels of antibodies naturally to swine flu
For all you health care professionals looking at this for Flu info
http://www.cochrane.org/influenza/reviews.html
"There is no evidence to show if regular influenza vaccine is beneficial to people with CF"
Influenza (flu) is a highly infectious disease, caused by viruses. Influenza has been thought to cause asthma attacks. Few trials have
been carried out in a way that tests whether asthma attacks following influenza infection (as opposed to following the vaccination) are
significantly reduced by having influenza vaccination, so uncertainty remains in terms of how much difference vaccination makes to
people with asthma. The included studies suggest that the vaccine against influenza is unlikely to precipitate asthma attacks immediately
after the vaccine is used.
There is no high quality evidence that vaccinating healthcare workers reduces the incidence of influenza or its complications
in the elderly in institutions
There is evidence that vaccinating the elderly has a modest impact on the complications from influenza. There is also high quality
evidence that vaccinating healthy adults under 60 (which includes healthcare workers) reduces cases of influenza. Both the elderly in
institutions and the healthcare workers who care for them could be vaccinated for their own protection, but an incremental benefit of
vaccinating healthcare workers for the benefit of the elderly cannot be proven without better studies.
In long-term care facilities, where vaccination is most effective against complications, the aims of the vaccination campaign are fulfilled,
at least in part. However, according to reliable evidence the usefulness of vaccines in the community is modest. The apparent high
effectiveness of the vaccines in preventing death from all causes may reflect a baseline imbalance in health status and other systematic
differences in the two groups of participants.
P L
Influenza vaccines are efficacious in children older than two but little evidence is available for children under two. There was a
marked difference between vaccine efficacy and effectiveness. No safety comparisons could be carried out, emphasizing the need for
standardisation ofmethods and presentation of vaccine safety data in future studies. Itwas surprising to find only one study of inactivated
vaccine in children under two years, given current recommendations to vaccinate healthy children from six months old in the USA and
Canada. If immunisation in children is to be recommended as a public health policy, large-scale studies assessing important outcomes
and directly comparing vaccine types are urgently required.
"There is no evidence to show if regular influenza vaccine is beneficial to people with CF"
Influenza (flu) is a highly infectious disease, caused by viruses. Influenza has been thought to cause asthma attacks. Few trials have
been carried out in a way that tests whether asthma attacks following influenza infection (as opposed to following the vaccination) are
significantly reduced by having influenza vaccination, so uncertainty remains in terms of how much difference vaccination makes to
people with asthma. The included studies suggest that the vaccine against influenza is unlikely to precipitate asthma attacks immediately
after the vaccine is used.
There is no high quality evidence that vaccinating healthcare workers reduces the incidence of influenza or its complications
in the elderly in institutions
There is evidence that vaccinating the elderly has a modest impact on the complications from influenza. There is also high quality
evidence that vaccinating healthy adults under 60 (which includes healthcare workers) reduces cases of influenza. Both the elderly in
institutions and the healthcare workers who care for them could be vaccinated for their own protection, but an incremental benefit of
vaccinating healthcare workers for the benefit of the elderly cannot be proven without better studies.
In long-term care facilities, where vaccination is most effective against complications, the aims of the vaccination campaign are fulfilled,
at least in part. However, according to reliable evidence the usefulness of vaccines in the community is modest. The apparent high
effectiveness of the vaccines in preventing death from all causes may reflect a baseline imbalance in health status and other systematic
differences in the two groups of participants.
P L
Influenza vaccines are efficacious in children older than two but little evidence is available for children under two. There was a
marked difference between vaccine efficacy and effectiveness. No safety comparisons could be carried out, emphasizing the need for
standardisation ofmethods and presentation of vaccine safety data in future studies. Itwas surprising to find only one study of inactivated
vaccine in children under two years, given current recommendations to vaccinate healthy children from six months old in the USA and
Canada. If immunisation in children is to be recommended as a public health policy, large-scale studies assessing important outcomes
and directly comparing vaccine types are urgently required.
Friday, October 2, 2009
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advisory_Committee_on_Immunization_Practices
these are the same people recommending swine flu shots
when you heard the CDC recommends something, we're talking about this committee
these are the same people recommending swine flu shots
when you heard the CDC recommends something, we're talking about this committee
10/2/09
Well folks,
Looks like this weekend we should have a forums site which will be much more organized and searchable
I was thinking we could use a section for stories about the hard economic times made worse or caused by the cost of health care. I've heard over the last 9 years more and more stories of folks stuck with unpayable medical bills that they are forced to deal with in the middle of an illness. Even more frequently I hear about the rising copays, deductibles, insurance denials, hard time affording medicines etc.
The financial stress the system causes sure isn't good for our health.
So I'm looking for contributions and personal stories once the forums is up and running. Everything you contribute can be annonymous.
Those of you who aren't getting email responses from me, check your spam folders. These email programs nowadays love to randomly put email in the spam folder. Yet another reason to get on the instant messenger.
Those of you who are overwhelmed trying to figure out the computer stuff, I can always come over and set stuff up for you when I make home visits.
Looks like this weekend we should have a forums site which will be much more organized and searchable
I was thinking we could use a section for stories about the hard economic times made worse or caused by the cost of health care. I've heard over the last 9 years more and more stories of folks stuck with unpayable medical bills that they are forced to deal with in the middle of an illness. Even more frequently I hear about the rising copays, deductibles, insurance denials, hard time affording medicines etc.
The financial stress the system causes sure isn't good for our health.
So I'm looking for contributions and personal stories once the forums is up and running. Everything you contribute can be annonymous.
Those of you who aren't getting email responses from me, check your spam folders. These email programs nowadays love to randomly put email in the spam folder. Yet another reason to get on the instant messenger.
Those of you who are overwhelmed trying to figure out the computer stuff, I can always come over and set stuff up for you when I make home visits.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Things I Need Help with
ok tons of yall are asking how you can help
here are things I can think of you can give me:
1) Your time and consideration and skepticism for a few of the issues I raise on this blog that grap your attention; ask questions on IM or email or in person , I enjoy explaining this stuff
2) Anyone who can make a forums site out of this hodgepodge of posts here go ahead and set it up
3) I want to plant; I want my front yard to produce food, like a couple fruit trees mixed in with rows of peas and beans and what not; the problem is , i'm clueless on how to turn the water, soil and sunlight into something edible; i know that i probably have to start by rototilling the yard? any expertise or assistance would be appreciated
4) research medical topics and send me the links to good sites and i'll post them up ; politics, science , policy it doesn't matter anything that educates benefits the entire community
5) Request the fee scales from every medical establishment with whom you interact. There's some law that clinics and hospitals and radiology suites have to give you a copy of their services and charges if requested. Get those pieces of paper and give them to me and up they go.
6) Ask every doctor you interact with about their take on swine flu. Ask them the risks of getting the swine flu, getting hospitalized from the swine flu and the benefits of the vaccine to come. Ask them if they believe in mandatory vaccinations of children in the public schools , health care workers, the general population. Ask if they believe this virus warrants forced quarantine.
Your questions have a profound impact on our practice, trust me. It doesn't take many patients asking the answer to something we don't know before we start dusting off our brains.
Thank you
here are things I can think of you can give me:
1) Your time and consideration and skepticism for a few of the issues I raise on this blog that grap your attention; ask questions on IM or email or in person , I enjoy explaining this stuff
2) Anyone who can make a forums site out of this hodgepodge of posts here go ahead and set it up
3) I want to plant; I want my front yard to produce food, like a couple fruit trees mixed in with rows of peas and beans and what not; the problem is , i'm clueless on how to turn the water, soil and sunlight into something edible; i know that i probably have to start by rototilling the yard? any expertise or assistance would be appreciated
4) research medical topics and send me the links to good sites and i'll post them up ; politics, science , policy it doesn't matter anything that educates benefits the entire community
5) Request the fee scales from every medical establishment with whom you interact. There's some law that clinics and hospitals and radiology suites have to give you a copy of their services and charges if requested. Get those pieces of paper and give them to me and up they go.
6) Ask every doctor you interact with about their take on swine flu. Ask them the risks of getting the swine flu, getting hospitalized from the swine flu and the benefits of the vaccine to come. Ask them if they believe in mandatory vaccinations of children in the public schools , health care workers, the general population. Ask if they believe this virus warrants forced quarantine.
Your questions have a profound impact on our practice, trust me. It doesn't take many patients asking the answer to something we don't know before we start dusting off our brains.
Thank you
Swine Flu at the CDC
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/
this is really hard to read and there's a ton of "spin" in the reporting but just check out the map at the very bottom of the page
this was for the week ending 9/19
you can see how most of the country has widespread flu activity; most of that if not 99% of that activity is the 2009 H1N1 AKA swine flu
the outbreak is happening yet the news doesn't talk about it for some reason; probably because people will naturally ask "why give the vaccine after the danger has passed?"
they are being a little sneaky with the reporting of hospitalizations and deaths from the swine flu since that's limited to confirmed cases ; see at least half the time when you have swine flu you test negative , so we don't get a clear picture of how many people are really infected making it seem like a larger % of the people infected are getting hospitalized or dying
....
Three influenza-associated pediatric deaths were reported to CDC during week 37 (Texas [2] and Virginia). These deaths were associated with 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus infection, and occurred between August 30 and September 19, 2009. Since September 28, 2008, CDC has received 117 reports of influenza-associated pediatric deaths that occurred during the current influenza season (25 deaths in children less than 2 years, 12 deaths in children 2-4 years, 35 deaths in children 5-11 years, and 45 deaths in individuals 12-17 years). Forty-nine of the 117 deaths were due to 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus infections, and four of these have occurred since August 30, 2009.
Of the 50 children who had specimens collected for bacterial culture from normally sterile sites, 19 (38.0%) were positive; Staphylococcus aureus was identified in 13 (68.4%) of the 19 children. Six of the S. aureus isolates were sensitive to methicillin and seven were methicillin resistant. Seventeen (89.5%) of the 19 children with bacterial coinfections were five years of age or older and 12 (63.2%) of the 19 children were 12 years of age or older. Nineteen (38.8%) of the 49 children with confirmed 2009 influenza A (H1N1) infection had a specimen collected from a normally sterile site; five (26.3%) of the 19 children had a positive bacterial culture (methicillin sensitive S. aureus [2], methicillin resistant S. aureus [2], and Streptococcus constellatus).
....
so in the middle of a wide spread outbreak (between August 30 and September 19, 2009) when the population is an unimmune to the swine flu as they can get we had 3 pediatric deaths nationwide
it then goes on to talk about staph bacteria coinfecting children with the flu; our problems with rampant resistant staph infections probably has more to do with the deaths caused from viral infections like the swine flu than the virus itself
our food supply being supersaturated with live stock antibiotics and one of our childhood vaccines (prevnar) exacerbate the antibiotic resistance problem
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/16/AR2007101601392_pf.html
"The use of the vaccine created an ecological vacuum, and that combined with excessive use of antibiotics to create this new superbug," Pichichero said.
“Being a carrier of MRSA has increased a lot, especially among school-aged kids,” said Lyn Finelli, chief of influenza surveillance at the CDC. “And being colonized may put them at risk for a severe staph aureus infection when they get the flu.”
Whether the current increase in severe community-acquired S. aureus infections, including methicillin-resistant S. aureus (6), is partially caused by the recent introduction of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is yet to be determined.
Wyeth Sees Prevnar Vaccine Sales Reaching $3 Billion In 2009 – CNNMoney.com
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Wyeth (WYE) expects sales of its Prevnar vaccine to rise to $3 billion in 2009, driven by overseas growth and new launches,
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=15841788
A trial with a 7-valent pneumococcal-conjugate vaccine in children with recurrent acute otitis media showed a shift In pneumococcal colonisation towards non-vaccine serotypes and an Increase In Staphylococcus aureus-related acute otitis media after vaccination. We investigated prevalence and determinants of nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumonlae and S aureus in 3198 healthy children aged 1-19 years. Nasopharyngeal carriage of S pneumonlae was detected In 598 (19%) children, and was affected by age (peak Incidence at 3 years) and day-care attendance (odds ratio [OR] 2.14, 95% Cl 1.44-3.18). S aureus carriage was affected by age (peak incidence at 10 years) and male sex (OR 1.46, 1.25-1.70). Serotyping showed 42% vaccine type pneumococci. We noted a negative correlation for co-colonisation of S aureus and vaccine-type pneumococci (OR 0.68, 0.48-0.94), but not for S aureus and non-vaccine serotypes. These findings suggest a natural competition between colonisation with vaccine-type pneumococci and S aureus, which might explain the Increase in S aureus-related otitis media after vaccination.
this is really hard to read and there's a ton of "spin" in the reporting but just check out the map at the very bottom of the page
this was for the week ending 9/19
you can see how most of the country has widespread flu activity; most of that if not 99% of that activity is the 2009 H1N1 AKA swine flu
the outbreak is happening yet the news doesn't talk about it for some reason; probably because people will naturally ask "why give the vaccine after the danger has passed?"
they are being a little sneaky with the reporting of hospitalizations and deaths from the swine flu since that's limited to confirmed cases ; see at least half the time when you have swine flu you test negative , so we don't get a clear picture of how many people are really infected making it seem like a larger % of the people infected are getting hospitalized or dying
....
Three influenza-associated pediatric deaths were reported to CDC during week 37 (Texas [2] and Virginia). These deaths were associated with 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus infection, and occurred between August 30 and September 19, 2009. Since September 28, 2008, CDC has received 117 reports of influenza-associated pediatric deaths that occurred during the current influenza season (25 deaths in children less than 2 years, 12 deaths in children 2-4 years, 35 deaths in children 5-11 years, and 45 deaths in individuals 12-17 years). Forty-nine of the 117 deaths were due to 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus infections, and four of these have occurred since August 30, 2009.
Of the 50 children who had specimens collected for bacterial culture from normally sterile sites, 19 (38.0%) were positive; Staphylococcus aureus was identified in 13 (68.4%) of the 19 children. Six of the S. aureus isolates were sensitive to methicillin and seven were methicillin resistant. Seventeen (89.5%) of the 19 children with bacterial coinfections were five years of age or older and 12 (63.2%) of the 19 children were 12 years of age or older. Nineteen (38.8%) of the 49 children with confirmed 2009 influenza A (H1N1) infection had a specimen collected from a normally sterile site; five (26.3%) of the 19 children had a positive bacterial culture (methicillin sensitive S. aureus [2], methicillin resistant S. aureus [2], and Streptococcus constellatus).
....
so in the middle of a wide spread outbreak (between August 30 and September 19, 2009) when the population is an unimmune to the swine flu as they can get we had 3 pediatric deaths nationwide
it then goes on to talk about staph bacteria coinfecting children with the flu; our problems with rampant resistant staph infections probably has more to do with the deaths caused from viral infections like the swine flu than the virus itself
our food supply being supersaturated with live stock antibiotics and one of our childhood vaccines (prevnar) exacerbate the antibiotic resistance problem
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/16/AR2007101601392_pf.html
"The use of the vaccine created an ecological vacuum, and that combined with excessive use of antibiotics to create this new superbug," Pichichero said.
“Being a carrier of MRSA has increased a lot, especially among school-aged kids,” said Lyn Finelli, chief of influenza surveillance at the CDC. “And being colonized may put them at risk for a severe staph aureus infection when they get the flu.”
Whether the current increase in severe community-acquired S. aureus infections, including methicillin-resistant S. aureus (6), is partially caused by the recent introduction of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is yet to be determined.
Wyeth Sees Prevnar Vaccine Sales Reaching $3 Billion In 2009 – CNNMoney.com
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Wyeth (WYE) expects sales of its Prevnar vaccine to rise to $3 billion in 2009, driven by overseas growth and new launches,
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=15841788
A trial with a 7-valent pneumococcal-conjugate vaccine in children with recurrent acute otitis media showed a shift In pneumococcal colonisation towards non-vaccine serotypes and an Increase In Staphylococcus aureus-related acute otitis media after vaccination. We investigated prevalence and determinants of nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumonlae and S aureus in 3198 healthy children aged 1-19 years. Nasopharyngeal carriage of S pneumonlae was detected In 598 (19%) children, and was affected by age (peak Incidence at 3 years) and day-care attendance (odds ratio [OR] 2.14, 95% Cl 1.44-3.18). S aureus carriage was affected by age (peak incidence at 10 years) and male sex (OR 1.46, 1.25-1.70). Serotyping showed 42% vaccine type pneumococci. We noted a negative correlation for co-colonisation of S aureus and vaccine-type pneumococci (OR 0.68, 0.48-0.94), but not for S aureus and non-vaccine serotypes. These findings suggest a natural competition between colonisation with vaccine-type pneumococci and S aureus, which might explain the Increase in S aureus-related otitis media after vaccination.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
