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Health officials on Thursday confirmed the country's first measles death since 2003, and they believe the victim was most likely exposed to the virus in a health facility in Washington state during an outbreak there. The woman died in the spring; a later autopsy confirmed that she had an undetected measles infection, the Washington State Department of Health said in a statement. The official cause of death was announced as "pneumonia due to measles."
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 178 people from 24 states and the District were reported to have measles from Jan. 1 through June 26 of this year. Two-thirds of the cases, the CDC noted, were "part of a large multi-state outbreak linked to an amusement park in California."
Measles were effectively eliminated in the United States in 2000, according to the CDC. Health officials have said that the disease made a comeback recently, in part because of a growing number of adults deciding to delay or abstain from vaccinating their children. Last year brought the highest number of recorded measles cases since 2000, according to the CDC. Earlier this year, President Obama acknowledged the concerns some have about effects of vaccines but said: "The science is pretty indisputable." "You should get your kids vaccinated — it's good for them," Obama said. "We should be able to get back to the point where measles effectively is not existing in this country."
takyon: Celebrity critics recently denounced California's new mandatory vaccine law.
Original Submission
(Score: 5, Informative) by gman003 on Sunday July 05 2015, @12:44AM
Thiomersal (ethyl(2-mercaptobenzoato-(2-)-O,S) mercurate(1-) sodium) is a preservative. Vaccines are organic material, and so they are suspect to contamination with bacteria or fungi, just like food. Thiomersal is one of the few preservatives that does not decrease the effectiveness of the vaccine.
Do you have any evidence for your latter claim? I found no mention of rates changing over time in the WHO report [who.int].
As for the first claim, how exactly does it increase profits? You claim it increased rates of adverse reactions - how, exactly, does that increase profits?
Four different groups manufacture and sell MMR vaccines - Merck, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithCline and the Serum Institute of India. It is not in any way a monopoly.
You'll be glad to know, then, that thiomersal has been eliminated from all childhood vaccines in the EU, and mostly eliminated from childhood vaccines in the US (some influenza vaccines have kept it, and it may be present in trace amounts from manufacturing in others ("trace amounts" meaning "you could get 40 vaccines per day forever without exceeding WHO limits for safe mercury exposure")). However, rather than go back to the previous formulations, they have instead used refrigerated vaccines, because pre-thiomersal vaccines were much riskier, sometimes killing people.
It has not been removed from all adult vaccines, or vaccines no longer in common usage. It's also used in several antivenins, so try to avoid being bitten by any poisonous snakes if you're afraid of preservatives.
It has not been removed from developing-world vaccines because the only alternative, refrigeration, is not feasible. This actually argues against your position - if thiomersal was added to vaccines solely to boost profits, they would not use it in poor countries where there is little profit to be made. The fact that they continue to do so indicates they have some other reason.
(Score: 2) by cmn32480 on Sunday July 05 2015, @03:53PM
Regardless of the content of the anti-venom, would it be OK if I avoided getting bitten by poisonous snakes anyway? I heard once that it was bad for my health.
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 2) by arslan on Monday July 06 2015, @04:38AM
You sure can, don't come to Australia though as the poisonous snakes here (and other critters) won't avoid biting you just because you do them. I can't even remember the number of times I've found a red-back (black widow equivalent) nesting in my shoes...