Medical News: Pertussis Outbreaks Costly for Local Health Depts - in Infectious Disease from MedPage Today

Medical News: Pertussis Outbreaks Costly for Local Health Depts - in Infectious Disease, General Infectious Disease from MedPage Today (click to see the original story)

Illustrating the lingering threat of pertussis, an outbreak that infected an estimated 8,383 people and killed 10 infants is currently winding down in California -- although a "relatively high" number of cases were still being reported through the end of December -- according to the state's Department of Public Health. This is just one of many new outbreaks of preventable disease we are experiencing across north America due to the continuing influence of the anti-vaccine activists, poor public education on the part of governments and scientifically misleading publications spread by local newspapers that still use headlines to get attention rather than spread the truth and protect the public.

Get you children vaccinated today. Protect them, your family, your friends and the public. Get the facts from your medical doctor.

For those who continue to not understand the process of science and the science of statistics and probability I suggest reading an entertaining and enlightening book on probability. Yes, I said and entertaining book on probability. It's been on the New york Times Best Seller list and should be on your list of books to read. It will make you a competent consumer of information: The Drunkard's Walk by (Click here to purchase at Amazon.ca) This book will help you understand the difference between correlation and causation, and help you understand why many things we see as connected and meaningful are much less so than we think. Right now science, health and the future of our society seems to be at question because the general public has such poor training in science, math and logic. This is a really good place to start.

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For information on the assessment and intervention services I provide in my private practice please go to www.relatedminds.com or www.socialcognitivetherapy.com. I am a member of the RASP and an approved autism service provider.

Dr. Jim Roche
Registered Psychologist, BC
jimroche@gmail.com
778.998-7975

Fraud and Being Wrong About Vaccines and Autism

Click here to watch a clear, truthful and direct video about the fraud perpetrated by Dr. Wakefield upon the public. Here is the link: click here.

This video is by Dr. Paul Offit from the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital, Philadelphia. Dr. Offit has written several books on the connection, of lack of connection, between MMR vaccine and autism. His writing are a great resource, he goes through the research and demonstrates why there is not only no scientific evidence of a connection, but pretty clear proof there is none. For this Dr. Offit has been threatened, his family and children have been threatened, and I am rather surprised he has made such a public video available. The reason, it seems, is his deep concern for the health and well-being of the many children injured by the fraud.

Dr. Offit says, "I'm sure many of you know that what Dr. Wakefield claimed was that because the MMR vaccine was given as a combination vaccine, it overwhelmed the immune system, allowing the measles component of that vaccine to enter the intestines and cause intestinal damage, which allowed for the ingress of encephalopathic proteins. Not a single aspect of that hypothesis was correct, and more importantly, nothing was studied, because Dr. Wakefield's initial publication was merely a case series. The studies were to come later, and there were 14 of them that looked at hundreds of thousands of children who either did or didn't receive the MMR vaccine. These studies found that the incidence of autism, not surprisingly, was the same in the vaccinated group as it was in the unvaccinated group."

This little video (and a transcript is supplied) puts it all out there in a simple to understand way. I find it amazing that in spite of the fact that every single aspect of the study has been shown to be wrong, incorrect and often made-up and manipulated, there are still many individuals who believe Dr. Wakefield and his disproven theories. Usually these are individuals who, based upon Wakefield's disproven paper seek out therapies that have no logical reason to work, no scientific support and are simply put forth with a series of "testimonials" instead of testing, data and evidence. Often these individuals will stand by something they heard, in spite of the fact that over and over again the evidence shows its untrue.

Dr. Offit and others (like Dr. Steven Novella) have taken the time and shown the courage to refocus us all on science, the scientific method and a real search for a cure for autism. Something we have too long been distracted from. Take a look, it's a nice, straight forward little piece.

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For information on the assessment and intervention services I provide in my private practice please go to www.relatedminds.com or www.socialcognitivetherapy.com. I am a member of the RASP and an approved autism service provider.

Dr. Jim Roche
Registered Psychologist, BC
jimroche@gmail.com
778.998-7975

Jenny McCarthy's autism fight grows more misguided

Jenny McCarthy's autism fight grows more misguided

Excellent article outlining the ridiculous and dangerous assertions still being made by Jenny McCarthy and others about vaccines and autism. Again, there is NO CORRELATION between vaccines and autism. This nonsense continues. It is nothing more than the deliberate misuse of data and the misleading of the public. Take a read.


Jim Roche
www.relatedminds.com
www.socialcognitivetherapy.com

Vaccines DO NOT cause autism. Something else does and we don't know what.

"Can Vaccines cause autism?" NO, but when I scan the internet these are the kinds of idiotic scar mongering headlines I see all over the web, I'm always thinking there is some new study supporting this idea. You see these headlines in newspapers and magazines and on TV. And these are the headlines for articles that are going to CORRECT this false notion that there is some connection when there is NOT! There are articles that will eventually, after scaring you, tell you the facts. Regretfully few people remember the article and just remember the headline. This nonsense, this cheap thrill garbage reporting has to stop once and for all! People are failing to get their kids vaccinated, and as a result children and adults are dying of diseases that are preventable. It has to stop!

Let's make this clear: There is no research connecting vaccines to autism.

Although signs of autism often begin to appear around the same time that children are vaccinated, it is just a coincidence, not a cause. We give kids vaccines at the time when their language centres are developing, and then, looking back, think one caused the other. Well research has looked at that over and over again, and it just ain't so. See the many research articles listed below.

The truth is vaccines are extremely important for providing protection against illnesses and many long-term side effects of illnesses for everyone, not just children, but adults. Especially adults with compromised immune systems. For example, natural exposure to polio could cause lifelong paralysis. The mumps can cause hearing loss and meningitis and measles can sometimes be fatal. Vaccinations can prevent these types of illnesses and the disease-related side effects from occurring. People are dying, right now, because they made the choice not to be vaccinated. And others are dying because they were infected by one of those people. Am I making this up? check out the epidemics happening in California and the West Coast.

Back to these articles published in local papers and on the web using these misleading scar tactic headlines. one reader wrote: "I do wish those working to counter the misinformation and propaganda spread by the anti-vaxxers would stop using the question to headline their positive efforts. There is not a question involved here. There is only vaccine which does prevent disease and does not cause autism and on the other hand there are these wildly irresponsible scaremongerers who have made names for themselves and put entire populations of children at risk. These two things are not equal. Please stop the pretence of giving them equal consideration in a rational argument."

One of these recent articles was published by a hospital! Why? To get reader's attention. A lot of us thing these kinds of articles do more damage than good because the short headlines continue to reinforce misinformation. And there is a lot of misinformation out there. Too much.

For those that prefer research over hype and emotion, here are some useful references:

California study: "The DDS data do not support the hypothesis that exposure to thimerosal during childhood is a primary cause of autism." Click here:
http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/65/1/19

Independent testing of Wakefield's MMR/autism hypothesis - test failed to support Wakefield's conclusions. Has links to several other supporting studies: Click here:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080904145218.htm

Italian study looking at kids who received different levels of thimerosal, comparing their brain development 10 years later. Click here:
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/123/2/475

Danish study of 440,000 kids who got MMR and 97,000 who didn't. No significant different in autism and ASD rates. Click here:
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa021134#t=abstract

Japanese study to see if switching from MMR to single-dose vaccines affected autism rates. It didn't. Click here:
http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/booth/Vaccines/noMMR.html

Montreal study of 27,000 children actually found somewhat LOWER rates of developmental disorders in the children exposed to thimerosal. Click here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16818529

2010 Detailed study of 250 ASD kids versus 750 controls. No relationship between ethyl mercury exposure and ASD: Click here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20837594

Comprehensive list of science-based resources on vaccines and autism: Click here:
http://sciencebasedmedicine.org/reference/vaccines-and-autism/

But now there is even more damaging information coming forward about the non-relationship between vaccines and autism. Here is what was published by NPR this week: (For an excellent analysis of the article and the research it's based upon I would click here and read the review in Science-Based Medicine: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=9552

Here is the NPR report: Click here.

Now I know there are still those who think the research is ...well...lies. That big pharma is making these things up to make a profit, and doctors are poisoning their patients to make money. (Actually, most doctors and hospital provide vaccines at a financial loss!). One of their heros is Dr. Wakefield. They believe there is a giant conspiracy on the part of the government, medical licensing boards, medical journals, medical associations and corporations to hide the truth that Dr. Wakefield has to tell. This NPR story clearly points out what was really going on. Why the articles Wakefield published falsely claiming a connection between vaccines and autism were withdrawn, and why his medical license was taken away. Here is some of what the report says:

"The first study to link a childhood vaccine to autism was based on doctored information about the children involved, according to a new report on the widely discredited research.

The conclusions of the 1998 paper by Andrew Wakefield and colleagues was renounced by 10 of its 13 authors and later retracted by the medical journal Lancet, where it was published. Still, the suggestion the MMR shot was connected to autism spooked parents worldwide and immunization rates for measles, mumps and rubella have never fully recovered.

A new examination found, by comparing the reported diagnoses in the paper to hospital records, that Wakefield and colleagues altered facts about patients in their study."

Let's make this clear, the study shows some of the children ALREADY had signs and symptoms of autism or neurological disorders BEFORE they were vaccinated, that Wakefield knew this and that he used the information anyway.

"The analysis, by British journalist Brian Deer, found that despite the claim in Wakefield's paper that the 12 children studied were normal until they had the MMR shot, five had previously documented developmental problems. Deer also found that all the cases were somehow misrepresented when he compared data from medical records and the children's parents."

"In an accompanying editorial, BMJ editor Fiona Godlee and colleagues called Wakefield's study "an elaborate fraud." They said Wakefield's work in other journals should be examined to see if it should be retracted. Last May, Wakefield was stripped of his right to practice medicine in Britain. Many other published studies have shown no connection between the MMR vaccination and autism. But measles has surged since Wakefield's paper was published and there are sporadic outbreaks in Europe and the U.S. In 2008, measles was deemed endemic in England and Wales."

Yes, surges of measles.... and whooping cough and other preventable diseases.

Why did Wakefield do this? Some think that it may have something to do with the fact he prepared the report while being paid by a law firm that wanted to sue vaccine makers and they needed proof...and that he was connected to a proposed alternative vaccine. Hmmmm.... Yes, big pharma and corporations ARE at the heart of this, but not the way people think. They wanted to make money convincing people that vaccines were dangerous. And regretfully, that part of this plot seemed to work out.

A final note: again this week one of my articles supporting the idea that parents get their children vaccinated against deadly childhood diseases upset someone and they made a phone call and made threatening statements. This has happened before, sometimes at 3 a.m. I really don't understand this behaviour. These are people who seem to believe in vast and complicated conspiracy theories, they are convinced the government and big business are poisoning their children. But I'm not the only one who is threatened because we try to spread science and data. Dr. Paul Offit (who wrote "Autism's False Prophets") can't even go to a book signing because he and his family have been threatened and book stores fear violence (read this article in the NYTimes: click here). And then there are parents who often report top me that they too are harrassed and often bullied because they make some public statement about medicine, vaccines and science. Click here for one report from Canada: http://www.leaderpost.com/technology/Vaccine+book+brings+hidden+support+Author/1301769/story.html?id=1301769 At some point we all have to take a stand for science and modernity before we slip into another dark ages.

We can start by being careful with how we title articles. Autism is something that is destroying individuals, families, schools ....and we still don't have any idea what causes it or how to prevent it. Our skills for treating it are improving, but minimal. We need to stop wasting time and money on false accusations, phoney data and conspiracy theories and start focusing on science.

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My web page lists a number of resources you can make use of yourself in dealing with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Asperger's, as well as many other social-cognitive deficits and learning disabilities. Please visit it at www.socialcognitivetherapy.com, or one of my other sites at: Psychology Today, AAMFT, PSYRIS or my professional site or www.adhdhelp.ca.

Autism assessment and treatment services are offered for individuals, couples, families, children, adolescents and adults in the Burnaby, Vancouver, Coquitlam, Port Moody, New Westminster and Maple Ridge areas of the lower mainland. This includes neuro-developmental assessments, psycho-education assessments, autism assessments as well as behavioural and cognitive behaviour therapy. I also provide diagnostic assessments for autism and Asperger's Disorder in my Burnaby office.

Dr. Jim Roche
Registered Psychologist, British Columbia 01610
778.998-7975
www.relatedminds.com
www.socialcognitivetherapy.com

Study shows autism linked to education....sort of. (But not)

NPR (National Public Radio) may have gotten the title wrong, but the news article itself got the information correct. Click HERE to go to NPR's web page and listen to the radio broadcast.

This story is about research that looks at clusters of children diagnosed with autism and how they tend to occur in places where parents are older, more educated, and white. The study (U of California, Davis) found, and this is important to those who are convinced otherwise, there is no link to local pollution or chemical exposures. This particular result is important to all those parents that want to have all the "toxins" removed from their children, or who over protect them with fad diets and social isolation because they hear about "toxins" in the air, water and food.

The study results suggest that areas in California with apparently high rates of autism spectrum disorders are probably just places where parents are more likely to obtain a diagnosis for their child. In other words, they look like areas with high autism rates, but they are in fact the same as other areas of California, except the parents can afford medical care, psychologists and ....lawyers to help with school issues. And these are of course areas where parents have jobs that require higher education, and therefore ..... not much in the therefore area here. It's as simple as it sounds.

"It doesn't necessarily mean that higher education causes autism," says Irva Hertz-Picciotto, one of the study's authors and a researcher at the UC Davis MIND Institute. "It gets you the diagnosis more frequently."

The UC Davis study looked at the geographic distribution of about 10,000 children who were born in California from 1996 through 2000 and later diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. A "cluster" was defined as a community in which the proportion of children diagnosed with autism was at least 70 percent higher than in surrounding areas. 70%. That's pretty high, and tells you what money and education get for children. A diagnosis, and treatment! (This study should be done by the department of political sciences, with an action plan.)

The study found that differences in parents' age, education and ethnicity explained the cluster most of the time. It doesn't necessarily mean that higher education causes autism. Having parents with a higher education, and I suppose salary and better medical insurance, gets you the diagnosis more frequently. The study found that children of parents who finished college were at least four times more likely to be diagnosed than children of parents who didn't finish high school.Interestingly, children were also more likely to be diagnosed if they were born in a community near a regional service center for people with autism. (Some, I suppose, would think that living near a regional service center causes autism....but most of us get the point.)

The study may be most interesting because it did not find any environmental explanation for higher autism rates, says Steven Novella, a neurologist at Yale University and the author of the blogs "Neurologica," and "Science-Based Medicine." "You can't prove a negative," Novella says. But the results of this and other studies suggest that "if there are environmental factors, they're small."

The California results also show how widely autism diagnosis rates can vary from place to place, Novella says. In some areas of the state, children were four times as likely to be diagnosed as in other areas.That suggests that in many areas there are still a huge number of children with autism spectrum disorders who are slipping through the cracks, Novella says. I wonder how many, and what that says about us here in Canada, where the government won't pay for private practitioners..licensed and registered medical and psychological professionals.... to perform a diagnosis but instead put you on a long waiting list for Provincial services. (When is that going to change? WHY can't the government pay for a private practitioner to administer a diagnostic exam? Could it be a way to avoid paying for services for those they would diagnose? No, that couldn't possibly be it.)

This is a nice article, and it's an excellent way to look at what science tells us, and what it doesn't. As we always say, "correlation does not equal causation."

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My web page lists a number of resources you can make use of yourself in dealing with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Asperger's, as well as many other learning disabilities. Please visit it at www.socialcognitivetherapy.com, or one of my other sites at: Psychology Today, AAMFT, PSYRIS or my professional site or www.adhdhelp.ca.

Autism assessment and treatment services are offered for individuals, couples, families, children, adolescents and adults in the Burnaby, Vancouver, Coquitlam, Port Moody, New Westminster and Maple Ridge areas of the lower mainland. This includes neuro-developmental assessments, psycho-education assessments, autism assessments as well as behavioural and cognitive behaviour therapy. I also provide diagnostic assessments for autism and Asperger's Disorder in my Burnaby office.

Dr. Jim Roche
Registered Psychologist, British Columbia 01610
778.998-7975
www.relatedminds.com

British Medical Council Bars Andrew Wakefield for ethical lapses.

HEALTH
British Medical Council Bars Doctor Who Linked Vaccine With Autism
By JOHN F. BURNS
Published: May 24, 2010
Dr. Andrew Wakefield was banned for ethical lapses, including conducting invasive medical procedures on children that they did not need. I've been watching the response to this action from the anti-vaccine group and it seems amazing, they see it as a reason to support the ex-doctor even more! This seems impossible, but it's true. Maybe this will clarify:

Dr. Andrew Wakefield published an article which used data inappropriately, it made claims that could not be supported by the data, and used data that was gathered in an unethical manner.

Dr. Wakefield also was involved in a financial deal to provide a new vaccine with a corporation that would replace the one he was claiming caused autism.

Finally, he involved children in the research, taking blood samples and using their data without proper consent.

Dr. Wakefield IS big pharma. Please understand and look elsewhere for an explanation.

MMR doctor Andrew Wakefield fixed data on autism - Times Online

MMR doctor Andrew Wakefield fixed data on autism - Times Online

The doctor who sparked the scare over the safety of the MMR vaccine for children changed and misreported results in his research, creating the appearance of a possible link with autism, a Sunday Times investigation has found. (click the headline above to read the article)

Confidential medical documents and interviews with witnesses have established that Andrew Wakefield manipulated patients’ data, which triggered fears that the MMR triple vaccine to protect against measles, mumps and rubella was linked to the condition.

In spite of this, many local "alternative" practitioners continue to use the data and provide treatments based upon it. Beware. Talk to your MD and school about the best treatments for autism spectrum disorder.

An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All

As we are confronted with a disease that is now taking the lives of children and teenagers, perhaps some will notice how we as a community are ignoring our responsibility to participate in programs that protect the health of everyone. Many parents who rely on pseudo-science and conspiracy theories don't take the time to get the scientific facts and instead decide they will just avoid vaccinations and rely instead upon the "herd immunity" of those who have had their children vaccinated. A better way to deal with your fears is to have a conversation with your medical provider. Not with friends, people at work, celebrities or from conspiracy minded web pages. Instead you need to look at the science. Falling for out of date and paranoid claims has finally started to have an effect on not just the health of individuals, but the health of the community. We do need to fear something, and regretfully the "enemy is us." This is a good read not just about vaccines, but also about community responsibility. Just because some people fail to believe in the germ theory doesn't mean we don't need a sanitation department!

An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All

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Great review of a pretty good book: Autism's False Prophets

Many people can be found "making the mistake of starting with the premise that pharmaceutical companies are inherently evil. I think we can all agree that the safe use of pharmaceutical drugs has saved billions of lives. That isn't to say that these companies don't want to make a profit, nor am I saying that they are beyond reproach. But is it profitable to create a vaccine that causes autism or SIDS?"

Read the review, then read the book. Become a skeptic ...and look for evidence.... and follow the evidence rather than starting with a theory and finding evidence to match it. The blog post can be found here:

http://skepticdad.wordpress.com/2008/09/28/book-review-autisms-false-prophets/

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Autism: Removing Thimerosal From Vaccines Did Not Reduce Autism Cases In California, Report Finds

Autism: Removing Thimerosal From Vaccines Did Not Reduce Autism Cases In California, Report Finds

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"In the last decade, two hypotheses on autism-immunization links were raised that have had a profound impact in the field of autism research and practice and on public health at large," writes Eric Fombonne, M.D., of the Montreal Children's Hospital, in an accompanying editorial. "One incriminated the measles component of the triple measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, the other the amount of thimerosal (about 50 percent of which is ethylmercury) contained in most other childhood vaccines."
Since the 2004 Institute of Medicine report favored the rejection of both hypotheses, "more studies have accumulated that have reinforced this conclusion, one independently reached by scientific and professional committees around the world," he writes.
"Parents of autistic children should be reassured that autism in their child did not occur through immunizations," Dr. Fombonne concludes. "Their autistic children, and their siblings, should be normally vaccinated, and as there is no evidence of mercury poisoning in autism, they should avoid ineffective and dangerous 'treatments' such as chelation therapy for their children."

Visit www.ethinkingautism.com

Flu vaccine rekindles debate over connection to autism

Flu vaccine rekindles debate over connection to autism

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Canada's chief public health officer, Dr. David Butler-Jones, has repeatedly said that vaccines have a long history of being safe and effective. Weighing in on the autism debate, he noted in a recent interview with Canwest News Service that vaccines are given to children at around the same age as when neurological disorders can surface.

"You can have a close time frame," he said. "Just because something's associated in time does not mean it's causal."

Butler-Jones said he recognizes that parents are searching for answers about autism's cause, but added claims that vaccines are the culprit have not been proven.

"The studies have been pretty clear and consistent that vaccination is not the cause of many of the things that have been claimed around the vaccine," he said.

The benefits of immunization far outweigh the risks, said Butler-Jones, but he understands people need to think carefully about it.

"It's important that they get the facts — not the theory, not the conjecture, not the claims — but the actual facts about what we know about the vaccine and the disease and I think . . . virtually everybody would choose the vaccine," he said.

August was National Immunization Month in the US. Did you know?

American Academy of Pediatrics to fight back against the anti-vaccine misinformation scare-mongering machine. On Steven Novella's Neurologica Blog you will find more details. AAP's statement starts: "We, the undersigned, support immunizations as the safest, most effective way to control and eradicate infectious diseases. This August, as another National Immunization Awareness Month comes to a close, we are reminded that diseases such as smallpox and polio were once commonplace in the United States. Thanks to vaccinations, we have not seen or experienced many of the infectious diseases that gripped past generations, but other countries have not been so fortunate and outbreaks continue in the United States."

Read the article, and be thankful that for the most part we have moved away from the dark ages when the biology of life was thought to be unknowable. Sometime soon, I hope, there will be some common sense on the part of all involved. Sense based upon science, data, facts.

Resources: Vaccines, Autism and Real Science

Science-Based Medicine now has a great overall listing of their reports on vaccines and autism. This resource is comprehensive and can be found here. While the anti-vac people spread psuedo-science, this resource will help you understand the many many holes in their arguments.

Remember, get you information from a doctor, not a celebrity, activist or politician.

Evidence Based Medicine FIRST!

Another very good web site on Vaccines. May good links.

"Either it is true that a medicine works or it isn't.
It cannot be false in the ordinary sense but true in some 'alternative' sense."

Prof. Richard Dawkins, Oxford, April 2001
from the foreword to 'SNAKE OIL' by John Diamond

The site is found here: Evidence Based Medicine First.

My recent return to this topic stems from several experiences with parents in the lower mainland who have used all their autism funding for alternative treatments that have no scientific evidence to back them, and have been left with no support for teaching communication, reciprocity, behaviour management for the parents. It's a shame that the medical and psychology colleges of BC, as well as UBC, SFU and other providers don't take a stand against treatments that are ineffective and experimental at best. There are treatments out there that help, no miracles, but there is hope.

Celebrity Medicine and Jenny McCarthy

Here is a great article I missed back in May on the dangers of "Celebrity Medicine." McCarthy, who can't understand even the most basics of science continues to scream down medical doctors.

Reader's Digest Version: Childhood vaccines save lives by preventing killer diseases. They're not risk-free, but an immense amount of evidence says the risks do not include autism.

The article can be found here at Reader's Digest.

More sanity from the mainstream media!