Stupid Guest Tricks

NOVA (PBS) had a program on vaccinations, but I missed it. Maybe it's available to watch online.

felinefan wrote:NOVA (PBS) had a program on vaccinations, but I missed it. Maybe it's available to watch online.

Try your local PBS station _2. I've found lots of really interesting programming on our WHYY2 station. Also check out Smithsonian channel. I just finished watching a show about finding when the HIV virus was transmitted to humans. Hint: it was not a Canadian gay flight attendant in the early 1980s. He traveled to Congo to find the earliest transmission. Interesting that in places without refrigeration they encased tissue in paraffin wax to preserve it. Anyway, they found samples going back to 1908 had the HIV virus.

I remember when National Geographic--the magazine, not the channel--did an article on The Disease Detectives. Back in 1955, a 25 year old British sailor presented with what appeared to be pneumonia, along with purple splotches on his skin. It was the oddest case doctors had ever seen. Despite treatment, the sailor got worse and died. They preserved tissue samples in paraffin and filed them away. A young resident was working alongside the doctors, and when the AIDS epidemic began, he remembered that case. Retrieving the samples, he tried testing them for AIDS, but failed, as the test was for blood, and no blood samples had been saved. Later, another test for tissues was developed, and this one came back positive.

I remember reading elsewhere that what started it was West African truck drivers would occasionally hunt monkeys and apes for food, because they were so poorly paid. Most of their money went for fuel. Since literacy was low, and there weren't any movie theaters, the only entertainment they had was patronizing prostitutes. The virus went from the monkey meal, got changed in the trucker's body, passed to the hooker, and then to her other johns. Perhaps this sailor hooked up with one of these prostitutes while on shore leave. Who knows? Maybe that's how it got started back in 1908, too.

felinefan wrote:I remember when National Geographic--the magazine, not the channel--did an article on The Disease Detectives. Back in 1955, a 25 year old British sailor presented with what appeared to be pneumonia, along with purple splotches on his skin. It was the oddest case doctors had ever seen. Despite treatment, the sailor got worse and died. They preserved tissue samples in paraffin and filed them away. A young resident was working alongside the doctors, and when the AIDS epidemic began, he remembered that case. Retrieving the samples, he tried testing them for AIDS, but failed, as the test was for blood, and no blood samples had been saved. Later, another test for tissues was developed, and this one came back positive.

I remember reading elsewhere that what started it was West African truck drivers would occasionally hunt monkeys and apes for food, because they were so poorly paid. Most of their money went for fuel. Since literacy was low, and there weren't any movie theaters, the only entertainment they had was patronizing prostitutes. The virus went from the monkey meal, got changed in the trucker's body, passed to the hooker, and then to her other johns. Perhaps this sailor hooked up with one of these prostitutes while on shore leave. Who knows? Maybe that's how it got started back in 1908, too.

OR maybe he was partial to Monkeys!?!?

felinefan wrote:As recently as the first quarter of the 20th century, 1 in 5 kids didn't live to see their 5th birthday. Don't believe me, go to a century+ old graveyard and count the kids' versus adults' graves. They mainly died of diseases prevented by vaccines, not available in their time.

You raise a great issue. Let's pretend for a moment that vaccines do cause autism and the like. Which is worse, autistic or dead?

I've got my vote. Hint: autistic means still alive. Just saying. I very much prefer not to bury any children.

A discussion between Sen. Elizabeth Warren and assistant Surgeon General Dr. Anne Schuchat, MD (RADM, USPHS):

WARREN: Is there any scientific evidence that vaccines cause autism?

SCHUCHAT: No.

WARREN: Is there any scientific evidence that vaccines cause profound mental disorders?

SCHUCHAT: No, but some of the diseases we vaccinate against can.

WARREN: The diseases can, but not the vaccines. Is there any scientific evidence that vaccines have contributed to the rise in allergies or autoimmune disorders among kids?

SCHUCHAT: No.

WARREN: Are there additives or preservatives in vaccines that can be toxic to kids?

SCHUCHAT: Not in the amounts that they’re in in vaccines.

WARREN: Is there any scientific evidence that giving kids their vaccines further apart or spacing them differently is healthier for kids?

SCHUCHAT: No, it actually increases the risk period for children.

WARREN: So it adds to the danger?

SCHUCHAT: Right.

WARREN: Is there any scientific evidence that kids can develop immunity to these diseases on their own, simply by eating nutritious foods or being active?

SCHUCHAT: No.

WARREN: How do the risks of a child responding negatively to a vaccination compare with the risks of skipping vaccinations and risking exposure to a deadly disease?

SCHUCHAT: Vaccines are safe and highly effective, and it’s important for parents to know that they’re the best way to protect their kids.

WARREN: So I think every parent wants to protect their children, and parents should know that all of the credible scientific evidence suggests that modern vaccines are safe, modern vaccines are effective, and modern vaccines are our best chance of protecting our children from diseases that can kill them. Is that right?

SCHUCHAT: That’s right.

WARREN: Thank you.

"Of the 20 new measles cases reported this afternoon, 18 are linked to Disneyland. Wow. Small world."
---Seth Meyers

hobie16 wrote:"Of the 20 new measles cases reported this afternoon, 18 are linked to Disneyland. Wow. Small world."
---Seth Meyers

I don't think any of those doll children have been vaccinated.

I'll just hold my breath through the whole thing.