53 replies to this topic

[Locke]

Speaking of, I need my flu shot.

It's a little late, isn't...oh right, you live on the wrong half of the world.

[Imperator]

It's a little late, isn't...oh right, you live on the best half of the world.

I FTFY.

[Redezra]

:3

[Locke]

Any half of the world where Christmas is in summer is the wrong half of the world.

Edited by Locke, 27 May 2014 - 07:29 AM.

[Imperator]

Okay, you enjoy your shivering cold Christmas couped up indoors. And we'll enjoy ours in the sunshine at the beach.

 

Clearly worse. :v

[Redezra]

Well, to be honest, I don't like the sun, or the beach...

 

 

Buuuuut, I do like having a family barbeque around the pool. Suck it northerners! :3

[Imperator]

I believe both our replies contain the necessary quintessential Australian Christmas time properties. :v

 

Plus, it was the first stuff that came to mind. XD

Edited by Imperator, 27 May 2014 - 09:18 AM.

[Redezra]

Yuh

[Justavictim82]

Chicken pox for an adult is very dangerous. Each years there are 10,000 or so hospitalizations from it and 100-150 deaths. Not to mention all the days of productivity lost to caring for a sick child. From a public health standpoint the varicella vaccine has been extremely cost effective.

As someone with asthma, yes, you should get the flu vaccine every year. But the fact that you have not done so and still haven't gotten the flu is not particularly unusual. The odds are still in your favor because you're young and otherwise healthy. As a medical practitioner, I would still recommend you get it, but it's not a huge big deal if you don't. For the very young, very old, and otherwise immunocompromised it's much more important.

Shingles kills approximately 100 people a year. Shinges is a reoccurance of the varicella-zoster virus that causes chicken pox. Shingles cases have been on the significant rise over the last decade. It has been almost 20 years since the chicken pox vaccination was introduced. Do you not find it ironic that this is the case?

@Locke A better understanding of the situation would be this: 4-5 million children (I am probably underestimating this number but whatever) receive the vaccine every year at say $20/dose (80-100 million) vs 10,000 hospitalizations where treatment probably would involve little to no profit for these companies... you do the math.

[the rebel]

Shingles kills approximately 100 people a year. Shinges is a reoccurance of the varicella-zoster virus that causes chicken pox. Shingles cases have been on the significant rise over the last decade. It has been almost 20 years since the chicken pox vaccination was introduced. Do you not find it ironic that this is the case?

 

To be fair anyone who has ever had chicken pox can get Shingles in later life as the virus goes dormant.

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

Shingles sucks.  It's really painful and can last for weeks.  Public health isn't only interested in reducing deaths, it's interested in reducing illness and injury overall.  This is for reasons of both compassion (why should people have to suffer needlessly?) and economics (sick people consume more medical resources).

 

The Varicella vaccine has only become a mandated vaccine in the last five years in Massachusetts.  I can't speak for the rest of the country, but Mass. is usually well ahead of the curve on these things.  You wouldn't expect to see an affect on shingles figures for decades yet.

[Locke]

Shingles sucks.  It's really painful and can last for weeks.  Public health isn't only interested in reducing deaths, it's interested in reducing illness and injury overall.  This is for reasons of both compassion (why should people have to suffer needlessly?) and economics (sick people consume more medical resources).
 
The Varicella vaccine has only become a mandated vaccine in the last five years in Massachusetts.  I can't speak for the rest of the country, but Mass. is usually well ahead of the curve on these things.  You wouldn't expect to see an affect on shingles figures for decades yet.

I know I had it in California, probably in the early 90's. Don't know if it was mandatory, but if not it was probably at least recommended.

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

Yeah, they're usually recommended for a period before they become mandated.  But even the mandate is toothless — all you have to do is sign a piece of paper saying that vaccination conflicts with your sincerely held beliefs and you get a pass.  Out of 475 kids at my school, I have about 14-15 who are not vaccinated.

[Justavictim82]

To be fair anyone who has ever had chicken pox can get Shingles in later life as the virus goes dormant.

I agree absolutely but no everyone that is exposed the the virus naturally contracts it. When you purposely inject even a weakened form of a virus that never really goes away, you have to expect these consequences.

[Redezra]

Justa, your comment demonstrates your lack of understanding. It's well known that the varicella virus is the sort to stick around. Hell, it's in the same family as herpes. Nobody likes herpes. That's why the full virus is never introduced in the vaccination. Instead, the identifying proteins and RNA-less virii are used. This means the virus has literally no way of multiplying and does not migrate to the nervous system. Instead, your body goes "Holy shitfuck what is this" and builds antibodies to combat it. Then, when exposed to the real virus, your body kills it before lasting damage can be done (at least, that's what's supposed to happen).

 

Many dangerous viruses that we immunize against are dealt with in this manner. We can't trust them to be docile and die, so we kill and disassemble them beforehand.

[Justavictim82]

I think you are lacking in understanding Redezra. Why is it that Shingles is on the incline since the vaccination was introduced? I am not talking in cases I am talking about percentages of cases since 1996. How can you honestly argue against that point? The facts are right in front of you. Viruses can by either RNA, DNA or both. This particular strand, Varicella Zoster (Herpes Zoster for Shingles), is a dsDNA virus which does not use RNA to replicate therefore removing the RNA is redundant. Furthermore, the Varicella vaccine is a attenuated vaccine (So is the MMR vaccination which by the way they are now starting to pair all 4 vaccinations in 1) which means YES IT IS A WEAKENED VIRUS injected into host so that it has a slower rate of reproduction so the host can develop the antibodies to fight it before the infection becomes strong enough to have lasting effects. The problem with this is that the virus itself lays dormant after the initial infection. Now... some people that come into contact with the strain do not get infected (this is why some adults have never contracted it even though they have been around it, including hosts who carry the virus in a dormant state, and never contract the illness. Seriously look shit up before you post stupidly

[Redezra]

No, it's not a weakened virus, because that would be stupid. It's a facsimile to induce an immune response. I was trying to explain that to you, in a nice simple way that won't confuse you. Medical science is like that. You're welcome.

 

Do you really think scientists that stupid to just up-and-inject a virus that sits around forever? People who have spent their entire lives studying these topics. What, you think you somehow know more with your afternoon of googling and gut feeling? Pathetic.

 

"Oh no, I don't want to be vaccinated, things that have absolutely no scientific proof of occurring may happen because I'm an uneducated layman with a fear of things I don't understand." Fuck, how can these people even be of the same species as me?

[Justavictim82]

http://www.cdc.gov/v...olor-office.pdf 'Information that was provided by scientists who study these things for an entire lifetime' Pay special attention to the words LIVE and ATTENUATED

[Redezra]

Well, I did not know that they used live virii. One would think that people wouldn't do that.

 

However, if you take a look around, (as I did, after seeing that, cause there had to be a reason apart from "fuck it why not") you'll see that there's no link discernable between shingles and the vaccine. Shingle rates were on the rise since before 1990 when the vaccine was introduced. Also, the virus is a variant of the strain that has its ability to interface with neural cells incapacitated, so it can't infiltrate neurons (which is what causes shingles later).

 

So yes, I'm wrong, and I'm sorry. But your fears are unfounded because medical science isn't stupid.

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

Attenuated = no longer dangerous.  It's like removing the stink glands from a skunk.