Why do people want to try and scare the general population? What does a person get from this? Is it the attention they crave? Perhaps it is more about money and ambition. Whatever the reason please stop. When that bad thing you are talking about never happens then no one is affected, so stop putting people through it. There have been big news stories of late to do with people’s health, an important topic, but one where facts probably should get in the way of a good story.

One of those stories is the latest outbreak of Ebola. Don’t get me wrong as Ebola is a terrible deadly disease, around 9 in ten of those infected on average will die making it one of the most deadly viruses out there. It has been reported by some in the media that the Ebola outbreak could be a great deal worse than what is currently believed (by experts), due to the full number of cases not being reported. Let’s think about that statement. If we go and start basing conclusions on information that we don’t have, and might not exist, then there is no limit to how many people might have contracted the disease. You could have it, I could have it, we just don’t know! Watching the coverage on the news it would be easy to believe that Ebola is easily spread but the fact is that, no matter how dangerous Ebola is, it can only be contracted by exchanging fluids with someone already infected. You will not get it just because someone who has landed on these fine shores of ours has already contracted the disease.

Did you know that 1 in 3 of us are now pre-diabetic? Seriously – 1 in 3! That would suggest that a third of us are now on the edge of having type 2 diabetes, about to jump off that edge into an abyss causing us to live much shorter lives. The reality is that we have ended up straddling that edge, not quite falling but definitely having a sore groin that may or may not need some tender loving care. The thing about pre-diabetes is this – it’s just a made up term for those with blood sugar levels a little high but in fact in the range of NORMAL. As one expert said – you either have the disease or you don’t. Please don’t panic, but by all means look after yourself. I’m sure most of us could do with eating a more healthy and balanced diet.

Now the group that really get me wound up. The anti-immunization people. I’m like a huge coiled up spring on this topic, ready to rebound with everything I have (in reality Im more like a slinky that I had as a kid – remember those? – just meekly falling down the stairs). That there is even a debate about this really does confound me. Scientifically, there’s no debate. In combination with clean water and sanitation, vaccines are one of the most effective public health measures ever introduced, saving millions of lives every year. There are so many ridiculous myths surrounding immunisation that I’m not even going to attempt to talk about them, I’ll just stick to 3 – for now. So what is the truth?

1. Vaccines cause autism

Wrong.

How this keeps getting traction is beyond belief. There is no evidence of this and the only evidence that ever did exist was fraudulent. In 1998 Dr(now not a Dr) Andrew Wakefield published the Lancet paper suggesting that the MMR vaccine could be linked to autism.

What Andrew Wakefield didn’t tell people was that he had multiple conflicts of interest. He was being paid by lawyers assembling a class action against the manufacturers of the MMR vaccine, and that he himself had submitted an application for a patent for a single measles vaccine. The paper was retracted in 2010. He was struck from the medical register for behaviour classified as “dishonest, unethical and callous” and the British Medical Journal accused him of deliberate fraud. However once the idea was out there, scientists were compelled to investigate, particularly when it stood to impact public health so dramatically. Of the many many studies done since, NONE have found any link whatsoever. We don’t know what causes autism, but we do know what doesn’t: vaccines. Honestly I could write page after page on this MMR topic but please just believe me – there is nothing in it. If anyone wants to know more I’m happy to oblige at a later date.

2. Smallpox and polio have disappeared so there’s no need to vaccinate anymore

Wrong.

It’s precisely because of vaccines that diseases such as smallpox have disappeared. The impact of not vaccinating can be observed in the current measles ‘mini epidemic’ as many people presenting are of the age who missed out on MMR vaccination following the Wakefield scare. Vaccines could be seen to be a victim of their own success as they have been so successful in ridding us of some terrible diseases that people have become complacent and forgetting, or not knowing, what some of these diseases can do. No one wants to see their loved one paralyses and needing an iron lung to survive.

3. More vaccinated people get the disease than the unvaccinated

This is actually true BUT it doesn’t mean that vaccines don’t work. Since the majority of the population gets vaccinated it makes sense that more people who get a disease are amongst those vaccinated especially as no vaccine is ever 100% effective. While it’s still possible to get the disease you’ve been vaccinated against, the severity and duration will be much reduced. As an example of this the severe complications involved with pertussis (whooping cough) ,such as inflammation of the brain and pneumonia, occur almost entirely in the unvaccinated.

I could write a book on this but thankfully (for you that is) , today I am not going to.

Until next time,

Happy Days