No Relationship Between Notifiable Diseases and Immigrant Populations
Alex Nowrasteh andAndrew C. ForresterThe international spread of the SARS ‐​CoV‐​2 virus that causes the disease COVID-19 has prompted many governments to close their borders. Immigration policy plays an important role in limiting the international spread of contagious diseases.Prior to the COVID-19 crisis,several commentators were concerned that immigrants – especially illegal immigrants – were spreading serious diseases in the United States. This blog post is the first in a series to answer the question of whether immigrants spread serious notifiable diseases other than COVID-19 in the United States. This ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 13, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh, Andrew C. Forrester Source Type: blogs

Why follow a vaccine schedule?
Right now, many people are hoping for a vaccine to protect against the new coronavirus. While that’s still on the horizon, new research suggests that families who do vaccinate their children may not be following the recommended schedule. Vaccines are given on a schedule for a reason: to protect children from vaccine-preventable disease. Experts designed the schedule so that children get protection when they need it — and the doses are timed so the vaccine itself can have the best effect. When parents don’t follow the schedule, their children may not be protected. And yet, many parents do not follow the schedule. A th...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - March 26, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Adolescent health Children's Health Parenting Vaccines Source Type: blogs

Vaccines for women: Before conception, during pregnancy, and after a birth
The rise of vaccine-preventable illnesses, such as measles and hepatitis, in the United States and around the globe has been alarming in recent years. For women — especially those hoping to become pregnant, as well as women who are pregnant or have recently had a baby — vaccines can be a worrisome topic. There are many misconceptions about vaccine safety in and around pregnancy that can lead to confusion and unnecessary fear of a lifesaving medical tool. As a practicing ob/gyn, I often discuss vaccines with my patients and help them sort out fears versus facts. Which vaccines should you consider before conception? The ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - January 10, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ilona T. Goldfarb, MD, MPH Tags: Health Parenting Pregnancy Vaccines Women's Health Source Type: blogs

India: Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus
Although global incidences of Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus declined dramatically during the second half of the twentieth century, relatively high rates for these diseases continue to be reported from India.  India accounted for 17.7% of the total World’s population in 2018, but reported 46% of global Tetanus, 53% of global Diphtheria (and only 10.2% of global Pertussis) that year.  Similarly, 68% of the population of Southeast Asia (SEA) live in India, while that country accounted for 85% of Diphtheria, 75% of Pertussis and 90% of tetanus for SEA in 2018. [1-4]   Trends for these data are charted in the foll...
Source: GIDEON blog - August 16, 2019 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Dr. Stephen Berger Tags: Ebooks Epidemiology General Graphs ProMED Source Type: blogs

Diphtheria in Thailand
Although two fatal cases of diphtheria were recently reported in Thailand [1], rates of this disease have declined dramatically since the 1970’s.  In fact, Thailand can serve as an icon for the effectiveness of vaccination.  In the following graph, I’ve contrasted rates of diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus with WHO estimates of DPT vaccine uptake.  The second graph depicts the effect of DPT vaccination on diphtheria mortality in this country. [2,3] References: http://www.promedmail.org/post/6453182 Berger S. Infectious Diseases of Thailand, 2019. 506 pages , 169 graphs , 2,339 references. Gideon e-books,...
Source: GIDEON blog - May 3, 2019 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Dr. Stephen Berger Tags: Ebooks Epidemiology Graphs ProMED Source Type: blogs

Fight Aging! Newsletter, February 25th 2019
Fight Aging! provides a weekly digest of news and commentary for thousands of subscribers interested in the latest longevity science: progress towards the medical control of aging in order to prevent age-related frailty, suffering, and disease, as well as improvements in the present understanding of what works and what doesn't work when it comes to extending healthy life. Expect to see summaries of recent advances in medical research, news from the scientific community, advocacy and fundraising initiatives to help speed work on the repair and reversal of aging, links to online resources, and much more. This content is...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 24, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs

John W. Campbell, Editor of Astounding Science Fiction, Described Actuarial Escape Velocity in 1949
Some of the voices of the past can appear entirely contemporary, because they saw further and with greater clarity than most of their peers. John W. Campbell, editor of Astounding Science-Fiction Magazine, died of heart disease at age 61 in 1971. In 1949 he wrote an editorial on the future of medicine, aging, and longevity that wouldn't seem out of place today. He anticipated what we presently call actuarial escape velocity, or longevity escape velocity, the idea that gains in life span through progress in medical technology allow greater time to benefit from further gains - and eventually, we are repaired more rapidly tha...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 19, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Healthy Life Extension Community Source Type: blogs

The Migrant Caravan, Central America, and Vaccination Rates
Many commentators have recentlywritten andsaid that members of the migrant caravan and Central American immigrants in general are diseased.   Former Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent David Ward claimed that the migrants are “coming in with diseases such as smallpox,” a disease that the World Health Organization (WHO) certified as beingeradicated in 1980.   One hopes Mr. Ward was more careful in enforcing American immigration law than in spreading rumors that migrants are carrying one of the deadliest diseases in human history nearly 40 years after it was eradicated from the human population.  But even on oth...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - November 1, 2018 Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs

Removing Inflammatory Regulatory T Cells Reverses Aspects of Heart Failure in Mice
The progression of heart failure following a heart attack is driven by sustained levels of chronic inflammation. Researchers have now demonstrated the importance of this inflammation through the targeted removal of a critical population of T cells in mice, cells that become inappropriately inflammatory after injury to heart tissue. This selective destruction of immune cells produces a reversal of detrimental remodeling of heart muscle, as well as improvement in other inflammation-linked aspects of heart failure, such as fibrosis in heart tissue. Interestingly, this approach seems to result in lasting effects, as the replac...
Source: Fight Aging! - September 13, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs

Tropical Travel Trouble 011 Tonsillitis and the Bull
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog aka Tropical Travel Trouble 011 Peer Reviewers: Dr Jennifer Ho, ID physician QLD, Australia and Dr Mark Little, ED physician QLD, Australia. You are working in far North Queensland and encounter a 20 year old Indigenous man with tonsillitis on your ED short stay ward round. He has been receiving IV penicillin and metronidazole overnight but is deteriorating and now cannot open his mouth beyond 1.5cm, and has a swollen neck (some might say ‘Bull neck’). In add...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - July 25, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Amanda McConnell Tags: Clinical Cases Tropical Medicine antitoxin bull neck c. diphtheriae c.ulcerans DAT pseudomembrane vaccine Source Type: blogs

Tropical Travel Trouble 011 Tonsillitis and the Bull
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog aka Tropical Travel Trouble 011 Peer Reviewers: Dr Jennifer Ho, ID physician QLD, Australia and Dr Mark Little, ED physician QLD, Australia. You are working in far North Queensland and encounter a 20 year old Indigenous man with tonsillitis on your ED short stay ward round. He has been receiving IV penicillin and metronidazole overnight but is deteriorating and now cannot open his mouth beyond 1.5cm, and has a swollen neck (some might say ‘Bull neck’). In add...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - July 25, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Amanda McConnell Tags: Clinical Cases Tropical Medicine antitoxin bull neck c. diphtheriae c.ulcerans DAT pseudomembrane vaccine Source Type: blogs

Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 238
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog Just when you thought your brain could unwind on a Friday, you realise that it would rather be challenged with some good old fashioned medical trivia FFFF…introducing Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 238. Readers can subscribe to FFFF RSS or subscribe to the FFFF weekly EMAIL Question 1: What ‘club-shaped’ organism, the cause of a ‘leathery’ disease, killed about 4000 people in the former Soviet states between 1991 and 1996? + Reveal the Funtabul...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - May 24, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Neil Long Tags: Frivolous Friday Five burns diphtheria dusky arion Facial Fractures glue healing heart surgery le fort Le Fort I Le Fort II Le Fort III Selfitis slug Source Type: blogs

Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 235
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog Just when you thought your brain could unwind on a Friday, you realise that it would rather be challenged with some good old fashioned medical trivia FFFF…introducing Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 235 and infectious diseases / animal theme. Readers can subscribe to FFFF RSS or subscribe to the FFFF weekly EMAIL Question 1: What tropical disease will give you Leopard or Lizard skin? + Reveal the Funtabulous Answer expand(document.getElementById('ddet2101796915...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - April 26, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Neil Long Tags: Frivolous Friday Five bull neck diphtheria Elephantiasis leonine facies leopard skin leprosy lion facies lizard skin lymphatic filariasis marasmus monkey facies onchocerciasis Source Type: blogs

3 ways to help get more children immunized
Follow me on Twitter @drClaire There is much to celebrate during National Infant Immunization Week this year. More than 90% of children 19 to 35 months have received all the recommended doses of vaccines for their age against polio, measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, and hepatitis B — and more than 80% have received all the recommended protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, pneumococcus, and Haemophilus influenzae. But there are also reasons to be concerned. Only 72% have had all the recommended vaccines, which means one in four children is missing at least one. Even more concerning, studies show that ther...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - April 24, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Children's Health Infectious diseases Parenting Vaccines Source Type: blogs

Tropical Travel Trouble 003 Stiff in the Mouth
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog aka Tropical Travel Trouble 003 A 65 yr old woman from Ethiopia is visiting her grandchild for the first time in Europe. She is normally fit and well, physically active with a small-holding in Ethiopia. She does not take any medication and cannot remember the last time she saw a doctor. She presents to you with difficulty chewing 3 days after arriving in the UK. She describes it as being “stiff in the mouth” Questions: Q1. What is the differential diagnosis an...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - March 5, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Neil Long Tags: Clinical Cases Tropical Medicine tetanus Source Type: blogs