Why do we still use Sabin poliovirus vaccine?
The Sabin infectious, attenuated poliovirus vaccines are known to cause vaccine-associated paralysis in a small number of recipients. In contrast, the Salk inactivated vaccine does not cause poliomyelitis. Why are the Sabin vaccines still used globally? The answer to this question requires a brief visit to the history of poliovirus vaccines.
The inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) developed by Jonas Salk was licensed for use in 1955. This vaccine consists of the three serotypes of poliovirus whose infectivity, but not immunogenicity, is destroyed by treatment with formalin. When prepared properly, IPV does not cause po...
Source: virology blog - September 10, 2015 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information attenuation IPV OPV polio poliomyelitis reversion Sabin Salk vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis vaccine-derived poliovirus vapp VDPV viral Source Type: blogs
An Ebolavirus vaccine in Africa
An Ebolavirus vaccine has shown promising results in a clinical trial in Guinea. This vaccine has been in development since 2004 and was made possible by advances in basic virology of the past 40 years.
The ability to produce the Ebolavirus vaccine, called rVSV-EBOV, originates in the 1970s with the discovery of the enzyme reverse ilnscriptase, the development of recombinant DNA technology, and the ability to rapidly and accurately determine the sequence of nucleic acids. These advances came together in 1981 when it was shown that cloned DNA copies of RNA viral genomes (a bacteriophage, a retrovirus, and poliovirus), ...
Source: virology blog - August 7, 2015 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information cluster-randomized trial Ebola ebolavirus Guinea live attenuated vaccine phase III trial rhabdovirus ring vaccination rVSV-EBOV vector vesicular stomatitis virus viral Source Type: blogs
The Real Story Behind The Anti-Vaccine Billboards That Are Going Viral
Conclusion
The government has enacted legislation to protect pharmaceutical companies from liability when children are injured or killed by vaccines. Amendments and related laws have failed to address the rising numbers of vaccine injuries and health disabilities our children are facing. These laws and vaccine mandates ignore the blatant evidence that proves vaccines are ineffective and dangerous.
We must do our own research to prevent more children from suffering vaccine injuries. We must support families who are living with a vaccine injury or have lost a child due to a vaccine.
With regard to his mission to help other f...
Source: vactruth.com - July 23, 2015 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Missy Fluegge Tags: Top Stories Missy Fluegge Human VAERS vaccine injury smallpox vaccine National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act Vaccine Death truth about vaccines Jim O'Kelly Source Type: blogs
Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 109
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…introducing Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 109
Question 1
A friend casually remarks that she has an afternoon appointment with Doctor Fish, and asks you if you’ve heard anything about them. You caution her that…?
+ Reveal the Funtabulous Answer
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Doctor Fish
Otherwise known as Garra rufa, are used in ‘fish foot spas‘ (nibbling off dead skin)
...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - June 26, 2015 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Niall Hamilton Tags: Frivolous Friday Five dermographism Edward Jenner FFFF Fish spa LITFL rat warfarin zombies Source Type: blogs
Meet Nels Elde and His Team’s Amazing, Expandable Viruses
Credit: Kristan Jacobsen
Nels Elde, Ph.D.
Fields: Evolutionary genetics, virology, microbiology, cell biology
Works at: University of Utah, Salt Lake City
When not in the lab, he’s: Gardening, supervising pets, procuring firewood
Hobbies: Canoeing, skiing, participating in facial hair competitions
“I really look at my job as an adventure,” says Nels Elde. “The ability to follow your nose through different fields is what motivates me.”
Elde has used that approach to weave evolutionary genetics, bacteriology, virology, genomics and cell biology into his work. While a graduate student at the University of Chica...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - May 7, 2015 Category: Research Authors: Srivalli Subbaramaiah Tags: Cell Biology Genetics Profiles Source Type: blogs
As Vaccination Rates Dip, Parents Walk A Tightrope Between Doubt And Risk
The recent re-emergence of measles in the United States following a 15-year period of occasional cases provides a compelling example of an unresolved societal tension in public health: that between the value of autonomous decision-making and the need for social responsibility. The outbreak---more than 700 cases since January 2014---reveals not only this tension, which also plagues other arenas of health care reform.
It also reveals the tenacity of doubt about vaccine safety that has led to a tipping point in undermining herd immunity. (That is, within a community, high rates of immunization protect both individuals and th...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - April 23, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Sharon Kaufman Tags: Featured Population Health Public Health autism risk awareness vaccines Source Type: blogs
The sense of superiority by those who are pro-vaccine
Thanks to the measles outbreak, the news is full of stories on vaccines and anti-vaxxers. The blogosphere and Twitterverse and all the other social media dimensions are buzzing with invective against ignorant unvaccinated savages and their backward science denial. For the record, I’m a pro-vaccine physician. My children have been and are vaccinated, despite being unsocialized homeschoolers.
I’ve had my own share of needles; Physicians are mandated to have hepatitis B, influenza, and all the other standards. As a former Air Force officer, I also enjoyed the singular delights of typhoid and yellow fever immunization (alt...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - March 19, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Edwin Leap, MD Tags: Physician Pediatrics Source Type: blogs
The Scary Facts Most Parents Don’t Know About Vaccine Injury Compensation
Conclusion
Instead of eliminating the preferred methods of submitting vaccine adverse event reports to VAERS, CDC officials must find ways to encourage accurate reporting of vaccine adverse events. Only a tiny percentage of vaccine reactions, injuries, and deaths are ever reported, failing to give parents a true picture of what can actually happen when their child is vaccinated.
The public comment period for this proposal has closed, but you can still make your opinions known about the changes to the VAERS guidelines. Share this article in your social networks to let others know that vaccine injuries and deaths are very re...
Source: vactruth.com - February 19, 2015 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Missy Fluegge Tags: Logical Missy Fluegge Top Stories truth about vaccines Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) Vaccine Death vaccine injury vaccine injury compensation Source Type: blogs
Forget the ivory tower: We need more Disney in medicine
This isn’t a debate about vaccines.
The fight here has nothing to do with that. For the record, I strongly support the concept of vaccination. Public health is better in the 21st century because of it. Measles? Mumps? Oh, I can find you in the United States, but we aren’t living our lives every day petrified of an outbreak. Smallpox? Polio? Where did you go? Not here, that’s for sure. And, what if you had lived in West Africa in mid-2014? A proven vaccine for Ebola would have been a godsend.
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Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide....
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - January 28, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Rocky Bilhartz, MD Tags: Physician Primary care Source Type: blogs
How do vaccines work? TED-Ed video
The first ever vaccine was created when Edward Jenner, an English physician and scientist, successfully injected small amounts of a cowpox virus into a young boy to protect him from the related (and deadly) smallpox virus. But how does this seemingly counterintuitive process work? Kelwalin Dhanasarnsombut details the science behind vaccines.Lesson by Kelwalin Dhanasarnsombut, animation by Cinematic.There are a few inaccuracies, but overall this is a good video.
Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, follow us on Twitter and connect on Facebook. (Source: Clinical Cases and Images - Blog)
Source: Clinical Cases and Images - Blog - January 21, 2015 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: blogs
Does Public Health Have A Future?
Ebola’s arrival in the U.S. hit Americans with a jolt. Regardless of how you feel about the response to date, it should remind everyone of the importance of public health.
Fortunately, public health in the U.S. has built an extraordinary track record of success. Smallpox, one of the most dreaded diseases in history, was eradicated worldwide. New vaccines have sharply cut the toll of deaths and disabilities from H flu meningitis, tetanus, pneumococcal sepsis and other deadly diseases.
Adding folate to foods dramatically reduced neural tube defects in newborns. Safer cars and better roadway designs cut fatal crashes per m...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - December 10, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Arthur Kellermann and Mark Kortepeter Tags: All Categories Environmental Health Prevention Public Health Source Type: blogs
Bill Gates Recognizes the Improving State of Humanity
Chelsea German
With the newspapers full of crises, it can be hard to maintain a proper perspective on the progress humanity has made, and to remember that there are individuals striving every day to make the world a better place. In a recent interview, businessman and philanthropist Bill Gates discussed the improving state of humanity, and the work that he is doing through private charity to help those in need. He said,
I think the idea that people are worried about problems, like climate change or terrorism or these challenges of the future, that’s okay. But boy, they really lose perspective of what’s happened ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - October 23, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Chelsea German Source Type: blogs
Curb the soaring costs of vaccines
Few medical interventions have been as successful as vaccines in improving public health.
Whether they are childhood vaccinations, vaccines to prevent healthy adults from contracting influenza or the more recent HPV vaccine for adolescents, these preventive methods have resulted in dramatic benefits for individuals and the public. We have only to think of the eradication of smallpox and the virtual eradication of poliomyelitis to see the enormous benefits vaccines can bring. But at what financial cost — now and in the future?
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Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your onlin...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 30, 2014 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Ruth Macklin, PhD Tags: Meds Medications Source Type: blogs
Rescue Me: The Challenge Of Compassionate Use In The Social Media Era
TweetThe Development of Brincidofovir And Its Possible Use To Treat Josh Hardy
Last March 4, seven-year old Josh Hardy lay critically ill in the intensive care unit at St Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee with a life-threatening adenovirus infection. His weakened immune system was unable to control the infection, a complication of a bone marrow stem cell transplant he needed as a result of treatments for several different cancers since he was 9 months old.
His physicians tried to treat the adenovirus with an anti-viral agent, Vistide (IV cidofovir), but had to stop due to dialysis-dependent renal failure. Th...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - August 27, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Arthur Caplan and Kenneth Moch Tags: Access All Categories Bioethics Biotech Consumers Pharma Policy Research Technology Source Type: blogs
