Friday, August 22, 2008
Parasites get parasites
I have never paid much attention to Amanda Peet, since any actress introduced as an "X Files: I Want to Believe star..." draws my gaze about as much as a bowl of plain oatmeal or a selection from Oprah's book club. However, a while back, Amanda Peet made me care about her for five seconds when she told some parenting magazine that not only did she vaccinate her spawn, she thinks people who don't are "parasites."
Vaccines prevent epidemic disease thanks to the concept of herd immunity, the notion that if enough of the population is immune to an infectious disease, said pathogen won't be able to cause an epidemic because it can't spread due to a dearth of susceptible people. Amanda Peet's point seems to be that people who choose not to vaccinate their children are relying on herd immunity rather than maintaining it themselves. Ultimately, like with parasites, this will be detrimental as the ranks of the unvaccinated swell to provide a new reservoir of infection.
Viruses are by definition parasites. They are technically not considered "living" by biologists because they cannot reproduce without a host cell. Viruses then reproduce at the expense of their host, appropriating molecular machinery normally performing cellular functions for viral replication. Therefore, Amanda Peet's observation concerning the parasitism of parents who don't vaccinate (usually because of vague, unfounded concerns about autism) is underscored by the irony of their kids succumbing to the very diseases they choose not to protect their children–and the entire population–against. Congratulations, idiots: your kids don't have autism, but they sure as fuck are enjoying a scourge of yesteryear like motherfucking MEASLES.
The last time I wrote about vaccination, I got a bunch of haughty referrals to various websites "proving" the link between immunization and autism. This "proof" amounts to little more than circumstantial evidence and the hysterical first-person accounts of parents whose children were diagnosed with autism around the same time they received their first immunizations...since coincidentally, autism typically becomes apparent around age two. Because autism has increased as childhood vaccination has become more prevalent, the two must be related. Never mind that autism was basically unrecognized as a legitimate disorder until 1938, and wasn't officially diagnosed until 1943. One could argue that given the coincidental chronology of autism diagnoses and childhood immunization, the increases have more to do with physician awareness about autism than with vaccines taken by the vast majority of the population. I don't see anyone blaming global warming, nuclear power, or whatever other unfortunate by-product of our developed civilization for autism. This is because those arguments are obviously bullshit, so people unfortunate enough to have an autistic kid rely on scientastic misinterpretations of epidemiology statistics concerning a topic most people are poorly educated about: vaccination.
Vaccination has been going strong since the fucking tenth century, when the Chinese realized that infecting someone with a low dose of smallpox produces immunity (although sometimes had the unfortunate consequence of actually causing smallpox). This practice, known as variolation, was used until Edward Jenner developed vaccination in the eighteenth century. Edward Jenner was a physician in the English countryside who observed that milkmaids were relatively immune to smallpox and this resistance seemed associated with crusty sores on the milkmaids' faces. In an experiment reflecting the extremely lax ethical standards of the time, he took scrapings of the milkmaids' faces and injected them into a ten-year-old boy who had never contracted smallpox. He subsequently injected the boy with the exudate of pustules from a smallpox patient, and observed that the boy did not develop disease. Though he did not know it at the time, infection with the cowpox virus causing the unattractive but relatively harmless milkmaid face sores elicits antibodies which cross-react and protect against smallpox. The old timey medical name for cowpox is vaccinia virus; hence the term "vaccination." While vaccination is no longer practiced in the literal sense since smallpox was eradicated in 1972, we refer to immunization as "vaccination" out of convention.
The development of vaccination radically changed the way we regard epidemic disease, and as far as viruses are concerned, smallpox was one of the worst. I guarantee if these assholes who spend their time reading blogs written by parents more concerned with seeking an explanation for their child's autism than being scientifically factual were faced with the prospect of their kid coming down with variola major, they would be singing a different tune. Behold, the disease which merited the original vaccine:
Measles might not be QUITE as bad or as deadly as smallpox, but it's still pretty fucking gross:
If you are stupid enough to believe that you're protecting your kids from unsubstantiated, conjecture-based autism risks by declining to immunize them, consider that by making this decision, you are not only exposing them to the risk of contracting the disease above, you are putting everyone else's kids (especially those too young to be vaccinated, who are more likely to die from measles) at risk too. You truly are a parasite, as your own need for enforcing your ignorance damages everyone else's right to public health. Shut the fuck up and stick your kids with the MMR.
Vaccines prevent epidemic disease thanks to the concept of herd immunity, the notion that if enough of the population is immune to an infectious disease, said pathogen won't be able to cause an epidemic because it can't spread due to a dearth of susceptible people. Amanda Peet's point seems to be that people who choose not to vaccinate their children are relying on herd immunity rather than maintaining it themselves. Ultimately, like with parasites, this will be detrimental as the ranks of the unvaccinated swell to provide a new reservoir of infection.
Viruses are by definition parasites. They are technically not considered "living" by biologists because they cannot reproduce without a host cell. Viruses then reproduce at the expense of their host, appropriating molecular machinery normally performing cellular functions for viral replication. Therefore, Amanda Peet's observation concerning the parasitism of parents who don't vaccinate (usually because of vague, unfounded concerns about autism) is underscored by the irony of their kids succumbing to the very diseases they choose not to protect their children–and the entire population–against. Congratulations, idiots: your kids don't have autism, but they sure as fuck are enjoying a scourge of yesteryear like motherfucking MEASLES.
Measles cases in the U.S. are at the highest level in more than a decade, with nearly half of those involving children whose parents rejected vaccination, health officials reported Thursday.Although Jenny McCarthy literally screamed "BULLSHIT!" on Larry King about this, the fact is that no matter how much she wants something to blame for her son's autism, there is no correlation between autism and childhood vaccines. In fact, 10 of the 13 authors of the only legitimate study to ever speculate about a causal link between the MMR vaccine and autism have retracted their conclusions. That study examined only a dozen autistic children, and other studies examining thousands of patients have repeatedly shown no statistically significant causal relationship between vaccination and autism. There is, however, a direct correlation between measles outbreaks and a refusal to vaccinate. As these recent measles outbreaks demonstrate, vaccines are a much less serious public health problem than the abject stupidity of people who rely on former Playmates and Candies shoe spokesmodels for medical information.
Worried doctors are troubled by the trend fueled by unfounded fears that vaccines may cause autism. The number of cases is still small, just 131, but that's only for the first seven months of the year. There were only 42 cases for all of last year.
In a typical year, only one outbreak occurs in the United States, infecting perhaps 10 to 20 people. So far this year through July 30 the country has seen seven outbreaks, including one in Illinois with 30 cases, said Seward, of the CDC's Division of Viral Diseases.
None of the 131 patients died, but 15 were hospitalized.
Childhood measles vaccination rates have stayed above 92 percent, according to 2006 data. However, the recent outbreaks suggest potential pockets of unvaccinated children are forming. Health officials worry that vaccination rates have begun to fall — something that won't show up in the data for a couple of years.
The vaccine is considered highly effective but not perfect; 11 of this year's cases had at least one dose of the vaccine.
Of this year's total, 122 were unvaccinated or had unknown vaccination status. Some were unvaccinated because the children were under age 1 — too young to get their first measles shot.
In 63 of those cases — almost all of them 19 or under — the patient or their parents refused the shots for philosophical or religious reasons, the CDC reported.
In Washington state, an outbreak was traced to a church conference, including 16 school-aged children who were not vaccinated. Eleven of those kids were home schooled and not subject to vaccination rules in public schools. It's unclear why the parents rejected the vaccine.
The last time I wrote about vaccination, I got a bunch of haughty referrals to various websites "proving" the link between immunization and autism. This "proof" amounts to little more than circumstantial evidence and the hysterical first-person accounts of parents whose children were diagnosed with autism around the same time they received their first immunizations...since coincidentally, autism typically becomes apparent around age two. Because autism has increased as childhood vaccination has become more prevalent, the two must be related. Never mind that autism was basically unrecognized as a legitimate disorder until 1938, and wasn't officially diagnosed until 1943. One could argue that given the coincidental chronology of autism diagnoses and childhood immunization, the increases have more to do with physician awareness about autism than with vaccines taken by the vast majority of the population. I don't see anyone blaming global warming, nuclear power, or whatever other unfortunate by-product of our developed civilization for autism. This is because those arguments are obviously bullshit, so people unfortunate enough to have an autistic kid rely on scientastic misinterpretations of epidemiology statistics concerning a topic most people are poorly educated about: vaccination.
Vaccination has been going strong since the fucking tenth century, when the Chinese realized that infecting someone with a low dose of smallpox produces immunity (although sometimes had the unfortunate consequence of actually causing smallpox). This practice, known as variolation, was used until Edward Jenner developed vaccination in the eighteenth century. Edward Jenner was a physician in the English countryside who observed that milkmaids were relatively immune to smallpox and this resistance seemed associated with crusty sores on the milkmaids' faces. In an experiment reflecting the extremely lax ethical standards of the time, he took scrapings of the milkmaids' faces and injected them into a ten-year-old boy who had never contracted smallpox. He subsequently injected the boy with the exudate of pustules from a smallpox patient, and observed that the boy did not develop disease. Though he did not know it at the time, infection with the cowpox virus causing the unattractive but relatively harmless milkmaid face sores elicits antibodies which cross-react and protect against smallpox. The old timey medical name for cowpox is vaccinia virus; hence the term "vaccination." While vaccination is no longer practiced in the literal sense since smallpox was eradicated in 1972, we refer to immunization as "vaccination" out of convention.
The development of vaccination radically changed the way we regard epidemic disease, and as far as viruses are concerned, smallpox was one of the worst. I guarantee if these assholes who spend their time reading blogs written by parents more concerned with seeking an explanation for their child's autism than being scientifically factual were faced with the prospect of their kid coming down with variola major, they would be singing a different tune. Behold, the disease which merited the original vaccine:
Labels: epidemic geekery, retard rage, scathing indictments, science, viruses rule
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THANK YOU! Jenny McCarthy and all those other ignorant, pretentious bitches need to stfu NOW. Funny how they trust science and biotechnology to fix their boobs and allow them to have babies with virtually no pain, but they can't accept the fact that immunizations DON'T cause autism and actually SAVE THEIR CHILDREN'S LIVES by protecting them from infectious, lethal diseases. Too bad their children won't hold their mothers' opinions when they're older, since they'll probably be DEAD before they're thirty. Good job, you filthy whores.
Go Razzy!
Go Razzy!
yes mercury is so healthy and the actual statistics show that measles, what measles before, it has actually rose. I say go jenny and fuck you you dumb fuck. first there has to be measles. cehcks, yea theres none. according to statistics, but don't let facts stray you from your mercury ladden kids with the autism, and your dead brain, fucking 50 year old alzheimers, and other shit, your just a fucking dumbass, go and go on a wild goose chase for a brain cell. you fucking idiots. hahaha. youll never post this but read this dumb fucker, won't let anybody post shit. have to censor. go fuck yourself.
let your little queer buddies post, there hate on anyone who wants to be healthy, take your mercury. i got an idea fuckhead, delete your post YOU HAVE NO NUTS. go take the guy who wants to inject you with the everything else in a shot, over a lifetime, for money bet and show how good it is. the money increases. but just go fuckyouesfl you and your gay buddy.
here's my comment, go fuck yourself.
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let your little queer buddies post, there hate on anyone who wants to be healthy, take your mercury. i got an idea fuckhead, delete your post YOU HAVE NO NUTS. go take the guy who wants to inject you with the everything else in a shot, over a lifetime, for money bet and show how good it is. the money increases. but just go fuckyouesfl you and your gay buddy.
here's my comment, go fuck yourself.
# posted by 
: 7/12/2009 3:59 AM
: 7/12/2009 3:59 AM Links to this post:
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