Author: paige800

In 2019 Michael Becker, the man debilitated by his cancer caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV) lost his fight with cancer . Michael Becker was widely respected in the biotech community. After his death, it has been found that Gardasil, formally just given to girls, could have been preventable if he would’ve had the chance to receive the vaccine. Actually, out of the 13,500 cases of HPV oropharynx cancer each year, 11,300 are men. It was not known to begin with that it would help prevent the cancer in males, so this discovery was groundbreaking. Even though so many men get this cancer, people have not accepted it as a vaccine for men, even with the emerging epidemic of HPV throat cancers. Part of the problem is that the children and adolescent boys who should be receiving the vaccine, aren’t. This vaccine is not proven in the U.S., yet, to prevent cancers of the mouth and throat, only cervical, which turns many parents of boys away. But, the numbers don’t lie, and researches are expecting the vaccination rate to go up because the rate of the cancers are rising, but it will take 10 years or more to see these results. For now, those who do vaccinate are taking the chance and trusting medicine.

I went to a private Christian school for thirteen years, but that did not stop my mom from giving me this vaccine. Being in a small class environment, the moms would discuss things like vaccines on school trips. I remember very clearly on trip where we were on a bus and I overheard the moms talking about Gardasil. Almost all of them were against it, except my mom. They all had the naive responses such as, “it will encourage them to have sex” or ” They won’t be able to have kids”. Did these parents have any scientific backing to their claims, probably not. I can almost guarantee they were going off some bogus Facebook post they read. It hurt me to hear them telling my mom she did the wrong thing and insinuating she was a bad parent for being proactive for my health. The problem I see with this, is that they are not affecting just their children. Many mothers put a lot of trust in the opinions of other mothers. What if this one conversation on a school bus trip, influenced them to not vaccinate their child with Gardasil? Maybe their child will never contract HPV, but if they do, how would that make the other moms feel if they knew how it turned out? Now, granted no one should take medical advice seriously from a group of moms on a school bus trip, but the honest truth is that many do and it could harm their children in the future. So, thanks mom for taking the judgement and putting me first.

Gardasil was tested on over 20,000 girls and 4,000 males in various countries. The trials could not ethically seek to prove that the vaccine prevents cervical cancer, but the original trials did result in almost 100% success in preventing abnormalities in cells of the cervix from HPV type 16 and 18. Aside from these two types, there has also been trials testing types 6,11,16, and 18 in men. This proved to be 90% effective for all of those HPV strains and 78% effective in the strains causing genital warts and penile lesions. Because of ethical reasons, younger girls and boys could not be included in the trial, but they did compare the immune response among appropriate age groups of boys and girls. This did show that those under 14 who received the 2 vaccines created the same antibody response as those over 14 who received 3 rounds. This is encouraging people to get the vaccine in the younger group to reduce the number of shots and promote a better antibody response.

Antibiotics…. Something we have all probably had at a point in our lives. Whether it was for a simple ear infection or a life threatening infection, you have probably had one. Antibiotics seem to be something we are beginning to take for granted. We need to have them, but what if soon they will stop working? According to the CDC, almost 3 million infections occur each year that are antibiotic resistant. In return, 35,000 people die.

Doctors have become much more vigilant when prescribing antibiotics, but more is needing to be done. The doctors can be careful, but that does not stop people from mis-using antibiotics. One of the most common things I hear from people I know is, ” oh yea so and so had some amoxicillin left over from last year she gave me so I don’t have to go to the doctor.” There is so much wrong with this statement that it hurts me. First of all, the first person should have finished the antibiotic because not finishing it is just feeding antibiotic resistance, and the second person may just have something viral, so she is also giving fuel to the fire of antibiotic resistance. Even if she did have an infection, there is probably not enough of the antibiotic left to completely rid her of the infection, and it is possibly not even the right medication. The education needs to be there. Some people don’t have the common knowledge to always finish an antibiotic, and if it isn’t stressed, but only in the fine print, they won’t listen or know.

There are many organisms that are becoming antibiotic resistant and posing urgent threats. Among these are Carbapenem- resistant Acinetobacter, Drug – resistant C.Auris, C.difficile, Carbapenem – resistant Enterobacteriaceae, and N. gonorrhoeae. These are just the ones on the urgent list from the CDC, there are many more that are categorized as serious, but can make their way up to urgent. The question we now pose is what to do. Medical News Today tells us that we need to better understand ways to treat infections other than antibiotics. A team at Emory University has been testing bacteriophages, vaccines, and antibodies as ways around using antibiotics. But, for now the general public needs to focus on working actively to prevent the infections. But, this is not an easy task. So, we as the public need to listen to what our healthcare professionals say, and the healthcare professionals need to make sure they are educating families and patients. As with everything else, wash your hands and stay away from touching your face. I know for me, this is a very scary topic because we don’t know a world without a cure for things like this. We need to accept the present and be active in helping in whatever way to further the health of the population.

Whooping Cough. I remember this as the commercial with the mother laying the baby on her chest and the audio was a horrendous cough. I haven’t seen this commercial in years, but it was so heart-wrenching it stuck with me. That was just someone on a screen that I didn’t know at all. I cannot imagine actually experiencing having to watch a poor baby struggle. Watching someone struggle that is older is bad, but someone as innocent as an infant is just horrendous. When there is something to be done to protect these babies everyone should be kind enough to do so.

Whooping cough is caused by the Bordetella pertussis bacteria. It can be spread very easily by coughing and sneezing, making it highly contagious and easy for someone to just breathe into the respiratory tract. The best way to prevent whooping cough is to stay up to date on vaccines. This vaccine is in a combo with diphtheria and tetanus (DTaP) and is given in a series of shots. It is given at 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 15-18 months, and 4-6 years. You are also then to get booster shots as adolescents, adults, and pregnant women. If all of these things are done, you are doing all things possible to help stop the spread of infection.

Teens and Adults have no problems recovering from Whooping Cough. Some may not even know they have it. They may just think they have a nasty cold. To their body it will not pose a major threat, but them contracting the infection is not the issue they need to worry about. Despite not currently being vaccinated against it, they have a stronger immune system that can fight it off. The main problem is them having whooping cough, but not realizing it, then they spread it to an infant, posing the risk of death to the infant. This is why we need to be good stewards and get our booster shots. If you stay up to state with your boosters, then you are protecting the infants in your life and any innocent baby you may come into contact with. In my family when a baby is born everyone is told to make sure they have all of their boosters before the baby is born. If they do not comply they are not allowed to see the baby. People should stop getting mad at mothers who ask this. They are caring for their child who is not old enough for the vaccine and you should be courteous enough to get a booster.

Polio is something that I did not hear much about as a child. It was something that I pictured in my head as a black and white photo with someone in a wheelchair. This was the logical thing as a child, because I thought it was a problem for our ancestors, not us. Or, was that just what my eight year old self thought? Polio sparked my interest starting in fifth grade when I began to learn about the presidents. FDR had polio, but not many knew it at the time because it would be seen as a disability that a president shouldn’t have. If FDR had it that meant that no one would be getting something like that now, right? We were taught as children that if there was a vaccine people should be getting it less. Now being nineteen, It is crazy for me to think that children could be getting something that I did a history report on. History is supposed to be the past. I still wonder as to why someone would not want to protect their child from this terrible illness that was supposed to be history.

There are two different types of the polio vaccine. The oral Polio vaccine (OPV) is taken orally as drops. The OPV does contain the live attenuated virus. In rare cases this has caused paralysis called vaccine-associated paralytic polio (VAAP), or vaccine derived Polio. Despite this rare chance, the OPV was very effective. The incidence of the the wild polio virus decreased immensely since the introduction of the OPV. The OPV is a great option for people giving aide in foreign countries to administer because it does not require medical training. Later, the inactivated Polio vaccine was created (IPV). Since this is an inactivated virus, it does not pose the threat of causing VAAP. Some countries are still using the OPV, but the World Health Organization has recommended at least one dose of the IPV before the OPV to help reduce VAAP. With these precautions they are hoping to see the eradication of Polio.

Eradication. This is a word everyone wants to see. In regards to Polio there have been many milestones reached in the last 6 months. In October the Wild Poliovirus type three was declared eradicated worldwide. The last case was in Nigeria in 2012. The eradication of type three followed the eradication of type two declared in 2015. According to The WHO, WPV3 no longer exists anywhere aside from the ones locked in secure containment. Unfortunately, the news of Wild Poliovirus type one is not as good. It has not been eradicated, but contrarily seems to be expanding. In October 2019 within a one week span Afghanistan had two new cases of WPV1 and Pakistan with four. There were only 33 reported WPV in 2018, comparing to 94 in 2019. This trend also affected VAAP. As of October 2019 there were 102 cases of vaccine derived Polio. Seeing that two types have been eradicated brings so much hope for the future, but then seeing the bad news with another type puts the fear right back. No one wants to blame others, but I can’t help but think of anti-vaxxers and how they are doing nothing but hindering these amazing medical advances. I do not know this for a fact, but I just can’t help but think that they are the ones not playing as a team wanting to protect the human race as a whole.

Most of us go through life seeing all bacteria grouped together as “the things on the hand sanitizer commercials.” We see these as things we hope to avoid, wash away, or clean away. But most do not know that our body has a community of bacteria, parasites, and fungi. This is called the microbiome. These “bugs” coexist peacefully when we are healthy. Sometimes these “bugs” can even be seen as a supporting organ, as it can help everyday operations of the human body.

The average human does not have an adult like microbiota until about the age of three. There are lots of changes that occur altering our microbiota, but there was a study done recently connecting gastric bypass surgery and the microbiota. This surgery is not taken lightly, as it is done as the last option for severe obesity. There was little information available about what the surgery does to the microbiota. But, an experiment was done hoping to see what happened to the microbiota in the gut after this surgery. They did this in hopes to see if they could future therapies for obese adults, rather than the invasive surgery. The findings showed that the surgery did alter the structure of the microbiome, possibly due to the change in bile acid from the surgery. It is said that they would need further investigation because of interplay with toxicity and the metabolism, but they believe there could be groundbreaking findings about the microbiome for the future of solving obesity.

I have grown up with chronic sinusitis, severe deviated septum, facial skin infections, and many other things that antibiotics have been used to treat. Antibiotics seem to just be an integral part of my life. Even in my lifetime I have seen a shift in how much antibiotics I am given. When I was younger there were not as many hesitations with them. I am still on them a lot of the time for various things, but I have seen doctors become more cautious with prescribing them. The FASB journal discusses antibiotic tolerance and the microbiome. They talk about people, like me, who have had lots of antimicrobial therapies. They connect this to the growing antimicrobial resistance crisis. It is found that antibiotics eliminate lots of beneficial microbes, while wiping out the bad ones. There is current research is to further the discussion between the difference in active and oxidative metabolism of bacteria that contribute to killing members of the microbiome. Hopefully, this will educate more people on antibiotic resistance. Antibiotics are by no means bad because people, like me, will still need them, but we are hoping to stop the overuse.

Social media can be a good or an evil. It is hard to wrap my head around how it can be so helpful, but yet so harmful at times. There is an article on The Lancet about vaccine misinformation, which oddly enough is where Andrew Wakefield’s article, that has since been retracted, was originally published. Vaccine stigmas, like many other things are partly incorporated in how you are raised. When I was growing up I was given all the vaccines possible. People are relying too heavily on social media, and not enough on their child’s medical professional.

In an article published in The Lancet by Talha Burki, he starts off by addressing the problem with the measles in the United Kingdom. When comparing the years from 2016 and up, the numbers of measles cases have increased rapidly each year. He blames the misinformation on the MMR vaccine from the internet for the vaccine coverage rate dropping to 87%. It is said that 95% is needed for herd immunity, and dropping below is why we have seen the spike in cases. The World Health Organization acknowledges that there has always been hesitation with vaccination for some, but “the advent of social media has offered up an un preceded opportunity to amplify and spread the anti vaccination messages.” People have began to trust their Facebook feed rather than their doctors, and it is turning into a huge problem

The Flu has been around for a very long time, along with the new vaccines created each season, but oddly enough, many still do not get the vaccine. During the 2019 APHA annual meeting in November, they collected tweet’s on the flu vaccine. They did this after discovering the vaccination rate was much lower than average in the previous year. The sample was of 120,379 tweets. They discovered that 7,814 tweets were clearly based on misinformation, and the others did not show misinformation. But, included in the key words in the remaining 82,576 were “not get” and “death”. These were the tweets that did not even contain any misinformation, which in my opinion is worse. I think these are worse because they are straight opinion, but no background is given in a short tweet as to why they believe what was tweeted, which leaves the reader worried. For the tweets that have some information included, the reader at least has the option to do research on the information if they would like. The APHA believes they have a viable system in finding these tweets and addressing them, in hopes to ward away producing more anti-vaxxers.

The CDC reported widespread cases of the flu this year across the country. According to WebMd, all states in the United States, except Oregon, Hawaii, and the District of Columbia reported widespread cover of the flu this season. The official Flu season begins in October and goes until around April, with the peak between December and February. This does not mean that you cannot contract the Flu outside of this window, just that it is less likely. In fact, the 2018-2019 Flu had the longest recorded season in decades.

When determining whether you have a cold or the flu there are certain symptoms to be on the lookout for. A cold can take a little while for the symptoms to be in full force, but not the flu. The Flu symptoms set in quickly and aggressively. The common symptoms include fever, chills, cough, sore throat, muscle/body aches, headache, and fatigue. It isn’t common, but diarrhea and vomiting also occur from time to time. There are some symptoms that can be more serious. In children, you need to lookout for distressed breathing, blue skin, feverish rash, dehydration, and lack of interaction. For adults these include: breathing distress, pain in chest or stomach, dizziness, confusion, and sever vomiting. These symptoms are more urgent and may require immediate medical attention. Found here. In my experience the body aches are the worst part of the Flu. Every part of your body hurts, and if you have a cough that makes it even worse.

In an article medically reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD it is told that there have been 26,000,000 cases, 12,000,000 medical visits, 310,000 hospitalizations, and 25,000 deaths from the flu this year in the United States (as of 2/4/20). Medical professionals encourage everyone who is able to get the vaccine to do so. The vaccine for each flu season is made from information gained from the season’s before flu. This year, the vaccine will protect against 2 A strains, and 2 B strains. This is called a quadrivalent. There are many forms you can receive the vaccine in. This year the options are the shot, high dose shots (those 65 and older), shots made with adjuvant(65 and older), shots for people allergic to eggs, shots that do not use the flu virus, and a nasal spray with a live virus. (here). When I was younger I got the shot mostly, but I tried the mist once. I am not a fan of the mist, as I have sinus issues and things up the nose are uncomfortable. But, for people with a severe fear of needles, the mist is a life saver. My older brother is very scared of needles, so us getting flu shots each year was traumatic for him and everyone there. The mist was so much easier for him when we were younger. He didn’t like the feeling, but would take it any day over the shot. There is no cure for the flu, just antiviral dugs to lessen the affects. To avoid there flu: get you vaccine, wash your hands, cover your cough/sneeze, and stay home if you’re sick. Be brave this year and stay informed and healthy!

There is a lot going on with this novel 2019 Corona Virus. From infected cruises, travel bans, and more deaths. It is the talk of all the news stations every day. As of today (Feb 7), Royal Caribbean banned all people who possess a Hong King, Chinese, or Macau passport from traveling with their line. This goes into effect for guest or crew members, no matter how long it has been since being in that location. This was announced the day that Royal Caribbean delayed one of their ship’s departure after four passengers from the previous cruise were taken for screenings for the corona virus.

The Corona Virus is slowing, but the World Health Organization says we are not out of the woods yet. There are photos showing teams in the Thai Nguyen province spraying anti-coronavirus chemicals onto vehicles. The World Health Organization has sent medical supplies to try to help out. The worry is now directed to countries who do not have a health system up to par. There has been a referral system set up, so countries without the lab abilities can send samples to labs across the world to test their samples.

Royal Caribbean is not the only cruise line running into issues with the 2019 Corona Virus. The Diamond Princess Cruise ship was quarantined after one of its passengers testing positive for the corona virus. The passenger from Hong Kong disembarked to go to the hospital at one of the ports, where he was tested. He had not gone to the infirmary on board. Now, nearly a dozen passengers who were on the ship off the coast of Japan have tested positive. The cruise ship has to remain quarantined for fourteen days. Those with symptoms have been taken off the ship to local hospitals. I was on a cruise this summer, and the biggest fear is illness spreading. Luckily, we went this trip with no problems. On my first cruise ever there was a Noro Virus scare, but it was contained. Any illness can ruin a trip, but an unknown illness causes widespread panic.

According to the article from the CDC the 2019 Corona virus is a novel virus. A novel corona virus is a new coronavirus that has not been identified before. There is a corona virus that commonly circulates among humans, but the 2019 virus is not the same. The original virus just causes minor illnesses, like a common cold. The original is fought off by simple means of hygiene and disinfectants, similar to the common cold. The diagnoses are also very different from each other.

The CDC says that the source has not yet been identified. This article was last reviewed on January 31st, 2020. The outbreak first started in Wuhan, China. As of Jan 31st, there were 6 positive, 114 negative, and 121 pending patients under evaluation in the United States. The Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illnesses among some for humans and some for animals. It is thought that the virus originally came from an animal source, but is now being spread person to person. At this point it is unclear how easily the virus is spread. It is also said that the virus may have emerges from a virus related to SARS, but it is not the same.

How do you protect yourself? The World Health Organization website has standard recommendations to reduce exposure. The most important precaution is to wash your hands frequently with soap and water. As with many other illnesses you are to cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing. If you have a fever, cough, and difficult breathing it is advised to seek medical care early. When in live markets, avoid direct unprotected contact with live animals, in areas of the corona virus. Take all possible safety precautions and be aware of your surroundings.

According to The Lancet, Andrew Wakefield was a physician who had affiliations with the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Study Group, University departments of Medicine and Histopathology, Royal Free Hospital, and many more. His article in 1998 discusses how he investigated a “consecutive series of children with chronic enterocolitis and regressive developmental disorder.” Wakefield studied twelve children from the age of three to ten. He acquired his cohort because they were patients who had been referred to a pediatric gastroenterology clinic and had also lost common skills they had previously acquired . They were admitted to the hospital for one week for testing. The article goes on to suggest that his findings correlate to the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine being linked to behavioral regression. Parents started to become concerned if there was a link with the vaccine and autism.

As vaccination rates for the MMR vaccine began to decline, epidemiological studies were conducted to refute the link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Shortly after, ten of the twelve co-authors retracted the interpretation. His research was not verified by other scientist, in fact many refuted. According to the US National Library of Medicine , scientist across the world spent their time trying to refute his claims in hopes to stop people from not vaccinating their children. Wakefield had more motives than just medical advances. The article also states, ” Wakefield had failed to disclose financial interests. Wakefield had been funded by lawyers who had been engaged by parents in lawsuits against vaccine-producing companies.” Wakefield published the article and did the study to gain financially.

According to the CDC website article, there are 36 cases of measles per 1 million people worldwide, and about 134,200 die. The deaths are not just due to measles solely. But, as many as one out of every twenty get pneumonia, which is the common cause of death from the measles in young children. According to the article, Measles was eliminated in the Western Hemisphere in 1996 and 2016, but not the rest of the world. The CDC website also reports that the Measles outbreaks can still occur in the United States, even in those who had one or two doses of the MMR vaccine. Outbreaks are popping up mainly in close-contact settings, like schools. These are greater in countries without high coverage of vaccines. Chickenpox(Varicella) also used to be very common in the United States. But, according to the CDC the since the vaccine started in 1995, more than 3.5 million cases are prevented in the United States alone. Despite this, some countries routinely use this vaccine for their children. According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s article some developed nations, like the United Kingdom, only recommend it for people who may be more susceptible. In contrast, Japan, Australia, and some European and Middle Eastern countries include it in the vaccine program like the U.S.