Preventable Diseases Making News (Weapon Grade Stupid)

I was going to put this up over at Facts, not Fantasy, but realized that I was getting rather hot under the collar, and I wanted to really let loose on these fucking assholes that want to have people dies from perfectly preventable diseases.  Oh sure, they will say they don't want people to die, and they are only doing what they think is best...  Well, shut the fuck up, and do what is right.  Your actions speak louder than your empty, hypocritical words ever will.  You don't trust "big pharma" or doctors, or any of that fancy science, until you really need it!  Not that I am one to wish ill on people, but I seriously hope that every single anti-vaxer pro-diseaser that has ever uttered the words "vaccines cause autism" or any of the other lies they spread is shown dramatically what it means to use evidence based medicine.  I want to see you all crawling on your knees to a real hospital!  All your "alternative-medicine" crap is just that, crap.  If it actually worked, it wouldn't be "alternative", it would actually be medicine...

Anyway, on to numerous stories about people getting sick because too many assholes are being irresponsible and just giant douche-nozzles...

1.) Houston has seen it's first case of measles in 6 years.  The victim is an 11 month old baby.  She caught it while traveling.  Hope there are no complications from this.

2.)  There has been an outbreak of pertussis in a northern Virginia school.  As a matter of fact, it was severe enough to close the school.  The thing with pertussis is that while whooping cough sucks for a strong healthy adult, it will kill people.  It already has killed numerous people in the US, and I am always reminded of the Dana McCaffery tragedy.  While this is in a High School, who knows what infants the kids may come in contact with while babysitting or just visiting with friends and family.  I think the school has taken the right course of action.

3.)  There is an outbreak in Minnesota.  This I am pretty sure can be traced directly to the doorstep of the anti-vax pro-disease fuckwads...

4.)  Canada is not immune to the stupid either.  They are dealing with a mumps outbreak... What the fuck?  I thought this disease was pretty much eradicated.

5.)  Vaccine Times has even more things to report on.  I am pretty sure that if you are reality based, this shit will make you sick...  I'll just quote a small portion, you need to go to that page to read all the stuff there...

Six-week-old boy clinging to life – A 6-week-old Australian infant is clinging to life after being infected with whooping cough. The infant was too young to be vaccinated and although his parents were vaccinated, he still contracted the disease. His mom pleads with adults to get vaccinated:

“Get everyone vaccinated,” she said.
“It’s such an outbreak at the moment, people in their 20s don’t realise that they need another vaccination.
“It could have been someone in their 20s or 30s or someone older that gave my son this illness.

89 children dead of the flu in the US – No commentary is needed. As reported by the CDC Influenza Season Week 12 ending March 26, 2011 Surveillance report.

2,000 sick and 5 dead of measles in the Philippines – A measles outbreak in the Philippines has sickened 2,000 and killed 5 in the first quarter of 2011 (Jan-Mar 2011). To address this problem, the Department of Health has launched a month-long nationwide vaccination campaign targeting children aged 9 months up to 8 years old, hoping to stop the rising incidence of measles cases, which reached 6,000 in 2010. The campaign will cover 17 million children nationwide and targets to achieve a measles-free Philippines by 2012.

6.)  I am very glad to at least hear about Seth Mnookin, who wrote "The Panic Virus" an exposé of the antivax movement, has posted his thoughts on these recent news stories.  At least there is someone else out there that is with the facts instead of fantasy.  I'm sorry, reality has a scientific bias.  If you want to deny that, you can just fuck off.

This is what people have been afraid of – these little outbreaks of diseases that show the holes that exist in herd immunity. In fact, a lot of the anti-vaxers have been saying that “if herd immunity is such a big deal, why aren’t we seeing outbreaks in low-vax areas” – well, morons, guess what – you got your wish.

If you look at the Roanoke & MN outbreaks, they occurred exactly where we would expect them to be – in low vaccination areas / populations.

Not being vaccinated is equivalent to a business emitting pollution, or a person driving under the influence of alcohol — you raise the chance that those around you will suffer ill effects. Government has a role in coercing individuals who would otherwise inflict costs on others.

Thanks a lot you idiots.  You have reached a level of weapon grade stupid with this shit...