#(161002)
- India Mosquito Disease Outbreak; 2. Smallpox Social Consequences; 3. Legal Fear Mongering; 4. Zika; 5. Lifeline Infrastructure; 6. Unintended Consequences; 7. Wild Measles Eradicated; 8. Health Warning - Poe’s Law; 9. Vaccination Resistance; 10. Particularistic and Universalistic Health Movements; 11. Normalization - Risk; 12. Rock Hudson - AIDS; 13. Nobel Opps; C4 Listening.
-1. Thanks to H5N1 I have been able to follow the outbreak of Dengue and Chikungunya as the story continued to develop 160918-6↓. 'All Lies': Green Court Rips into Delhi Civic Body on Dengue, Chikungunya, Delhi's Homeless Are Fighting a Losing Battle Against Chikungunya, SC Notice To Delhi Govt, Civic Bodies On Dengue, Chikungunya, Doctors Suffer Perils of Treating Dengue, Chikungunya, Test Positive. Delhi Sees over 1,000 Chikungunya Cases in 1 Week. This is a fairly clear illustration of the usual correlations of: political decisions about public health that makes it possible for a biodisaster, disease and it’s vector in this case, to get a strong foothold and expand; impoverished areas that have limited access to health care and preventative medicine, thus providing a reservoir for the disease; and those who are trying to help under those conditions putting themselves at risk.
-A. In the interest of keeping the weekly notes relatively short I commonly will continue following a story with ADDED items to a topical stub in the previous week, but not updated in the archive. In the event the story becomes more pertinent, takes a new direction, adds information about human behavior, or if there are questions from readers requesting more information on a topic. At that time ADDED information is brought up to give more of the context. This makes it fairly easy for me to quickly locate what was written in open sources, and hopefully helping the requestor to save some time in locating information. Other examples of stories that are still monitored, but not included in the current week notes, are the Siberian Anthrax, the EpiPen scandal, and some of the threads related to Zika.
-2. How the 1721 Boston Smallpox Epidemic Changed Medicine, Launched a Free Press and Helped Win the American Revolution. The worst smallpox epidemic in Boston history was a turning point for control of the ferocious disease in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It also helped launch America's 1st independent newspaper and set the stage for the American Revolution. The American Revolution aspect is presented in #Book Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775–1782 [Cover]. George Washington and the First Mass Military Inoculation.
-3. Research Finds Talc Doesn't Cause Cancer; Juries Disagree. Two lawsuits ended in jury verdicts worth $127 million. Two others were tossed out by a judge who said there wasn't reliable evidence that the talc in Johnson & Johnson's iconic baby powder causes ovarian cancer. So who's right. And is baby powder safe. Talcum Powder and Cancer. What Is Talcum Powder. Ovarian Cancer and Talc: Did Junk Science Cost Johnson & Johnson $127 Million in Court. This seems to be a lawsuit, ambulance chaser, driven phenomena. Asbestos, the causative agent, has been subject of many law suits over the years and was banned in 1989 Asbestos Ban and Phase Out Regulations in the United States. With the BigPharma conspiracy theory, anti-vax and related beliefs (to include lawyers who pursue cases of vaccine injury), beliefs about Total Corruption: Drug Companies Bought Their Way onto FDA Advisory Panels (Mike Adams, Natural News). Are Golden Tickets That Speed Drugs Through FDA Worthwhile.
↕4. Another thanks to H5N1* ** Dr. Racaniello on Communicating Zika as I also missed this. Communicating Zika People want to read about people. They want human stories, even if you are talking about scary viruses. Who is that poor man trying to escape from the Ebola treatment unit. Narrative is essential, and a mystery story is even better. Communicating about emerging infectious diseases fits this requirement perfectly, because every one is a mystery to be solved. ¶ Dial down precision, and never compromise on accuracy. You can’t deliver high precision to the general public: they don’t have the attention or background, but you absolutely must be accurate. ¶ Scientists should talk with journalists. Not all of them, but find some that you trust and confide in them. ¶ Jargon is now (sic, not sure if this is a typo in the original, possibly “not” was meant as it can be useful for communication if used correctly, or “never” as a rule of thumb, or simple should have left out “ now”) always bad. ¶ Everything starts somewhere. Go to where the diseases are. C4↓.
-* I seem to acknowledge H5N1 frequently. There are several websites that I check daily (his being one) or weekly, though in the main most are for my background information and watch list, not posted in Parademic. Usually I use sites posting of an article, such as Science Daily Health. H5N1 is one of the few that adds commentary, which I don’t always agree with, but perception and interpretation is an aspect of parademic. This is why I add other articles about the same event, that have a different spin, or are in conflict. I may start acknowledging when I get a source from the Contagions Google Group (its official name is The Society for Historic Infectious Disease Studies). I do not have permission from the different individual in the group who email to the group so I will not cite their name or email address. On the otherhand it is an academic group which may prefer not to have any mention from a site that used popular media and is operationally oriented.
-**. Some may wonder why H5N1 is called that. As I understand it the curator saw a need to look at the policy aspects of disease, and at the time H5N1 was started H5N1 Avian Flu was the concern (or hype) to become a global pandemic. ¶ This is one reason why history is an aspect of parademic. Policies, words, institutions, organizations, plans, terminology, concepts tend to survive past their need. Sometimes that are adapted to new needs (repurposed) that they can fill, or just continuing because of being stringed or dragged on to make something last or continued longer than necessary. These prolongation and vestigials are often associated with bureaucracy, laws, procedures, beliefs, unquestioned assumptions, traditions, rules [Photo, Photo, Photo, Photo]. ¶ When I was a pandemic planner for the 2009 H1N1 (H5N1 never went pandemic among humans; yet), we started with the assumptions that were made for H5N1 (most of which were wrong) and plans HHS Pandemic Influenza Plan (2005) that were based on those expert opinions – that is were not evidence based and also wrong, but did at least list the Planning Assumptions. ¶ One is likely to face strong resistence if one attempts to change these superannuated behaviors (to include “progress, the newest, the latest, as being always good and the best”). It is not always necessary to change just for the sake of change, no more than keeping something simply because “its always been that way”. Sometimes there is a very good reason for something very old to still be in active use, but we no longer no why. H5N1 (2005, not the website), Preparing for Pandemic Influenza (2005), The Next Pandemic: Bird Flu, or Fear (2006 ), H5N1– Does it Live up to the Hype. Redux (2006), How Bird Flu Infects Humans and WhyWe Don't Spread It (2006), Skeptics Warn Bird Flu Fears Are Overblown (2006). Chicken Little alert. Hysteria could sap money from worse health threats. Flu Plan Scandal Ahead – An Urgent Warning (Joseph Mercola). Millions Irrationally Feared Dead In Minor Train Accident (2011).
-4.1. Doctors Brace for Zika Babies. This month, the first group of babies in Puerto Rico known to have been exposed to the Zika virus in their first trimester are being born. Pediatricians do not know what to expect. ¶ Zika looms as a kind of developmental doomsday virus, attacking the vulnerability of early brain development, striking at the neurological basis of human potential. While Puerto Rico, a United States territory, will experience the first wave of children affected by Zika, the rest of the United States is bracing for the spread of the virus. US: Doctors Brace for Zika Babies. We're all going to have to realize that Zika is not just the Scare of the Year, to be forgotten when the next scare comes along. As the story notes, we are going to be dealing with a generation of children—for as long as they live. There are some previous examples of behavior stemming from prenatal diseases (Rubella, STD’s), as well as non disease causes that damage a fetus or newborn infant (thermaldahyde, anti-vax, malnutrition, alcohol and drugs, toxins). I suspect that this one will have more backlash as the threat was known and action was delayed. \fs24cf2 Why Congress Drags its Feet on Zika: New York City's Health Commissioner Blames Racism. Zika Continues to Infiltrate US, 20 Babies Born with Zika Related Birth Defects. Zika Virus Damage Can Mislead Parents. Labor Lawyers Begin Preparing Businesses for Zika Related Workers' Compensation Claims. CDC Urging Men at Risk of Zika to Postpone Fatherhood, CDC Tells Men at Risk of Zika to Put off Procreation for 6 Months. Delays at the Zika Zoo.
-4.1.1. Opportunities in Crisis and Catastrophe: The Issue Attention Cycle and Political Reality. Emerging problems often surprise lawmakers and agency officials and result in rapid, reactive governance. The political attention an issue does receive may or may not be sufficient to resolve the emergent problem, and in many cases may be an overreactive auto-response dictated by public opinion and issue salience. This study examines the emergence of congressional attention post crisis; demonstrates that black swans, wicked problems, and complex domestic and social issues each trigger episodic attention differently; and finally, establishes a multi dimensional model of emerging crises, laying the bedrock to define new theoretical models of episodic attention in Congress. One of my soap boxes is that officials tend to view emergent as a problem and unexpected, when in actual fact it can be a solution that is more effective and there are nearly always antecedents and precursors if one had taken off their blinders and paid attention to what is, not what should be, and were willing to give up a little control and being the only valid source of wisdom. How Crowdsourced Disaster Response in China Threatens the Government. Opportunities to Finance Pandemic Preparedness. A Bygone Era: When Bipartisanship Led to Health Care Transformation.
-4.1.2. Zika Funding Fight Throws Wrench in Health Lobbyists' Plans. Public health groups are disappointed Congress has dragged out funding to fight the Zika virus and neglected other health priorities. But a coalition of health groups that have lobbied for Zika funding is satisfied with the Senate Majority Leader bill extending funding for the federal government and hope lawmakers will soon address other health care priorities. This is the first time I have seen something about not funding a health effort has also diverted from all other health efforts. Usually it is a case of diverting resources to a single health issue at the cost of other health areas. This happened with Ebola diverting from Malaria, HIV, Yellow Fever, and may be why Zika and resurgent Polio were not noticed for an extended time. Week Ahead: Spending Fight Shifts from Zika to Flint. There's a new public health crisis at the center of a government funding fight this week: Flint. Democrats in both chambers are threatening to reject the GOP's latest budget proposal because it ignores the city's lead contamination but provides relief for flood victims in Louisiana. Dems Demand Flint Funding Promise 'In Writing' from GOP. Congress Ends Spat, Agrees to Fund $1.1 Billion to Combat Zika, Zika Funds Finally Pass amid More Florida Cases 4.5↓, U.S. Health Officials Are Itching to Use the Zika Funds They’ve Begged for All Year. This is just as fall approaches, mosquito populations go down, and therefore their diseases. Usually that is spun to mean the funding was not needed, relying on people to forget before the next election. This time; however, there will be reminders that can be brought up through several elections cycles, with criticisms that this elected official prevented funding for Zika. Zika Related Birth Defects Likely Higher than Anticipated Panel.
-4.2. Mayors Say State Told Them to Keep Zika Mosquito Sites Secret. This is one of several behaviors observed with officials for every parademic. Blame, deflection, misrepresent, criticism after the fact, denial of facts or responsibility, false claims and accusations. There is also the possibility that a statement was spun. The main parademic consequence of this is that effort and attention are diverted from the problem to wasting time to determine who is responsible, and further confusing the issues and situation that could lead to solutions. Miami Beach Residents Not Told When Zika Positive Mosquitoes Found Nearby.
-4.3. Health Officials Confirm Case of Dengue Fever in Miami-Dade. This could be an early indicator of a syndemic, more than one coinfectious disease or other life threatening environmental condition (heat wave, famine, smog) that complicate matters, especially if patients are inflicted with two or more at the same time. Miami's Zika Search Turns Up Another Virus: Dengue.
-4.3.1. Delhi: 33 Test Positive for Scrub Typhus, Symptoms Similar to Chikungunya. India Beset by Outbreaks of Mosquito Borne Diseases, Dengue and Chikungunya have become entrenched in New Delhi’s ecosystem. This is not a novel threat that could not be anticipated. In 2006 there was Coˍinfections with Chikungunya Virus and Dengue Virus in Delhi, India. Fungus Makes Mosquitoes Much More Likely to Become Infected with Malaria. Dengue Chikungunya Double Infections Make Delhi’s Viral Outbreak Deadlier. In Annual Ritual, Delhi Struggles with Dengue, Chikungunya. 1↑.
- 4.3.2. Human Rabies Survivors in India: An Emerging Paradox. The child was diagnosed to have rabies encephalitis—apparently acquired through a stray dog bite a month prior, for which medical care was not sought. The grim prognosis was conveyed to the parents, who were migrant labourers in the city. The child died within two hours of admission. However, there was nobody to claim the mortal remains of the young child; the parents had discreetly left the hospital premises and they could not be traced. The body lay in the mortuary, unclaimed for several weeks before it was cremated by the police. The cost of cremating a dead child could be better utilized to feed other hungry mouths—this is the harsh reality faced by many mothers in India, their grief numbed by poverty. A less clinical version of the story is at Eliminating Rabies in India Through Awareness, Treatment and Vaccination. India's Rabid Dog Problem Is Running the Country Ragged (2015). The Cost of Cheap Drugs. Toxic Indian Lake Is "Superbug Hotspot".
-4.4. CDC Whistleblower Claims Agency Has Been Using Wrong Zika Test. In the midst of the fight to control Zika, the top public health agency in the US has been engaged in an intense internal debate about the best way to test whether someone has been infected with the mosquito borne virus. ¶ The issues raised in the debate illustrate the challenges of managing one of the world’s biggest public health crises at a time when the agency's urgent requests for emergency funding have been held up in Congress. Additional research funds could potentially have allowed for more extensive study of the tests and how best to implement them. In particular, the debate shows the pressure the CDC was under to quickly develop an accurate diagnostic test for a disease that is still poorly understood. Appears that an internal disagreement went outside the organization, with some bureaucratic backstabbing. This sort of behavior does not increase trust. Not sure whistleblower is the right term for this, but it does grab attention and implies nefarious acts. HHS Funds Development of Faster Zika DiagnosticTest 4.1.2↑. CDC Scientist Challenges Accuracy of Zika Test.
-4.5. Parademic includes insurance and legal issues, as well as economic impact. A Plague O’ Both Your Clauses: Insurance Probably Won’t Cover Businesses Stung by Zika. This warning will almost certainly harm the many restaurants, art galleries and retail shops that cater to Wynwood’s vibrant arts scene—and many of those businesses will be looking to their insurers to make them whole. But Zika differs from the natural disasters that have historically been responsible for widespread business interruptions, and the policies of most of Wynwood’s merchants are unlikely to provide coverage for this event. ¶ For Wynwood businesses harmed by the Zika outbreak, the critical missing element is direct physical loss of or damage to covered property. Courts have routinely held that an insured seeking business interruption coverage must establish that the loss was caused by property damage, and not by some other factor or factors. 160814-4.3, 160807-4, 160821-4.4↓.
-5. Humanitarian infrastructure concerns differ from the critical infrastructure of Continuity of Government and Business. Apples to Apples: RAMCAP and Emerging Threats to Lifeline Infrastructure. Lifeline infrastructure encompasses Water, Energy, Transportation, and Communications. ¶ There are 16 Critical Infrastructure Sectors whose assets, systems, and networks, whether physical or virtual, are considered so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination thereof. Executive Order (EO) 13636 adds Cyber. ¶ RAMCAP (Risk Analysis and Management for Critical Asset Protection) is a framework for analyzing and managing the risks associated with terrorist attacks against critical infrastructure assets. RAMCAP™ provides a consistent and technically sound methodology to identify, analyze, quantify and communicate the various characteristics and impacts that may lead terrorists to select a particular target, and the impacts from a specific form of attack. It documents a process for identifying security vulnerabilities and provides methods to evaluate the options for improving these weaknesses. Questioning the Criticality of Critical Infrastructure: A Case Study Analysis, Applying the Economic, Homeland and National Security Analysis Framework, Assessing Homeland Security Risks: A Comparative Risk Assessment of 10 Hazards, A Cautionary Note on Qualitative Risk Ranking of Homeland Security Threats, More Options for Quantifying Deterrence and Reducing Critical Infrastructure Risk: Cognitive Biases.
-A. Lifeline Infrastructure isn’t that different from CARVER2 which I’ve used for parademic prioritization of what should be maintained, can be delayed, can be shut down indefinitely with the intention to restart, and what should be shut down or destroyed permanently. The following are some lifelines that I would consider in parademic:
Hazard Dependency Loss of Suppliers
Employees
Customers
Transportation
Proximity
Shelter/Food/Water/Medical/Information
Threat Contamination Biotoxin
Pathogen
Pollution Nine in Ten People Worldwide Breathe Dangerous Air Every Day
Sabotage Physical-Insider -Outsider
Cyber-Insider -Outsider
Theft Physical-Insider -Outsider
Scams/Crime/Hijacking/blackmarket/fake drugs/quacks
Misinformation/Disinformation/Rumor
Attack Attacks on Hospitals in War: 2 Years, 594 Attacks, 959 Deaths at Healthcare Facilities, from Syria to Afghanistan, Two Aleppo Hospitals Bombed out of Service in 'Catastrophic' Airstrikes, Why Is No One Punished for Attacks on Aid Workers
Assault Hospitals Track Physical, Verbal Assaults on Health Care Workers
-5.1. Will preventing the spread (not preventing the event) of biodisaster involve The Fortress Problem. Halting Global Pandemics via the Commercial Air Route Network. Surviving the ‘Storm’: Expanding Public Health’s Capabilities in Response to the Increasing Threats Posed by Novel, Pandemic Strain Viruses. Identifying Security Checkpoint Locations to Protect the Major U.S. Urban Areas (that is keep the invisible out).
5.2. Disaster Theory for Techies. We need to move away from this linear concept of disasters, and conflicts as well for that matter. Here's a quick introduction to "disaster theory" that goes beyond what you'll find in the mainstream, more orthodox literature. ¶ Natural events are hazards and exogenous while disasters are the result of endogenous social processes. Disaster are when people are somehow impacted. It is not a disasterm no matter how large and damaging, if no people are involved this it is not a disaster. ¶ Wile disasters traditionally are perceived as “sudden and short lived events, there is now a tendency to look upon disasters as continuous processes of gradual deterioration and growing vulnerability”. This has important “implications on the way the response to disasters ought to be made”. ¶ In contemporary disaster research there is no such thing as a natural disaster. In every phase and aspect of a disaster – causes, vulnerability, preparedness, results and response, and reconstruction – the contours of disaster and the difference between who lives and dies is to a greater or lesser extent a social calculus” that is human caused by behaviors that create harm and put people in harms way. The term “natural disaster” is an oxymoron and “phrases such as a ‘disaster hit the city,’ ‘tornadoes kill and destroy,’ or a ‘catastrophe is known by its works’ are, in the last resort, animisticthinking”. Radical Interpretations of and Solutions for Disasters. Parademic describes biodisaster as slow, insidious, unnoticed until acceleration. Be aware that this actually describes all disaster, with the difference that biodisaster is living processes, sustainment and evolution of life. These are also known as unintended consequences and iatrogenic such as; Is Duterte’s War on Drugs Fuelling an HIV Epidemic in the Philippines, Foreign Farms Increase the Risk of Conflicts in Africa, South China Sea Images Reveal Impact on Coral of Beijing's Military Bases, Will Raccoons Trump Rats as the Ultimate Urban Mammal, they’re expanding into suburban and urban landscapes, and excelling, thanks to our help.
-A. These unintended consequences need to be considered in biodisaster planning. Actions taken to contain and control a biodisaster can be as severe as the disaster itself. Besides being likely that efforts are not implemented soon enough, making it more costly, with greater mortality and take years longer to complete (assuming that the likely ending of the event too soon does not happen), biodisaster measures have negative economic, political, social, commerce, supply, distribution, production, transportation, manufacture, legal impacts. Again these can be anticipated, for instance if one is going to quarantine a family, neighborhood, community, country, one needs to plan how people will live during the quarantine (food, water, funds, medical, repair and maintenance, clothing and shelter, weather conditions, mortuary services, medical support, secure from ingress and egress as well as attacks). This will help keep the quarantined in place, and possibly overtime become an attractive alternative if the area needs to be isolated and those who are infectious can be placed. ¶ Consideration needs to be made on what needs to be done to reintegrate back into the local, national, world community. These are logistic nightmares that can exceed the abilities of even the most developed, richest nations. To beat the horse again, one does not start planning at the start of a biodisaster’s acceleration but years before. Just the amount of data that is needed to be collected and kept current exceeds the current big data capabilities. If one also considers that all this data will need to be validated and updated as the situation evolves as disasters do have a tendency to make all prior information questionable. ¶ This may make planning data collection seem a futile task, but it is much easier and faster to validate, correct and update an existing database, than to create one from scratch, to include identifying sources of information and evaluating reliability for what topics. Even dated information is better than knowing nothing. That does not even touch that people need continual practice using systems of collecting, analyzing, sharing, accepting biodisaster information to extrapolate consequences, and make informed decisions on what are the best means to prevent, mitigate, leverage those consequences. As an example there were essentially no maps of routes, road quality, medical facilities, doctor locations, village locations, hydrology (important to know in areas with lots of rain) of West Africa at the start of Ebola, Crowdsource Mapping Aids Ebola Fight in West Africa.
-6. Outbreaks like Disney Measles are not counted because the start was imported in and the spread was due to those who do not vaccinate. Region of the Americas Is Declared Free of Measles. The Region of the Americas is the first in the world to have eliminated measles, a viral disease that can cause severe health problems, including pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and even death. This achievement culminates a 22 year effort involving mass vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella throughout the Americas. However it is likely that with current trends it will reemerge in the Americas as a disease of local origin. New Jersey Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease Outbreak Unprecedented. 3 More Schools Infected by ‘Unprecedented’ Hand Foot and Mouth Disease Outbreak, this one was not under health but football, apparently the fact it is cancelling football games is more of a concern than the health system implications. Diphtheria Reappears in Venezuela after Long Absence: Another Symptom of a Broken Health System. Measles Eliminated from the Americas: Here's Why There Will Still Be Cases. Measles Eliminated in North, South America may also be a used as a reason to not vaccinate 9.1↓. Measles Has Been Eradicated in the Americas – Why Should We Care. Americas Region Declared Free of Endemic Measles.
-6.1. The Latest, Not the Last. History is littered with examples of devastating infectious disease outbreaks – from the Black Plague to the Spanish Flu to HIV/AIDs to Ebola to Zika. Unlike centuries ago, however, we now have the capabilities required to detect, prevent and treat most diseases – making our own commitment to preparedness the difference between a deadly catastrophic outbreak and a smaller scale one.
-6.2. A Pox No More. It is one of my earliest childhood memories: I am three years old and standing by a bathtub, furiously scratching the itchy lesions just recently slimed with fluorescent pink calamine lotion in a vain attempt to alleviate the misery of chickenpox. Thanks to a wildly successful vaccine that has now vanquished what was once a ubiquitous viral infection, my memories of chickenpox are a woeful experience that few children today will ever experience. ¶ Chickenpox was never without its risk of serious complications, whether in children or adults. In fact, it was deaths from varicella in children that initiated research into a viable vaccine. Before the chickenpox vaccine, over 11,000 hospitalizations and a 100 to 150 deaths occurred annually. But since the introduction of the vaccine just two decades ago, chickenpox has been nearly extinguished in American society. It has been a resoundingly successful vaccine in this country, quashing a once ubiquitous pox. And yet Chickenpox Cases on the Rise, Health Officials Encourage Vaccines. Despite Doctor’s Order, School Bans Girl for Not Getting Chickenpox Vaccine. What to Do if You Get Invited to a Chickenpox Party, don’t go.
-7. A Look at How the Revolving Door Spins from FDA to Industry. About 27 percent of Food and Drug Administration reviewers who approved hematology/oncology drugs from 2001 through 2010 left to work for the industry they previously regulated, an analysis found. This issue is often discussed but hadn't been quantified, except as an implied collusion between BigPharma and BigGovernment. We already know what statistics are worth without context. 95% go from FDA to the private sector and are ethical means something very different than; 1% go from FDA to the private sectors and are unethical. We all know about these anecdotal cases of a person who was a major player at the FDA, and then they leave the FDA and go and work for industry (revolving door). No one knew whether this happened 5 percent or 60 percent of the time. ¶ Going to work for industry after leaving the FDA isn't inherently bad, but it does raise some questions.
-A. The questions are legitimate. The assumption that there was an incentive to approve drugs in hopes of getting a better job after leaving FDA, or that former FDA can go back to old buddies to ease a drugs approval or get an approval for a possibly dangerous drug is worth exactly the same as a rumor, and can do as much damage. One could also assume that business looks for the best from FDA that will insist on quality, know the system of approval and can avoid delays in the process by making sure everything needed is done, have contact to stay current with approval changes and new finding that indicate that something that was approved as safe may no longer be so. This however is a tested assumption through the GAO on a fairly regular basis, FDA Advisory Committees: Process for Recruiting Members and Evaluating Potential Conflicts of Interest. Former FDA Employee Pleads Guilty to Gathering "Political Intelligence" (Aug 8, 2006). HHS, Office of the Inspector General, Food and Drug Administration. FDA Inspections, Compliance, Enforcement, and Criminal Investigations\fs24plain . There is also a program for the Intergovernmental Exchange of Personnel and Post Employment Restrictions.
-B. Keep in mind that a deep and thorough investigation takes considerable time, and is an expensive process to get to the truth of the matter. However it still makes a good outrage story Monsanto, Big Pharma, and the FDA Used Key Players to Approve BGH, Revolving Doors: Monsanto and the Regulators, that requires very little effort to create with just innuendos. Rumor masquerading as news has already become parademic problems. Business may be prevented from hiring former FDA and like persons so they no longer will be able to get the best. People may no longer go to the FDA or like organizations as it could curtail any chance of getting better paid jobs and facilities to work with. FDA is already a slow process to approve new products, in part because of diversion to bioterror conflicting with public health, The Bioterrorism Act after 5 Years – Is it Working*. Do we want to slow it down more. Creating new drugs is an expensive, labor intensive process, frequently resulting in nothing, does taking away business incentives help the common good. Does constant investigation divert effort and resources from larger problems. ¶ Think if all the time, resources, money that have been spent on proving that vaccines don’t cause autism, had been put into the study of autism and the possibility of finding a treatment or means to mitigate. Dear “Autism Parents,” We Don’t Want to Be Cured, Do We Really Need a Cure for Autism.
-* Bioterror is now a topic of entertainment, but also apparently has entered to toy market. Biocrime Games Children Play. The object of the game is a bioterrorism scenario, taking a DNA fingerprint of a crime scene and then tetermine if it is smallpox. The new millenia chemistry kit gift for kids. ¶ Is having a kit that has a component that presumptively will test positive for smallpox presents an opportunity for a hoax waiting to happen. ¶ There are criminal statutes against bioterrorism hoaxes, which carry penalties of reimbursement to law enforcement responders as well as possible prison time.
-8. Surgeon General Warns: Drinking Every Time Trump Lies During Debate Could Result in Acute Alcohol Poisoning. After the series of “clown car debates” of 2012, an average of 70,000 additional alcohol poisoning related incidents occurred. Due to the frequently untrue nature of Trump’s comments, first responders are bracing for a potentially more disastrous incident tonight. According to Politico, Trump lied every three minutes and 15 seconds throughout a five day period from Sept. 15 – Sept 20. ¶ Medical professionals found themselves in a similar situation last year, before the GOP primary debates. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said, “We are anticipating record levels of alcohol poisoning… all across the country, as Americans engage in drinking games while they watch the debate. We can’t impress enough on people about the danger of mixing alcohol and watching the debates”. ¶ Please do your fact checking as responsibly as possible.
-A. Strongly suspect that this is a bit of political and social commentary humor posed as a Public Service Announcement: Fact checking indicated errors; Two of the sources are known to be slanted toward a particular bias; The quote cannot be located; The author of the article is known to write parody and satire; there are examples of politics previously using epidemics and disease as credible reasons for positions; Humor is a known coping mechanism for impending disasters. However, Poe’s Law may apply. If people do believe this there could be severe unintended economic and legal consequences, like those experienced in the Prohibition Era of the US. Alcohol Tax Revenue in the United States from 2000 to 2021* (In Billion U.S. Dollars), and the trend has been to make cuts in health and education Revised Federal Data Show U.S. Healthcare Spending Growth Hit 53 Year Low in 2013. https://www.porchdrinking.com/articles/2016/09/23/2016-presidential-debate-bingo/?src=92616_fb1rslt2016 Presidential Debate BINGO. The Presidential Debate Drinking Game with a Live Drink Totaling Scoreboard.
-9. The Global Context of Vaccine Refusal: Insights from a Systematic Comparative Ethnography of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Many of medical anthropology's most pressing research questions require an understanding how infections, money, and ideas move around the globe. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is a $9 billion project that has delivered 20 billion doses of oral polio vaccine in campaigns across the world. With its array of global activities, it cannot be comprehensively explored by the traditional anthropological method of research at one field site. This article describes an ethnographic study of the GPEI, a collaborative effort between researchers at eight sites in seven countries. We developed a methodology grounded in nuanced understandings of local context but structured to allow analysis of global trends. Here, we examine polio vaccine acceptance and refusal to understand how global phenomena—in this case, policy decisions by donors and global health organizations to support vaccination campaigns rather than building health systems—shape local behavior. Winning the Battle Against the Scourge of Poliomyelitis in the African Region. Disease is not just a medical problem, but a social one. It does only temporary good to treat a disease without treating the social roots.
9.1. What Is Herd Immunity, and How Does it Relate to Pediatric Vaccination Uptake? US Parent Perspectives. In light of current concern over pediatric immunization rates, 53 US parents with at least one child kindergarten age or younger were surveyed and interviewed regarding vaccine decision making. Data were collected in 2014 in San Diego, California. Herd immunity was not a salient issue: only six (11.3%) referenced the term or concept spontaneously; others had to be prompted. Parents familiar with herd immunity (70%) variously saw it as not just unnecessary but unproven, illogical, unrealistic, and unreliable. For instance, parents questioned its attainability because many adults do not immunize themselves. Some understood the concept negatively, as an instance of “herd mentality.” Further, having knowledge of herd immunity that public health experts would deem ‘correct’ did not lead to full vaccination. Implications of findings for understanding how the public makes use of scientific information, the potential role of public health messaging regarding altruism and ‘free riding,’ and assumptions that vaccine cautious parents would willfully take advantage of herd immunity are explored in relation to parent role expectations and American individualism. More Parents Believe Vaccines Are Unnecessary, Most Pediatricians Say Parents Have Refused Vaccines for Their Kids, More Parents Believe Vaccines Are Unnecessary, When Parents Refuse to Vaccinate Their Kids, It's Sometimes OK to Dismiss Them as Patients, More Parents Are Refusing to Vaccinate Their Kids—But Not for the Reason You Think, A Growing Number of Parents Think Vaccines Are 'Unnecessary', More Parents Are Refusing Vaccinations, but Their Reasons Are Changing, Parents Cite Lack of Need as Reason for Not Getting Kids Flu Shots. Possibly the years of trying to convince that vaccination does not cause autism are bearing fruit. Anti-vax have adapted to find a new reason not to vaccinate 6↑, but have not accepted a new paradigm for a new behavior. That will take more effort, which if one thinks about it is not worth making, as the problem will self correct overtime with the extinction of those who behave as if anti-vax ideas are true. Except anti-vax behavior puts people at risk who are not part of anti-vax, or become swayed by anti-vax Morton's Theorem, Monty Hall Problem, How Stupidity Influences the Searchable Web Ecosystem the main source of anti-vax 140209-12 et al↓. How Risk Affects the Way People Think about Their Health.
-Quote2: ‘A slow sort of country’, said the Queen. ‘Now, HERE, you see, it takes all the running YOU can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that”. – Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass. Business Lessons from Alice in Wonderland, Red Queen's Race, 2 Red Queen's Race, Red Queen Hypothesis, The Red Queen Principle, [Meme, Meme]
-9.1.A. ¶ This is a perpetual trap or vicious cycle as it insures constant attention and reinforcement of ideation, one that give benefits to those who perpetuate it, and is a diversion from more productive effort by those whose effort could be more beneficial elsewhere. AAP Comes Out Against Non Medical Vaccine Exemptions, Age of Autism. Flu Vaccination Rates Decline Among Older Adults. Survival of the Stupidest. Anti-vax and the Prisoner's Dilemma. Different Games to Model the "Anti-vax Movement", Group Interest Versus Self Interest in Smallpox Vaccination Policy, Vaccinating Your Children and the Prisoner’s Dilemma. Obfuscatory Vaccination Math. Vaccination Strategies of Population Groups with Distinct Perceived Probabilities of Infection. The Myth Of Coincidences And Why We Search For Their Meaning. Magic, or Math. The Appeal of Coincidences, and The Reality.
-Quote – Spock: “There is a certain scientific logic about it”. Anan: “I'm glad you approve”. Spock: “I do not approve. I understand”. – A Taste of Armageddon
-9.1.B. Could not find any study on this but the idea that anti-vax parents tend to become pro vaccine after there kids get sick does not seem to be valid. There are very few articles about parents who switch after a vaccine preventable illness, Anti-Vaxxer Mom Changes Mind After Her Three Kids Fall Ill, it is more likely that Parents Who Oppose Measles Vaccine Hold Firm to Their Beliefs. The tendency is from the former anti-vaxxer who leaves an anti-vax group to be harassed by that group, or for anti-vax groups to attack those who post anti anti-vax. Mum Attacked by Anti-Vaxxers after Posting a Video of Her Baby with Whooping Cough, Sick Anti- Vax Trolls Attack Grieving Mum, Former Anti- Vaxxer Felt ‘Really Guilty’ after Her Family Contracted a Deadly Disease, Anti-Vaxxer's Change of Heart Reveals Selfish Side of Parenting.
-Quote. “A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die”. – Max Planck
-10. The Politics of Health Mobilization in the United States: the Promise and Pitfalls of “Disease Constituencies”. A critical review of recent literature on U.S. social movements concerned with matters of health and illness prompts reconsideration of the prevailing conception of such movements as necessarily isolated and particularistic. With a focus on disease constituency based mobilization, activism may tend in two directions: a specific response to an imminent disease threat, and a bridging of collective action frames and identities that can lead to connections across differences and broader mobilization. Case studies have demonstrated how patient activism has affected the management of illness, attitudes and practices of health professionals, research practices, processes of innovation, state policies, and corporate behavior. Through close analysis of patient group mobilization and its distinctive orientation toward knowledge and expertise, patient groups in practice may connect with or influence one another or a range of other forms of mobilization in relation to health, the “linkage mechanisms” of spillover, coalition, and frame amplification. Rather than a stark opposition between particularistic, single issue health politics, and universalistic efforts to transform the meaning and practice of health and health care in the United States, attend to the potentially Janus faced character of many health movement organizations and the ways in which they may look either inward or outward. This is popularly known as splitters and lumpers (2), those who take phenomena and complicate it, and those who try to simplify. In reality these are two concurrent processes, not separate ones. One cannot continue to exist without the other, and without the other existence itself is unlikely. Are You a Lumper or a Splitter, Both.
-10. This has application beyond alcohol. Why Most People Don’t Pay Much Attention to the Fact that Alcohol Is a Carcinogen.
Group 1: Some drinkers are actively trying to quit or cut back, and are therefore diligently searching for new evidence that alcohol is harmful.
Group 2: Some drinkers are contented with their own drinking. They’re neither searching for information that alcohol is harmful nor avoiding that information.
Group 3: Some drinkers are defensive about their own drinking – either vis à vis disapproving friends and relatives or vis à vis their own self disapproval.
For most people, alcohol and even alcoholism arouse less outrage than the hazard justifies. The reasons are rooted in the components of outrage:
- Unfamiliar risks arouse a lot more outrage than familiar risks – and alcohol is very familiar.
- Risks imposed by others arouse a lot more outrage than voluntary risks – and drinking is a voluntary behavior.
- Risks controlled by others arouse a lot more outrage than risks we control ourselves – and drinkers are in charge of their own consumption.
- Catastrophic risks arouse a lot more outrage than chronic risks – and both drinking and overdrinking are everyday behaviors.
- Risks that science doesn’t understand well arouse a lot more outrage than well understood risks – and the risk of alcohol is well understood (even if the cancer link isn't).
-11. Oct 2, 1984, Hollywood icon Rock Hudson dies of AIDS, at 59, becoming the first major U.S. celebrity to die of complications from AIDS. Hudson’s death raised public awareness of the epidemic, which until that time had been ignored by many in the mainstream as a “gay plague”. This is cited as the turning point where a particular form of denialism, that only certain (and immoral) people got HIV. This breaking of the stereotype that culminated with A Whisper of Aids: Address to the Republican National Convention (1992), though like all social change is not universal, and may never be complete.
-12. Mass Casualty Decontamination Guidance and Psychosocial Aspects of CBRN Incident Management: A Review and Synthesis. It is clear that there are five psychosocial aspects of incidents involving mass decontamination are crucial to the success of the decontamination process.
- Understanding of likely public behaviour during decontamination. A reliance on common myths about disasters, such as public disorder and mass panic, can impact on the way in which responders manage (•↓) an incident involving decontamination.
- Responder management style. Yelling, being authoritarian, expecting total and immediate compliance to rules and direction, taking charge and being the only one in control, refusing to answer questions, treating victims as clueless victims, being the expect, claiming you know what you are doing, immediately arresting trouble makers, and other like behaviors are not always a key to success.
- Communication strategy, An effective communication strategy can improve both physical and psychological outcomes during mass decontamination,
- Respect for public concerns about privacy and modesty. These increase public compliance, and facilitate the smooth running of decontamination.
- Understanding of the needs of vulnerable groups, who may require increased assistance in order to undergo decontamination. Vulnerable groups is an official euphemism for handicapped, deaf, elderly, mentally ill. This term is often times not appreciated by people who may have these conditions. This term is not intended to be derogatory, but as a means to identify who may be more vulnerable to an agent or require more assistance. However parademic is not about fact or intent, but interpretation.
-13. These are not the Ig Nobles but 5 Decisions That Made the Nobel Prizes Look Bad. The first prize mentioned was also awarded actually saved many live and there were some other ironies related to the inventor, but the discovery lead to Zyclon B. 150301-37↓.
↓↑C4. Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) Corner [Logo] Learning to Listen. Experienced emergency communicators bring a wealth of knowledge to each new crisis. However, every situation and population has specific needs. Responders who learn to listen to affected communities are able to more effectively communicate. ¶ Active listening facilitates understanding of a community’s needs and various viewpoints. Questions demonstrate interest and prompt useful feedback. ¶ News and social media chatter provides insight into what people understand and how they are reacting to an emergency. ¶ Communicators who have community input are better equipped to develop effective public health messages.
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