Had the original- but don’t have a scar.
Worry intensifies.
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Uh, isn’t the O in OPV for oral? Maybe the scar is internal?
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Right - that was smallpox for the scar?
I’m advised not to take live vaccines due to meds I’m taking.
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That theoretically has a scar, which I also seem to lack. But hey I think I just found my other chicken pox scar, so it may still turn up.
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I didn’t have it as a kid either. Wonder if it didn’t take. My sibs got the scar.
I think I caught chicken pox. The vaccine wasn’t out when I was a kid, I think.
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My understanding (from the BBC last night in the UK) is that the traces found in sewage/waste-water are likely to have come from people vaccinated with OPV in their home country (it seems quite a few still do it) and who may subsequently have recently moved (to UK). Shedding live vaccine is a known risk, apparently?
Of course, that does not alter the risk that these traces might infect a non-vaccinated (or sub-optimally vaccinated) person coming into contact.
Yeah - me too. Not that there are any I’m likely to be offered or asked to get, seeing as I have no intention of travelling anywhere there are diseases that require a live vaccine.
People catching disease from vaccinated people, due to the vaccine itself?
I’ve heard that one before.
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The critical difference with the fuckwits who promulgate it (e.g. over Covid vaccines) is that those are inactivated vaccines. They are not live vaccines.
I’ll await someone more scientifically savvy to comment on the risks of live vaccine shedding and being taken up by someone unprotected, but that was the conclusion I came to after watching the news here last night. It was reported several north London boroughs have found traces in sewage/waste-water.
Here’s the UK govt press release
and a key extract
Investigations are underway after several closely-related viruses were found in sewage samples taken between February and May. The virus has continued to evolve and is now classified as a ‘vaccine-derived’ poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2), which on rare occasions can cause serious illness, such as paralysis, in people who are not fully vaccinated.
The detection of a VDPV2 suggests it is likely there has been some spread between closely-linked individuals in North and East London and that they are now shedding the type 2 poliovirus strain in their faeces. The virus has only been detected in sewage samples and no associated cases of paralysis have been reported – but investigations will aim to establish if any community transmission is occurring.
And a BBC website story
Parts of the world still dealing with polio outbreaks use the oral polio vaccine - which is safe, but uses a live virus. This gives a huge amount of immunity, but has the potential to spread from person to person in areas where not a lot of people are protected.
This becomes a problem if it continues to spread, as the safe form of the virus used in the vaccine can mutate and evolve until it can once again lead to paralysis.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says most of the samples detected are the safe vaccine form of polio, but “a few” have mutated enough to be dangerous.
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True, but this case is a bit different. The OPV actually is a live virus that multiplies (weakly) in the GI tract and stimulates a truly impressive immune response. The resulting immunity is much better than the IPV we currently use, but has the drawback of a 1-2/million chance of developing an actual paralytic polio case from the vaccine strain (life, ummm, finds a way) as well as shedding the virus for a couple weeks in stool. In areas where the natural infection had been eliminated, the risk of vaccination actually became greater than the risk of not vaccinating, so a change was made. In areas where the virus was still active, the OPV provides much better immunity, as well as being more easily administered, as it is an oral vaccine. So you can see where this went…
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I stand corrected.
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Yep, London too.
Antivaxxers?
ETA: On further reading of this thread, I’ll take this back.
I jumped to a conclusion too soon.
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And so it goes…
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In other epidemics,
At least 2,056 cases have been reported and virtually all of the deaths have been children who were not vaccinated, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said.
Usual mortality rate is about 0.1%, but the poverty, lack of access to health care (not sure how the religious beliefs would play into actually accessing whatever healthcare is there) and underlying nutritional issues play a role. Nonetheless, I suspect that the actual case count is several times higher than cited.
but the drive has been hampered by religious groups that preach against vaccines. The Christian sects are against modern medicine and tell their members to rely on self-proclaimed prophets for healing.
Ah, now that part makes sense.
And one more, that could go in Fuck Today or Gallery of Just Plain Asssholes, but:
On Friday, the anti-vaccine organization Children’s Health Defense published an article calling the dip in vaccination a “COVID Silver Lining.” The site, run by prominent anti-vaccine activist and prolific peddler of dangerous misinformation Robert F. Kennedy, had falsely claimed previously that a vaccination dip in 2020 led to a dramatic reduction in deaths from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. CDC data, however, indicates that the rate of SIDS actually increased slightly in 2020 compared with 2019, but has stayed relatively stable for several years.
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What the actual fuck is wrong with these people?
Rhetorical question
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On the upside, as much as I hate this, I just had an antivax parent come in and request their kids get the polio vaccine “after seeing the news out of New York.” The implication is that I guess we have to have outbreaks of horrible, vaccine preventable diseases to get through to folks. And they have to have horrible outcomes. There was no uptick after the various measles outbreaks since nobody died. Sigh.
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And here we go, and with school starting up, it is bound to get worse.
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And I thought I had a bad day…
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The fun just keeps rolling
GET YOUR FUCKING VACCINES, PEOPLE!!!
And if you needed another reason to avoid fast “food:”
The case count now stands at 84 and spans four states: Indiana (6), Michigan (53), Ohio (23), and Pennsylvania (2). That’s up from last week’s case tally of 37 from the same four states.
I would love to spend less time in my day keeping up with all the infectious disease outbreaks that keep cropping (or crapping) up!
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