You’ve eliminated measles in Australia.
High take-up rates of the infant measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine has led to the elimination of the endemic measles virus in Australia, immunisation experts say.
Researchers from the University of Sydney, writing in the Bulletin of the World Health Organisation, claim that in 2005 and 2007, Australia satisfied the main criteria of having a low level of measles infection, with less than one case per million people.
Cool. Now if only certain people would stop making up nonsense about vaccinations…
Unfortunately, there are occasional setbacks.
A total of 125 cases were reported in 2006 – equivalent to six cases per million – but more than half of these were attributed to a outbreak linked to the tour of a foreign spiritual group.
A “spiritual group”? It was a Hindu spiritualist who traveled around, dispensing hugs…and a deadly disease. Keep that in mind next time some mystic claims to be completely harmless.
It’s almost as if science works.
Yes, her compassion and love is infectious.
“When her village ashram was just starting out, a local leper came in for a hug. Amma embraced him and, in her mad compassion, licked his sores and sucked the pus out of his wounds, which she then covered with sacred ash. “That changed my whole life,” the swami says. “Poor or sick, it doesn’t matter, she embraces them. Shingles, chicken pox, infectious diseases — she does not get them. Only love is exchanged.”
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/07/19/amma/
as Australians are really uptight about importing anything, they should start being equally uptight about importing eliminated diseases and ban anyone who hasn’t been vaccinated from traveling there. no need to let idiots fuck this up
on the other hand though… will it be possible to maintain that level of herd immunity when everybody feels safe..? the disappearance of polio etc in the West has already led to people not taking vaccines very seriously, after all
Measles is one of our best candidates for a disease that we can extirpate, because it is passed only between humans with no intermediate host.
Australia can stay measles-free by requiring travellers to produce proof of immunization against measles. Heck, if Britain can demand that dogs and cats must be quarantined (or vaccinated?), surely Australia can protect its people that way.
Divine Hugs of Measles. When did Yahweh join La Cosa Nostra?
Marcia, please, I’ve just had lunch! Eeewww!!
Yay, go us!
Yep, once again our nation does something more to help overcome the shame of having produced Ken Ham.
From the linked article:
:A federal Health Department spokeswoman said all of the 42 infected people were either linked to Amma’s public meetings or flights on which her followers travelled.
“It’s people who attended the spiritual sessions throughout Australia (that) seem to be the ones who got this,” the spokeswoman said.
“Who started it is a moot point. It could have been one infected person who went to one of the meetings.
“There’s no indication that Amma or any of her people brought it in from overseas.
“And Amma herself absolutely didn’t have measles.”
WTF? Theres no indication that Amma or any of her people brought it in from overseas? – what other possible conclusion could you draw, sounds like the spokeswoman is bending over backwards here, presumably in an attempt not to offend.
#4 As an aside what sort of other diseases are there for diseases with only human hosts/vectors? Anything else that could eliminated by vaccines?
#4 As an aside what sort of other NUMBERS are there for diseases with only human hosts/vectors? Anything else that could eliminated by vaccines?
Uh i need to learn to proofread…
Except it has NOT been eliminated.
It will require consant vigilance to keep Australia free of measles.
But once the danger pof measles has been forgotten, in maybe 20 years, a bunch of idiots will start questioing the need for vaccination.
I do not find it funny, nor do I find it a triumph until people recognize the value of science in their everyday lives.
This is good news, but let’s not forget the power of antivax stupidity. We thought polio was all but eradicated recently …
We are not free from idiots yet. Last year some parents did a runner from a Sydney hospital with their new born daughter because they were advised to vaccinate the child for hep. the mother being a carrier. They still havn’t done it as far as I know. Poor kid has a high chance of serious problems. .
Those idiots already exist in Australian society. And they happen to be the kinds of idiots who would come into contact with a disease-carrying holy man from India. We aren’t immune to the MMR vaccine scare down here, we’re just geographically isolated enough that it’s rare for the disease to get in.
“…a Hindu spiritualist who traveled around, dispensing hugs…and a deadly disease”
you imply it was somehow a fault of that person. When there is no indication of it in that report…
…and you call yourself a scientist?!
Lucky Aussies, they live on an island. Time for ramparts and boiling oil…
There’s a wackaloon movement against vaccinating pets going on, too. It doesn’t seem to be supported by much science, although I read a couple of abstracts about sarcomae at injetion sites in cats over at PubMed the other day.
Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!
Sorry, couldn’t resiste the shameless nationalism.
Having said that, there is growing acceptive “alternative medicine” which will no doubt open the doors for the anti-vaccination nuts. I fear the good work will be undone.
*Sigh*
let’s review the available evidence:
–>a country virtually free of a disease sees outbreak of said disease
–>all outbreaks can be connected to a group of foreign visitors; it’s the only known connection
–>said visitors are known for close, unprotected contact with diseased people
what other conclusions can you draw from that!?
It is of course, fully credible that some other uninoculated person that came into contact with the amma group that was infected.
However, if the amma people were not inoculated then they are still to blame for the outbreak.
This is a big if, since I am writing in ignorance of the amma cult.
According to the article, the social vector was the cult. The suspician stands.
No measels, great. But what about the epidemic of autism, Mr. Smart Scientist, lackey of Big Pharma? What are you gonna do about that, huh?
Measels, sounds like some kind of mustelid.
What scientists always do: research. But you knew that already, satirical one.
Three cheers for non-idiocy, if only that was as contagious.
I’d be very interested to see if Amma is inoculated. From what I understand, she travels with a fairly large entourage- it could have been any of them.
As someone who travels and comes in to direct physical contact with that many people, it would be unethical of her NOT to be inoculated (and rather stupid, of course.) Since she’s supposedly a humanitarian, I also wonder what her stances on vaccinations are. Unless she speaks against them, I’d blame the outbreak on the parents of the children, not on Amma or her associated group.
“It was a Hindu spiritualist who traveled around, dispensing hugs…and a deadly disease.”
Ref?
Has it been proven that she was the source of the infection?
I can’t find a report backing this claim.
This is a great success against the forces of superstition, but there are plenty of loonys here in OZ.
Anglican archbishop for Sydney, Peter Jensen, is giving a talk wed the 25th titled “Does God Exist? Does it matter?”, and the Sydney Atheists are thinking of going along to ask a few pointed questions.
For previous Sydney Atheists encounters with the Anglicans, take a look at http://www.sydneyatheists.org/node/531 or http://www.davethehappysinger.com/blog/2009/01/13/archdeacon-narelle-jarrett-im-enjoying-my-life/
Check out our website for more details http://www.sydneyatheists.org, or see our bumper events calendar at http://www.sydneyatheists.org/calendar
This should be criterion (singular), not criteria (plural).
From the 2006 report:
So that’s where a lot of the fault lies. The connection isn’t just Amma per se, it’s followers of woo who don’t get their children vaccinated.
That’s what it ultimately comes down to. I remember listening to ignobel prize winner Dr Karl talk about the vaccine risk. He stressed that the risk of not getting the vaccine far outweighs the risk from taking it, and cited a case from when he was a doctor as an example. Basically a boy whose parents didn’t give him the polio vaccine contracted polio. Now in Australia this wouldn’t normally happen even without the inoculation, but the boys parents took him to India when he was a kid.
The parents ultimately have responsibility with this, though I’m going to go out on a limb and say there’s a link between those who don’t vaccinate and those who listen to new-age nonsense.
Chalk up another loss for biodiversity.
One of the nice things about Australia is that the government’s put a lot of sensible incentives in place for immunisation.
Strictly speaking, you need to be immunised to attend any public school (primary & high). In practice, this one can be waived either through medical reasons – e.g. bad reaction – or religious grounds.
However – if you want to attend a government subsidised child care (which is all of them), you need immunisation. Only the medical waiver is allowed for this one. This is a big incentive.
I also believe (but I’m not sure) that the “baby bonus” our government hands out is linked to immunisation; as this is several thousand dollars over the first five years, it’s a big incentive.
We also do a solid education program about immunisation. Seems to help.
Wowbagger@#8:
You exported that idiot to America. You must be doing something right.
She’s relatively harmless. She just goes around hugging people. The real crazies are these guys.
Well, to be fair, ANYONE from a different place who was travelling to Australia could inadvertantly have done the same thing.
(Also, while less than one case per million is cool, I’m not really sure I’d call that “eliminated”, myself. I mean… it obviously is not actually, is it?
@24
It is highly unlikely that Amma is against vaccinations. Her group owns a large hospital which has a good reputation. Besides, the anti-vaccine nonsense is relatively unheard of in this part of India.
Fancy that, just today my twelve year old daughter who entered secondary school this year,copped Chicken pox,papillomavirus and a Hep. B vaccines. I think it’s organised by the local council and the State Health mob.All done at school, dam socialist Medi Care system. With another round or two of them to come.Do I win a lolly pop?I think her arms are about five feet long tonight.
I seem to remember when she was a babe and having her scheduled shots, there were a number of families around here who refused to have their kids immunised, the usual followers of woo. A couple of them may well have been told at various social functions,not suprisingly I haven’t been invited back.
Hmmm – did #21 omit the /sarcasm tag???
#10 Polio
I think that the only compulsory immunisation requirement for Australia is yellow fever (Jadehawk comment #3); passengers coming from affected areas of Africa or South America within the previous 6 days are allowed into Australia only if they promise to really, really report if they fall sick in the quarantine period.
@Mick:
Most vaccines (if not all) are not 100% effective. To date smallpox has been eradicated thanks to a well-run campaign that spanned decades. If the vaccine is good enough, the portion of the population which can still get the disease is small and scattered and you don’t fill up the hospitals with people suffering from a single disease; in the case of smallpox the virus just didn’t have anywhere to live (well, it does live in some cultures in certain labs). It’s a HUGE effort though and there has to be cooperation from many nations. Maybe there can be a renewed polio/measles campaign. At the moment the WHO seems most concerned about tuberculosis. Personally I don’t see much happening in that area since that will never come under control on a global scale until education and hygiene can be improved significantly in many 3rd world nations.
#10 The Guinea worm disease, which is well on its way to be eradicated in Africa.
Tis a pity we can’t vaccinate against stupidity,the problem would be that the likes of Ken Ham would need a ten thousand gallon shot.Yeah I know, I shouldn’t keep hanging it on him, but I just hate liars.Spose I’m just an intolerant biggot.
Heh, heh, heh… I really can’t help myself from laughing at this. That hugging Amma actually visited my town almost a year ago.
Sunny#42
And gave you the shits?
Habebe is right about Guinea worm disease (Dracunculiasis). Last year there were only 5000 registered cases, scattered between Nigeria and Ethiopia. However, there is no vaccine in this case. The eradication depends exclusively in preventative measure against drinking water polluted with Dracunculis-carrying fleas.
wobert: ‘the problem would be that the likes of Ken Ham would need a ten thousand gallon shot’.
Not if we used a homeopathic vaccination!
Hugs, not Drugs!
(In troubling times, it is best to turn to simplistic slogans.)
Hooray for Australia!
More anecdotal remarks about immunisation in Australia: at the University of Western Australia, which I attend, there is an immunisation drive around campus periodically. For a few days there are stalls dotted all over the campus, each with a nurse or two armed with syringes full of MMR and a large box of lollipops and other sweets.
Students aren’t renowned for taking the most long-range approach to maintaining their health, but we’ll take a free shot in the arm if we get Chupa-Chups.
The measles cases I see here in Melbourne are mostly unvaccinated people or immigrants from 3rd world countries,mostly young adults,who are most prone to develop some of the nastier complications like encephalitis or pneumonia.
So we have to stay vigilant,and keep then number of vaccinated people above 90-95% of the population.
A 2007 overview here :
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/187_03_060807/dur10061_fm.html
Also, @ Newfie, #5:
“Divine Hugs of Measles. When did Yahweh join La Cosa Nostra?”
When did Yahweh have anything to do with Hinduism?
“Students aren’t renowned for taking the most long-range approach to maintaining their health, but we’ll take a free shot in the arm if we get Chupa-Chups.”
I thought you can’t get Chupa-Chups if you had it as a child?
Just to add to what Robert @31 said.
My mother was actually the programmer manager that put in place the whole Medicare immunisation program – putting in place the database of innoculations to track which children are immunised and which aren’t.
Parents can indeed refuse to have their children immunised, but to do so they need to go to the trouble of getting a Statutory Declaration stating that they choose not to immunise their child for whatever reason. It turns out that most people can’t be bothered with the hassle, so they just get their kids immunised. Innoculation rates are very high.
Thanks Mum!
Yeah, no more measles, but they are simply crawling with people with autism now!
“There’s a wackaloon movement against vaccinating pets going on, too. It doesn’t seem to be supported by much science, although I read a couple of abstracts about sarcomae at injetion sites in cats over at PubMed the other day.”
From what I know, vaccine-site sarcomas in cats are a very real phenomenon, but sensible people don’t suggest not vaccinating cats at all because of it; they suggest things like making sure veterinarians use different sites each time a cat has to be vaccinated, and having veterinarians look very hard at which vaccines are really medically necessary, both in general and for individual cats given their living situation.
#10, Smallpox. Eliminated or nearly so — accounts differ on whether it’s hanging out in isolated villages or being under-reported.
#41, Guinea worm disease doesn’t count. It’s a parasite and it lives in water so it is not transmitted from person to person. Its control will always mean trying to keep the parasite out of the water supply.
I suspect that Mumps and Rubella (German Measles) are candidates for elimination.
#37, yes Eamon was being sarcastic. He blogs at Thinking for Free.
Hmm. Sounds like this Amma is what has been often called a “carrier”. I.e., someone whose immune system manages to suppress diseases sufficiently to prevent them from getting sick, but not enough to infect every other person they come in contact with who isn’t. That’s the problem with such people. They don’t “get” sick from it, and some morons are likely to take that as a sign of “divine” power, or some BS, not as the blatantly obvious warning sign that she could spread things without showing signs of the infection herself. The only way to determine “if” someone is the source, in such cases, is to test them for the presence of the contagion. Babbling, “Oh, well, she doesn’t show any apparent signs of it!”, doesn’t cut it at all. So, its.. like quadruple stupidity, not the usual normal, double or even triple.
Now all Australia needs is a vaccine for Vegemite and another life-threatening scourge can be eliminated.
> Yeah, no more measles, but they are simply crawling
> with people with autism now!
That is utter bull crap. How many large scale studies involving tens of thousands of subjects does it take before the wing nuts will finally get the idea that there is no connection between childhood immunization and autism. The data supporting such a connection isn’t there, or if it is then its been shown to be bad science concocted to support litigation:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/13/AR2009021300278.html
to quote one of the special masters in the trial:
The evidence “is weak, contradictory and unpersuasive,” concluded Special Master Denise Vowell. “Sadly, the petitioners in this litigation have been the victims of bad science conducted to support litigation rather than to advance medical and scientific understanding” of autism.
Whilst this is certainly good news for Australia, we still have plenty of nut jobs in this country spreading mis-information about the safety of vaccines. The Australian Vaccination network, headed by one Meryl Dory are amongst the worse. They regularly appear on morning television, (e.g., Kerry Anne Kennelly) to spout their MMR/autism spiel.
The other offenders are the chiropractors and homeopaths, whom I have encountered at MB$ and Babies and Children’s expos, telling parents that vaccines are unnecessary or even worse, you can vaccinate with homeopathy.
Monado #55 said
Humans are the only host for the female worm. Guinea worms cannot continue their life cycle without human hosts. They get into the water when infected humans with an open blister submerge the portion of the body with the emergent worm in the water. This is the only way the worm gets into the water and it cannot mature outside a human host.
If the life cycle can be broken the disease can be eradicated because the parasite will not be able to survive. It’ll require the extinction of the guinea worm, but I’m willing to live with that. Anyway, the point is that eradication is actually possible if human infection can be prevented.
Hi PZ,
Think you are not completely on the right here. I have detailed the reasons in my blog.
But to paraphrase, I think you should have considered the fact that she is doing a lot lot more good to the world.
On Larry King yesterday, Bill Maher reaffirmed his vaccination denialism. I’d thought he had learned better. He claimed that since diseases mutate, they’d almost always have developed resistance to the applied vaccination already anyway, so why take a risk.
I don’t get his thinking, I mean what is it? ‘If nobody vaccinates, diseases wont mutate and therefore not kill anyone’?
Can anyone explain to him why he’s wrong and send him the information please?
Or have I got it wrong and he’s right? I mean I’m open to new information…
I was involved in controlling the Amma measles outbreak in Sydney, and it was amazing to see how happily the non-vaccinating parents would accept immunoglobluin injections for themselves so they wouldn’t catch measles from their children, who were often quite unwell in hospital. But despite seeing how severe measles can be, they would still maintain antipathy towards MMR vaccine. It was tempting to call in DOCS (social services)…
regarding my comments @62
Another way of telling why I think you are not fair
— Knowingly benefits millions of persons – Does not register
— (Probably) Unknowingly gives measles to 42 persons – She is bad.
There was a news item tonight about a new measles outbreak in south-east Queensland.