Tag Archives: Autism

The Return of Measles

Why Parents Fear Vaccines | Tara Haelle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggtkzkoI3eM (Accessed Mar 20, 2019)

Can vaccines cause autism? A question posed by many uneducated masses, the fear of an article read online far outweighing the scientific backings of hundreds of research studies1. For the majority of people, the answer is simple, vaccines are completely safe, but it only takes a small group of people to make a huge negative impact on the rest of society. By being entrenched in the mindset that vaccines are harmful, it creates a backdoor for the re-introduction of various harmful and deadly diseases, like measles2.

                              Infographic of measles cases in the United States                                Blount, E. Misinformation on Vaccines Causes Measles Outbreak. https://gmhslancerledger.com/5508/news/misinformation-on-vaccines-causes-measles-outbreak/ (accessed Mar 21, 2019).

Measles is a highly contagious and highly preventable disease. Symptoms can lead to high fevers and body-wide rashes. Complications with the diseases can arise including pneumonia. They are also responsible for infecting 20 million people each year and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands3. The disease is airborne so passing it on person to person is quite easy. Once a person is infected there is no specific treatment, only supportive care. Measles is most common in developing parts of the world such as developing parts of Asia, but with the return of “anti-vaxxers” it is making its comeback to many developed parts of North America. As shown in the provided figure, the number of measles deaths was expected to rise after continually falling.

A figure of estimated worldwide deaths of measles and projected worst-case scenarios
Global Measles Mortality, 2000–2008. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5847a2.htm (accessed Mar 21, 2019).

Herd immunity is a form of indirect protection in which a large portion of a population is immune to disease through previous exposure or vaccines, thereby providing a measure of protection for those that are not immune4. It works by having a large portion be immune, therefore containing a breakout from spreading person-to-person. This is one of the best forms of protection for those that can not be immune due to medical reasons. This system falls apart though if more and more people decide against vaccinations. The fewer people that are immune, means the more opportunity for the outbreak of diseases to spread and infect those who are not immune5.

                                                 An infographic of herd immunity                                      Herd immunity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity (accessed Mar 22, 2019).

Imagine a world where polio is still a prevalent disease affecting millions or a world where smallpox is still around and active. The eradication of these diseases was only possible due to the worldwide vaccine movement and subsequent herd immunity that followed6. Most adults are set in their stubborn ways, as such explaining to them the importance of vaccines usually falls on deaf ears. The best solution to prevent further outbreaks and help create a world eradicated of preventable diseases is to start young and teach kids the importance for future generations.

1Dixon, G. N.; Clarke, C. E. Science Communication 201235 (3), 358–382.

2Chang, L. V. Health Economics 201827 (7), 1043–1062.

3Moss, W. J. The Lancet 2017390 (10111), 2490–2502.

4Fine, P.; Eames, K.; Heymann, D. L. Clinical Infectious Diseases 201152 (7), 911–916.
5Betsch, C.; Böhm, R.; Korn, L. Health Psychology 201332 (9), 978–985.

6Phadke, V. K.; Bednarczyk, R. A.; Salmon, D. A.; Omer, S. B. Jama 2016315 (11), 1149.

~ Danial Yazdan

The Age of Misinformation

Misinformation is false information that is spread, regardless of whether there is intent to mislead or not.

With the internet quickly gaining popularity near the turn of the century, information sharing had become easier than ever before. News traveled quickly as news-agencies could publish online and social media could spread it. Anybody could share their thoughts on websites. The Information Age was here.

Social Media Platforms that Americans use for news; adapted from American Press Institute.

Compared to the past, the internet offered a much faster medium for information. This was beneficial because plenty of info became easily accessible to the public. However, both experts and people who claimed to be the former could share their knowledge.

With the speeds at which information could now move, misinformation could also spread quickly. Take the Boston Marathon bombing incident as an example. On social media websites (like 4Chan, Reddit, and Twitter) there were internet sleuths hard at work identifying the Boston Bombers. Even credible news-agencies were racing to report the information without proper verification. This caused more harm than good; false information was given credibility. One family had to remove a Facebook page that they had put up to find their missing son.

Social Media Platforms. Source: kisspng

 

On the internet, everyone has a voice. It is simple for anybody to find a community that shares a point of view that they agree with. Sometimes, this idea may not be correct. One only needs to look at vaccines to encounter this scenario. In the past few decades, some people have begun to reject vaccinations and declare vaccines to be the cause of autism spectrum disorder. While it is true that the rate of diagnosis has increased in this time period, this is likely due to advancements in autism research.

Autism prevalency overtime (diagnosis was 8 years after year of birth); adapted from CDC.

Unfortunately, the idea of this link quickly gained traction after Andrew Wakefield published his research about the relationship between the usage of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. Eventually, he had his paper retracted and he was barred from practicing medicine in his country.

Vaccine Clipart. Source: Clipart Panda.

Even after many studies and investigations found no link between autism and the MMR vaccine, there were still people who believed in vaccines being the cause. Even after proof of his conflict of interest- his patent, there were still people who believed him. And at present, people who oppose vaccines can find like-minded individuals to share and cement their beliefs. Once an idea has been accepted by an individual, it becomes highly resistant to correction.

Example of misinformation and the inability to correct; Source: Chris Meserole (Law Fare Blog).

Further complicating the situation, everybody also tends to prefer to read content that relates to their narrative while ignoring other ones. Whether it be a news article, a comment, or even a blog post like this one, one must remain diligent about the content they are reading.