Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Quiz March 17


Eula Biss, On Immunity: An Innoculation 3-54

1. The stories of Achilles and the dragon imply what about immunity?

2. Our vaccines are now sterile, so anti-vaccine activists' greatest fear is not of bacterial but ____ contamination.

3. Who said love is known "by its fruits"?

4. What's the most common way that infants contract hep B?

5. Who or what were microbiologist Graham Rook's "old friends"?

6. What is variolation?

BONUS:
"A valuable asset placed in the care of someone to whom it does not ultimately belong" is Biss's definition of what? OR, it captures her understanding of what?

What is Dracula about, besides vampires?

Contributions to the "banking of immunity" give rise to the principle of ____ immunity.

What raises the probability that undervaccinated children will contract a disease?

"There is never enough evidence to prove that an event _____ happen? (can/can't)

DQ:
1. "No mortal can ever be made invulnerable." True? What do you see as the important implications of this for the issue of vaccination as public health policy?

2. Why does Biss dislike consumer confidence? What's wrong with conceiving of the public as "consumers" of health care?

3. Do you find anything sexual or vampiric in vaccination?

4. "Faith is that which enables us to believe things we know to be untrue." Is that fair? How does it apply to the vaccination debate?

5. Do you agree that one must enact and embody one's beliefs? What if one's beliefs imperil public health and safety?

6. "We owe our health to our neighbors." 20 But how do we persuade them, or ourselves, of this?

7. Have you heard anyone make the argument that public health measures are not for "people like us"? Did you construe it as covert, coded racism?

8. "Enlisting a majority in protection of a minority" is often a hard-sell in America. Is this a social justice issue, like voting rights?

9. Do you use antibacterial soap and sanitizer? Why?

10.  Comment: "It is only when disease manifests as illness that we see it as unnatural." 42

11. Should it bother us that Rachel Carson apparently was wrong about DDT being carcinogenic? 44

12. Are you comfortable with the idea of being a cyborg? 49

13. Are you disproportionately afraid of sharks and oblivious to the dangers of bicycles? Does simply acknowledging such misperceptions help you to overcome them?
==
WHO DECIDES WHICH FACTS ARE TRUE?
In 1998 Andrew Wakefield, a British gastroenterologist with a history of self-promotion, published a paper with a shocking allegation: the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine might cause autism. The media seized hold of the story and, in the process, helped to launch one of the most devastating health scares ever. In the years to come Wakefield would be revealed as a profiteer in league with class-action lawyers, and he would eventually lose his medical license. Meanwhile one study after another failed to find any link between childhood vaccines and autism.
Yet the myth that vaccines somehow cause developmental disorders lives on. Despite the lack of corroborating evidence, it has been popularized by media personalities such as Oprah Winfrey and Jenny McCarthy and legitimized by journalists who claim that they are just being fair to “both sides” of an issue about which there is little debate. Meanwhile millions of dollars have been diverted from potential breakthroughs in autism research, families have spent their savings on ineffective “miracle cures,” and declining vaccination rates have led to outbreaks of deadly illnesses like Hib, measles, and whooping cough. Most tragic of all is the increasing number of children dying from vaccine-preventable diseases.
In The Panic Virus, Seth Mnookin draws on interviews with parents, public-health advocates, scientists, and anti-vaccine activists to tackle a fundamental question: How do we decide what the truth is? The fascinating answer helps explain everything from the persistence of conspiracy theories about 9/11 to the appeal of talk-show hosts who demand that President Obama “prove” he was born in America.
The Panic Virus is a riveting and sometimes heart-breaking medical detective story that explores the limits of rational thought. It is the ultimate cautionary tale for our time.
- See more at: http://sethmnookin.com/the-panic-virus/#sthash.QarcC7dA.dpuf
==
Defending Vaccination Once Again, With Feeling-
...he really hits his stride when he turns to the social history of autism advocacy; his section on the actress Jenny McCarthy is a tour de force. To promote her 2007 book describing the purported vaccine-induced autism of her young son and his subsequent cure, Ms. McCarthy staged a media blitz, a medical tent show writ large. Blond and charismatic, she waved away the science, energized the people who wanted to believe her message (the not inconsiderable “I feel, therefore it is” segment of our society, as Mr. Mnookin puts it) and managed to do quite nicely for herself as well, netting a deal with Oprah Winfrey’s production company.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/29/health/views/29zuger.html?_r=0

33 comments:

  1. Extra quiz questions from class:

    13. What is the difference between herd immunity and herd mentality?

    14. What does DDT protect African Children from?

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  2. Kiara,

    I forgot to include your questions in the quiz. Sorry!

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  3. This is link that I found that is talks about the politics involved in the vaccination debate. I found it very interesting that views i thought each party would have are reversed in my opinion. I also am surprised to find that even though politicians agree and will state that they think that all children should be vaccinated they don't believe that the government can force it and that it should be the parent's decision.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/politics/the-politics-of-the-vaccination-debate/2015/02/04/5c28c2c4-ac8e-11e4-8876-460b1144cbc1_video.html

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  4. DQ: Are you comfortable with the idea of being a cyborg?
    Answer: While I do agree that inventions of newer technologies increasingly diminish the discipline that individuals express over their possessions, I do not quite feel that the notion of being a cyborg settles well with me. Although I understand that the concept of being a cyborg may not be limited to having biomechatronic features attached to one’s physical body, I do agree that, to some extent, many people have become cyborgs. The use of bicycles as a part of one’s everyday routine or the even becoming vaccinated can be thought of in this way. Continual usage of cellphones or exercise machines only add to this idea because they are just a few of the many technologies that we see advertised on a daily basis. It is no doubt that many people have become dependent on technologies in ways that have weakened their ability to effectively think or communicate. However, the right to be considered a cyborg, to any extent, relies on individuals themselves, and I do not feel that generalizing people as cyborgs is something that society would take lightly.

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  5. Discussion Question:

    Let me set up a scenario that has been tried in court and has gone both ways:

    Child A cannot be vaccinated due to an autoimmune disorder.
    Child B has parents that decide not to vaccinate their child due to fear of autism.

    Child A and Child B attend the same school. Child B contracts measles and infects Child A.

    Child A cannot combat the disease and dies.

    Are the parents that chose to not vaccinate their child due to their beliefs responsible for the death of Child A who's parents wanted to vaccinate but were not able to?

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  6. Quiz Question:

    Who states that that the cooperative work of bees is an example of the kind of collective problem solving our own society depends on?

    pp. 21

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  7. Attached is a link to a ScienceDaily video about a recent Hepatitis B vaccination. Could this new discovery bring about life-saving changes to the world of vaccines? Only time will tell!

    https://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/595872.htm

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  8. Quiz Question:

    Debate on vaccines is essentially rooted in the debate over the integrity of what?

    p.20

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  9. This is a cool image that puts the research on both sides of the vaccine/autism debate in perspective.

    http://nrvs.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/dallas_vs_the_moon.jpg

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  10. DQ: "We owe our health to our neighbors." But how do we persuade them, or ourselves, of this?

    As members of society, we have a great responsibility to ensure that the lives of our fellow brethren are safe in order for them to do the same to us (it's similar to the social contract of Rousseau in many ways). For example, we are not allowed by society to kill people whenever we feel like it because maintaining human life and health is one of our most cherished principles. Why should harm to humans in the way of not vaccinating be any different?

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  11. Where to find the answer for these questions?

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  12. http://www.vaccines.gov/basics/protection/index.html
    This is a link complete with an explanation and charts on herd immunity from vaccines.gov.

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  13. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/additives.htm
    This link leads to the cdc and provides information on the additives found in vaccines. I think it's interesting to actually see for yourself what is in the vaccines and why.

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  14. DQ:Do you find anything sexual or vampiric in vaccination?
    Not right of hand but when I start to really think about how a vaccine is administered I can see how people could consider it sexual, ie the needle penitrating the skin and then injecting something...much like a penis

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  15. DQ: Do you find anything sexual or vampiric in vaccination

    No, dont really understand the reference. The needle has to "penetrate" your arm but outside of that nothing is taken out like a vampire and ....... i wont harp on the sexual part

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  16. Quiz Question: What country was variolation introduced? pg53

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  17. Here's a link i found on how vaccines can have crazy effects on people. Many people probably dont understand that a vaccine is just a a controlled version of the actual disease but it can probably still trigger other things like in this video
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ztiAN9k584

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  18. "No mortal can ever be made invulnerable." True? What do you see as the important implications of this for the issue of vaccination as public health policy?

    I agree with this statement. We as humans participate in a delicate balance between ourselves and the world around us. Nature is constantly executing a series of trial and error experiments upon herself in order to accommodate the perpetual necessity of change due to the complexity of our environments and the population of species. In fact, I believe it would be detrimental and throw nature entirely out of balance if we rendered ourselves completely invulnerable to disease. Furthermore, this question is an extension of the furor therapeutics issue: when we treat expected (and currently unavoidable) circumstances like illness or death as the focal point of our medical practices instead of the holistic care of individuals and society, then we invite dramatic and catastrophic oversights--perhaps even the ability for health care professionals to view people as people.

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  19. Quiz Question:

    Why did Bliss's doctor not consider her baby in danger of Hep B? What was Bliss's moral extrapolation from this?

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  20. Do you use antibacterial soap and sanitizer? Why?

    Yes, I use antibacterial agents on a daily basis. I realize that there are many people who believe that these compounds do not actually provide any benefit if not add harm to our bodies; but, if there is a chance that I can reduce the probability of contracting some harmful/undesirable condition then I see nothing but benefit from its use. Also, cleanliness is always a plus!

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  21. Quiz Question:

    According to Susan Sontag, what concept revives the archaic idea of a tainted community that illness has judged?

    (pg. 25)

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  22. DQ:
    Do you think that the opening of this book, with its senecio(s) is a good depiction of immunology? Why or Why not?

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  23. DQ:
    Is the general public well enough educated on vaccines or should they inquire more research? Does research favor showing beneficial vaccine research due to the money involved in creating/using vaccines over falsifying the use of vaccines or do you believe most of the research to be truthful and accurate?

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  24. This is a vague DQ...but; What are some thoughts on superbugs and the impending future of the human race in relation?

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  25. Quiz Question: What publication led to the creation of the environmental Protection?

    Discussion Question: Should vaccines be forced by the government?

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  26. Lee Gish and Phillip Shackelford
    We discussed the circumstances dealing with being a cyborg and how far it could go. It could be benificial but also detrimental to our society.

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  27. Shivan Berwari, Bell Doski, and Kayleah Bradley discussed where to draw the line between citizens' freedom and public health. We said that vaccines should be encouraged but not mandatory unless the herd immunity threshold is surpassed or there is an epidemic.

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