Book Report 2: The Panic Virus
The Panic Virus: The True Story Behind the Vaccine-Autism Controversy is a non-fiction novel written by Seth Mnookin, a Scientific Writing professor is MIT’s Graduate program. This novel discusses the anti-vaccine movement and its myths about how vaccines cause autism. The book starts with the history of vaccines then it takes a change of concepts and continued to talk about the starting of the anti-vaccine movement. The chapters in the book include interviews of parents and their experience with specific vaccines, and its causes on their children. Autism is to be considered a cause of these vaccines, due to the conspiracy by Dr. Andrew Wakefield that the “measles-mumps-rubella vaccine might cause autism”. This
…show more content…
Andrew Wakefield. Wakefield was a gynecologist that published his work based on looking at old theories in different ways. In the 1900s, Wakefield chooses to center his thoughts on measles, and its likelihood to cause stomach inflammations. Wakefield’s ideas continued to rise and hype the press and his audience, and he finally dropped his final outrageous declaration. In 1998, Andrew Wakefield was the prime author in the academic journal The Lancet. which was an academic paper that was publicized by the press as a core evidence for the anti-vaccine movement to manipulate parents into their …show more content…
Wakefield theorized that the MMR or the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine had the possibility to cause autism. This specific conception in the paper shook the world and was immediately advertised by the media. Wakefield received a lot of attention for his thesis, but after a while, his lies came crashing on him. Wakefield’s theory was contradicted and proven wrong by several studies and other doctors. At the end, Wakefield did not only lose his reputation in the society, but he also lost his license as a doctor making him a failure to the medical community. Although Andrew Wakefield lost his identity, a major result of his publication of The Lancet was The Mercury Moms foundation.
The Mercury Moms institute was founded by Lyn Redwood due to the speculation behind how vaccines cause autism, and it all started with her third son Will. The birth of Will Redwood was not an easy one due to him exiting first through his feet, therefore leading to an unexpected C-section. Lyn recalled that “the first year of Will’s life as joyous”. After a while, Will’s health started to get worse by the second. He had a “strep throat” which is quite rare for a two-year-old. After that Will’s behavior started to change and started to extract himself from social interactions, and as it turns out will have
Plagues and Peoples written by William H. McNeill follows the patterns of epidemics and endemics within human history. It is within this history that McNeill finds parallels between diseases and humans in the forms of microparasitism and macroparasitism. Merely from the title, McNeill gives equal importance to viruses and humankind. In several instances, humans behave the same way viruses, bacteria, and parasites do in order to survive and to compete. Surprisingly enough, McNeill’s overarching theme can be summarized using his last sentence, asserting that “Infectious disease which antedated the emergence of humankind will last as long as humanity itself, and will surely remain, as it has been hitherto, one of the fundamental parameters and
In the Frontline episode The Vaccine War, a progressively distressful debate ensues among many scientists and doctors within the public health system and an unnerving alliance of parents, politicians, and celebrities. The topic of debate is the overwhelming pressure parents feel to vaccinate their children and their right to decline such vaccinations. In several American neighborhoods, groups of parents have been exercising their right to refuse vaccinations, which has elevated anxiety on the return of vaccine-preventable diseases such as pertussis and measles. The reason such parents are denying their children various vaccines such as the MMR “triple shot” for measles, mumps, and rubella is because they are convinced that it is linked to autism, a link that has yet to be proven. Many of these parents are focused solely on their children, not taking into account that their decision may put the American populace at risk for disease. Such parents are not thinking about other members of society that vaccines don’t work for, and in certain adolescents the effects deteriorate, thus only when every person is immunized the “heard immunity” is successful.
The Eleventh Plague is one of those books you MUST finish in 4 days or less because the story sticks like glue to your mind and you won’t stop theory-crafting until you give in and read it to the end these are reasons why. Eleventh Plague has a well-written plot which is essential to any story and it is back up by the fascinating character development and detailed writing. Eleventh Plague has a great plot. At the start, it shows Stephen and his Father trekking along an abandoned road when suddenly, they spot a Canadian military airplane. It then leads on to show the two of them living in the plane for a few days until a group of slavers also find this plane. Stephens father has a fight with the slavers
In 1994, a stable in Hendra, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia broke out with an unknown respiratory disease that resulted in thirteen horses and one horse trainer severely ill, resulting in death. [7, 8] This disease was isolated by scientists and later classified as the Hendra virus. The Hendra virus (HeV), previously unknown, is now classified under the family Paramyxoviridae, genus Henipavirus along with its sister viruses the Nipah Virus and Cedar virus.[7, 9] HeV has the capability of causing fatal diseases in several animal species including humans.[1] The primary host of the Hendra virus was identified as the flying fox species from the genus Pteropus[1,2,3] that resides and migrates through Northeastern Australia[8] or more specifically, the East coast of Australia to Melbourne and west across Northern Australia to Darwin[7].
Deborah Lee and Rosalyn Carson-Dewitt MD, a medical and scientific writer (Lee, Carson-Dewitt, 2016, p.2), worked together to write Point: Vaccines Save Lives, found on page two of “Point of view: Vaccines and health hazards” to discuss vaccines. Lee’s article used historical events, expert opinion, and comparison to make the argument that vaccines protect society. With people taking what they read on the internet at face value, it is more important than ever to be sure one knows the facts before making decisions. The authors attempted to clarify the subject to help parents make an informed decision. Did Lee and Carson-Dewitt effectively present evidence in an unbiased way to support the claim that vaccines save lives?
The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear written by Seth Mnookin offers something for all potential readers. For those who are anti-vaccine, Mnookin offers valid science, testimony, history, and excerpts that demonstrate that vaccinating a child can be more beneficial than not. Instead of simply dismissing those who do not vaccinate their children, Mnookin offers valid points to counter argue in this debate. Mnookin offers thought, logic, reasoning, and research into his arguments, showing that his opinion is rooted in fact, rather than opinion or belief. Those who are on the fence about vaccination may find this book useful in that Mnookin not only offers plenty valid points about pro-vaccination, however, he also provides
“Immunizing Against Bad Science: The Vaccine Court and the Autism Test Case,” written by Lauren L. Haertlein, deals with one of today’s most popular controversies; vaccinations causing autism in children. Haertlein’s article gives insight into the history of vaccine litigation and the policies that accompany it. Furthermore, she talks immensely about the Vaccine Court, whose job is to work with petitioner’s stating that a vaccine, such as measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), has caused some illness to their child. The article uses real-life Vaccine Court examples such as Michelle Cedillo’s case, whose mother claimed a vaccination gave her daughter autism, as a way to better understand how the Vaccine Court works. This controversial topic is being discussed daily in magazines, journals, and on talk shows. The families that are blaming autism on vaccinations are giving vaccines a bad name and causing other parents to re-think their decision about getting their children vaccinated.
William H. McNeill makes a monumental contribution to the knowledge of humanity in his book Plagues and Peoples. He looks at the history of the world from an ecological point of view. From this viewpoint the history of human civilization is greatly impacted by changing patterns of epidemic infection. Plagues and Peoples suggests that "the time scale of world history...should [be] viewed [through] the "domestication" of epidemic disease that occurred between 1300 and 1700" (page 232). "Domestication" is perceived "as a fundamental breakthrough, directly resulting from the two great transportation revolutions of that age - one by land, initiated by the Mongols, and one by sea, initiated by Europeans" (page 232). This book illustrates how man's environment and its resident diseases have controlled human migration, as well as societal successes and failures. McNeill discusses the political, demographical, and psychological effects of disease on the human race. He informs his audience that epidemics are still a viable threat to society, and warns of potential future consequences.
Every year, tens of thousands Americans die from the seasonal flu alone. This alarming statistic is what led the United States government to urge the country to vaccinate themselves, as well as their children every November, when the flu season is fast approaching. Though countless Americans do follow the government’s plea, many others insist that these vaccines distributed every year (as well as other year-long vaccines) contain an abnormally high amount of thimerosal, (a mercury-based chemical in vaccines designed to prevent the growth of bacteria) which could eventually lead to autism. This generation of fear is what has led many concerned parents to refuse to vaccinate their children, who seem to be the most vulnerable to this disease. However, can we really trust a rumor to fuel our doubts of America’s struggle to fight disease among our people? Can we discontinue our trust in the health department because of paranoia? No. Even if autism may be an effect of these vaccines, it is our duty, our responsibility to protect the good of the public by preventing an outbreak of this infl...
Doctor Andrew Wakefield had written a paper in Lancet journal in 1998 which suggested that MMR vaccine causes autism. In his research, he found out that MMR vaccine was responsible for bowel inflammation that leads to the translocation of non-permeable peptides into the bloodstream. (American Academy of Pediatrics) This in turn carries them to the brain causing the root of autism spectrum disorder to form. His research was called weak by drug corporations, governments and media companies and was then discredited earning him a fraud reputation. His paper has since raised a decade long argument on MMR vaccine originating autism spectrum disorder. This has caused a lot of parents to withdraw their children from being vaccinated, which increased measles infections.
In recent years, the correlation between vaccines and autism has become the subject of much debate. On one side, there are the anti-vaccinators, or anti-vaccers. On the other, there’s pretty much everyone else. Despite the fact that the anti-vaccination movement has little base in scientific fact, their campaign to end early infanthood vaccinations rages on. While doctors and scientists try desperately to make parents look at the research studies, vaccination rates continue to fall. But, even in these dark times, there is still hope that scientific fact will prevail and defeat the anti-vaccination fear mongers who have caused many children to fall ill and even die because their parents did not properly vaccinate them. This is one of the most saddening scientific failures of the twenty-first century. A failure to educate the public properly has resulted in child, even infant, fatalities. The anti-vaccination movement was started based on falsified data and continues only because of a lack of knowledge and proper education of the general public.
Vaccines against diphtheria, polio, pertussis, measles, mumps and rubella, and more recent additions of hepatitis B and chicken pox, have given humans powerful immune guards to ward off unwelcome sickness. And thanks to state laws that require vaccinations for kids enrolling in kindergarten, the U.S. presently enjoys the highest immunization rate ever at 77%. Yet bubbling beneath these national numbers is the question about vaccine safety. Driven by claims that vaccinations can be associated with autism, increasing number of parents are raising questions about whether vaccines are in fact harmful to children, instead of helpful (Park, 2008).
Nobody knows what measles is (Parker).” In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a group of 315 people were surveyed on their attitudes toward vaccines. After the survey, the subjects were divided into three groups. One group was given the most recent research showing no link between vaccines and autism; another was read a paragraph written in a mother’s voice, describing her child’s contraction of measles, shown three pictures of children with measles, mumps, rubella, and read warnings about the dangers of not vaccinating. The third group, as a control, was given an unrelated science article to read.
Recently the number of parents who are intentionally delaying their children’s general vaccinations is increasing. The controversy that is causing the number of delayed vaccinations to go up is based on the fact that there are negative articles connecting them to autism and other similar diseases. When parents are researching vaccinations and they read those negative articles, those articles make them believe that vaccines cause autism. Vaccines are important because they protect humans from preventable diseases and getting them could save human lives. Vaccines are important throughout life no matter what some research suggests. Parents are now more likely to intentionally delay vaccines because of negative press, even though vaccines
For innumerable centuries, unrelenting strains of disease have ravaged society. From the polio epidemic in the twentieth century to the measles cases in the latter half of the century, such an adverse component of nature has taken the lives of many. In 1796, Edward Jenner discovered that exposure to cowpox could foster immunity against smallpox; through injecting the cowpox into another person’s arm, he founded the revolutionary concept known as a vaccination. While many attribute the eradication of various diseases to vaccines, many United States citizens are progressively beginning to oppose them. Many deludedly thought that Measles had been completely terminated throughout the United States; however, many children have been patronized by