Why is Smallpox the only disease we have been able to eliminate via vaccine?

Epidemic · November 2nd, 2009, 05:14 PM

Was it mans tremendous skill and resources brought to bear on nature resulting in mans victory?

Was it a dissease with only so many vectors to controll that was within out ability to edge out?

We just got lucky?

I don't know but surely being our only victory there has to be some reason we cant duplicate it.

here is part of the story according to some Modern living helped eliminate small pox although clean living may have helped reduce the incidence of it and am quite sure that it does not explain the complete absence of the dissease in the world considering that there are still some pretty dirty, poor, blah blah blah people out there

no1_vern · November 2nd, 2009, 05:57 PM

I believe this to be a more accurate account of the problem:

Quote:

"Most parents today have never seen the physical and emotional devastation caused by vaccine-preventable diseases and have a skewed view of the perceived risks associated with vaccines versus the actual risks of the diseases the vaccines are designed to prevent," said Dr. Gary L. Freed,

BTW: Measles, polio, and diphtheria ALL are almost eliminated by vaccination. While they are not gone(YET), IT is hoped they will be eradicated within the next few decades - by vaccination.

Chuckiechan · November 2nd, 2009, 09:32 PM

We've almost got polio eradicated, but due to wars in underdeveloped countries there are populations we just can't get to to vaccinate.

The day is coming closer, though.

Epidemic · November 3rd, 2009, 08:55 AM

cool it would seem that disseases that are hosted by humans only are able to be beaten. I did not know polio was on the run like that.

no1_vern · November 3rd, 2009, 10:31 AM

It really comes down to - how much risk is an acceptable risk?? ANY family that has had a member with any of those diseases will tell you they would have accepted 10 times the risk we are talking about with any of the vaccines to prevent what happened to their family.

Epidemic · November 3rd, 2009, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by no1_vern

It really comes down to - how much risk is an acceptable risk?? ANY family that has had a member with any of those diseases will tell you they would have accepted 10 times the risk we are talking about with any of the vaccines to prevent what happened to their family.

of course the same could be said of that cheerleader who is forever messed up and thousands of thousands of people with autistic children.

Chuckiechan · November 3rd, 2009, 10:50 AM

Quote:

of course the same could be said of that cheerleader who is forever messed up and thousands of thousands of people with autistic children.

The autism link is a fallacy. Coincidentally, at the age when autism symptoms appear, that is also the age at which little children are getting numerous shots. The correlation is misguided.

He's a rather long article, but useful: It's from Wired Magazine, and worth a read.

An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All | Magazine

An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All

Your report is due Thursday.

Theophylact · November 3rd, 2009, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckiechan

We've almost got polio eradicated, but due to wars in underdeveloped countries there are populations we just can't get to to vaccinate.

The day is coming closer, though.

It's not just "wars in underdeveloped countries". In Nigeria, there was an actual antivaccination movement claiming that the UN polio eradication campaign was a plot to sterilize Muslims. And the anti-AIDS campaign in South Africa was set back by former President Thabo Mbeki's insistence that AIDS was not caused by HIV.

Basically, there aren't any animal vectors for polio, which is why it took so long to find a way of growing the virus to make a vaccine in the first place. Exterminate it in in the human population and you've got the problem licked.

butch81385 · November 3rd, 2009, 12:27 PM

Regarding the Polio vaccine, I had to get a second vaccination when I was traveling to rural Haiti. According to the CDC worker, the vaccine that we get as a child is not the most effective vaccine. However, it does have less potential side effects and works well enough (and probably costs less I'm sure). However, for higher risk people (I was in the middle of nowhere Haiti drinking water from a waterfall and visiting orphanages and hospitals), they pull out the big guns and give you the more effective shot.

I was actually told that I could be denied entry back into the US if I refused the shot, as they are trying at all costs to keep polio out of the US (where it is practically or actually extinct). I doubt that they would actually do that, but it was a warning that they gave me.

SiliconJon · November 3rd, 2009, 12:27 PM

In part it is because not everyone subscribes to utilitarianism and consequentialism ethical standards. Some do not accept the casualties of these vaccines regardless of statistical comparison. We also have a growing problem with corruption and incompetence - two symbiotic forces that tear down our scientific process, fed by fear and sloth. The growing size of these counterproductive forces feeds the counter-utilitarianism culture, and needs addressed regardless of statistically underdogged opposition as such are direct decays of our progress.