PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

A physician's guide for anti-vaccine parents

Mayo Clinic vaccine expert, pediatrician refute 3 common myths about child vaccine safety

2012-04-24
(Press-News.org) ROCHESTER, Minn. -- In the limited time of an office visit, how can a primary care physician make the case to parents that their child should be vaccinated? During National Infant Immunization Week, a Mayo Clinic vaccine expert and a pediatrician offer suggestions for refuting three of the most common myths about child vaccine safety. Their article, The Clinician's Guide to the Anti-Vaccinationists' Galaxy, is published online this month in the journal Human Immunology.

"Thousands of children are at increased risk because of under-vaccination, and outbreaks of highly transmissible diseases have occurred" says lead author Gregory Poland, M.D., Mayo Clinic vaccinologist. "Primary care physicians have less time than most to explain the scientific case for vaccination. This article gives them the background and tools to debunk some of the major myths."

Dr. Poland and Mayo pediatrician Robert Jacobson, M.D., review the three immunity-related misconceptions that they say "fuel patient and parental concerns, questions and fears about vaccines." Those myths are:

Babies' systems aren't ready for the number of vaccines given today. Vaccines can cause autoimmune diseases. Natural immunity is safer and better.

The Mayo experts explain that the number of active molecules in infant vaccines is far lower than ever before, so while vaccines are not only safe, each child is receiving a fraction of actual antigen compared to children in the past. Among other evidence, they point to a recent review of 1,200 articles by the Institute of Medicine that failed to find any autoimmune side effect from vaccines. They make the point that there is either no impact or that any relation to autoimmune conditions is not causative. Finally, they make the case that while natural immunity does protect as well, the risk of illness and death is far higher than with a vaccine.

The article also includes background on the anti-vaccine movement and outlines the harm it has done by spreading inaccurate information.

"We want to offer a user-friendly guide for doctors, but also issue a call to action," Dr. Poland says. "We can now show that children have died because of under-vaccination and that diseases have spread needlessly because of this trend."

Dr. Poland says lack of vaccination has put many children at risk for diseases that are avoidable, including whooping cough and measles. He emphasized that the risk of death for measles is three in 1,000 without vaccination, while the risk of death from the measles vaccination is zero.

Dr. Poland is the chairman of a safety evaluation committee for investigational vaccine trials being conducted by Merck Research Laboratories. Dr. Poland offers consultative advice on new vaccine development to Merck & Co., Inc., Avianax, Theraclone Sciences (formally Spaltudaq Corporation), MedImmune LLC, Liquidia Technologies, Inc., Emergent BioSolutions, Novavax, Dynavax, EMD Serono, Inc., Novartis Vaccines and Therapeutics and PAXVAX, Inc. Dr. Jacobson is a member of a safety review committee for a post-licensure study funded by Merck & Co. concerning the safety of a human papillomavirus vaccine. He is a member of a data monitoring committee for an investigational vaccine trial funded by Merck & Co. He is principal investigator for two studies, including one funded by Novartis International for its licensed meningococcal conjugate vaccine and one funded by Pfizer, Inc. for its licensed pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. ###

About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. For more information, visit http://www.mayoclinic.org/about and www.mayoclinic.org/news.



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Letting go can boost quality of life

2012-04-24
Montreal, April 23, 2012 — Most people go through life setting goals for themselves. But what happens when a life-altering experience makes those goals become unachievable or even unhealthy? A new collaborative study published in Psycho-Oncology by Carsten Wrosch of Concordia University's Department of Psychology and Centre for Research in Human Development and Catherine Sabiston of McGill's Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education and the Health Behaviour and Emotion Lab found that breast cancer survivors who were able to let go of old goals and set new ones ...

IADR/AADR publish studies on severe early childhood caries – proposes new classification

2012-04-24
Alexandria, Va., USA – The International and American Associations for Dental Research have published two studies about dental caries in children. These articles, titled "Hypoplasia-Associated Severe Early Childhood Caries – A Proposed Definition" (lead author Page Caufield, New York University College of Dentistry) and "Deciduous Molar Hypomineralization and Molar Incisor Hypomineralization" (lead author M.E.C. Elfrink, Academic Centre for Dentistry, Amsterdam) discuss the definitions of dental caries susceptibility to the hypomineralization and hypoplasia. The study ...

Towards an agroforestry policy in Indonesia

2012-04-24
INDONESIA (23 April 2012) — The importance of collaboration among all research partners in agroforestry was recently emphasised at a historic workshop to develop a national strategy on agroforestry research in Indonesia. During the meeting, five key challenges facing agroforestry in Indonesia were also identified. The first challenge mentioned was the Government's partial approach to research, which translates into low adoption of research recommendations. Second, land tenure insecurity, particularly in State forest areas, leads to social conflict and degradation of ...

Immunosignaturing: An accurate, affordable and stable diagnostic

Immunosignaturing: An accurate, affordable and stable diagnostic
2012-04-24
Identifying diseases at an early, presymptomatic stage may offer the best chance for establishing proper treatment and improving patient outcomes. A new technique known as immunosignaturing harnesses the human immune system as an early warning sentry—one acutely sensitive to changes in the body that may be harbingers of illness. Now, Brian Andrew Chase and Barten Legutki, under the guidance of Stephen Albert Johnston, director of the Center for Innovations in Medicine at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute have shown that these immunosignatures are not only ...

BeyondRecognition Announces Image-Based Document Clustering Technology

2012-04-24
John Martin, founder and CEO of BeyondRecognition, LLC, announced today that BeyondRecognition ("BR") has developed software to cluster like documents based on an analysis of document images and to then quickly build cluster-specific, location-based data extraction rules. Those rules combined with BR's innovative glyph-clustering text recognition process permit the extraction of fields of data about a document's attributes or contents. Martin predicted, "Image-based document clustering and the graphical interface for the rapid development of cluster-specific ...

New study finds a protein combination is best to consume post-workout for building muscle

2012-04-24
Today at Experimental Biology 2012, Dr. Blake Rasmussen and colleagues presented a new and first-of-its-kind clinical study: "Effect of Protein Blend vs. Whey Protein Ingestion on Muscle Protein Synthesis Following Resistance Exercise." The results of this study suggest that a protein blend (combination of soy, whey and casein) may be best to consume post-workout for building muscle. Specifically, the blend of proteins in this study showed an increase in a person's "anabolic window" (the amount of time it takes for building muscle to occur post exercise). "This study ...

Bascom Palmer Eye Institute announces breakthrough for degenerative vision disorder

2012-04-24
Miami - A research team, led by John Guy, M.D., professor of ophthalmology at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, has pioneered a novel technological treatment for Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON), an inherited genetic defect that causes rapid, permanent, and bilateral loss of vision in people of all ages, but primarily males ages 20-40. Genetic mutations in the mitochondria (part of the cell that produces energy) cause the disorder. Currently, there is no cure for LHON. However, Guy and his team have successfully ...

Research is ensuring stormwater systems are designed for the future

2012-04-24
MANHATTAN, KAN. -- In a world of changing weather and rainfall patterns, engineers face challenges when designing stormwater management systems. A Kansas State University team is researching how climate change is affecting rainfall and weather patterns throughout Kansas to help with future adaptation and mitigation strategies. The research team, led by Stacy Hutchinson, associate professor of biological and agricultural engineering, is updating rainfall distribution data to ensure current stormwater management systems can handle future weather changes. "We are looking ...

Climate change, biofuels mandate would cause corn price spikes

Climate change, biofuels mandate would cause corn price spikes
2012-04-24
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A study from Purdue and Stanford university researchers predicts that future climate scenarios may cause significantly greater volatility in corn prices, which would be intensified by the federal biofuels mandate. The findings, published this week in the journal Nature Climate Change, show that severely hot conditions in corn-growing regions and extreme climate events that are expected to impact supply would cause swings in corn prices. When coupled with federal mandates for biofuel production, the price volatility could increase by about 50 percent ...

New method to measure work addiction

New method to measure work addiction
2012-04-24
Researchers from Norway and the United Kingdom have developed a new instrument to measure work addiction: The Bergen Work Addiction Scale. The new instrument is based on core elements of addiction that are recognised as diagnostic criteria for several addictions. Some people seem to be driven to work excessively and compulsively. These are denoted as work addicts – or workaholics. In the wake of globalisation, new technology and blurred boundaries between work and private life, we are witnessing an increase in work addiction, Doctor Cecilie Schou Andreassen from the ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Exercise as an anti-ageing intervention to avoid detrimental impact of mental fatigue

UMass Amherst Nursing Professor Emerita honored as ‘Living Legend’

New guidelines aim to improve cystic fibrosis screening

Picky eaters by day, buffet by night: Butterfly, moth diets sync to plant aromas

Pennington Biomedical’s Dr. Leanne Redman honored with the E. V. McCollum Award from the American Society for Nutrition

CCNY physicists uncover electronic interactions mediated via spin waves

Researchers’ 3D-printing formula may transform future of foam

Nurture more important than nature for robotic hand

Drug-delivering aptamers target leukemia stem cells for one-two knockout punch

New study finds that over 95% of sponsored influencer posts on Twitter were not disclosed

New sea grant report helps great lakes fish farmers navigate aquaculture regulations

Strain “trick” improves perovskite solar cells’ efficiency

How GPS helps older drivers stay on the roads

Estrogen and progesterone stimulate the body to make opioids

Dancing with the cells – how acoustically levitating a diamond led to a breakthrough in biotech automation

Machine learning helps construct an evolutionary timeline of bacteria

Cellular regulator of mRNA vaccine revealed... offering new therapeutic options

Animal behavioral diversity at risk in the face of declining biodiversity

Finding their way: GPS ignites independence in older adult drivers

Antibiotic resistance among key bacterial species plateaus over time

‘Some insects are declining but what’s happening to the other 99%?’

Powerful new software platform could reshape biomedical research by making data analysis more accessible

Revealing capillaries and cells in living organs with ultrasound

American College of Physicians awards $260,000 in grants to address equity challenges in obesity care

Researchers from MARE ULisboa discover that the European catfish, an invasive species in Portugal, has a prolonged breeding season, enhancing its invasive potential

Rakesh K. Jain, PhD, FAACR, honored with the 2025 AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research

Solar cells made of moon dust could power future space exploration

Deporting immigrants may further shrink the health care workforce

Border region emergency medical services in migrant emergency care

Resident physician intentions regarding unionization

[Press-News.org] A physician's guide for anti-vaccine parents
Mayo Clinic vaccine expert, pediatrician refute 3 common myths about child vaccine safety