A Sudden Surplus of Swine Flu Vaccine as Interest in Vaccination Wanes

The article I read was titled “Abruptly, a surplus of shots for H1N1.” It was written by Stephen Smith of the Boston Globe and was published on December 16, 2009. The article can be found at the following URL: http://www.boston.com/yourtown/waltham/articles/2009/12/16/abruptly_a_surplus_of_shots_for_h1n1/?page=1 . This is a local issue pertaining to only Massachusetts, but this may be happening in other states as well, it will affect the millions of people of the state who have not been vaccinated yet. The article discussed the fact that as the vaccine is being produced more rapidly, the public’s interest in being vaccinated is waning. This has led to a sudden surplus of vaccinations in Massachusetts, which may lead to a lifting of the restrictions around the vaccine’s distribution. At various locations throughout Massachusetts there have been low turn outs at vaccination clinics. This is leading the commissioner of public health, John Auerbach, to come up with new strategies for distribution of the vaccine. These include setting up vaccination clinics at local grocery stores or outside local Macy’s.

The author of the article seems to be completely objective about the distribution of vaccine. He says, “The public’s interest in being vaccinated, health authorities report, is waning even as factories churn out shots and nasal spray at a breakneck pace, creating the prospect of millions of unused doses.” The only information he puts in this article is what he gets from the authorities. There is no author bias because the entire article is taken from what he has learned from local health authorities, and he provides plenty of quotes to back up what he says. I believe the article is informative, convincing, and balanced.

I chose this article because it had to with Swine Flu, something that we spent a whole unit on in class. The news that the restrictions on the distribution of the vaccine will soon be lifted is very good to hear. But, at the same time, the public’s general disinterest in getting vaccinated is a bit concerning. If people do not get vaccinated now, there may be yet another wave of Swine Flu throughout the state in the coming year. I agree with the article in that we need to come up with more effective strategies for distributing the vaccine.

HIV/AIDS In America

http://www.avert.org/america.htm

While it is important to focus on the well being of other countries, it is equally important to focus on the well being of our own. HIV/AIDS is an epidemic occurring world wide, including in the United States. Its relevance to us should be addressed.
My Article, “HIV and AIDS in America” was found off of www.avert.org. Avert is a National AIDS Charity with an excellent website that has links for information and statistics about AIDS in Africa, the Americas and Asia and Europe. It also provides information on the history and science of AIDS, the transmission and the treatment.
Half a million people have died in America since the AIDS epidemic began, along the 56,000 who are newly diagnosed each year. HIV/AIDS prevention has not has much success in America, and discrimination towards those infected is very much present. There are thousands of uninsured citizens struggling to receive proper medical attention. Although HIV can infect anyone, it usually infects men who have sex with other men, injecting drug users, hemophiliacs and Haitians. The states that seem to have the highest number of infected persons are California, Texas, Florida, Pennysilvania, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, and North Carolina. Many people who suffer from HIV/AIDS are un aware until they are in a fatal condition. In order to prevent this from happening, in 2006 the CDC created a new set of guidelines for testing. This new set of guidelines requires routine testing of adults and adolescents.
Considering America’s medical advances, I was somewhat surprised by this article. I’m surprised that not many people get tested, but I suppose it can be hard for a person to be that vulnerable. I found it fascinating that the states that have the higest population of infected citizens are states that contain major cities such as New York City, Boston and Chicago. This is most likely because major cities often have the most diverse populations, and are world hubs. Overall, I found this to be an interesting article, and it truly made me realize how far we need to continue to go in order to end the HIV/AIDs epidemic.

Who's Heard of Swine Flu? The Affects of Other Diseases in Third World Countries

I found this article on the NY times website. The title of the article was "HIV/AIDS one of the Top 10 Crises of the Year." It was written by the Associated Press on December 21, 2009. The link for this website is : http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/12/21/us/AP-US-US-Humanitarian-Crises-Top-10.html?scp=4&sq=HIV&st=cse. The article is about third world countries, and does not talk about the diseases in the US. It does however talk about how the US is not helping with aid and money in order to reduce the number of deaths in these countries.

The article starts by talking about the decrease in funding for the HIV/AIDS research which is similar to what Eric's article was about. My article then goes on to focus a lot about two organizations, Doctors without Borders and MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres) which is the international humanitarian organization run by the executive director, Sophie Delaunay, of Doctors without Borders in France. Both organizations are focusing on bettering the lives of others in third world countries. However they are having a lot of trouble due to the fact that the countries and their governments are resisting their help such as; Sri Lanka, Pakinstan and Sudan. While other countries; Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Somalia, are not gaining enough funding for diseases and malnutrition in their countries. Sophie Delaunay talked about how HIV/AIDS needed to have the continued funding because, "HIV/AIDS is an emergency" and the US and other world powers that are able to give money to help people in developing countries survive need to be aware of the urgency and the need for the money. In the article the author described many examples of how the governments in the other countries are making the process of helping the countries harder than it has to be. In Sri Lanka the government banned aid in their conflict zones. While in Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Yemen, the countries are in the midst of fighting and violence. The clinics set up by the MSF are in the middle of the fighting and are also acting as shelter and safety. Pakistan's clinic was even set on fire which shut it down. Also on the 10 Crises of the Year list were, Chagas, leishmaniasis, sleeping sickness and the Buruli ulcer. AIDs and malnutrition were also on the list. Malnutrition, many times being over looked as a killer of many people in developing countries. There is some bias in this article. First off it only voices the views of doctors in America and France (MSF). However it never mentions the what the people in the developing nations feel or how the doctors in these nations are reacting to MSF and Doctors without Borders. Also the article is really only one sided argument. It constantly talks about how the funding for AIDs can not end and must increase, but also that there are other diseases in the developing countries that are also very deadly. There is really only one way that MSF and Doctors without Borders see a solution, which is more funding. They do not see that many nations can not afford it or that maybe the developing nations want to fend for themselves and not take the help of a larger power than them.

My personal reaction to the article is that I think this really expands what I think about as the threatening diseases in the world. In the United States we are some what obsessed with the spread of Swine Flu, while in other countries, such as Yemen, they are dealing with diseases that we have medicine for to make it less deadly. I think the United States has to start aiding other countries more because we are very fortunate to have all these new scientific drugs and prescriptions while they are not nearly as medically advanced as us. However I think it is not only the funding that needs to increase. I think the governments of third world countries need to start allowing and protecting clinics and doctors that have come to help them. These doctors are vital to their countries survival and some of these countries seem like they don't even care about the help they are receiving. Basically in the end it takes cooperation between the two. The larger, more wealthy countries need to give more aid, while the developing countries need to accept it.

Swine Flu Vaccine Restrictions Lifted

This article was written by Stephen Smith who is employed as a journalist for the Boston Globe.  It was published into the December 18th edition to the Globe this year. The author, Stephen Smith has great credentials for the assignment and writes without any bias. The article is a simple informative article. Smith has a very fair approach regarding the topic of the swine flu and simply states the facts in an interesting way.  The article discusses only how the Massachusetts restrictions on the swine flu vaccine have been lifted, although the swine flu is an epidemic disease affecting the entire United States and even countries outside of the United States. The swine flu has a very low mortality rate but there have been several cases of death over the last few months. Now that the vaccine is becoming far more prevalent, there will be far fewer cases of the swine flu over the preceding months. 

The article, entitled "H1N1 vaccine restrictions lifted," begins by stating that the restrictions on the swine flu vaccine were lifted on December 17th 2009 because many of the Massachusetts health officials said that the vaccine should be made available to anyone who wants it.  It goes on to talk about how before this, the vaccine was limited to people with the greatest risk of contracting the swine flu like children, pregnant women, people with diabetes, heart disease, and asthma. The reason this decision was made seems to be because the demand for the vaccine has recently gone down because a lot less people are getting sick now with the flu so people assume they might not need the vaccine anymore. The state public health commissioner, John Auerbach, said that the amount of available vaccines has doubled within the last three weeks because 2 million doses have just arrived.  This does not mean that the vaccine will now be readily available at any doctor's office for anyone who is interested, but it does mean that state officials are doing a lot more to make sure that everyone, not just certain people, can get the vaccine shortly if they wish. State officials say that by the end of the month they expect to have 2.8 million doses of the vaccine and that by the middle of January, they will have nearly the full amount destined for the state. 

 

In the article, Smith quotes Auerbach when he says "This does not mean immediately that there will be vaccine at a large public clinic or a doctor’s office, it will be available in a widespread way after the holidays.’’ The fact that Smith quotes the state health commissioner shows his attempts to clearly portray the news and not put a bias on the information but simply display the data in an interesting way. There are not conflicting view points in the article because it really is not an opinion piece at all, it simply states the information about the lifting of the restrictions on the swine flu vaccination. 

I think this article is highly informative and it is also really cool because in October we did a whole unit on the swine flu in class. When we talked about the swine flu and the vaccination in class we learned about the restrictions that were placed on it but it is cool how only two months later, I am now reading in the news paper about how those restrictions no longer exist in Massachusetts. I am very glad the ban has been lifted and now anyone who wants the vaccine can have it. 

Here's the link to the article: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/12/18/h1n1_vaccine_restrictions_lifted/

Another Step Closer to Getting Rid of Cholera

The article I read was “From Square 1 to Peru-15: The Pursuit of a Cholera Vaccine”. It was posted on the Harvard Medical School website by Pat McCaffrey (and can be found at http://scienceprogress.hms.harvard.edu/peru15.html). Cholera is described as a worldwide and fast changing global disease but is especially prevalent in third world countries. There is estimated to be 1 million cases and 20,000 deaths per year. The main focus of the article though is creating a vaccine to combat it. Luckily, a team of scientists headed by John Mekalanos has discovered one vaccine, Peru-15, to protect against the “El Tor” strain in South America. First they removed the two toxins that allow the bacteria to do damage. They added “safety features” to make sure that the vaccine couldn’t regain the toxins. In order to accomplish this they deleted the insertion site and an enzyme. To replace the enzyme they added one of the toxins back in because it raises an immune response. Scientists plan to continue finding vaccines for different strains by altering the one they already have. They also hope to use derivatives of the vaccine to find others for organisms such as anthrax and West Nile Virus.
Pat McCaffrey writes about this advancement in a positive and hopeful way. He seems to support the scientists’ efforts to do more with the Peru-15 vaccine. This is shown in the way he describes their cause “The stage is now set for a large-scale trial to test the vaccine, known as Peru-15, to prevent the seasonal flare-ups of life-threatening diarrhea that dog the poor in Bangladesh and other regions of the developing world.” Although there doesn’t seem to be an author bio, I think it is a reliable article because it is being put on the website of a prestigious school, Harvard Medical School. Additionally the content of the article relates to what the school is all about. The author provides enough detail for it to be true and also has a quote from Mekalanos at the end of his article. In my opinion, the article is very informative and convincing.
Numerous aspects of the article relate to what we have learned in class. When describing how cholera works and what scientists did to find a vaccine, the different parts of bacteria are mentioned. Toxins are big in allowing the cholera virus to work and damage the intestine. Both of these we learned in our last unit, Microbiology. We have also talked briefly about cholera which is the main disease of the article. I think this is a good article for anyone who wants to know about cholera in modern times and what is being done to combat it.

Legislation for E. Coli Testing

The article "Senate Bill Would Require E. Coli Testing" was written November 18, 2009 by Michael Moss. It talked about how Senator Kristen Gillibrand wants to pass a legislation to require all companies to test for a deadly E. coli strain before it is packaged and sent out. The bill is called the E. Coli Eradication Act of 2009 and is mainly aimed towards slaughterhouses not testing trimmings before they are mixed, which makes it harder to trace it back once it's mixed. Although some companies test their mean upon arrival most places expect that the slaughterhouse that the meat is coming from to already have tested it and not send bad meat.

Some slaughterhouses are beginning to refuse the sale of meat to companies that will test the trimmings. They have also began to not test out their products as well resulting in more people getting infected. This legislation that they want to pass would increase the price of producing the beef by 1 cent per pound. But the testing had been proved that it had prevented infected meat to being dispersed in school which would be feed to most of the students. There has been 36 different trimmings that were tested and found to have E. coli and in every case they were required to go and find the exact cause for contamination and had to find ways to prevent it. Recently the American Meat Institute has said that this legislation would cause unnecessary repetitive actions because slaughterhouses have been making their own checks routinely however many other companies have stated an interest in conducting more checks.

AIDS Funding to Be Reallocated

The article “Obama Is Criticized on AIDS Program,” which appeared in the New York Times on December 8, 2009, reports on AIDS advocates’ angry reactions to the current administration scaling back its program to distribute antiretroviral medications. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, also known as Pepfar, has put 2.4 million people on the drugs since President Bush established it in 2004, at a rate of about 500,000 people a year. A new “Five Year Strategy,” introduced on December 1st, makes a goal of putting an additional 1.6 million on antiretrovirals by 2014, at a rate of 320,000 a year. The administration is channeling funds no longer purchasing the expensive medications into buying cheaper goods that will fight diseases like pneumonia, diarrheal diseases, and malaria. Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel, an adviser to the Office of Budget and Management, proposed this idea of saving more lives with less money in his November 2008 paper “U.S. Health Aid beyond Pepfar.” Emanuel’s paper evidently held greater sway than an open letter to President Obama written by dozens of medical school presidents and deans, urging expansion of AIDS treatment as the pandemic continues to infect more people. At this time, the World Health Organization estimates that about 14 million people worldwide are in need of antiretroviral drugs; Pepfar and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria pay for the treatment of about 4 million of these.

Donald G. McNeil Jr. is a science and health correspondent for the New York Times. He specializes in reporting on disease, and he has won awards for two article series about AIDS in Africa. In this article, he balances quotes from Dr. Emanuel and Dr. Eric Goosby, chief of Pepfar, with the opinions of Dr. Martin J. Blaser, one of the signers of the open letter to Obama, and Chris Collins, director of an AIDS research foundation. For sources, McNeil cites World Health Organization policies and the “Five Year Strategy” released by Pepfar. Actually, McNeil’s greatest bias is against this new plan, which, he says, “is nearly silent on several controversial issues: how much Pepfar will emphasize abstinence, whether and how it will get condoms to patients of the many missionary hospitals that refuse to issue them…and whether it will cut off countries that criminalize homosexual sex.” Though McNeil betrays his poor opinion of the plan’s definition, the article is largely balanced, highly informative, and very convincing.

The article left me a bit conflicted. It reminded me of the “Epidemic Scorecard” we saw earlier this year; as Emanuel did in his paper, it gave AIDS a lower priority than malaria, diarrheal diseases and tuberculosis. Unlike the scorecard, however, this article encouraged me: I had not previously known about the existence of Pepfar or the Global Fund. The two are taking a stand against AIDS, and will not suffer too much if some of Pepfar’s funding goes to fighting other epidemics. Any progress against disease is good; unfortunately, it’s also wildly expensive, costing billions of dollars. In choosing an article for this review, I passed over one that pointed out that countries are maintaining their space programs while their people die of disease. As much as I believe that space exploration is important to expanding our understanding of the universe, I think that governments worldwide might do well to take a break from their telescopes and look after their people.

Discovery of MicroRNA

The article "RNA Revolution" written by Gary Taubes, was published in October of 2009 by Discover magazine. This article talks about the discovery of MicroRNA and what effect it has on the human body. MicroRNA was first discovered by researchers working at M.I.T back in the 1970's. A researcher named Victor Ambros was observing the growth and development of a type of microscopic worm called Caenorhabditis elegans. Ambros was trying to find a defective gene responsible for the worms growing so rapidly. As it turned out, the gene coded was acutally a tiny snippet of RNA, which is known as microRNA. The RNA molecule was so small it was hard to imagine its having any function whatsoever. Also, the equipment used back in the 1970's is far less advanced than some of the equipment used today. This microRNA was later dismissed as "junk RNA" to show that it had virtually no effect in the human body. It wasn't until 2001 when Ambros discovered the actual complexity of MicroRNA which he observed 30 years in the past. Part of what was considered mysterious junk RNA is actually transcribed by the machinery in our cells into bits of RNA. These MicroRNA molecules have been linked to heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and virtually every disease.
The author of this article is trying to prove the point of how significant MicroRNA is realistically, and not what it was once believed to be back in the 1970's. He does an excellent job explaining Ambros work in general, and how microRNA is the main idea of the entire article. The author also uses a few quotes which helps the reader understand better. For example he uses this quote."100 percent of everything that goes on in the body is linked to MicroRNA," says Thomas Cech, a biochemist at the University of Colorado. His overall idea is positive towards Ambros, and he does a good job explaining his points. There are no other viewpoints besides the opinions and facts stated by Taubes.Everything seems to flow well throughout the article, which shows that it was well balanced. For example, the author first brings up the worms, rather than immediately jumping into what MicroRNA is.
In my opinion, it helps get me interested before I continue reading the rest. This article is completely relevent to what we are currently learning in Epidemic Disease at the moment. All of this information is connected to microbiology, and the study of RNA. I feel the author did very well explaining all of his information, and following up with quotes, findings, etc. Overall, I would reccommend reading this article by Discover Magazine, simply because it was very interesting to read about.

Vaccines for Cattle Being Tested

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/business/04vaccine.html?pagewanted=1&sq&st=nyt&scp=51

The article, “After Delays, a Vaccine Is Tested in Fight Against Tainted Beef”, by William Neuman, was published in the New York Times on December 4, 2009. The article talks about new vaccines being made for animals that will hopefully eliminate the harmful strand of E. coli that is present in them. One man named Jason Timmerman, from Holyoke, Colorado, took part in a test “to see whether animal vaccines are an answer to one of the nation’s most persistent food-safety problems.” This test had been waiting to happen for years but there were “bureaucratic delays in Washington” that resulted a delay in the vaccines, even as were becoming sick and dying from contaminated meat. Scientists believed that vaccines would not completely wipe out the strand of dangerous E. coli, 0157:H7, but if they did work, the amount of harmful bacteria in cattle would decrease greatly. Across the country each year, there have been about 73,000 illnesses and 61 deaths as a result of the dangerous strand of E. coli. Vaccines were developed, but they were not approved at first. In 2003, the Agriculture Department was unable to approve the vaccines for the cattle because they had the authority to approve vaccines for animal health, and the cattle did not get sick because of the E. coli. After questioning these vaccines, the Epitopix vaccine was finally approved. Vaccines for cattle are just part of a complete solution to the E. coli problem. It is somewhat expensive to administer the vaccine to the animals and farmers and feedlot owners fear being stuck with the cost.

William Neuman seems to be a reliable author as he has written numerous articles for the New York Times. He remains unbiased throughout the articlea as he is simply just stating a way to try to deal with the food poisoning caused by E. coli. He talks about the benefits of using the vaccine and also talks about how it may be a problem, with cost, for example. The author provides a lot of facutal material to help support his ideas. He has quoted various people including a manager of a packing plant and he also provides statistics.

I found this article to be very nteresting and relavant, as we have recently talked about E. coli in class. We have learned about E. coli causing food poisoning and how 0157:H7 is a dangerous strand of it. I think this article was very informative and it is good to hear how people are acting on this problem with E. coli and trying to do what they can to eliminate the harmful bacteria. Hopefully the vaccines will reduce a significant amount of the bacteria within the cattle as hoped. I believe these vaccines for the cattle are a great start in helping eliminate E. coli and food poisoning and even if it may not work on its own, it can definately help.

Swine Flu: The Numbers and Facts

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/health/11flu.html?scp=7&sq=h1n1&st=cse

The article “Swine Flu Death Toll at 10,000 Since April” by Donald G. McNeil Jr. was published on December 10, 2009 by the New York Times. The article pertains to the “swine flu,” also known as h1n1, and how the number of deaths has been more than the 4,000 the CDC had previously estimated in mid-October. It is informative because it gives us the actual numbers and the facts rather than rates or predictions; “Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, agreed that trying to guess how many would die by spring was “calling the score at halftime.”” This particular article pertains to the disease nationally although the disease does effect people world-wide. The impact of the disease and how many people have been and will be affected by it is clearly stated by Osterholm in the article, “So the C.D.C. says 50 million have been infected so far,” he said. “Another 50 million have been vaccinated. And maybe 20 million have got innate immunity because of their age. You do the math — that’s 120 million who are immune out of 320 million, so two-thirds of the population is still not immune. It’s amazing how many people are acting as if this is all wrapped up. The numbers could still go up dramatically.”
The author of this article is trying to get across that the numbers are still rising and people are almost not realizing how this is still going to have a major effect on the population, which includes themselves. He has given us a comparison in numbers from the deaths of the swine flu and also the regular flu, which in a 2003 study, is known to be 36,000. The author is unbiased for he is only giving out the facts and his article isn’t opinionated. “How many will ultimately die of the H1N1 flu depends heavily on whether there is a third wave in January, as happened in the 1918 and 1957 pandemics, and on whether the virus changes to be more lethal or drug-resistant.”, this shows that the results are dependent on what actually happens and that’s what he believes. He isn’t jumping to any conclusions or making any predictions. He seems pretty neutral throughout the article; he isn’t being negative about the effects of the flu, although the results themselves are negative. The author, Donald G. McNeil is a reliable source; there is a link that can be followed on the page that the article is found on that tells us that he is a science and health reporter specializing in plagues and pestilences, what types of plagues he has covered, about his background, awards he has won, and when he joined the New York Times. The author also provides different quotes and statistics throughout his article from, the director of the CDC, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, Lone Simonsen of George Washington University’s School of Public Health, Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Arnold S. Monto, a flu expert at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and Dr. Beth P. Bell, associate director of science in the respiratory disease division of the disease control agency. These sources aren’t really different in their viewpoint because they are all suggesting the dangers and facts of the swine flu and the effect that is has had and will have on the United States. I believe that the article is very informative and reliable and also provides you with reliable resources that convince you that this is real and happening.
The connection made between this article and the History of Epidemic Disease class is that the swine flu is infecting people throughout the country and that it comes in waves, or ‘phases’. I can also make a connection to this article because I am one of the 50 million people that have been vaccinated. I think the article is informative and brings you to reality and causes you to believe the information given because it isn’t just thrown out to you; the author presented a handful of reliable resources in the information throughout the article.

Cholera is Obsolete. Or Is It?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/world/africa/05kenya.html

This article, “Cholera Epidemic Infects Thousands in Kenya,” by Jeffrey Gettleman was provided by the New York Times on December 4, 2009 and discusses the recent outbreak of Cholera in Kenya. In the month of November alone, there were nearly 5,000 cases of Cholera and over 100 deaths due to the disease reported throughout the African nation of Kenya. The Kenyan government does not hesitate to label the current outbreak as “one of the worst outbreaks in a decade.” Cholera, a disease that is unfamiliar to many Americans due to its low infection rate in developed nations, is generally spread by water that is contaminated with bacteria. Recently, Kenya has been suffering crippling draughts, forcing its people to drink this polluted water as their only chance at survival. As a result, the highly contagious intestinal infection is sweeping Kenya at an alarming rate.

The author of this article appears to think that it is a shame that people are dying of Cholera, a fairly preventable disease, in the 21^st Century. Gettlemen thinks that the Kenyan government needs to be more involved in the affairs of its people, “The ministry says it urgently needs $7.5 million for medicine and testing kits. Still, many people have complained that the government has responded too slowly.” The author chooses this quote to show his belief that there are ways to prevent the rapid spread of Cholera in this day and age. Gettlemen goes on to quote an editorial from a Kenyan newspaper to show that others agree that precautionary measures can and should be taken to prevent Cholera. Gettlemen is currently the East Africa bureau chief of the New York Times, Kenya being one of his most studies nations. Prior to his post at the New York Times, he held positions with the Los Angeles Times and the St. Petersburg Times. The author provides an adequate amount of information, as he gives mortality and morbidity rates, as well as a direct quote from a Kenyan newspaper. The article is certainly informative, and gets the point across quickly and coherently.

In Epi-D, we discussed the spread of disease as well as its globalization. We talked about water being a major mode of transmission of disease, since everyone needs water for survival and many pathogens call it home if it is not clean. We also discussed morbidity and mortality rates in class, and both are provided in the article. I find this article shocking, as many Americans tend to forget about the threat and reality of Cholera, as most Americans have access to clean water. However, looking back to the Epidemic Scorecard we received in class, Diarrheal Diseases (including cholera) make up an alarmingly large portion of the card, indicating their global threat to human health. I think it is important to remember that even though a disease, such as Cholera, may not have existed in epidemic form in American for hundreds of years, chances are that it still affects people elsewhere in the world.

Nurses oppose Swine Flu Vaccination

The article I selected is called "Albany Judge Blocks Vaccination Rule" and it was from the New York Times on October 16 2009. The authors are Anemona Hartocollis and Sewell Chan. The article deals with a case in Albany, New York where Dr. Richard F. Daines, the state's health comissioner had required all of the people working in the hospital to receive the vaccination for swine flu. In his official order he insinuated that those who didn't receive the vaccine would be fired. Some disgruntled employees, three nurses in particular, refused to be vaccinated and brought their complaint to court where Justice Thomas J. McNamara suspended Dr. Daines' order. The nurses are now waiting to take the trial to yet another court. This is a local example of something that is happening on a national scale. Although this article is about Albany, NY there are examples of this happening across the country. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/17/nyregion/17vaccine.html

The authors of this article remain very unbaised throughout. They give mainly facts and seem to be giving the opinions of each side of the argument. Anemona Hartocollis has written numerous articles for the New York Times pertaining to health issues, specifically disease. Sewell Chan is also qualified to write about this topic having worked for the Times for five years and being the bureau chief of the newspapers online blog. I think that they do a good job of characterizing the nurses. Ecpecially with the use of this quote which I believe sums up how they are feeling about the "forced" vaccination.

“These three women are not saying, ‘We don’t want to be vaccinated,’ ” Mr. Kindlon said. “They’re saying: ‘We don’t need this vaccination. We don’t think, for any number of reasons, it’s effective or necessary. It might be harmful to us. It hasn’t been adequately tested.’ ”

I agree with what they are saying for a few reasons. I do agree that someone shouldn't be forced to get a vaccination under a threat of losing their job escpecially during such a difficult economic time. I also think that it isn't fair escpecially if the hospital has pregnant employees who don't feel it is safe or anyone with a health condition. There is a good amount of evidence that the vaccine may have been made in a hurry and it's not fair or ethical to force people to put something into their body that they don't believe should be there.

Prevention of HIV/AIDS in South Africa

The article "South Africa to treat all HIV-positive babies" was written by Donna Bryson on Tuesday December 1, 2009 for the "Seattle Times" newspaper. The article touches base on an international problem of HIV/AIDS and if the South Africa goes through with the planned treatments for those with HIV then hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved. South African President Jacob Zuma has described a plan for South Africa which will treat all HIV-infected pregnant women and babies earlier in order to increase child survival rate; which has worsened since 1990, partially due to HIV/AIDS. Zuma plans to give these pregnant women preventative drugs earlier and while breast-feeding. He also plans on giving treatment to all HIV positive babies under the age of 1, regardless of their CD4 count. Finally, patients infected with both tuberculosis and HIV will be able to receive treatment if their CD4 count is 350 or lower, compared now to a CD4 count of 200, patients will be getting treatment sooner. In his speech, Zuma said that these plans are intended to begin in April of 2010.

Throughout the article the author is supportive of both Zuma and his plan to help save the lives of many HIV/AIDS infected patients. For example, Bryson writes "President Jacob Zuma - once ridiculed for saying a shower could prevent AIDS - was cheered as he outlined the measures on World AIDS Day." This shows that he is supportive and has a positive attitude towards Zuma and his plan because he agrees with those who cheered on Zuma throughout his speech. The author of this article is Donna Bryson who has written articles in many well-known newspapers across the globe. Bryson does in fact provide a lot of factual information. There is use of quotes from Zuma's speech, quotes from witnesses [ Setjhaba Ranthako and daughter] who were there when Zuma gave his speech and also numbers for those infected with HIV/AIDS in South Africa are provided. The sources in this article are President Jacob Zuma, Setjhaba Ranthako, Michel Sidibe and Mark Heywood. Overall, this article was extremely informative.

Something heavily mentioned in this article that has also been discussed in class is prevention. In order to avoid an infectious disease prevention is necessary. Also, something else that I have learned is that HIV/AIDS is a very serious, deadly disease that should not be taken lightly. To protect oneself from getting HIV/AIDS one must be smart about the decisions they make. All in all, I thought this was an excellent article. I believe that the plan set in place by Zuma is a very good one and I also believe that this article touches upon all points made in Zuma's speech. Also, it reiterates the fact that one must be smart about HIV/AIDS.

Blogging about Disease in the News

Infectious disease is part of the human experience. Even outside of the H1N1 flu season, disease would still be the subject of frequent newspaper articles. Keep an eye on our blog to view student reviews of news articles about epidemic disease. See our class edline page for more information about this assignment.

Working with Photostory: A Trial Run

As our class is working on creating public service announcements about the H1N1 flu using Microsoft Photostory3 here is an example of a photostory. Check back in soon for some student examples.

“Those Days Will Forever Be Remembered:” The Influenza Tent Hospital in Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1918

What's a Blog Anyway?

Check out this great video for an explanation of what a blog is and how blogging works:

The Study of Disease

"Epidemics have often been more influential than statesmen and soldiers in shaping the course of history, diseases may also color the moods of civilizations." - René Dubos and Jean Dubos

(In this photograph influenza victims crowd an emergency hospital at Fort Riley, Kansas (1918). The 1918 flu, which is believed to have originated in Kansas, killed an estimated 40 million to 50 million people worldwide.) (AP Photo/National Museum
of Health and Medicine, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology)


Welcome to our class blog! New to RMHS for the 2009-2010 school year is an elective course titled "The History of Epidemic Disease: The Black Death to the Swine Flu." This space will be used to communicate information about the class, display student projects, post student website and newspaper article reviews, and share photographs and media about epidemic disease.

Be sure to check back in soon!