Enterovirus D68 sickens more than a dozen in New York

May I suggest you read post 37 again?

MD is not “ruling out” immigration as a cause of this outbreak. He is merely pointing out that at this point there is no evidence that it is a cause, a very different statement. I assume that when some evidence is discovered, he’ll be happy to note it and modify his position accordingly.

This is the scientific method in action. One notes the correlation in time between two events, but cannot assume a connection or causation between the two until other evidence is found.

IOW, correlation does not mean causation. Assuming it does is the post hoc ergo propter hoc logical fallacy. That B occurs after A does not necessarily mean A caused B. It could have, but other possibilities also exist.

I’m defending nobody. I’m merely pointing out that neither you nor anybody else has presented evidence of a connection. Epidemiology traces those connections.

If you have evidence, post it and I’ll cheerfully change my opinion.

I have noticed recently a repeating theme on FR. Post something negative about liberals, Obama, the media, etc. but without any real supporting evidence.

Ask to see the evidence that supports the accusation, and you are yourself accused of “supporting” liberals, Obama, the media, etc.

To my mind, there is absolutely nothing more properly conservative than refusing to make (or believe) accusations against others without sufficient supporting evidence to back it up.

Sorry, your maps don’t constitute evidence, much less proof.

The two states with by far the largest number of illegal “children” are TX and CA. Neither of which has reported any cases.

I am not a statistician, but one could run statistical analysis to determine the extent to which there is a correlation between number of illegal kids sent to a state and the number of cases of this illness in that state.

Should also be noted that the state level is far too low-res to mean much. Have the children contracting this disease actually come into contact with the illegal kids or is there some other plausible method of transmission from one group to the other? Presence within the same state isn’t really significant from an epidemiological standpoint.

Enterovirus 71 (EV-71) is causes hand, foot and mouth
disease (HFMD), and sometimes severe CNS breakdown,
associated with aseptic meningitis, encephalitis,
myocarditis, flaccid paralysis, and death
[e.g China 2008 32 dead for 30,000+ cases].

By contrast, EV-68 [aka EV-D68] infections
were previously less commonly than any other enteroviruses.
It was previously reported as “rare” in the USA over at 40
years. No more post Obama’s quarantine attack on America.
EV-D68 causes moderate to severe respiratory illness
requiring respirators. Too few cases have occurred
so far to understand the impact on other systems.

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1304923
Efficacy, Safety, and Immunogenicity of an Enterovirus 71 Vaccine in China

I am surprised that PA is not highlighted, as several SW PA school districts have had a return to school “flu” outbreak. It hit our family a week ago—healthy, athlete 17 y/o son complained of a headache Saturday afternoon; cough & congestion hit within hours, and he was running a temp Sunday & Monday (missed that one day of school). Absenteeism in the District was on some days early last week (and the end of the previous week) OVER 10 percent. Teachers out too (subs in).

I got it Tuesday. This week I have felt the sickest I have felt in many years, and still can’t shake the deep, yet dry, cough. Spent the afternoon looking for Coricidin HBP and it’s sold out locally along with many other OTC cough/cold meds. Something is “up” around here too.

Whatever we have around here, I just snarkily “thank” ThyphoidBarry for letting it into the country.

May I suggest you read post 37 again? MD is not “ruling out” immigration as a cause of this outbreak. He is merely pointing out that at this point there is no evidence that it is a cause, a very different statement. I assume that when some evidence is discovered, he’ll be happy to note it and modify his position accordingly.

Thank you Sherman Logan for reading my entire post and understanding that I wasn’t ruling out immigration as a “possible” cause of this outbreak of this particular and rather rare strain of an enterovirus. But jumping to the conclusion that illegal immigration is the ONE and the ONLY cause of this outbreak and that it is being purposely orchestrated by Obama for some nefarious reasons, absent any real evidence, makes, IMO, conservatives look stupid and ill informed and in the same league as the DUmmies who are still blaming every ill in the US and the World on Bush or that Regan purposely orchestrated the AIDs outbreak in order to kill off homos and blacks.

Of course should it be found with hard evidence that this particular strain of virus was brought in to the US by the recent influx of and the housing of illegal “children” across the country I would note it and modify my position. But the fact is has been present in the US since at least the early 1960’, that tells me that it is not a novel disease in the US, but one that previously only resulted in small outbreaks and milder illnesses over the years, ones that probably were just attributed to common cold outbreaks that we see every year, this time of year especially when kids go back to school.

Again, this virus makes most kids who get it, only mildly sick, similar to that of the common cold and doesn’t require any treatment except at home treatment, aspirin for any fever and aches, chicken soup and a little TLC. What makes this outbreak different from past outbreaks is that for kids who have asthma or other breathing disorders, it makes them very ill very quickly and requires in hospital breathing treatments and in some cases intubation and the large number of those in that category. But fortunately so far, no deaths have been reported (contrary to the flu which claims the lives of many hundreds of people every year; mostly the very young, the very elderly and those with underlying health issues.) But again I ask; why do so many kids in this country have asthma or allergies now days? I don’t know, don’t have an answer for that, but I think it is a question that needs to be looked at.

As I said previously, we could completely seal off our borders and stop all international travel into the US and it could still be possible for a virus already present in the population, in small pockets, one not previously causing anything but mild cold symptoms, to mutate into a virus that causes more serious illness. Viruses have the very nasty habit of mutating and doing exactly that and don’t necessarily need the help of illegal immigrants to do so. If that were the case, then one would, after getting the common cold or a flu virus one time, be immune to it forever and from never getting it again.

Diogenesis Re: your post 40

Your maps seem to contradict what you are saying. If this virus, EV-D68 was indeed introduced by illegal children coming into this country, I would expect that the first outbreaks of and the places with the highest number of reported cases would be in the states with the highest number of “unaccompanied children released to sponsors”, Texas, California, Louisiana, Florida and New Hampshire or in southern border states like California, New Mexico, and Arizona. Your maps not only don’t seem to support this, they seem to contradict it.

And just for clarification Sherman, I am a “she”, not a “he” and I am not a medical doctor nor have I ever claimed to be one, (the MD stands for Maryland in my screen name) but I’m very interested in science, but even being a woman, I am not prone to hysterics and I like facts over emotional knee jerk reactions, probably because I am a number cruncher with a lot of computer programming and IT experience by profession : ),

My apologies, madame, for assuming you were a guy. My use of the masculine pronoun was in the purely generic sense in which it reference a person of unknown gender. I realize this is considered to be a somewhat archaic use.

The problem is that we just don't have neuter singular pronouns in English. This leads to use of either some awkward assemblage such as he/she, the grammatically incorrect usage of plural pronouns, or a writer being accused of sexism simply for using correct English. I wish someone would devise a singular neuter pronoun and that it would gain general acceptance. As the title "Ms." has done. It eliminates the uncertainty of how to formally address a female whose marital status is unknown and thus removes several opportunities for giving unintentional offense. In common, I suspect, with most conservatives, I thought it was stupid when it was first proposed, but I have since decided it's a coinage for which we owe a genuine debt to feminists. :)

Like you I don't like it when people jump to conclusions based on limited or no evidence. It is a very human trait, one to which I have often fallen prey to myself. It is particularly difficult to resist when the evidence to which one leaps is one that "feels right." Of course, all that means is that it reinforces ones pre-existing worldview.

This is why, I believe, so many blacks and liberals leap to the conclusion that any black man killed by a white cop can only be the result of racism. It fits into and reinforces their worldview, on which they base their sense of personal moral superiority.

Then if and when evidence begins to come out that this is not what really happened, they reject the evidence because it does NOT fit into that worldview. Instead, the existence or disclosure of the evidence itself becomes "victim-blaming" or evidence of racism.

Conservatives do much the same, though with regard to different issues.

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