Posted on 10/13/2005 4:14:27 PM PDT by conservatrice
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Dr. Harry Hull, the state epidemiologist, said the cases do not pose a threat to the general public because most people have been vaccinated against polio (search) and are unlikely to have contact with Amish people. But he said he expects to find more infections within the Amish community because some of its members refuse immunizations on religious grounds. None of the children have shown any symptoms of the paralyzing disease. About one in 200 people who contract the polio virus suffer paralysis because of it; others typically rid themselves the virus after weeks or months. None of the four children had been vaccinated. Three are siblings; the fourth is a baby from another family. The infection came to light when the baby was hospitalized for various health problems and underwent tests. Authorities then began testing other members of the community for the virus. Officials would not identify the Amish community but said it consisted of 100 to 200 people.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Well polo is a horse sport.......
Speaking of hippy moms, nothing surprises me after seeing a fat slob of a mother letting her toddler and an infant play on the floor of her Florida home with a full-grown PYTHON on Fox last night. The baby proceeded to suck on the tail of the snake. If only intercourse had been a four-step process many of the world's problems would be solved.
Anybody else see a conflict here? I'm thinking proof of immunization against all serious contagious diseases should be a prerequisite for being admitted to a hospital. Hospitals are full of people with weakened immune systems, and the volume of people and stuff circulating around the whole place makes spread of infectious agents inevitable. Where do people who refuse to vaccinate their children on religious grounds, get off taking those children to a normal hospital when they get sick?
What's that movie about the Amish with Harrison Ford? Where do I go to sign up to live in the 19th century? But when it comes to a horrible disease like polio...the Amish do take advantage of modern medicine, don't they?
The movie was "WITNESS"
I've even heard one woman explain that when her child is older, she will let them make the decision whether they get vaxed or not.
Yes...they were liberals.
I grew up in Pittsburgh...I was born later, but many of my relatives participate in the early polio vaccine programs thru the University of Pittsburgh. I remember reading about the faith the parents had in the doctors (many of the parents were immigrants) who felt protecting their children against this disease was the most important thing in the world to them. An entire generation of school children, who attended the Pgh. Public schools in the mid 50s were the first to receive the vaccine. They even were honored on the 50th Anniversary of the Salk Vaccine (they are known as the Polio Pioneers).
Now, two generations later, polio can make a return because of beliefs of a very few.
I vax my children not just to protect their health but to also protect the health of the community.
Pertussis is pretty common again, as well. Not fatal in adults or older children, but it will make you quite miserable. It can be fatal in small children. :(
Muslims in Africa are refusing polio vaccinations because it is a "Jewish plot."
How many people even remember what an iron lung is? We are now hearing about possible quarantines if the Avian Flu hits...but in the first half of the last century it was common for families, streets, blocks to be quarantined for...polio. My late mother's sister died as a young girl from polio...my mother spoke of their neighbor (her best friend) being placed in an 'iron lung.' That is why so many parents in Pittsburgh in the fifties were willing to have their children receive the shot. The parents knew, first hand, of polio.
I remember being taken by my parents to the school gym where mass vaccinations were being performed. I was 5 years old and I didn't want to get a shot!
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