Editorial: This is a final post in the current vaccine series. In 1798 Edward Jenner in Britain demonstrated that vaccination with cowpox was a safer way to confer immunity to smallpox than variolation with smallpox. It quickly spread. In Britain, variolation was banned in favor of vaccination in 1840. In 1853, vaccinations were made compulsory with fines for refusal. … [Read more...] about The First Vaccine Wars
File under Phile: Anecdotes are not Science
Editorial Note: The Post-Truth Rumorology post attracted a comment by Annie that deserves featuring. She cites a really good Daily Mail article in which Melinda Messenger talks about intervening when her daughter is scheduled to have the HPV vaccine. The DM article drew this response from Dr. David Robert Grimes - a physicist at the University of Oxford - "Mothers should … [Read more...] about File under Phile: Anecdotes are not Science
Post-Truth Rumorology?
Stopping the spread of Japan’s antivaccine panic Following the post last week on MedWatcher Japan's efforts to bring the issue of HPV vaccines to light, my attention was drawn to a recent Wall Street Journal article which stated: “Japanese women’s health is increasingly at risk as public-health policy is driven by conspiracy theories, misguided political interference and … [Read more...] about Post-Truth Rumorology?
When the going gets tough, get a woman
64 women to sue in 3 Japanese courts over health woes from cervical cancer vaccines A group of lawyers for 64 women who are suffering health problems from cervical cancer vaccines said Tuesday the victims will file damages lawsuits against the government and two drug makers that produced the vaccines through four district courts on July 27. Of the 64 women, 28 will lodge … [Read more...] about When the going gets tough, get a woman
Go Figure: Where Does All the Pain Come From?
Editorial Note: This anonymous comment featured toward the end of the Murder or Accident post. It seemed worth transforming into a post in its own right. In the week of the US vote, a key question facing voters is where does all the pain come from. A colleague and I gave a talk to family docs this year and we discussed the opioid epidemic, including the 1% risk of addiction … [Read more...] about Go Figure: Where Does All the Pain Come From?
Study 329 Trick, Treat or Treximet
The plan this morning was to continue coverage of the Opioid Epidemic but perhaps because it is Halloween a link to a Wall Street Journal story on how Drug Makers Turn Cheap Generics into Expensive Pills arrived by email. It was difficult to resist. Here's why. The article features Treximet, a combination of sumatriptan and naproxen, used for migraine. These two drugs are … [Read more...] about Study 329 Trick, Treat or Treximet
Go Figure: Murder or Accident?
Harold Shipman was a doctor in Britain, who was arrested for murder in 1998. He turned out to be a true Angel of Death, the most prolific known serial killer, who killed it is thought between two and three hundred of his patients by prescribing opioids in large doses. After his trial and conviction and jailing, he committed suicide in jail with no-one any the wiser as to why … [Read more...] about Go Figure: Murder or Accident?
Go Figure: Study 329
Editorial Note: This post merges the Go Figure sequence of posts from several weeks ago with the 329 series. In the wake of the French Revolution of 1968, the government was still tottering when on February 4 1970, sixteen miners died with twelve others maimed in an explosion at a mine in Lens in France. The mine owners pitched the event as an accident. It didn’t help their … [Read more...] about Go Figure: Study 329
Study 329 Taper Phase
Editorial Note: It was tempting not to run a post today for fear it might get lost in the wash of the Clinton-Trump debate. But today is the fourteenth anniversary of the day FDA issued an approvable letter for Paxil for children, as well as the fifty-fourth anniversary of the 1962 FDA Act that created the playing field on which Study 329 happened. It's also World Mental Health … [Read more...] about Study 329 Taper Phase
Study 329 Continuation Phase
Editorial: We interrupt the Go Figure series of posts to return for two posts to Study 329. We will then return to Go Figure. All the fuss about Study 329 centers on its 8 week acute phase. But this study had a 24 week Continuation Phase that has never been published. Until Now. We might have Marty Keller to thank for this Continuation Phase. His big deal was the long term … [Read more...] about Study 329 Continuation Phase