More cultural learnings from Colorado for make benefit glorious parents considering doing something equally nuts

I've got another list about my learnings from my single-parenting experience. Three kids. One parent. Not at home. For an entire summer. You do the math. Here are my next 10 mildly useful bits of information gleaned from our summer idyll:

1. If you buy a box of special "sugar bomb" cereal for your kids, they'll eat it once, then leave it untouched thereafter.

2. If the above occurs, you will find that you like "sugar bomb" cereal and will eat it when your kids won't.

3. If the above occurs, you will find that Kellogg's has instituted a recall of the "sugar bomb" cereal the one and only time you've ever bought it in your life. And eaten it.

4. We will not be buying any more "sugar bomb" cereal.

5. Where there's a big odd-looking cloud in the sky that wasn't there two hours earlier...

6. There's smoke. A lot of it.

7. And where there's smoke, there's fire. A 100+ acre forest fire, to be exact.

8. Where there's a forest fire, your children, some autistic and some not, will become convinced that you plan to drive directly toward and into the forest fire. You do not.

9. When you decide that it's finally time for your almost-four-year-old to give up the paci--yes, I said almost four--it's good to have a nearby gift shop that sells dino-grabbers with T. rex heads. These are good dino-for-paci bribes.

10. Dino-grabbers do not make good bedtime substitutes for pacis.

Waaaaah! I hold firm. But I'm considering a bribe with a "sugar bomb"...oh, nevermind.

On vaccine-derived polio viruses

[Note: the piece below is a reproduction of a post from my Complete Idiot's Blog for College Biology site.The above image is of an iron lung ward.]

Polio virus bits in vaccine rarely join forces with other viruses, become infectious

[Note: some of the links in this piece are to New England Journal of Medicine papers. NEJM does not make its content freely available, so unfortunately, unless you have academic or other access, you'd have to pay per view to read the information. I fervently support a world in which scientific data and information are freely available, but...money is money.]

Worldwide, billions of polio vaccine doses have been administered, stopping a disease scourge that before the vaccine killed people–mostly children–by the thousands in a horrible, suffocating death (see “A brief history of polio and its effects,” below). The polio vaccination campaign has been enormously successful, coming close to the edge of eradicating wild-type polio.

But, as with any huge success, there have been clear negatives. In a few countries–15, to be exact–there have been 14 outbreaks of polio that researchers have traced to the vaccines themselves. The total number of such cases as of 2009 was 383. The viral pieces in the vaccine–designed to attract an immune response without causing disease–occasionally recombine with other viruses to form an active version of the pathogen. Some kinds of viruses–flu viruses come to mind–can be notoriously tricky and agile that way.

Existing vaccine can prevent vaccine-related polio

Odd as it sounds, the existing vaccines can help prevent the spread of this vaccine-related form of polio. The recombined vaccine-related version tends to break out in populations that are underimmunized against the wild virus, as happened in Nigeria. Nigeria suspended its polio vaccination program in 2003 because rumors began to circulate that the vaccine was an anti-Muslim tactic intended to cause infertility. In 2009, the country experienced an outbreak of vaccine-derived virus, with at least 278 children affected. Experts have found that the existing vaccine can act against either the wild virus or the vaccine-derived form, both of which have equally severe effects. In other words, vaccinated children won't get either.

Goal is eradication of virus and need for vaccine

Having come so close to total eradication before wild-type-associated cases plateaued between 1000 and 2000 annually in the 21st century, global health officials hold out the hope for two primary goals. They hope to eradicate wild-type polio transmission through a complete vaccination program, which, in turn, will keep vaccine-derived forms from spreading. Once that goal is achieved, they will have reached the final target: no more need for a polio vaccine.

As Dr. Bruce Aylward, Director of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative at WHO, noted: ”These new findings suggest that if (vaccine-derived polio viruses) are allowed to circulate for a long enough time, eventually they can regain a similar capacity to spread and paralyse as wild polioviruses. This means that they should be subject to the same outbreak response measures as wild polioviruses. These results also underscore the need to eventually stop all (oral polio vaccine) use in routine immunization programmes after wild polioviruses have been eradicated, to ensure that all children are protected from all possible risks of polio in future.”

If that sounds nutty, it’s been done. Until the early 1970s, the smallpox vaccination was considered a routine vaccination. But smallpox was eradicated, and most people born after the early ’70s have never had to have the vaccine.

A brief history of polio and its effects

I bring you the following history of polio, paraphrased from information I received from a physician friend of mine who works in critical care:

The original polio virus outbreaks occurred before the modern intensive care unit had been invented and before mechanical ventilators were widely available. In 1947-1948, the polio epidemic raged through Europe and the United States, with many thousands of patients dying a horrible death due to respiratory paralysis. Slow asphyxiation is one of the worst ways to die, which is precisely why they simulate suffocation in torture methods such as water boarding. The sensation is unendurable.

In the early twentieth-century polio epidemics, they put breathing tubes down the throats of patients who were asphyxiating due to the respiratory paralysis caused by the polio virus. Because ventilators were unavailable, armies of medical students provided the mechanical respiratory assist to the patients by hand-squeezing a bag which was connected to the breathing tube, over and over and over, 16 times a minute, 24 hours each day, which drove air in and out of the patients’ lungs. Eventually the iron lung was developed and became widely implemented to manage polio outbreaks. The iron lung subsequently gave way to the modern ventilator, which is another story.

Gorski under attack

There's some kind of a saying related to attacking the person when you've run out of ammunition against the issue. Age of Autism has become stellar, at least, in this practice. Given their utter absence of actual scientific ammunition, I infer that their only recourse is to attack people. They've called Amy Wallace a whore. They've blasted Paul Offit for any personal reason they can find. You'd think that was far enough, right? Well, this time, they've managed to go even farther. There appears to be no low to which they will refuse to stoop.

They don't like David Gorski. Why would they? He trumps them at every turn with scathing critiques using actual scientific data. Must be painful. Not content with being mere losers, AoA has retaliated by attacking not only Gorski himself, but also his career. Yes, they've gone after a man whose primary daily practice is, oh, curing cancer.

I'll leave it to you to find the AoA piece in question. I don't link to AoA. They're zealots and fanatics who feed off of any kind of publicity, and I don't link to people whose only reason for existence is as fanatical Internet trolls with an online "newspaper." What I do have to offer, though, is the following letter I wrote to some of the powers that be at his research institution. Why? Because apparently, the zealots at AoA, in their quest to ruin the career of someone who actually does something useful with his life, has contacted these powers that be and made false accusations against Gorski. Yes, in addition to working their hardest to "erode confidence in the cornerstone of healthcare, THE CHILDHOOD VACCINE PROGRAM" and ensure the deaths and disability of numerous children, they'd also like to see women continue to die of breast cancer. Gorski has developed his usual weighty and unassailable response to this stupidity, and to that, I will link.

Below, my letter:

It has come to my attention that a group of anti-vaccination fanatics has attacked Dr. David Gorski on its radical anti-vaccination mouthpiece Website and, in an effort to ruin his career, has also contacted you regarding his "ties" to pharmaceutical companies and made specific false allegations about him. They are clearly attacking the person instead of the perceived problem here because they have suffered a series of devastating blows to their movement and theories in recent weeks. I would like to add in this letter my full support for Dr. Gorski and his tireless efforts on behalf of science and public health in debunking each salvo from misinformed and fanatical anti-vaccination groups.

As you may be aware, the anti-vaccination movement found its beginnings in a now-retracted paper headed by Andrew Wakefield, who recently had his medical license yanked by the governing body in Britain for "callous disregard" in his practices, including striking failures to note conflicts of interest in his published papers. He has a small but vocal group of followers who are fanatical both about him and in their belief that vaccinations underlie a multitude of problems, including autism. They are convinced that Dr. Wakefield is a man persecuted by a large group of conspirators involving "Big Pharma," most practicing researchers and physicians, the CDC, the WHO, peer-reviewed scientific journal editors and reviewers, and medical governing bodies, and to them, Dr. Gorski is part of this conspiracy.

His work as a blogger on behalf of healthy skepticism and as a debunker of pseudoscience--especially dangerous pseudoscience that broadly threatens public health--has been invaluable to the scientific community and to those who seek rational information rather than fear mongering. In addition, he is, of course, a practicing researcher in the breast cancer field whose work could save lives. As a PhD biologist with broad research experience, I can only express my strongest support for his endeavors. He has posted on his blog a response to the accusations made against him, and I urge you to review it here: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=5627. I also urge you to please give as little weight as possible to any communications from this small band of fanatics that is systematically trying to undermine Dr. Gorski's professional work and livelihood simply because he uses science to disagree with them.

Emily Willingham, Ph.D.

Single parenting for summer, Part 1

Ten mildly useful things I've learned so far:

1. A grown woman can pee in a cup in her car in a parking lot full of people as long as the people are all otherwise occupied looking for bighorn sheep.

2. A 9-year-old boy can pee in a small water bottle in a parking lot full of people, but it's best to put a towel under him.

3. If you hike in a skirt, you can pee standing up, even if you're female.

4. No matter how high or how low that rock is, your children will climb it and then fall off of it.

5. No matter how nicely maintained that trail is, your children will trip and fall on it, drawing blood somewhere.

6. Boys really like to build "islands" when they get anywhere near water, no matter how cold that water is.

7. Little white boys sunburn on the backs of their legs, too.

8. Moose are really big.

9. There truly are times when you're relieved to see a chemical toilet come into view.

10. Hot dogs that are black on the outside are still edible. Hot dogs that are black on the inside, not so much. The same seems to apply to marshmallows.

These are the tidbits of wisdom I've gleaned from three weeks of solo parenting that have involved approximately 15 outdoor dining experiences, 12 hikes, 10 knee injuries, 1102 instances of trail whining, one freezing midnight pee trip in a campground with a seven-year-old, one moose cow with a calf, and endless miles and hours of memories made. More to come, I'm sure.

Is a little knowledge a dangerous thing?

In the previously mentioned AoA Dachel piece, Dachel provides a list of vaccine-related events that she says she has extracted from a book by Dr. Mayer Eisenstein. Quoth she, "Every vaccine that Dr. Eisenstein writes about has a long list of VAERS reports. These are a few examples..."

Curious about the backgrounds of these cases and the years that they had occurred, I turned to the ever-handy "National" Vaccine Information Center. Not normally one of my favorite hangouts, but they do have a searchable database of VAERS information, including the option to search by case number. So, I did--and thanks, NVIC!

VAERS maintains a variable amount of detail for each case but usually at least provides the date of the vaccination and onset of the reported event and some medical detail that can include pre-existing condition information, case notes, and outcomes. Below, I have elaborated on the list Dachel provided by pasting information from this database for each case she listed; Dachel's info is in boldface, my pasted info is in red, and the year of the event is in parentheses. I leave interpretation to the reader. Caveat: Reading about these cases of children, often with already terrible pre-existing conditions, suffering and sometimes dying is difficult.

What is my point? Only that it helps with decision making to have as many relevant facts as possible in-hand. At least, that's what I think. Reading a laundry list of death and suffering that had an onset following vaccines can echo around your mind's chambers of fear, but an understanding of some of the other information might pad those walls a bit for you. Why do we need padded walls against fear? Because, as many can amply demonstrate, fear makes you crazy.

Flu Vaccine:
#298905: A 6-month-old boy received a flu shot and collapsed while eating breakfast the next day. He was rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead.

(2007) Had current URI. Also Preexisting Conditions: Pulmonary atresia s/p VP shunt/HIV exposure PMH: chronic hypoxia. Had cardiac cath done 11/20/07.

#295043: A 2-year-old boy received a flu shot and died two hours later.

(2007) This child was in a program. He had a multitude of diagnoses and problems including interrupted development of white matter of the brain, seizures, arthryogryposis of CNS origin, cyanotic spells, apneic events, problems with thermoregulation, reflux, aspiration. He had a pacemaker implanted about a year ago and had been doing much better since then.

#330148: A 10-month-old boy received a flu shot and died the next day.

(2008) Per pathologist unsure of cause of death at this time, lab work being done ? SIDs, also noted no erythemia or swelling at injection site.

#232179: A 20-month-old boy received a flu vaccine and was found dead in the early morning about 16-20 hours after the flu vaccine. The autopsy report stated SIDS.

(2005) Child was found dead early AM about 16-20 hours after the flu vaccine second dose 0.25ml. Child was fine when went to bed. Happy playful and no respiratory difficulty. Autopsy report received on 2/16/2005 states SIDS.

Polio (IPV) Vaccine:

#112738: A 4-month-old girl received IPV, fell asleep and upon waking "had a sick sounding cry and did not have control of facial muscles." Her face was drooping and she could not smile.

(1997) pt fell asleep p/vax upon awakening had a sick sounding cry & did not have control of facial muscles, face was drooping & could not smile, & was not as alert as usual;this lasted for about 20min probably a sz; Recovered? Yes

#160203: A 4-month-old girl received IPV, had cardiac arrest and died the following day.

(2000) The pt was brought into the ER in full cardio respiratory arrest. Autopsy states cause of death as hypernatremia (NB from me: usually, this really indicates dehydration).

#209102: A one-year-old boy received his third dose of IPV and later that day started having seizures. He was rushed to the hospital and intubated. The child was transferred to the pediatric intensive care unit for additional treatment.

(2003) Patient received 3rd dose of IPV. Later that day (around 4pm), patient was noted to be febrile and started seizing...EMS was called patient taken to ER patient seized for approximately 45 minutes (being intubated in the process) before control was achieved. Ptatient transferred to Peds ICU for further management and treatment. The hospital discharge summary received on 1/20/04 confirms seizure, fever. Recovered? Yes

#234886: A 5-year-old girl received the IPV and one week later developed polydipsia and polyuria (excessive thirst and urination). She was subsequently diagnosed with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, hyperglycemia, and immune disorder.

(2004) Case initially received on 3/3/05. Case reported by HA. It was reported that a 5.5 year old girl was vaccinated with her first dose of inactivated polio vaccine into the buttock on 11/29/04. At the end of the first week of December 2004, she showed tiredness, polydipsia, and polyuria, duration and outcome not reported. On 12/25/04,. she became somnolent, was desiccated and had a keotacidotic fetor ex ore, skin and mucosa was dry. Blood glucose level was 489mg%. Insulin therapy was started, the child was not hospitalized because of Christmas holiday. The situation was considered to be life-threatening. She recovered from the acute symptoms within an unspecified time. In January 2005, exact dates not reported, she was hospitalized (no report available), diagnostics revealed immune allergic islet-cell antibody positive insulin dependent Diabetes mellitus. Laboratory findings see lab comments. Viral infection was ruled out (not specified). To be noted that this vaccination was the first vaccination the child ever got. The reporter stated that IPV vaccine (especially vero cells and high allergenic antibiotics like streptomycin/neomycin) might have acted as ANA inducer.

MMR Vaccine:#36455: A 14-month-old boy developed apnea, brain edema, cardiac arrest, diabetic ketoacidosis and subarachnoid hemorrhage two days after receiving the MMR. He died three days later.

(1991) Current Illness: Tracheobronchitis & bacterial pharyngitis; throat cult positive for strep

#51544: A 20-month-old baby received MMR, stopped eating and died the following day.

(1993) Pt recvd vax on 12MAR93 & exp loss of appetite & was presented back to MD office; MD felt child was fine; 13MAR92 the pt was found dead;

#41319: An 18-month-old received the MMR vaccine and 13 days later began seizuring, stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest. He was hospitalized for 14 days.

(1991) Pt very sick; 17JAN dx meningitis/encephalitis; pt recvd vax on 13FEB91; On 20, 23 & 24FEB had a sl fever w/no other sx; On 26FEB91 @ 430PM mom noted pt looked dazed, pt did not respond; began sz & stopped breathing, CPR, cardiac arrest

#34373: A 15-month old boy developed a rash on his body three days after receiving MMR, became flaccid, was rushed to the hospital and died.

(1991) Diagnostic Lab Data: Gram Stain CSF-Neisseria Meningitis

Hepatitis B Vaccine:#106271: A 4-month-old boy received the HepB vaccine, developed acute diarrhea, went into a coma, and died that evening.

(1997) pt was given 5 HIB vaccines maximum number being 4-this dose given 6mo p/4th dose-no rxn reported by mom;

#49035: A 7-month-old girl received the HepB vaccine, developed a cerebral hemorrhage and died four days later.

(1992) pt died on 21DEC92 recvd vax on 17DEC92; autopsy showed cerebral hemmorhage, cause of death; Preexisting Conditions: seizures

#160183: A 9-month-old baby received the HepB vaccine and died 18 hours later.

Year of event not specified; might be 2000. "The reporting physician did not assess a causal relationship."

#173745: A 1-1/2-year-old girl received the HepB vaccine and later that evening was pronounced dead with profuse bleeding from her mouth and nose.

(2001) This is a follow-up report. The reporting physician suspected GI hemorrhage since nose bleeding was also noted. The reporting physician felt that oral bleeding, nose bleeding, low-grade fever and death are definitely not related to the therapy with Hep-B vaccine.

Gardasil Vaccine:#274941: A 15-year-old girl lost consciousness and had tonic convulsions approximately 5-10 minutes after receiving her first dose of Gardasil.

Information has been received from a health professional concerning a 15 year old female who on 13-MAR-2007 was vaccinated IM into the arm with a first dose of Gardasil (lot # 655376/0572F, batch # NE45050). About 5-10 minutes after the vaccination the patient developed symptoms of tonic convulsions and was unconsciousness for about 1-2 minutes. After recovery the patient developed hypotension and felt nauseas for about 20 minutes. The patient recovered completely. It was reported that the patient is tall and slim and was very excited before vaccination. It was also noted that her sister has a history of hydrocephalus and epilepsy. A neurologic check is planned. Other business partner numbers included E2007-01613.

#275438: A 19-year-old teenager collapsed and died two weeks after receiving the HPV shot. The autopsy revealed large blood clots in the heart.

(2007) Diagnostic Lab Data: echocardiogram, 03/26?/07, very enlarged right ventricle and small left ventricle as well as large blood clots (see narrative); Concomitant therapy included oral contraceptives. (NB from me: The contraceptive was Yasmin).

#277788: A 16-year-old teenager received her second dose of the HPV vaccine. Three days later, she had her first seizure and was taken to the emergency room. She was admitted to the hospital that evening with a grand mal seizure.

(2007) MRI brain small nonspecific focus of T2 signal abnormality high in left front subcortical white matter. May be post infectious or inflammatory.

#276255: A 14-year-old teenager was vaccinated with Gardasil. According to her physician, she subsequently developed GBS and required hospitalization.

(2007) Information has been received from a pediatric physician concerning a 14 year old female who was vaccinated with a dose of GARDASIL. Subsequently the patient developed Guillain-Barre syndrome which he thought was "pain and paralysis in the legs" or a "nerve-related syndrome that can last between 6 months to a year." Unspecified medical attention was sought. The patient's outcome was unknown. Upon internal review, Guillain-Barre syndrome was considered to be an other important medical event.

Time out for some common sense counterpoint

I'm taking a quick time out from a fantastic time with my three children to bring you the following:

Anne Dachel, whackomaven over at Age of Autism, has gone out on a limb, fashioned a figurative noose, and strung up her own sanity there. She's done so while blessing the world with yet another self-serving diatribe against vaccines. Her screed begins hilariously with some tooting of her own kazoo because she knows so many "real authors" now. In a flub that is almost Onion worthy, she refers to Andrew Wakefield in her list of anti-vax authorial luminaries as "Andrew Wakfield":

Here's my ever-expanding list of names: David Kirby, Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, Bob Sears, MD, Dr. Todd Elsner, Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill, John and Stephen Oller, Andrew Wakfield, MD, and Kim Stagliano.

Mere lines later, after blathering about how organized and united the anti-vax Waks are, she proudly proclaims that...

Our message has severely eroded confidence in the cornerstone of health care: THE CHILDHOOD VACCINE PROGRAM.

It takes a deep, echoing well of idiocy to be proud of the fact that your work has eroded a cornerstone of pediatric healthcare. As Sullivan over at Left Brain/Right Brain notes, it's yet another example of the way Age of Autism has abandoned all pretense of having anything to do with autism. They've shown their colors, and the flag they fly is a flag of disease and death that they themselves are proud to unfurl as a threat to pediatric health care. Not, "We've worked so hard to help autistic people, families with autistic children, the autism community in general." Never that. No. It's "We've eroded confidence in "THE CHILDHOOD VACCINE PROGRAM." How they can live with false triumph even as infants die in pertussis outbreaks and children are hospitalized with measles is something I cannot fathom.

As a rational counterpoint to all of that psychosis, I would like to introduce you--if you've not already met it--to a new online project that is destined to become a book, one of use, practical use, for autistic people and autism families, the "Snopes of the autism community." Tagged as offering information and insight involving "informed decisions made with love," The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism is for you, the thinking person. Please scoot on over there and check it out. Already, several lovely, practical, useful essays have been posted, and there are more to come. I am the science editor with the role of ensuring that the sciency stuff is pretty much on target. We also are accepting submissions, so please feel free to check out the submission guidelines. The current deadline is July 2, 2010, for the print collection. Look forward to seeing you over there.

Single parenting (or, holy shit, what am I doing?)

You may have noticed around the blogosphere that lots of autistic children like to be outside. Hiking, walking, biking, swimming, inspecting blades of grass...something about the great outdoors seems to have a general appeal, at least based on the blogs I read.

TH is no different. From his earliest days when he would sit out on our deck in his exersaucer while his dad drank coffee next to him, TH has been an outside kind of boy. Kneeling in almost every picture we have of him, examining the ground, sand, grass, ants, soil up close and personal. Walking three miles without complaint at age 3 in San Francisco, trekking Tennessee Valley. Doing a three-mile loop with me almost every day this spring around our center-city lake. His obsessions are all things nature, with his longest-standing love still being acorns.

And the rest of us love it, too. Is it autism or just because he's part of us, the parents who once did a seven-week, 12,000-mile round-trip to Alaska, including the Arctic Circle, in a packed-to-bursting Honda CRX, hiking and camping in the rain almost the entire time? Doesn't matter. What does matter is that we, as a family, are often at our best outdoors.

But we live in Texas. Where only yesterday, the heat index was already over 100 F. Kids and heat and hiking and other outdoor activities beyond a swimming pool simply don't go together well. Our kids overheat within 20 minutes during the Texas summer, begging with pitiful hot-pink faces to be back inside. And we're right there with them. Heat makes us cranky and leaves some of us neurologically challenged.

Which is why this summer, we're not living in Texas. We're living in Colorado. For the entire summer. Most of us, that is. Already, TH and his brothers have hiked and played outside for hours every day. TH was so elated during one afternoon in a mountain meadow that he favored some nearby, much bemused elk with a series of his signature dances, one of which involves sticking out his butt and wiggling it around, during which he somehow manages still to be all pointy angles. In other words, he's having a great time, as are we all.

Except for the Viking, who is back in Texas. He'll be visiting periodically, but the man does have a real job, unlike me, his wife, who taptaps away on a computer at home for a living. Thus, it has come to pass that for the sake of outdoors and mountain breezes and healthy children who won't be hiding indoors all summer from the heat and humidity and sun, I am here, in Colorado, single-parenting our three sons for weeks at a time.

And so far, we're having a delightful time of it. But it's only day three of this single-parenting gig, so stay tuned.