Charles Darwin

"The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man." Charles Darwin
Showing posts with label MMR vaccine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MMR vaccine. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Measles





MEASLES VIRUS
The 'lessor of two evils' argument is only valid when the merits of the two evils being compared have been arrived at based solely upon what is proven to be true and in the absence of speculation. The importance of this criteria rings especially true when it comes to issues of public health. We must remain diligent in our efforts to avoid the tendency toward false-causality fallacy. No good has ever come from it.




MEASLES is a viral infection of the respiratory system, immune system, and skin caused by a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus.[1][2]

MEASLES is highly contagious—90% of people without immunity sharing space with an infected person will catch it.[3]

MEASLES is an airborne disease spread by coughing and sneezing, close personal contact or direct contact with infected nasal or throat secretions.[4]

MEASLES infects the mucous membranes, then spreads throughout the body.[4]

MEASLES remains active and contagious in the air and on infected surfaces for up to 2 hours.[4]

MEASLES can be transmitted by an infected person from 4 days prior to the onset of the rash to 4 days after the rash erupts.[4]

MEASLES is one of the leading causes of death of children worldwide.[42]

MEASLES is a human disease and is not known to occur in animals.[4]




PREVENTION

Measles can be prevented with the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine.[5]

  • In 1954, John Franklin Enders and Thomas Chalmers Peebles isolated measles virus from an 11-year-old boy, David Edmonston.[7][25]
  • Maurice Ralph Hilleman was an American microbiologist who developed over 36 vaccines.[6] 
  • He is credited with saving more lives than any other medical scientist of the 20th century.[10]
  • While working at Merck, Hilleman developed the first successful measles vaccine.[8]
  • Licensed vaccines to prevent the disease became available in 1963.[9]


Life-threatening adverse reactions to the MMR vaccination (measles, mumps, and rubella) occur in less than 1 per million vaccinations (<0.0001%).[11]

One dose of measles vaccine is about 93% effective at preventing measles if exposed to the virus and two doses is about 97% effective.[42]

Fully vaccinated people who get measles (the 0.3%) are much more likely to have a milder illness, and they are also less likely to spread the disease to other people, including people who can’t get vaccinated because they are too young or have weakened immune systems.[42]

Before the measles vaccination program started in 1963, it is estimated that about 3 to 4 million people got measles each year in the United States alone. Of those people, 400 to 500 died, 48,000 were hospitalized, and 4,000 developed encephalitis (brain swelling) from measles.[13][42]

In 1980, before global vaccination programs, measles caused an estimated 2.6 million deaths each year.[5]

Accelerated immunization activities have reduced global measles deaths by ~75%, from an estimated 630 000 in 1990, to 544 200 in 2000 to 158 000 in 2011 to 145 700 in 2013 (mostly children under the age of 5).[5][12][16]



SYMPTOMS

An asymptomatic incubation period occurs 9 to 12 days from initial exposure.[17]

10-12 days after exposure to the measles virus, an infected person will experience a high grade fever lasting about 4 to 7 days.[5]


Koplik's spots
INITIAL STAGE: runny nose, a cough, red and watery eyes, and small white spots (Koplik's spots) inside the cheeks.[5]






The RASH usually appears 2-3 days after the onset of illness.[18]











COMPLICATIONS

Children younger than 5 years of age and adults older than 20 years of age are more likely to suffer from measles complications,[5] which may include:

CORNEAL ULCERATION which can lead to corneal scarring.[19]

SWELLING OF THE BRAIN(encephalitis)[20][21] 
  • ~1 child out of every 1,000 who get measles will develop encephalitis which can lead to convulsions and leave the child deaf &/or mentally impaired.[5]

SEVERE DIARRHEA and related dehydration
  • Diarrhea is reported in less than 1 out of 10 people with measles.[5]

EAR INFECTIONS[22] 
  • Ear infections occur in about 1 out of every 10 children with measles, and can result in permanent hearing loss.[5]

SEVERE RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS such as pneumonia[23] 
  • ~1 out of every 20 children with measles gets pneumonia, the most common cause of death from measles in young children.[5]

For every 1,000 children who get measles, 1 or 2 will die from it.[5][15]


RISK FACTORS

Any NON-IMMUNE PERSON (who has not been vaccinated or was vaccinated but did not develop immunity) can become infected.[5]

In populations with HIGH LEVELS OF MALNUTRITION, and a LACK OF ADEQUATE HEALTHCARE, mortality can be as high as 10%. In cases of measles involving complications, the rate may rise to 20–30%.[14][24][27][29]

In IMMUNOCOMPROMISED PERSONS, the fatality rate is approximately 30%.[25][27][28]

Persons with LEUKEMIA,[26] are at risk, regardless of immunization status.[27] 

Measles poses several risks to women who are PREGNANT, including: miscarriage, stillbirth or pre-term delivery.[27][30] 

VITAMIN A DEFICIENCY[27][31]

  • Vitamin A supplements have been shown to reduce the number of deaths from measles by 50%.[5]
  • A systematic review of trials into the use of Vitamin A, found no significant reduction in overall mortality, but it did reduce mortality in children aged under two years.[32-37]



MEASLES CASES & OUTBREAKS 

The CRITICAL COMMUNITY SIZE (CCS) is the minimum number of new hosts required before a disease dies out.[38]

The CCS for measles is estimated to be 250,000-500,000, “based on both theoretical and empirical investigation."[39]

Measles ELIMINATION is defined as the absence of continuous disease transmission for 12 months or more in a specific geographic area.[40] 

In the Region of the Americas (North, Central and South America and the Caribbean), measles has been eliminated; however, outbreaks continue to occur when the virus is imported from other countries (Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania) where measles is present (endemic).[42]


2015: From January 1 to January 30, 2015, 102 people from 14 U.S. states were reported to have measles.[41] Outbreak linked to an amusement park in California

2014Brazilian health authorities reported a significant increase in the number of cases as compared to the same time period in 2013.[42]

2014: In the Philippines there is an ongoing outbreak affecting Manila and other regions of the country.[42]

2014: Vietnam is currently experiencing an outbreak; there have been a high number of measles cases reported throughout the country since the beginning of 2014.[42] 

2014: In China,  health authorities reported a significant increase in the number of cases as compared to those reported in 2013.[42] 

2014: The U.S. experienced 23 measles outbreaks, including one large outbreak of 383 cases, occurring primarily among unvaccinated Amish communities in Ohio.[41]

2013: The U.S. experienced 11 outbreaks, 3 of which had more than 20 cases, including an outbreak with 58 cases.[41]

2011: More than 30 countries in the WHO European Region reported an increase in measles; France, in particular experienced a large outbreak.[41]

2008: The U.S. experienced several outbreaks, including 3 large outbreaks. The increase in cases in 2008 was the result of spread in communities with groups of unvaccinated people.[41]



LINK TO THE WHO WORLDWIDE MEASLES STATS:

REPORTED MEASLES CASES & INCIDENCE RATES BY WHO MEMBER STATES 2013, 2014 AS OF JAN. 20, 2015






***
FIN






UPDATES

Measles Weakens The Immune System For Years DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM MAY 7, 2015

Measles Vaccine Not Linked With Autism, Even in High Risk Kids LIVESCIENCE APRIL 21, 2015



[1] Chen, SSP; Fennelly, G; Burnett, M; Domachowske, J; Dyne, PL; Elston, DM; DeVore, HK; Krilov, LR; Krusinski, P; Patterson, JW; Sawtelle, S; Taylor, GA; Wells, MJ; Wilkes, G; Windle, ML; Young, GM (31 January 2014). Steele, RW, ed."Measles". Medscape Reference. WebMD.
[2] Caserta, MT, ed. (September 2013)."Measles". Merck Manual Professional. Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.
[3] "Measles Fact sheet N°286".who.int. November 2014
[4] http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs286/en/
[5] http://www.cdc.gov/measles/vaccination.html
[6]  Offit PA (2007). Vaccinated: One Man's Quest to Defeat the World's Deadliest Diseases. Washington, DC: Smithsonian. ISBN 0-06-122796-X.
[7]  Tyrrell, D. A. J. (1987). "John Franklin Enders. 10 February 1897-8 September 1985". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 33: 212–226. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1987.0008JSTOR 769951edit
[8] Offit PA (2007). Vaccinated: One Man's Quest to Defeat the World's Deadliest Diseases. Washington, DC: Smithsonian.ISBN 0-06-122796-X.
[10] Maugh, Thomas H. II (2005-04-13). "Maurice R. Hilleman, 85; Scientist Developed Many Vaccines That Saved Millions of Lives".Los Angeles Times.
[11] Njayou M, Balla A, Kapo E (1991). "Comparison of four techniques of measles diagnosis: Virus isolation, immunofluorescence, immunoperoxidase & ELISA". The Indian Journal of Medical Research 93: 340–344. PMID 1797639.
[12]  Bartlett, M.S. (1957). "Measles periodicity and community size". J. Roy. Stat. Soc. Ser. A (120): 48–70.
[13] Black FL (1966). "Measles endemicity in insular populations; critical community size and its evolutionary implications". Journal of Theoretical Biology 11 (2): 207–11.doi:10.1016/0022-5193(66)90161-5.PMID 5965486.
[14] Lozano R, Naghavi M, Foreman K, Lim S, Shibuya K, Aboyans V, Abraham J, Adair T, Aggarwal R, Ahn SY, et al. (Dec 15, 2012). "Global and regional mortality from 235 causes of death for 20 age groups in 1990 and 2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010". Lancet 380 (9859): 2095–128. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61728-0PMID 23245604.
[15] "Complications of measles". CDC. November 3, 2014. RetrievedNovember 7, 2014.
[16] Measles, World Health Organization Fact sheet N°286. Updated February 2014
[17] Risk of infection East and Southwest Asia (Report). Occucare International. May 16, 2012. p. 6.
[18] "Measles".
[19] Fisher DL, Defres S, Solomon T (2014)."Measles-induced encephalitis". QJM. Epub ahead of print.doi:10.1093/qjmed/hcu113.PMID 24865261.
[20] Yasunaga H, Shi Y, Takeuchi M, Horiguchi H, Hashimoto H, Matsuda S, Ohe K (2010). "Measles-related hospitalizations and complications in Japan, 2007-2008". Internal Medicine (Tokyo, Japan) 49 (18): 1965–1970.doi:10.2169/internalmedicine.49.3843.PMID 20847499.
[21] Gardiner, W. T. (2007). "Otitis Media in Measles". The Journal of Laryngology & Otology 39 (11): 614.doi:10.1017/S0022215100026712.
[23] Baxby D (1997). "Classic Paper: Henry Koplik. The diagnosis of the invasion of measles from a study of the exanthema as it appears on the buccal membrane". Reviews in Medical Virology7 (2): 71–4. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-1654(199707)7:2<71::AID-RMV185>3.0.CO;2-S.PMID 10398471.
[24] Sabella C (2010). "Measles: Not just a childhood rash". Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine 77 (3): 207–213.doi:10.3949/ccjm.77a.09123.PMID 20200172.
[26] Enders JF, Peebles TC (1954). "Propagation in tissue culture of cytopathogenic agents from patients with measles". Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine. Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine (New York, N.Y.) 86 (2): 277–86.doi:10.3181/00379727-86-21073.PMID 13177653.
[27] Perry RT, Halsey NA (May 1, 2004). "The Clinical Significance of Measles: A Review". The Journal of Infectious Diseases 189 (S1): S4–16.doi:10.1086/377712PMID 15106083
[28]Ellison, J.B (1931). "Pneumonia in Measles". 1931 Archives of Disease in Childhood 6 (31). pp. 37–52.PMC 1975146.
[29] Sension MG, Quinn TC, Markowitz LE, Linnan MJ, Jones TS, Francis HL, Nzilambi N, Duma MN, Ryder RW (1988). "Measles in hospitalized African children with human immunodeficiency virus".American Journal of Diseases of Children (1960) 142 (12): 1271–2.doi:10.1001/archpedi.1988.02150120025021PMID 3195521.
[30] http://www.nhs.uk/chq/pages/1105.aspx?categoryid=54&subcategoryid=137
[32] "Surgeon General's advisory on the use of salicylates and Reye syndrome".MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 31 (22): 289–90. June 1982.PMID 6810083.
[33] Reye's Syndrome at NINDS"Epidemiologic evidence indicates that aspirin (salicylate) is the major preventable risk factor for Reye's syndrome. The mechanism by which aspirin and other salicylates trigger Reye's syndrome is not completely understood."
[34] Huiming Y, Chaomin W, Meng M (2005). Yang, Huiming, ed. "Vitamin A for treating measles in children". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (4): CD001479.doi:10.1002/14651858.CD001479.pub3PMID 16235283.
[35] D'Souza RM, D'Souza R (2002). "Vitamin A for treating measles in children". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (1): CD001479.doi:10.1002/14651858.CD001479.PMID 11869601.
[36] D'Souza RM, D'Souza R (April 2002)."Vitamin A for preventing secondary infections in children with measles—a systematic review". Journal of Tropical Pediatrics 48 (2): 72–7.doi:10.1093/tropej/48.2.72.PMID 12022432.
[37] White LK, Yoon JJ, Lee JK, Sun A, Du Y, Fu H, Snyder JP, Plemper RK (2007)."Nonnucleoside Inhibitor of Measles Virus RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase Complex Activity". Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 51 (7): 2293–303.doi:10.1128/AAC.00289-07.PMC 1913224PMID 17470652.
[38] "NINDS Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis Information Page"
[39] 14-193b. at Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy Professional Edition

[41] http://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html#outbreaks
[42] http://travel.gc.ca/travelling/health-safety/travel-health-notices/measles





IMAGE CREDITS

"Measles virus" by Photo Credit: Cynthia S. GoldsmithContent Providers(s): CDC/ Courtesy of Cynthia S. Goldsmith; William Bellini, Ph.D. - This media comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Public Health Image Library (PHIL), with identification number #8429.Note: Not all PHIL images are public domain; be sure to check copyright status and credit authors and content providers.English | Slovenščina | +/−. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Measles_virus.JPG#mediaviewer/File:Measles_virus.JPG

"Koplik spots, measles 6111 lores" by CDC - http://phil.cdc.gov/PHIL_Images/20040908/4f54ee8f0e5f49f58aaa30c1bc6413ba/6111_lores.jpg. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Koplik_spots,_measles_6111_lores.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Koplik_spots,_measles_6111_lores.jpg

"RougeoleDP" by CDC/NIP/Barbara Rice - http://phil.cdc.gov/phil/ (ID#: 132). Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RougeoleDP.jpg#mediaviewer/File:RougeoleDP.jpg

"Hilleman-Walter-Reed" by Walter Reed Army Medical Center - The photo is a cropped version of the original, which is Order Number B014616 in the National Library of Medicine. The date and author (below) are taken from the NLM's MARC record. The photograph was published in 1958 by Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The photo has been cropped, healed to fix minor defects, and converted to JPEG (quality level 88), with the GIMP 2.6.6.. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hilleman-Walter-Reed.jpeg#mediaviewer/File:Hilleman-Walter-Reed.jpeg

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

A Call for Change: Is Greater Transparency Necessary in Modern Day Medical Research?

“With great power comes great responsibility” - Voltaire




THIS, in just the past two weeks:

HEADLINE, JULY 30, 2014: Dutch Investigation Finds Serious Flaws In Influential New England Journal Of Medicine Study.

HEADLINE, AUGUST 5, 2014: Japanese Scientist whose stem-cell research had to be retracted when it proved to be false commits suicide. 

WHAT is happening within the world of medical research?

FOR a quick and illustrative summary of the disturbing increase in the number of retracted scientific papers, please take a moment and check out this link: http://www.nature.com/news/2011/111005/full/478026a.html






OH sure, there have always been stories about competition and rivalry amongst the scientific elite. The hallowed halls of academia are littered with them: Newton v. Hooke; Darwin v. Wallace v. The Establishment; but fabricated or intentionally skewed data? Come on now Science; we hold you to a higher degree of conduct. Heck, back in the day, a double Nobel Prize winner could receive a humiliating thrashing for rushing prematurely to publication. And why? Because despite his esteem and despite his credentials, he was wrong. And his colleagues could prove it. (Thank you very kindly Rosalind Franklin et al.) So what has changed?

OKAY so we've all been there; you know, those agonizing scarlet-faced seconds when you wish you could take back the words you've just said. But there is no taking them back. Sure, your apologies and contrite expression show you are not without manners, humility and conscience; but still, it is a difficult elephant to vanquish from the room. Now imagine that instead of seconds we are talking about months and years; and that the words coming out of your mouth are deliberate and have the potential to affect millions of lives. Lives of people who have placed their trust in the profession of which you are representative.

RECENTLY, I came across an article in The Economist telling of how attempts to reproduce results of several 'landmark' cancer studies fell far short of expectation, with a reproducibility ratio of 6 out of 53. The article goes on to suggest the need for some degree of improved transparency within the scientific community. The need for a system to be put in place which, in essence, would help keep the scientific community honest. Scientists are only human after all; and are under an enormous amount of pressure to produce and publish results; this while competing for scant funding and research grants which often come with implicit strings attached.

IN light of this disturbing trend, I could not help but be reminded of the 1998 Andrew Wakefield et al study, which through the publicity machine, came to be known as the study linking the MMR (measles, mumps & rubella) vaccine to autism. The study was originally published in The Lancet. The study was retracted in 2010.



MEASLESa
RUBELLAa
MUMPS

                                                           




"Following the judgment of the UK General Medical Council's Fitness to Practise Panel on Jan 28, 2010, it has become clear that several elements of the 1998 paper by Wakefield et al1 are incorrect, contrary to the findings of an earlier investigation.2 In particular, the claims in the original paper that children were “consecutively referred” and that investigations were “approved” by the local ethics committee have been proven to be false. Therefore we fully retract this paper from the published record." 
"The British General Medical Council (GMC), which registers doctors in the United Kingdom, has decided that Dr. Andrew Wakefield should be struck from the medical register for "serious unprofessional conduct." In January 2010, the GMC Fitness to Practice Panel concluded that Wakefield had acted dishonestly and irresponsibly in connection with a research project and its subsequent publication. The fitness-to-practice hearing, which started in July 2007, centered on a study of children by Wakefield and twelve others that linked the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine with autism and bowel problems. Subsequent studies found no connections, but sensational publicity caused immunization rates in the UK to drop more than 10%. Ten of the study's authors have since renounced its conclusions; and Lancet's editor said he should not have published the study and that Wakefield's links to litigation against the manufacturers of the MMR vaccine were a "fatal conflict of interest." 


I'VE read the original Wakefield et al. paper; read it again and again. And were it not for the publicity machine surrounding it, I can’t imagine it having received the mainstream attention it did. In the authors' own words: "We did not prove an association between measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the syndrome described." There was no conclusive evidence of any kind. Still, the authors hinted at causal links throughout, ending the discussion section with: "In most cases, onset of symptoms was after measles, mumps, and rubella immunisation. Further investigations are needed to examine this syndrome and its possible relation to this vaccine."
The authors' choice to end the paper in that manner seemed an odd one to me, when, (granted my partiality always sways toward things genetic) this was the section which had drawn my attention:

“A genetic predisposition to autistic-spectrum disorders is suggested by over-representation in boys and a greater concordance rate in monozygotic than in dizygotic twins.15 In the context of susceptibility to infection, a genetic association with autism, linked to a null allele of the complement (C) 4B gene located in the class III region of the major-histocompatibility complex, has been recorded by Warren and colleagues.24 C4B-gene products are crucial for the activation of the complement pathway and protection against infection: individuals inheriting one or two C4B null alleles may not handle certain viruses appropriately, possibly including attenuated strains.”

WHY did this draw my attention?

Since genetics were acknowledged as a potential contributing factor, it seemed deserving of at least an equal amount attention as the MMR vaccine itself.
WHY?
Well, because perhaps if back in 1998 such an association had been given more than an honourable mention, the option of genetic screening prior to vaccination could have by this time become an acceptable alternative to outright refusal. (And yes, I do realize I'm speaking in hypotheticals; and yes, the genetic component was just one of several noted, but that is exactly my point: whatever the authors' intent, their actions and subsequent actions may have caused the forest to be obscured by the trees.)


IN case anyone is wondering, yes I did do a Google search for ‘scholarly articles supporting link between MMR and autism;’ and I'm not saying they don't exist, just that my efforts returned a whole lot of this:



THAT said, here are a few links from the 'other side' of the vaccine story:



AS WELL, www.thelibertybeacon.com, provides a list of "28 studies from around the world that support Dr. Wakefield's research." (Scroll to the bottom of the web page for the list.) And yup, I did read them; read them all; read them 'till my eyes went dry. Yup, yup, yup ... But the truth is, I'm still not seeing it ... Okay, so they did say 'support' not 'prove'; and 'support' can be interpreted in many ways, right? Well, as I prefer to reserve my proselytizing for topics upon which I have a concrete stance, (like my aversion to altered data, skewed facts and biased interpretations in scientific papers) perhaps it is best if I invite you to read the studies for yourselves. After all, we, each of us, have our own unique set of criteria upon which our opinions are formed.


IT IS estimated that nearly two million scientific papers are published each year, with only a relative handful ever reaching the mainstream. The original Wakefield et al paper should never have reached the mainstream. The study lacked controls, full stop. And it is impossible for the interpretation of data from any scientific study, conducted in the absence of controls to render any definitive conclusions. And yet it has reached the mainstream, and now we find ourselves engaged in a dangerous standoff of my science trumps your science.


It is a very human need indeed, the need to know why. It is essential to our survival and often driven by how directly the answers sought affect us personally. And it is a question which remains at the heart of the scientific endeavor. We place our confidence and trust in scientists, and with good reason. But in order to maintain that trust, perhaps it has become necessary to open the window, even just a sliver, as this would go a long way toward ebbing the tide of falsified, biased and redundant research. Falsified, biased and redundant research which, when seeped into the mainstream, has consequences which no amount of retracting can undo. With lives on the line, the current trend cannot continue. Immediate changes need to be implemented in order to protect the interests of both the researchers and those who rely on the important work they do.
SOURCES
http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/48/4/456.full
http://vactruth.com/tag/dr-andrew-wakefield/
http://www.thelibertybeacon.com/2013/06/21/new-published-study-verifies-andrew-wakefields-research-on-autism-again-mmr-vaccine-causes-autism/ 
http://www.ageofautism.com/dr-andrew-wakefield/
http://www.measlesrubellainitiative.org/measles-outbreaks-mid-year-2013-update/
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(08)70282-2/fulltext
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(97)11096-0/fulltext
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2007/01/01/surprise-surprise-andrew-wakefield-was-p/
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21588069-scientific-research-has-changed-world-now-it-needs-change-itself-how-science-goes-wrong
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(97)11096-0/fulltext
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)60175-4/fulltext
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2716540/Japanese-scientist-stem-cell-research-retracted-proved-false-commits-suicide.html
http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryhusten/2014/07/30/dutch-investigation-finds-serious-flaws-in-influential-new-england-journal-of-medicine-study/
http://www.salon.com/2014/07/22/vaccine_truthers_arent_alone_nearly_half_of_americans_believe_medical_conspiracy_theories/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/public/programs/immunization/#.U0v0B_EAmKM.facebook
http://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2014/03/23/worried-about-measles-dont-call-dr-bob-sears/
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/08/science-research-grants-awarded-on-the-basis-of-patents-is-patently-wrong
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/wakefield-fights-back/
http://briandeer.com/wakefield-deer.htm
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/02/07/new-research-shows-link-between-mmr-vaccine-and-autism.aspx
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/05/08/italian-court-rules-mmr-vaccine-caused-autism-us-media-blacks-out-story/
http://retractionwatch.com/
http://www.nature.com/news/2011/111005/full/478026a.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20452682
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/smart-news/half-academic-studies-are-never-read-more-three-people-180950222/

  
IMAGE CREDITS

"Mumps PHIL 130 lores" by Photo Credit:Content Providers: CDC/NIP/Barbara Rice - This media comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Public Health Image Library (PHIL), with identification number #130.Note: Not all PHIL images are public domain; be sure to check copyright status and credit authors and content providers.English | Slovenščina | +/−. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mumps_PHIL_130_lores.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Mumps_PHIL_130_lores.jpg

"RougeoleDP" by CDC/NIP/Barbara Rice - http://phil.cdc.gov/phil/ (ID#: 132). Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RougeoleDP.jpg#mediaviewer/File:RougeoleDP.jpg

"Rash of rubella on skin of child's back" by http://phil.cdc.gov/PHIL_Images/03052002/00002/PHIL_712_lores.jpg. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rash_of_rubella_on_skin_of_child%27s_back.JPG#mediaviewer/File:Rash_of_rubella_on_skin_of_child%27s_back.JPG