Vaccination & epidemic

[jinx]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Jinx's last statistic seems pretty remarkable so I looked it up and she was right.

Cool, how about these?

Pertussis decline 1900-1949(year vaccine introduced) 12.2 per 100,000 to 0.5.
Diptheria decline 1900-1949(year vaccine introduced) 40.3 per 100,000 to 0.4.
Typhoid decline 1900-1949 32 per 100,000 to <1.
Scarlet fever decline 1900-1949 10 per 100,000 to <1.

Originally Posted by jinx

Cool, how about these?

Pertussis decline 1900-1949(year vaccine introduced) 12.2 per 100,000 to 0.5.
Diptheria decline 1900-1949(year vaccine introduced) 40.3 per 100,000 to 0.4.
Typhoid decline 1900-1949 32 per 100,000 to <1.
Scarlet fever decline 1900-1949 10 per 100,000 to <1.

These numbers are completely irrelevant because Scarlet Fever and Typhoid are both caused by BACTERIUM, not viruses. You cannot vaccinate against bacteria. Bacterial diseases are prevented through better hygiene (on a mass, not individual level) and treated with antibiotics.

Clod, the weakened immunization among adults was not previously considered a large problem because these diseases are largely spread among children, and the idea was that if each successive wave of children were vaccinated, there would be no source from which the adults could contract them. Like we were successful at doing with smallpox, the trajectory for many of these diseases was total eradication, at which point vaccination could be ceased.

Unfortunately, the decline in immunity for adults vaccinated as children compounds the severity of these diseases when there is an outbreak.

[jinx]

These numbers are completely irrelevant because Scarlet Fever and Typhoid are both caused by BACTERIUM, not viruses. You cannot vaccinate against bacteria.

You're wrong again Tiki - Diptheria is also caused by bacteria, and there is a vaccine for it.

Originally Posted by jinx

You're wrong again Tiki - Diptheria is also caused by bacteria, and there is a vaccine for it.

OK, you're right. I was mistaken about being unable to vaccinate against bacteria... certain types can be vaccinated against.

However, the decline of of bacterial diseases that we now understand how to prevent and treat using modern antibiotics still has no bearing on the efficacy of vaccines.

By your logic, the decline in Black Death proves that vaccines are unnecessary, because we don't have a vaccine for Black Death and yet there are very few cases of it. However, the truth is that increased hygiene and ready availability of antibiotics has resolved that issue, and it's unrelated to vaccination.