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Yes. Theoretically this is correct. However (though I don't think this will be an issue for Ebola) before we get on any high cultural horse, let us stop to co

Yes. Theoretically this is correct. However (though I don't think this will be an issue for Ebola) before we get on any high cultural horse, let us stop to consider how many modern Americans have been perfectly willing to allow serious diseases like whooping cough to make a strong comeback because some Playboy model made lots of public claims which are demonstrably false.

ceejayoz 12y ago
Part of the problem there is the perception that those diseases aren't serious (and in cases like chicken pox, this can even be somewhat true). No such perception exists with Ebola, I'd say.
- georgemcbay 12y ago
  I agree mostly, which is why I mentioned I don't think that would play out with Ebola. OTOH pancreatic cancer is pretty serious (though not communicable) and we still live in a culture where someone widely lauded as a once-in-an-era genius (and who had ample monetary resources to seek the absolute best medical health care in spite of how bad the economics of our health care system are) thought new age-y solutions were the way to go during the critical early stages. I guess my basic point is that you don't have to be poverty stricken and living in the third world to make really poor decisions on health issues with severe consequences to yourself and sometimes others. EDIT: I don't mind the multiple downvotes this post has got, I have plenty of karma to burn and it isn't worth anything, but please respond as well with some sort of rebuttal. No amount of undefended downvotes are going to change the fact that Steve Jobs made a really bad decision that any unbiased oncologist will tell you statistically killed him while he would otherwise still likely be alive (or at the very least, not dead from his cancer) today.
  - gwillen 12y ago
    You are being downvoted because the 5-year survival rate of pancreatic cancer is 5%. In all probability Jobs was going to die no matter what he did.
    - ceejayoz 12y ago
      Jobs had a rare variant (pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor) that's much more survivable. > Overall 5-year survival rate is about 42%. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/isletcell/HealthProfessional/page1 http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/isletcell/H...
- MaysonL 12y ago
  As someone who's had an attack of shingles, saying that chicken pox isn't serious, is bullshit.
  - ceejayoz 12y ago
    It can be very serious, yes. For most, it's not, and anti-vaxxers seem to consider their own lived experiences to be better evidence than stats like "thousands die from flu every year". I have a medically sensitive daughter and the folks who go "flu's not that bad, just get it and move on" drive me insane.
  - seanflyon 12y ago
    "somewhat true" implies not entirely true. Iv'e had chicken pox. It wasn't serious, but as you point out, that's not the whole picture.
  - seandhi 12y ago
    I hear you... I've been blessed with multiple recurrences of shingles within six months of one another. I'm one of the lucky recipients of that rarity.
rogerbinns 12y ago
It is worse than that - even if her idiotic claims were true it would still be better to vaccinate. Penn & Teller ably explain http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfdZTZQvuCo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfdZTZQvuCo

ceejayoz 12y ago

Part of the problem there is the perception that those diseases aren't serious (and in cases like chicken pox, this can even be somewhat true). No such perception exists with Ebola, I'd say.

georgemcbay 12y ago
I agree mostly, which is why I mentioned I don't think that would play out with Ebola. OTOH pancreatic cancer is pretty serious (though not communicable) and we still live in a culture where someone widely lauded as a once-in-an-era genius (and who had ample monetary resources to seek the absolute best medical health care in spite of how bad the economics of our health care system are) thought new age-y solutions were the way to go during the critical early stages. I guess my basic point is that you don't have to be poverty stricken and living in the third world to make really poor decisions on health issues with severe consequences to yourself and sometimes others. EDIT: I don't mind the multiple downvotes this post has got, I have plenty of karma to burn and it isn't worth anything, but please respond as well with some sort of rebuttal. No amount of undefended downvotes are going to change the fact that Steve Jobs made a really bad decision that any unbiased oncologist will tell you statistically killed him while he would otherwise still likely be alive (or at the very least, not dead from his cancer) today.
- gwillen 12y ago
  You are being downvoted because the 5-year survival rate of pancreatic cancer is 5%. In all probability Jobs was going to die no matter what he did.
  - ceejayoz 12y ago
    Jobs had a rare variant (pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor) that's much more survivable. > Overall 5-year survival rate is about 42%. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/isletcell/HealthProfessional/page1 http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/isletcell/H...
MaysonL 12y ago
As someone who's had an attack of shingles, saying that chicken pox isn't serious, is bullshit.
- ceejayoz 12y ago
  It can be very serious, yes. For most, it's not, and anti-vaxxers seem to consider their own lived experiences to be better evidence than stats like "thousands die from flu every year". I have a medically sensitive daughter and the folks who go "flu's not that bad, just get it and move on" drive me insane.
- seanflyon 12y ago
  "somewhat true" implies not entirely true. Iv'e had chicken pox. It wasn't serious, but as you point out, that's not the whole picture.
- seandhi 12y ago
  I hear you... I've been blessed with multiple recurrences of shingles within six months of one another. I'm one of the lucky recipients of that rarity.

rogerbinns 12y ago

It is worse than that - even if her idiotic claims were true it would still be better to vaccinate. Penn & Teller ably explain http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfdZTZQvuCo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfdZTZQvuCo