Why NOT be afraid of Diptheria?

[inchwormz]

I'm doing as other MDC mamas had so wonderfully suggested and researching each disease one at a time (so much less overwhelming!). I'm having trouble finding info on diptheria, however, other than what I'm reading in the pink pages. Since I am totally lost trying to understanding the "science" behind the diseases and the vax, the pink pages aren't helping me much with my understanding of this disease. Can anyone offer some further suggestions? I tried to search the archives, as well, but all discussions seem to lead to WC and tetanus and never really concentrate on Diptheria.

Please help!

Thanks!!

[Gitti]

It's not discussed much because diphtheria is mostly seen in concentration or refugee camps or in the homeless.


I have read that the USSR (former Russia) was very much up to date on all vaccines. So most people were supposed to have diphtheria vaccine immunity. The ironic thing was that when the countries fell apart and they experienced a lot of job loss, alcoholism, starvation, homelessness, diphtheria became rampant. So the vaccines did not prevent it. I think that vaccine is pretty much worthless anyway... just like all other toxoid vaccines (tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis).

[Gitti]

I have this filed under diphtheria but don't have time to read it now. I'll just post it for you -

http://www.naturalnews.com/022508.html

[Marnica]

Diptheria is extremely rare in the US. Diptheria was a major problem in the 17 and 1800's although there was a major drop in cases between 1865 and 1875 and the incidence of Diptheria declined even more by 50% between 1900 and 1920 before any vaccine was avaliable.

The efficacy of this vaccine is questionable. During WWII in Germany vaccination was mandatory, yet there was a 17% rise in Diptheria cases and a 600% increase in deaths from it. Neighboring Norway did not have mandatory vaccination with Diptheria and had only 50 cases in 1943 where Germany had 150,000 cases. After the war, vaccination was no longer mandatory and the incidence of Diptheria declined dramatically.


http://www.who.int/vaccines/globalsu...ntry.cfm?C=USA

as you can see, it is extremely rare here

[MountainMamaGC]

This is why i keep coming back to this forum. It just reinforces my philosophy.

[rsps]

The book How to 'Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of your doctor' has good info on all the Vacs that were around when it was written (It needs to be updated, but the author has passed away) For Diptheria he basiclly said what previous posters have said, it's primarily a disease of poor sanitation and living conditions, and when those were cleaned up in the US the disease basically went away.

[Sileree]

Its also not a communicable disease in modern times. If you need studies let me know.

[inchwormz]

Originally Posted by Sileree

Its also not a communicable disease in modern times. If you need studies let me know.

If you had a study to suggest this, that would be fabulous.

THANK you for the responses! I've pretty much read all I need to on this one.

[Sileree]

Here you go:

“Diphtheria seems, however, not to be a highly contagious disease in modern Western society. Since the epidemic started in Russia (in 1990), over 3 million trips have been made from Finland to St. Petersburg and its surroundings. Among the visitors, only 10 cases of diphtheria have occurred. Three of them have had severe infection, all were middle-aged men with sexual contacts with local people. None of the 10 patients transmitted the infection further in.”

[“Resurgent Diphtheria - Are We Safe?” British Medical Bulletin.]

“The low incidence of imported cases of diphtheria in Finland despite the frequent travel of residents to an endemic area suggests that aerosol or droplets of respiratory tract secretions as well as food and poorly washed dishes are inefficient in transmitting diphtheria. Even using only usual barrier precautions in the treatment of patients, the risk of nosocomial spread is low.”

[“Studies on the Epidemiology and Clinical Characteristics of Diphtheria during the Russian Epidemic of the 1990s.” Acta Universitatis Tamperensis.]

“However, immunization with diphtheria toxoid is protective only against the phage-mediated toxin, and not against infection by the C. diphtheriae organism. Thus immunized persons have less severe disease when infected, but may remain important as asymptomatic carriers in the transmission of disease. Outbreaks in communities with up to 94 percent immunization levels have been reported. Therefore, some authors have challenged whether herd immunity is applicable to diphtheria.”

[“Immunity to Diphtheria and Tetanus in Inner-city Women of Childbearing Age.” American Journal of Public Health.]

Only 60.5% of a serological sample of nearly 20,000 Americans over 6 years had protective levels of diphtheria antibody in the 1980s. This means nearly 110 million are supposedly susceptible to diphtheria every year, yet there are only between 0-5 cases per year.

[“Serologic Immunity to Diphtheria and Tetanus in the United States.” Annals of Internal Medicine.]

[inchwormz]

Wow! Thank you! That certainly answers my questions.

[Deborah]

Yes, the moral of the story seems to be that the only way for a healthy, well-fed person living in a modern country to catch diphtheria is to go to someplace like Russia, find a prostitute, have some close exchanges and then maybe get sick.

Back when the outbreaks of diphtheria first started in Russia, they were blamed on dropping levels of vaccination. But there are millions of adults in Europe who are not up-to-date on there diphtheria vaccines and show no sign of immunity. In spite of lots of contact between Russia and the rest of Europe there have been only the most minor incidents of diphtheria outside of countries with a poor standard of living. Isolated cases, rare transmission, fizzles out. The clearest example of the "it ain't vaccines that is saving us" that has ever been around, but this reality isn't being acknowledged.

These diseases are a plane ride away.