PA --- meningitis and both students WERE vaccinated! - Page 2

[member234098]

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Edited by member234098 - 5/27/12 at 7:42pm

[DoubleDouble]

Originally Posted by miriam 

If the meningitis were viral or fungal in origin, the antibiotics would be quite useless, so no begging here.

1) Bacterial meningitis is the most dangerous and causes the most damage

2) 25% of bacterial meningitis cases can be fatal, even with treatment

3) Viral meningitis prognosis is much better than for bacterial.

[WildKingdom]

Originally Posted by miriam 

If the meningitis were viral or fungal in origin, the antibiotics would be quite useless, so no begging here.

pers, you know better than to compare vaccines with automobile seatbelts.  

It's pretty easy to tell if a meningitis case is due to meningococcus or if it's viral or fungal.  A lumbar puncture gives the answer almost immediately.  Prophylactic antibiotics are only offered in the case of meningococcus.  

[Super~Single~Mama]

Originally Posted by miriam 

If the meningitis were viral or fungal in origin, the antibiotics would be quite useless, so no begging here.

For being so anti-vax you certainly don't know much about the vaxes you are declining for yourself and your family.  It's not super hard to figure out when meningitis is viral or bacterial, and I know someone who was hospitalized for viral meningitis (she is fine, and it was not even close to as serious as bacterial meningitis, but it was still scary for her and her family).  I'll take the risks of the vax over the risks of the disease any day.

[member234098]

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Edited by member234098 - 5/27/12 at 4:27pm

[emmy526]

my nephew was vaxed for menengitis, and he still got it anyway...the bacteria he had wasn't covered in the vax.  He almost died.  So,  how good is the vax, when it's not covering the strains on the college campuses? That's where it was determined he got it. 

[stik]

There are many causes of meningitis.  The vaccine protects against some of the causes of bacterial meningitis, and is 85% effective in protecting vaccine recipients who are exposed to a strain of meningitis bacteria covered by the vaccine.  This dramatically reduces cases of meningitis in the population, which has significant benefits.  It means that hospitals aren't over-whelmed with meningitis patients, and many fewer people suffer from meningitis-related morbidity and mortality, for example. 

emmy526, I'm sorry it didn't work for your nephew, but that doesn't mean the vaccine is worthless. 

[emmy526]

I think it provides a false sense of security...the cases i hear of, mainly are in people who got the vax, yet the strain of bacterial meningitis they contracted wasn't covered in that vaccine.  So, were they fooled into thinking that it worked, only to discover it didn't?  And how prevalent are the strains of meningoccocal bacteria the vaccine claims to protect against?  and how do we know this vaccine isn't mutating what's out there now?

[WildKingdom]

Originally Posted by emmy526 

I think it provides a false sense of security...the cases i hear of, mainly are in people who got the vax, yet the strain of bacterial meningitis they contracted wasn't covered in that vaccine.  So, were they fooled into thinking that it worked, only to discover it didn't?  And how prevalent are the strains of meningoccocal bacteria the vaccine claims to protect against?  and how do we know this vaccine isn't mutating what's out there now?

I don't understand this.  Of course this is the situation you are going to hear about.  You're not going to hear, "Vaccinated person exposed to meningitis and doesn't get it!!!"  Yet, that's what happens all the time.  Most people ARE vaccinated, so you will mostly hear about vaccine failure, not unvaccinated people contracting a VPD.  Let's say there's a measles outbreak.  1000 people are exposed.  95% of them are vaccinated, and the vaccine is 90% effective.   95 of the vaccinated people will get measles.  50 people are unvaccinated and get measles.  So, most of the case of measles are in vaccinated people.  However,  only 10% of the exposed vaccinated people got measles, but 100% of the unvaccinated ones did.

[stik]

Originally Posted by emmy526 

I think it provides a false sense of security...the cases i hear of, mainly are in people who got the vax, yet the strain of bacterial meningitis they contracted wasn't covered in that vaccine.  So, were they fooled into thinking that it worked, only to discover it didn't?  And how prevalent are the strains of meningoccocal bacteria the vaccine claims to protect against?  and how do we know this vaccine isn't mutating what's out there now?

That's a fascinating set of claims and questions.

Does it give people a false sense of security if they get the vax?  IMO, it shouldn't.  Meningitis can also be caused by viruses, and by a variety of conditions.  There isn't a single meningitis bacteria - there are a wide variety of bacteria that sometimes get into the brain and cause meningitis (swelling of the meninges - the membrane that surrounds and protects the brain).  The vaccine protects against some of the most common strains of bacteria that cause meningitis.  That reduces your chances of getting it.  You can still get viral meningitis, or get meningitis from a strain of bacteria not covered by the vaccine.  My doctors have always communicated clearly about this - no vaccines are 100% effective.  They reduce the chances you will get sick, but don't eliminate them.  Ending anti-meningitis vaccination would mean that a lot more people would get meningitis.  Meningitis isn't spread by most casual contact, but it can be passed on by people who don't appear sick, so there isn't an easily-defined alternative course of action that a typical meningitis victim would have taken if only they had known the vaccine might not protect them. 

As the vaccine makes it more difficult for the most common causes of bacterial meningitis to reproduce, those bacteria will become less prevalent, and other strains will become more common.  This is not mutation.  Some strains are disappearing, and thus are no longer competing for resources in their environment (the human body) with other strains.  Those other strains will then rise to prominence.  Consequently, the meningitis vaccine will have to be revised periodically, a process that is already in progress.  For more information see "The Changing Epidemiology of Meningococcal Disease" at www.nfid.org

[Super~Single~Mama]

Originally Posted by stik 

That's a fascinating set of claims and questions.

Does it give people a false sense of security if they get the vax?  IMO, it shouldn't.  Meningitis can also be caused by viruses, and by a variety of conditions.  There isn't a single meningitis bacteria - there are a wide variety of bacteria that sometimes get into the brain and cause meningitis (swelling of the meninges - the membrane that surrounds and protects the brain).  The vaccine protects against some of the most common strains of bacteria that cause meningitis.  That reduces your chances of getting it.  You can still get viral meningitis, or get meningitis from a strain of bacteria not covered by the vaccine.  My doctors have always communicated clearly about this - no vaccines are 100% effective.  They reduce the chances you will get sick, but don't eliminate them.  Ending anti-meningitis vaccination would mean that a lot more people would get meningitis.  Meningitis isn't spread by most casual contact, but it can be passed on by people who don't appear sick, so there isn't an easily-defined alternative course of action that a typical meningitis victim would have taken if only they had known the vaccine might not protect them. 

As the vaccine makes it more difficult for the most common causes of bacterial meningitis to reproduce, those bacteria will become less prevalent, and other strains will become more common.  This is not mutation.  Some strains are disappearing, and thus are no longer competing for resources in their environment (the human body) with other strains.  Those other strains will then rise to prominence.  Consequently, the meningitis vaccine will have to be revised periodically, a process that is already in progress.  For more information see "The Changing Epidemiology of Meningococcal Disease" at www.nfid.org

Your 3rd paragraph makes an excellent point.

As for meningitis being caused by viruses as well, yes thats true, but viral meningitis is nowhere near as serious as bacterial meningitis.  The vaccine will not protect against viral meningitis, but is designed to lower the number of cases of bacterial meningitis - which is VERY serious. Viral meningitis can be serious, but does not result in the loss of limbs and loss of life that bacterial meningitis does.