Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Cholera Vaccine for Haiti - Useless and Dangerous

Newsvine

Cholera is an illness caused by drinking dirty water or eating food which are contaminated with feces. This occurs typically with people living in extreme poverty with very unsanitary conditions such as is the case in Haiti. It is believed to be caused by a bacterium in the feces. The reality is, most outbreaks of diseases have been the result of people drinking contaminated water and eating contaminated food. The primary symptoms of cholera are diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. In most cases it is mild and people fully recover from it. If a person receives treatment less than one percent of them die from sudden dehydration from the diarrhea.


The standard treatment used around the world is to hydrate the body with a special fluid that contains sugar and salt. Cholera is not spread from person to person with casual contact. The best course of action for prevention is to insure that people have access to clean water and food.
The cholera vaccine actually causes diarrhea among other conditions. It is considered dangerous for kids. Also since it is given in two doses which are spread out over weeks, it would take weeks for it to supposedly give any protection. This is why standard treatment and prevention are strongly recommended by authorities and vaccines should not replace these measures. One of the scariest chemicals used in the cholera vaccine is phenol. Phenol is used to make plastics, various drugs, herbicides, cosmetics, sunscreen, hair dyes, and skin lightening. Phenol is also the preferred choice for embalming corpses! This is what they want to give to Haitian children with their cholera vaccine.


On a commonsense level, a vaccine can not make it safe to drink water with feces in it! Of course there is one sure way to test the effectiveness of the cholera vaccine. The heads of the drug companies manufacturing this vaccine could take their cholera vaccine and then begin drinking water contaminated with feces and we could see what happens to them! I would predict that they would be running to the bathroom very quickly or much worse.
It is obvious that the cholera vaccine would not make it safe for the people of Haiti to drink contaminated water, and worse, they will be put at risk for getting one or more of the various side effects of the cholera vaccine. The only realistic course of action would be to provide the Haitian people with clean water and food. They need help with cleaning up their communities by setting up effective sanitation and water purification systems. Those suffering from cholera need to be given hydration solutions with clean water. The cholera vaccine will put money into the pockets of the drug companies, but it will do nothing for the people of Haiti except cause more harm.

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