Good Things Friday (253) and Link Love
December 29, 2023
1. Still surviving!
Challenges this week: fighting off germs is a full-time job!
The first results from the world’s biggest basic income experiment. Haven’t we had enough studies and experiments already? UBI works. It’s good for everyone!
This is from 2021 but I hadn’t read it and maybe you didn’t either! The race to understand ‘immune amnesia’: Scientists have known for years that measles can alter the immune system – but the latest evidence suggests it’s less of a mild tweaking, and more of a total reset.
Enter “immune amnesia”, a mysterious phenomenon that’s been with us for millennia, though it was only discovered in 2012. Essentially, when you’re infected with measles, your immune system abruptly forgets every pathogen it’s ever encountered before – every cold, every bout of flu, every exposure to bacteria or viruses in the environment, every vaccination. The loss is near-total and permanent. Once the measles infection is over, current evidence suggests that your body has to re-learn what’s good and what’s bad almost from scratch.
This tidbit is relevant to this rather horrifying stat: Measles is again on the march across the world, thanks to anti-vaxxers such as RFK Jr.
This grim portent comes to us courtesy of UNICEF, which is reporting that 30,601 confirmed cases of measles have been reported in Europe and Central Asia this year through Dec. 5.
That’s up from 909 cases in those regions in 2022, or an increase of 3,266%.
I will never understand people who say “it’s just a cold” like a cold isn’t utterly misery-making or “it’s just a flu” like the flu can’t kill you, but also did you know that the flu is linked to heart complications like scarring?
WHAT: New Bigg’s orca calf spotted near Victoria
The Pacific Whale Watch Association said orca calves are born with an orange tint, although scientists aren’t exactly sure of the reason. Possible explanations include jaundice, staining from amniotic fluid or a thinner blubber layer making blood vessels more visible.
I regret to inform you that measles outbreaks happen quite a lot! But mostly in developing countries instead of due to antivaxxers. There was an epidemic in Madagascar in 2018-19 with at least 112,000 cases and probably more!
I did not know that they were that common outside the States but that surprises me less, alas. Though I specifically find it horrifying in the US because of the “it doesn’t have to BE THAT WAY FFS, PEOPLE” of it all.
For sure it’s horrifying that in the richest countries in the world, people just… don’t vaccinate their kids. WTF. So preventable here! France and the UK are especially bad, too.
To be fair, I was in Los Angeles during a measles outbreak. Anti-vaxxers were definitely part of the problem. They’re small break-outs but preventable, and terrifying for parents with immunocompromised kids.
On the plus side, after the last CA outbreak, I believe that CA tightened up their exemption laws and IIRC, that greatly increased the number of kids with MMR vaccination. (Though there’s likely still crazy LA doctors willing to sign anything. Ayup: https://www.aafp.org/news/health-of-the-public/20181127califvaccstudy.html ) I don’t think they’ve had an outbreak since? Wow, 2019 had a bunch of outbreaks (but not in CA).
nicoleandmaggie recently posted…Ask the Grumpies: Good conference small talk questions
I’m so sick of the anti-vaxxers. I hate that while I can be glad that CA is stricter, we don’t all enjoy increased / improved safety. This is PREVENTABLE.