It gives a good visual overview of the places where vaccination uptake levels are low and hence the likelihood of diseases spreading once they get into the population is high. The term given to protection from disease outbreak when a large percentage of the population is vaccinated is “herd immunity”. In simple terms, it means those who are not vaccinated because they are either too young or may have allergies or be immunocompromised, are protected by other people.

The concept of “herd immunity” as a mechanism for protecting others is often rejected by anti-vaxers, perhaps because they won’t acknowledge they are putting other people’s kids at risk by choosing not to vaccinate.

For an easy to understand explanation of how herd immunity works check out the video on the website Chain Of Protection.

It’s a stark reminder in light of another death from pertussis this week, this time of a 5 week old baby boy in Adelaide – the first since 2001. South Australia has been experiencing a pertussis epidemic for over 12 months now. According to statistics from the SA Department of Health, during the period of 1 January 2010 to 15 June 2010, a total of 2,277 cases were reported, compared to 1,493 cases reported for the same period last year. Being so young, the boy was too young to be vaccinated and may have caught the bacteria from an adult carrying the disease.

Many adults and parents are not aware that their whooping cough vaccine does not last forever and as such, they may need to get a booster shot – especially if they are caring for young children. Some governments offer free booster shots, but the SA government is still considering had lagged behind in this respect.

A story from Adelaide Now reports that SA Health chief medical officer Professor Paddy Phillips said the department was waiting for the release of a report into whooping cough vaccinations.

“There’s a Federal Government working party looking into the issue of subsidy for a whooping cough vaccine for adults … when that party reports, we will take up their recommendations,” he said. The party has been working for a long time it would seem. The McCafferys met with both federal and state governments over a year ago, following the death of their daughter from pertussis, to ask them to instigate an education campaign. Let’s not beat around the bush, while departments pass the buck & blame, kids are dying.

For the Adelaide boy’s parents, vaccination was not an option, but some parents are choosing not to vaccinate. Part of the reason for this trend is the amount of misinformation on the internet – and many people rely on “Google University” to get information these days.

The two lowest areas for vaccine coverage in Australia are the Northern Rivers Region (covering the Byron Bay area and the AVN) and the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, demographically two very different areas. One is characterised by alternative lifestyle families (one could say hippies) and the other well educated, affluent white collar workers. Whilst the reason the former choose to not vaccinate is probably clear, the other is not. Whatever the reason, vaccination has been a victim of it’s own success in many ways, as people become complacent about the threat of communicable disease. We don’t see kids in calipers or iron lungs these days, so out of mind out of sight.

Yet, there is plenty of accurate information on the internet for concerned parents if you look in the right places. I wrote this article for the launch of the new Australian Skeptics website over 12 months ago but it still serves as a good resource for links to government websites and other accurate information.

HUG ME! I'm vaccinated pendant from SurlyRamics

One example of bad advice, is that offered by homeopaths who are allegedly recommending “unproven” herbal remedies, including belladonna and phosphorus, for whooping cough.

According to an article on Adelaide Today, homeopaths say their treatments can prevent and cure whooping cough, while doctors say that is “complete rubbish”. The newspaper contacted the Australian Homeopaths Association for comment but did not receive a response. For the uninitiated, homeopathy is water which contains no active ingredients at all, so of course it can’t cure or treat any disease. Well, apart from dehydration of that is.

Not that pesky scientific evidence has got in the way of claims by homeopaths before. Our favourite Aussie fruit-loops over at Homeopathy Plus! issued an e-newsletter this week claiming that criticism of homeopathic vaccines (also known as homeoprophylaxis) was “..an orchestrated campaign in which those hostile to homeopathy are trying to stop patients accessing it through the NHS…” and “Homeopathy has been repeatedly used for protection or treatment during world epidemics and outbreaks. It is inexpensive, quickly distributed, easily administered and safe. Remedies exist for all diseases.”

Yes well, citation needed. Actually none of that is accurate.

Meanwhile, the ninth infant has died from pertussis in California in an epidemic about to break records. And the education campaign about the dangers of pertussis promised by the Australian government has not materialised. This is a preventable tragedy and one that needs action now.

Credit goes to Choice Australia who put this together for their Shonky Awards, an annual event that recognises Australia’s dodgiest products. You can see the full list here.

It represents the day in 1788 when the English turned up on the banks of Sydney Cove in their tall ships and declared the country ‘ours’.

This was in spite of Aboriginal Australians having occupied the land for more than 40,000 years prior to “white” man setting foot here.

This subsequent settlement has been a vexing issue for Australia, especially since the Aboriginal population has suffered greatly ever since and as such, reflection on their plight forms a large part of the significance of the day. But Australia Day is also about catching up with friends, having a traditional bbq, playing some cricket and downing a few coldies.

Yet, there are some formalities that come with Australia Day in the form of awards which celebrate outstanding contributions and achievements of Australians. Regular readers to this blog might recall my Dad was honored with an Order of the Medal of Australia last year.

For many years, the top of the prestigous Honours list was dominated by sportsmen, entertainers and celebrities whom, although certainly do a great job, are often sufficiently honoured by other means.

So this year, I was thrilled to see a large science contingent honoured in the 2010 awards.

Australia’s first female Nobel Prize winner, Professor Elizabeth Blackburn is a scientist who was jointly awarded the 100th Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine last year for work on understanding the role of telomeres in protecting chromosomes was given the highest honour. Professor Blackburn is among four Australians named a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).

Also recognised in the medical field is Dr Wendy Hoy, a Professor of medicine at the Centre for Chronic Disease at the University of Queensland.

She’s been honoured for her medical research in indigenous communities. Wendy told ABC radio, “I hope it gives other people the energy and confidence to press on in what’s really a difficult and unnecessarily contentious field.”

Professor Fred Watson is the astronomer in charge of the Anglo-Australian Observatory in Coonabarabran in New South Wales, and was honoured for sharing his passions about astronomy through raising public awareness about space and the universe.

I know someone else like that.

Fred told ABC radio; “As soon as you start talking to people about things like that, about the possibility, even of microbial life on Mars their interest is piqued, it’s very, very easy for an astronomer to engage with the public and engage with people generally”.

Watch an interview with Fred Watson here.

Dr Chris Kennedy, a clinician from Queensland, received an award for his medical work and education. As a doctor working with children, he understands the importance of vaccines as an essential tool in the prevention of communicable disease, particularly in third world countries.

He told ABC news that the cost of vaccines can be prohibitive for developing nations, and encouraged Australia to contribute to the costs where they are desperately needed.

Also from Queensland, Dr Will Cairns was recognised for his services to palliative medicine.

One group of entertainers who were honored for tireless services to entertainment was The Wiggles. But you can hardly not like the Wiggles, unless you are a parent who has a child obsessed (and if you are a parent then you most likely have/will have).

Happy Australia Day all!

In fact I saw the two Johns on the “flood” tour back in the early 90s when the played Le Rox, a famous goth club in Adelaide no longer in existance. In my late teens and goth phase (yes I wore Doc Martens and tartan skirts and had sticky-up-black hair) I saw many great bands here and also had the dubious honor of falling down the steep stairs.

Many years later, a friend tipped me off to this great clip from a full length DVD by The Giants. It’s an animated project for kids, promoting science.

Here’s a preview from their kids’ series which includes “Science is Real” and “Kids Go!“.

Watch the previews below for some fun TMBG!

And “Science is Real”

Tip of the hat to James Murty

Harvard Campus at Cambridge, MW.

The talk I gave today was scheduled for 30 mins but stretched out to 2 hrs as a result of lots of questions and discussion. I was assured by the head of the department that this is in fact a good sign since it means people were interested enough to firstly, stick around and then have their interest piqued enough to want to probe further. Apparently you should only be worried if half the group gets up and leaves to do experiments. So, even though I got a sort of hammering (and almost missed my bus), it was a productive hammering nonetheless. And having people from Harvard Medical School hold you captive for 2 hrs and offer suggestions and pose probing questions can only be a good thing.

The Blue Man group - hard to take seriously after Arrested Development took the piss.

Boston Skeptics also invited me to be the guest speaker at SiTP on Tuesday night in Cambridge, near Harvard Square (you can watch the video here).

Boston Skeptics in the Pub – Rachael Dunlop – Sept. 15, 2009 from Maggie McFee on Vimeo.

I did spark a slight panic, only made clear to me when I received a text message from Brian Dunning. After I had not arrived by 6:30 pm, the organisers became worried that they had no way to contact me me to find out my whereabouts…or did they?

As is the way of Web2.0, Rebecca put a call out over Twitter to find someone who could contact me. I was alighting from a cab out the front of the pub when I got a text message from Brian Dunning telling me I was required “immediately” at the pub! In the meantime, rumours circulated that I had been kidnapped by Ben Affleck who is in town shooting a film. Sadly this was not true, the much more mundane excuse of being stuck in traffic as a result of Ben Affleck being in town was all I could profer up. Actually, in hindsight, I should have been more worried about being abducted by Adam Sandler and forced to watch his awful excuses for comedy filums. You may not be surprised to learn that Adam has brought monkeys to the set of his movie; I know this because they were evacuated from a large hotel last night when a gas leak was detected. He should stop doing this – they almost always out-act him. But then perhaps this is not a bad distraction.

A strange creature has emerged from the depths of Lake Champlain in Vermont. So, naturally we call him "Champ" the pleiosaur.

Speaking of strange creatures, it seems NSW shares something in common with the state of Vermont in the USA. I spotted this notice on the side of a delivery truck in Boston. Just prior to leaving Sydney, news broke that an Australian crytozoologist had spotted what he believes to be a pleiosaurs in a river near Sydney. It seems this is not an isolated problem. Emblazoned on the side of a truck in Boston, I discovered that Vermont has a similar problem. Their pleiosaurs is named as “Champ”, and the creature has apparently been spotted over 300 times.

Boston is also the epicentre of the unusual performance art group, The Blue Man Group. And you haven’t seen Boston until you’ve seen them, or so the poster says. I must admit I have some trouble taking the Blue Man Group seriously, although I’m sure they are a top class bunch of blokes. But after Arrested Development did a show centred around Tobias attempting to join them after mistaking a poster for a depression support group for the group, it is a little hard to think of them with a straight face.

Even with such a busy schedule I did have time to look around Harvard University yesterday. As you can imagine it is a very impressive campus, reminiscent of its English counterpart, steeped in history and rich in perfectly manicured gardens and historical buildings. Harvard Yard is a large expanse of grassed and tree covered area where students loll about on garden chairs reading texts or playing frisbie. The library towers over the yard at one end, literally dwarfing all other buildings.

The imposing Harvard Library towers over the Yard.

I had just enough time to wander through the maze of colleges, where students live in semester, to get to the numerous Law school buildings. The surrounding areas are very English in their architecture and garden design. Like Cambridge in the UK, Cambridge, MA is steeped in academia and culture. The town itself is dominated by a student population owing to the numerous universities and colleges in the are. And all highly prestigious; from MIT, to Harvard and Tufts University.

One thing that struck me today at Harvard medical school in the Cell Biology Department, was the cramped environment. Just like the labs I saw at Vanderbilt, a private university with plenty of cash to throw around, the lab space was small, dark and very basic. But despite this, some of the best scientific work in the world is done in the Harvard Medical School and surrounding research facilities.

In the letter, we pointed out that pharmacies sell a growing number of products for which there is little or no scientific evidence of efficacy. Calling them “alternative” does not make them work. Examples include homeopathic preparations, magnetic pain relief devices, detox programmes, dodgy weight loss products and ear candles. Such products commonly appear in a “Natural Medicine” section of pharmacies but are sometimes displayed alongside real medicines whose benefits are scientifically proven.

With respect to ear candles, we cited peer reviewed studies reporting serious injuries from ear candles, including temporary hearing loss, burns, ear canals blocked by dripping wax and punctured ear drums.

“Ear candling is one of those CAM modalities that clearly does more harm than good… its mechanism of action is first implausible and second, demonstrably wrong… in my view, therefore, it should be banned.” Edzard Ersnt.

We were very pleased to see our open letter was picked up by medindia.net.

You can find a link to the full letter here. Thank you also to our friend Lorreta Maron who got the letter posted on a pharmacists’ website.

I know this is not a sceptical issue but I am so proud of my Dad I just had to tell everyone my/his news.

My Da (as he is affectionately known to me) was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia today for services to veterans through the Royal Australian Regiment Association, and to youth, particularly through Operation Flinders.

Me, Ma, Moose (OAM).

Colonel Graham John Dunlop, (known as “Moose” to almost everyone) served as an Officer in the Australian Army for 25 years. He trained at Duntroon (now known as ADFA), Canberra following high school in Maryborough, rural Queensland.

He did a tour of duty in Vietnam for 13 months in 1969 as part of 3RAR where he was a platoon leader.

Despite retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel after 25 years of service, he continued to work for the rights of Veterans and as a volunteer for the army cadets. In fact, he was made an honorary Colonel as part of his work for the cadets, where he served as a mentor for over ten years. This is particularly unusual since this position is generally for only 12 months, but owing to popular demand, Da was asked to keep coming back!

His work for Operation Flinders is included in today’s OAM and involved him mentoring troubled youth (often from broken homes or off the streets) and teaching them survival skills, team work and instilling them with self esteem.

Through his tireless work with campaigning for Veterans Affairs he has lobbied government to improve the entitlements for veterans. He continues this today, with his newly appointed role on the Veteran’s Affairs advisory committee. Throughout this campaign he has been stubborn, dogmatic and brave.

Despite him requesting they inscribe the medal with "Moose" it was deemed the name had to match his birth certificate. UN-AUSTRALIAN.

Such was the case when he agreed to appear on Hack, the Triple J current affairs show hosted by Steve Cannane, to share his experiences in the Vietnam war, as part of a series on how war has intergenerational effects. I also contributed to this interview, which eventually resulted in Steve winning a Walkely Award for excellence in Journalism – it was a harrowing experience for us both, but not more than for my Da. He opened up about the effects war had, and continues to have on him, all the while his daughter was berating him in the studio for putting her under too much pressure (don’t I feel like a twit now).

The response to this interview from fellow veterans and families was overwhelming and the effects were felt far and wide. My Da helped so many ex-soldiers that day, by demonstrating it is not a failing to admit to your problems, and talking to your family can go a long way to helping with the healing process. I can certainly attest to this.

The process leading up to him being awarded an OAM today, began with a phone call to my Ma from one of his mates suggesting the nomination be made. It’s been around 12 months since the wheels began to turn on this, and all the while, we as a family had to keep quiet. Mum, I am so proud of you for dealing with the secret negotiations when we all wanted to burst! I remember Mum showing me the official letter back in November 2008 when I was home for the sceptics national convention and I couldn’t hold back the tears.

Colonel Moose OAM; "Tie your own bloody knots, I'm fishing".

You would feel the same if you visited the pub after an ANZAC day march and saw how much his mates respect him. The moment they find out you are the daughter of Moose Dunlop, they 1) insist on buying you a drink 2) pour their guts out about how much of a good mate he is and a bloody good soldier.

Like any father and daughter we have our disagreements. However, there is nothing better than sitting in the tinnie, a couple of lines in the water, gazing onto a deserted beach somewhere on the west coast of South Australia and pulling in the King George whiting. But, don’t expect him to tie your rig for you,
“I gave you a bloody how-to-tie-knots-book, do it yourself, I’m fishing!”

Da, I am so incredibly proud of you. Well done you bastard.

We have
• An interview with Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com and The Skeptologists
• Eran Segev of the NSW Skeptics on Santa myths
• Interviews from Sydney Sci-Fi Convention FreeCon
• Dr Rachie Reports – with new insights on CAM and
• The ever irrepressible Think Tank drinking sceptically

Sign on to the Skeptic Zone and see why we’ve broken records in 2008 as a top-rating iTunes show – and are bound for glory in 2009!

Skeptic Zone stats.
In the category of science and medicine: number 1 in NZ, number 1 in Australia.

We have some very exciting news to convey, our podcast the Skeptic Zone has hit the big time on iTunes Australia. After a shout-out on The Skeptics Guide to the Universe (#175) this week, our numbers started creeping up, and up and up. And this morning we were thrilled to discover we are Number 1 under the category of “Religion and Spirituality” outranking the likes of Oprah Winfrey! Even better, we are sitting pretty at No. 16 for Top Audio Podcasts (see below)

Top audio podcasts, iTunes Australia
1. Hamish and Andy
–
4. Dr Karl on Triple J
5. Ricky Gervais Podcast
6. Dr Karl’s great moments in science
—-
11. Hamish and Andy minicasts
12. Dr Karl and the Naked Scientist, BBC
14. All in the mind, ABC Radio National
15. Nova Merrick and Rosso and Kate Ritchie

16. The Skeptic Zone

17. The Science Show, ABC Radio National
18. Stephen Fry’s Podgrams
19. Triple J Sunday Night Safran
—
21. Hack Triple J radio

And under the category of Top Podcasts, which includes audio and video, we rank # 34. If you head to podcasts on iTunes Australia, you will find us smack, bang at the top of the page, featured as a “new release”.

And on the American store, in the category of Religion and Spirituality, we have leapt from #61 this morning to #34! It doesn’t stop there, on the UK store, we are sitting pretty at number 39 under top audio podcasts in Religion and Spirituality and #48 overall (which includes audio and video).

So if you haven’t heard us yet, or subscribed, head to our website where you’ll find the link to iTunes, the RSS feed or the live stream. Please take the time to DIGG us (there’s a link on the website) and write us a review on iTunes. We are thrilled that the podcast is taking off in such a huge way. A big thank you to all our current fans and subscribers. 

Tell your friends!

Live blood analysis (LBA) or live blood imaging is also known as dark-field video analysis, haemaview and nutritional blood analysis

The concept is simple, your finger is pricked, a drop of your blood placed on a slide and then viewed on a microscope and projected into a computer monitor. Practitioners claim to be able to make judgements from the shape of your blood cells and the contents of your blood about the state of your health. They claim to be able to see all manner of things from bacterial, fungal and viral infections, increased “acidity” in the blood, organ-system dysfunctions, gut permeability & digestive health, evidence of hormonal imbalances to atherosclerotic plaque! Which is all part of a scheme to sell you their “magic potion” commonly in the form of over-priced vitamin powders or supplements.

Even Wikipedia got it right this time with their description of LBA as; “…an unestablished diagnostic test (1) promoted by some alternative medicine practitioners, who assert that it can diagnose a range of diseases. There is no scientific evidence that live blood analysis can detect any disease state, and it has been described by an expert on complementary and alternative medicine as a fraudulent means of convincing a patient that they are ill and require treatment with dietary supplements” (2). And this was Edzard Ernst, the world’s first professor of complementary medicine, who holds the Laing Chair of Complementary Medicine at the Peninsula Medical School, a partnership with the the University of Exeter and the University of Plymouth. Professor Ernst has published over 1000 peer reviewed papers and written over 40 books, his most recent, Trick or Treatment with UK based science writer, Simon Singh. He knows his stuff.

“…There is no scientific evidence that live blood analysis can detect any disease state…”

So how does it work, (or not work)? LBA practitioners refer to microscopy images of diseased blood made available by various labs, and diagnose your ailment by comparison. You can see some diagnostic pictures here.
They all claim to treat a wide variety, virtual mish-mash of diseases. Some of the more interesting things I came across include “free radical damage to the blood cell”, undigested proteins and fats (this is not an illness) evidence of smoking (damn, I had no idea I was smoking until you did my LBA), alcohol, stress (this research stresses me out) and atherosclerotic plaque; hang on a tic, atherosclerotic plaque? Why did no one bother to tell me this? I work in heart disease research and we’ve spent decades looking for blood borne biological markers that could indicate the presence of plaques. AND NOW THIS? Clearly I have wasted my time.

Now here’s the trick with alternative medicine peddlers. They will pepper their spiel with “scientific-sounding” words to make their claims appear more credible (more on this below) . Brian Dunning talks about this as a “red flag” in his fantastic presentation “Here Be Dragons – an introduction to critical thinking. Here is a classic example, drawn from a random LBA website.

“For our live blood cell analysis Dr. “Jo Bloggs” (name changed to protect the shonky) uses a sophisticated microscope called an RTM (Richardson Technology Microscope). This microscope is the same one being used in places like the The Scripps Center and The Pasteur Institute and is the only one available in the world to be used for live blood cell analysis”.

Now this is probably true. Richardson Technologies are legitimate microscope manufacturers and dark field microscopy is a valid scientific tool. That doesn’t mean they are being used for real science in this case, I have a miscroscope in my house to; it sits on my bookshelf and looks “sciencey”. Perhaps I need to put a a sign on my letterbox – microscope upstairs, scientific stuff wooo, only $100 buck to see it.

And here’s another classic red flag. Search any of these sights, (and LBA is not the only culprit) and you will be sure to find dozens if not more, of testimonials from satisfied customers. This is very common practice by woo practitioners, yet, testimonials DO NOT constitute evidence. The most obvious thing that comes to my mind is how do you know they are real? Couldn’t they have easily been written by the person her/himself? Or their neighbour, or randomly generated from testimonialsforquacks.com(3)?

Australia is not immune. Richard and I went under cover to the Mind Body Wallet (sic) Festival in Sydney Australia earlier this year, and spoke with an LBA proponent. Now I should point out here that I am a cell biologist, working in heart disease research with a PhD from the University of Sydney, so I’m pretty familiar with physiology and scientific terminology. (Search for R. A. Dunlop on Pubmed for assurance that my PhD is not from a diploma factory). Richard on the other hand is a science junkie and a member of the cheer squad, but essentially a layman with respect to the jargon and of course they use this to their advantage.

As her explanation progressed I noticed a pattern of peppering with misplaced scientific jargon almost as if she had put a whole lot of scientific words in a hat and pulled them out at random. At the point when she threw in “SOD” I had to stop her and ask for more information. SOD, or SuperOxide Dismutase is an enzyme I am very familiar with, (in fact I even wrote a section on it in my thesis), so you’re not getting past me dropping SOD into a conversation sister. SOD is an enzymatic anti-oxidant which detoxifies free radicals, specifically ones known as superoxide in the body to a less toxic product. Well actually to hydrogen peroxide the stuff you use to bleach your hair, so not completely harmless, but certainly lass damaging than the radical species. I remember her explanation well, she said, “Superdismutase o…..oh I can’t remember, it’s been a long day!”. Hmmm. Now why the hell she was dropping SOD into the sales pitch for her supplement of choice, known as Green Barley Powder escapes me, apart from it’s scientific sounding name.

“Superdismutase o…..oh I can’t remember, it’s been a long day!”.

She also tried to convince us that the shape of your blood cells on the slide could indicate if you had the correct ratio of magnesium to calcium in your body and that the cloudy feeling you sometimes get in the mornings is a result of an imbalance in this ratio, but of course the GBP fixes all that. I had previously attributed the cloudy feeling in my head to the copious amounts of champagne I had consumed the previous night, but I’m willing to run with that.

If you are still unsure as to the efficacy of LBA, check the fine print and sometimes the-not-so-fine-print on the websites of practitioners. Here’s one I came across during my research:

“Dr. Blogs does not diagnose, prescribe or cure. He simply observes the living tissue in your body, makes recommendations about lifestyle and gives the body what it needs to heal itself”.

And the following statement appeared in bold type on the homepage no less; “Nothing on this site should be construed as medical advice. Seek the services of your physician for medical advice”.

In addition, there are ongoing regulatory issues surrounding LBA with unaccredited labs in the States conducting the procedure. In 1996, the Pennsylvania Department of Laboratories informed three Pennsylvania chiropractors that “Nutritional Blood Analysis” could not be used for diagnostic purposes unless they maintain a laboratory that has both state and federal certification for complex testing (4).

Essentially LBA is a front for selling you some expensive cocktail of herbs or vitamins. Prices vary for a consultation, the most expensive I came across was USD $375 for the initial visit and $175 for a follow up. In Australia, the test costs about $150. But then the potions are much more, $105 per kilo for the GBP they tried to sell Richard and I. And of course you are not cured with one course, this is a repeat business venture plus you will need to return for a follow-up visit to demonstrate that you are “cured”.

I have also recently discovered the existence of Dry Cell Analysis and Hair Mineral Analysis too, but right now I need a stiff drink and a good lie down.

References

(1) CLIA regulation of unestablished laboratory tests.
(2) Ernst E (July 12, 2005). A new era of scientific discovery? Intrigued by the spectacular claims made for Live Blood Analysis? Don’t be. It doesn’t work. The Guardian
(3) Not a real website
(4) Wlazelek A. Chiropractors cease blood cell show and tell. State restricts the use of magnified images to sell vitamins, supplements. The Morning Call, April 12, 1996, page B6.