

Rare 'polio-like' disease reports in California - rb2e
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26289614

======
allochthon
Kind of scary. Here in the San Francisco Bay area I had a bad cough a few
weeks ago for the first time in a long time. I felt bad for taking BART into
SF and potentially getting others sick. A lot of people have been sick,
working from home. Probably not related.

~~~
digitalzombie
Are you a kid? Cause the article implies that only children are affected.

~~~
allochthon
No. But what's affecting kids might be spreading among adults as well, without
causing symptoms.

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thrush
Anyone else think this is weird being reported by the BBC?

~~~
drtse4
I guess he meant "they reported it first, instead of any other major US news
outlet"

~~~
dalke
The LA Times is a major US news outlet which reported it:
[http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-polio-like-
paral...](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-polio-like-paralysis-
california-20140223,0,4064386.story) .

It's being distributed through the AP. There are 18 newspapers listed on
Google News which reported on this in the last 24 hours:
[https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&authuser=0...](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&authuser=0&q=polio-
like&oq=polio-like&gs_l=news-
cc.3..43j43i53.243.1911.0.2397.12.4.1.6.6.0.245.530.1j2j1.4.0...0.0...1ac.1.GlCOtSJgBVQ)
.

For what it's worth, West Nile virus can cause polio-like paralysis(
[http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20140211-west-nile-
trig...](http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20140211-west-nile-triggered-
millions-in-hospital-costs-lost-productivity.ece) and
[http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/02/the-l...](http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/02/the-
limbo-between-a-life-worth-living-and-death.html) ).

~~~
thrush

      I guess he meant "they reported it first, instead of any other major US news outlet"
    

This is exactly what I meant. In hindsight, I hadn't checked other news
outlets (it's clearly evident that they had already reported on the topic),
and I suppose it's not all that strange because there may well be BBC
representatives in California, or at least in touch with people in California.
It was a very poorly thought out comment, and I apologize.

~~~
dalke
It appears that the news articles (Google News now reports 149 hits for the
term "polio-like") are due to the following:

[https://www.aan.com/PressRoom/Home/PressRelease/1246](https://www.aan.com/PressRoom/Home/PressRelease/1246)
(EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 PM ET, February 23, 2014)

> PHILADELPHIA – UPDATE: The research study authors related that there are now
> between 20 and 25 reported, suspected cases of this polio-like syndrome.
> Researchers have identified a polio-like syndrome in a cluster of children
> from California over a one-year period, according to a case report released
> today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 66th
> Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, April 26 to May 3, 2014.

There's no reason to have a physical presence in California. For example, the
writer might be on a mailing list for announcements from the AAN, and perhaps
even access to the embargoed information. Make a few phone calls (including to
the researchers in California) and the article is done.

------
tosseraccount
Reminder that vaccines may not always be safe. Often when vaccine safety comes
up, people with concern are "voted down".` The fact is, not all immune systems
are the same and some cannot handle particular vaccines. An attitude of "most
scientists think it's safe" is not real science; it's a appeal to authority.
We need to figure out why some are endangered by some vaccines.

~~~
aasarava
No -- An attitude of "someone on HN says 'vaccines may not always be safe'" is
not real science.

Unless you want to provide any actual studies to back up your claim, you're
just spouting the sort of pseudoscience that gets children killed.

While it's true that some very small percent of the population can have an
allergic reaction to some vaccines, the risk of your child dying from, say,
polio is much much higher than the risk of him/her dying from the vaccine.

~~~
Domenic_S
> the risk of your child dying from, say, polio is much much higher than the
> risk of him/her dying from the vaccine.

That isn't the case, assuming you're non-Amish in the US is it? The last
naturally occurring case of polio in the United States was in 1979, and health
officials consider the disease eliminated in the Western Hemisphere. So your
risk of contracting wild polio is effectively 0.

If the death risk of the polio vaccine is 1:1,000,000, you would still have a
higher risk of dying from the vaccine.

NB: I believe in vaccines, but I don't think it's wise to try and make
arguments in the quoted way.

~~~
ars
> So your risk of contracting wild polio is effectively 0.

Hardly. Polio has been detected in sewage in the Middle East (multiple
countries). So far the only actual cases are in Syria, but that's pure luck
(1% chance per disease per person), it could spread very very easily.

~~~
Domenic_S
I can't believe you quoted that and missed where I said specifically I was
talking about the non-amish US population, and the western hemisphere.

~~~
ars
I didn't miss it at all. That was _exactly_ what I was replying to!

There is this perception of immunity in the US, but people travel. A lot. If
the US slows down polio immunization they will see cases.

(Not sure what Amish has to do with it, but Amish have lots of contact with
non-Amish people. Most especially they grow food which is a very common
vector.)

