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Limited Lactis Blogs - Lyn Sire
Did Global Warming Cause This Endemic?
Since, the endemic is ongoing, we can’t say for sure if it did or didn’t but the climate change facts are undeniable and we cannot just ignore what happened in 2030 with malaria. Over 10,000 people were affected in that year and 1000 people died as a result. In such a small country as Orsinia this had a significant impact on us. Since the endemic, the link with global warming has been conclusively confirmed. Between 2028 and 2030 there was a 3 degree rise in the average daily temperature. As some among us can remember, the summers during those years featured some extreme heatwaves. Many of the mosquitos responsible for malaria, who couldn’t have survived here in the past could now thrive. Unlike malaria-native countries Orsinia’s population had no immunity to this disease. Thankfully due to the availability of effective treatment the vast majority of people who became infected, did not develop severe symptoms. However, this will not be the case for our current Leishmaniasis endemic.
Within only 6 months of the first confirmed Leishmaniasis case of this endemic, already there have been 1500 diagnoses. In all likelihood, there are many more unconfirmed cases across the country. It begs the question, having experienced the horrendous Malaria endemic, could we not have predicted Leishmaniasis would spread here also? If I, an individual with no scientific background can see this now, why didnt medical professionals and researchers recognise it 20 years ago? I am sure I am not alone in my lack of trust for professionals in public health. If they had thought a leishmaniasis endemic was even slightly likely, surely they could have ensured the vaccination administered wouldn’t have the side effects my children have now experienced? We must not remain in silence anymore, we must ask these questions and demand answers, otherwise who will prevent devastation from another endemic in 20 years time?
Tolerance to Vaccines
I am sure all of you heard about or have listened to the recordings published last week by Limitless Lactis. I for one, was very relieved to get the reassurance I felt I needed about this vaccine. After much publicity about my blog, representatives of Limitless Lactis have spoken to me about my situation and informed me that what happened with my children is extremely rare. They showed me the statistics from all the countries in which the vaccine has been used featuring information on tolerance and side effects, and this gave me a lot of peace of mind. They were very sympathetic to the negative experiences we have battled through over the past six months and I truly appreciate that. Shortly after meeting with them I researched into tolerance to vaccines and I saw that even though it does happen, it is indeed a rarity. For almost all people administered with the Limitless lactis vaccine the sandfly salivary protein LJM11 evokes an immune response conferring immunity to cutaneous leishmaniasis, however on a very rare occasion as with my daughter, the individual’s immune system doesn’t react in this way.
In Sao Rico for example there was widespread administration of Limitless Lactis vaccine and there was a 0.05% incidence of tolerance to the vaccine. In other words in a group of 10,000 people who all got the vaccine, only for 5 was it ineffective.
Something I have taken from all of this is that everything must be looked at in perspective.Yes, when a new vaccine is brought in there will be a minute risk that it will be ineffective/cause adverse reactions, but what is the alternative? Let the endemic worsen and not protect huge volumes of people because of risk for a few? I now believe, this is not a risk we should be taking. Let’s do what we can while we can.
A Western Solution to a Developing World Problem? What About Syria?
It was the unsteady voice of Dr. Tom Guring, Chairperson of the medical charity organisation Médecins Sans Frontières, on CNN this morning that triggered me to revive my recent Limitless Lactis blog series. “We can no longer afford to take risks flying members and supplies out to Syria following last week’s tragedies. Yes, unfortunately this does mean that we have to postpone the “Limitless Lactis Leishmaniasis Immunisation Scheme” until we have reassurance that it is safe to return. I cannot say how long this tension will last for now, all we can do is hope that it won’t be a repeat of previous conflicts in the region.”
Many of us were taken aback by the recent return of the Rebel Alliance, and the aircraft attacks of last week. It was especially surprising considering the peace held in the country over the last decade since the establishment of the Democratic Peace Government. But what’s much less surprising to me is that another treatment, which was a so-called “miracle” for the developing world, is being denied to those where the very treatment was designed for. And after a little extra reading into this vaccine’s distribution in the developing world, it didn’t take me long to realise that this wasn’t the first country to be denied the vaccine. This vaccine hasn’t been getting to many other countries, such as Iran, for years due to problems with government trade policies!
It seems that as soon as this pandemic spread to wealthy countries, such as Southern Europe, they got some sort of divine priority over those that actually need it most. It’s already difficult not to notice the stigma against the Syrian refugees for helping to bring diseases such as Leishmaniasis to the first world, but how can they be responsible for a problem that we are refusing to fix? I can only imagine such stigma will only get worse if hundreds of thousands more unimmunised refugees carry such a threat to the weak and immunocompromised patients in the hospitals of the West, especially since the recent reports of the development of tolerance to the sandfly. Is this a deja-vu to when the Indian TB pandemic made its way to the USA? I can only hope that our governments don’t refuse entry to these helpless refugees to save them from their day to day suffering.
Vaccines such as these were promised to to help those in the developing world, not to create social barriers between the immunised and unimmunised. We need to take a good long look in the mirror and reflect on who we really care about helping.
