Warning!

Researchers Believe Influenza Vaccines Need Improvement

The Chiro.Org Blog

SOURCE: Medscape Medical News

By Larry Hand

October 25, 2011 — Critical gaps exist in the evidence for the effectiveness of licensed influenza vaccines in the United States, researchers report in an article published online October 25 in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Individuals who are at risk for medical complications or people who are aged 65 years or older are especially affected by the gaps, the researchers write.

The researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 31 studies that used laboratory tests to confirm influenza infections. These studies were selected from 5707 studies identified, published over a period of 40 years. The authors found that trivalent inactivated vaccine, which is used for 90% of influenza vaccinations in the United States, is only effective in preventing infection in 59% of healthy adults. They also found live attenuated influenza vaccine, which is not approved for adults who are aged 50 years or older, to be effective in 83% of children aged 7 years or younger, and in 69% of people younger than 65 years.

“The ongoing health burden caused by seasonal influenza and the potential global effect of a severe pandemic suggests an urgent need for a new generation of more highly effective and cross-protective vaccines that can be manufactured rapidly,” write Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and lead author of the study, and colleagues. “In the meantime, we should maintain public support for present vaccines that are the best intervention available for seasonal influenza.” (more…)

WARNING: Keep an Eye On Your Adjusting Tables

The Chiro.Org Blog

SOURCE:   The Star Tribune

CHAO XIONG and PAUL WALSH ,

Star Tribune staff writers

We all heard in our adjusting classes that motorized tables involve some level risk when lowering them. Just as we were taught about trains, we need to remember to STOP – LOOK – and LISTEN.

The following is a sad tale about an infant that was crushed while crawling under an unsupervised traction table. In the hopes that this story may prevent this from ever happening in your office, please read the whole story.

SOURCE: The Star Tribune

When they heard a patient’s frantic screams Thursday afternoon, employees at a Shoreview chiropractic clinic rushed into an exam room and encountered a horrifying scene.

An 18-month-old boy lay trapped and crushed beneath a 300-pound chiropractic machine that his mother was strapped into. The toddler had crawled beneath the equipment and inadvertently pressed a button that lowered it onto him as his mother lay immobilized, unable to help.

No clinic staffers were in the room when the accident happened, according to Ramsey County sheriff’s spokesman Randy Gustafson. But there were witnesses — the woman’s two other children, both under the age of 4.

When the boy became stuck, Gustafson said, his mother “screamed to get the attention of the staff there.” (more…)