Can you put down your pitchfork long enough to discuss the root causes of the anti-vax problem?

[nashville_brook]

191. i have reactions to flu shots

b/c of an immune condition. i'd miss a week of work and illness would just cascade -- getting worse and worse. after years of being dead dog sick after the shot, i don't get flu shots anymore. i simply can't do it.

this particular immune condition has been linked to hyper-reactivity to vaccines. unfortunately, our understanding of the immune system isn't to the point where we can identify kids with a pre-disposition to this, otherwise we'd be able to give them medical excuses for not taking the vaccines and everybody would be happy.

what's so frustrating is that the research on the immune condition has gotten tied-up in this controversy over vaccines, and researchers trying to publish on the subject have for years been ostracized in trying to get the most elementary definitions published -- so we barely even have a name for the syndrome. some call it ME/CFS. some say it's inherited, some say it's viral, some say it's a reaction to a critical mass of "environmental insults." we don't have answers because the research has been politicized. what i do know is that i nearly died from sepsis as a child (recently found this out), and again when i was 36. so basically, my immune system randomly shuts down. it will be okay one day and then gone the next.

all that to say -- there's an intersection between autism and these immune dysfunctions that's explored in this book, if you're interested:

http://www.amazon.com/Plague-Scientist%C2%92s-Intrepid-Retroviruses-Syndrome/dp/1626365652/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422973886&sr=8-1&keywords=mikovits