Dutch extremist group unleashes biological weapons on Canada

[LesCanadiens]

http://communities.canada.com/vanco...tives-at-root-of-canadian-mumps-outbreak.aspx

Dutch Reformed conservatives at root of Canadian mumps outbreak

A retired physician in Chilliwack vividly remembers the conservative Christian mushroom farmer who came to him in 1978 severely ill with polio, which was starting to paralyze his body.

The B.C. polio victim was a member of an arch-conservative arm of the Dutch Reformed church, which held it goes against God's will to accept vaccinations for polio or other infectious diseases, Dr. R. W. Van der Flier said in an interview.

The B.C. mushroom farmer had caught the polio virus from a visitor from the Netherlands who was a member of the same traditionalist Protestant Reformed denomination, which was at the time the focus of a severe polio outbreak in Holland.

That decades-old drama is echoing again this week. Fraser Valley Health officials have acknowledged an outbreak of mumps that originated in the Chilliwack area was linked to a Christian group that doesn't believe in vaccinations.

Of the more than 196 cases reported since the outbreak began in Chilliwack in February, 10 to 20 are still active. Half of the people who have been infected had not been immunized.

Van der Flier joins with other residents of Chilliwack, university professors and health researchers around the world in confirming that some members of the Reformed tradition in the valley, as well as in other parts of Canada and the Netherlands, continue to refuse vaccinations for polio, measles, rubella, mumps and other infectious diseases.

Although Fraser Valley Health officials have not named followers of the tradition as a source of the mumps outbreak, health officials in southern Ontario confirmed that some new cases of the viral disease in that province are tied to members of the "Netherlands Reformed Church" who shun vaccinations.

Eurosurveillance, a leading journal on infectious disease, also reported that a 2005 outbreak of rubella among unvaccinated Reformed Christians in the Netherlands had spread to hundreds of members of the same highly conservative Protestant sect in southern Ontario.

Van der Flier said his emergency treatment of the Dutch farmer appears to have saved his life.

Is it unacceptable to put others at risk by refusing basic medical treatment to prevent deadly infectious diseases? Will God hate you if you decide to do your part to eradicate disease? Does God love disease? Discuss.

 

[Bill3000]

Is it unacceptable to put others at risk by refusing basic medical treatment to prevent deadly infectious diseases?

Absolutely. Deserves jail time for the idiots in this case.

 

[Dubai Vol]

But, but.... autism!

But, but... if everyone else is vaccinated, what difference does it make?

Have I covered all the ignorant reasons, or did I miss some? Vaccinate your kids, people. It's important.

 

[LucyDuke]

It's idiotic. But I'm not sure anyone should be forcibly vaccinated.

Van der Flier said his emergency treatment of the Dutch farmer appears to have saved his life.

That's too bad, really. It's probably good when anti-science folks die off.

Oh, and your thread title sucks.

 

[Esckey]

Is the mumps deadly? I can see wanting to cure polio, but I don't know anyone that has ever had the mumps

 

[Abaddon]

Very silly, but you can't force vaccinate

 

[Elrohir]

Is it unacceptable to put others at risk by refusing basic medical treatment to prevent deadly infectious diseases? Will God hate you if you decide to do your part to eradicate disease? Does God love disease? Discuss.

It's stupid, but you shouldn't be forced to be vaccinated if you don't want to be. No, God won't hate you for that. (If He loves us despite our many sins, I think He'll manage to overlook our stupidity. I certainly hope so, because humanity has that in spades.

And does God love disease? Interesting question - I guess you'd have to decide whether the disease in question is an animal, and if so, whether God loves animals because they're alive, or only in relation to how they serve humanity. So, I think that'd be a thread all by itself. Regardless of whether God loves bacteria, I think it's clear that He loves humans more, and that we're allowed to fight or destroy "lower" life forms for good cause. (And I think stopping the death or maiming of other human beings certainly qualifies as a good clause, so regardless, we're in the clear here )

 

[sysyphus]

It was much nicer when they sent us tulips.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Is it unacceptable to put others at risk by refusing basic medical treatment to prevent deadly infectious diseases?

Yes, it is unacceptable. Unless a person is allergic in some way to the vaccine, immunization should be mandatory.

Is the mumps deadly? I can see wanting to cure polio, but I don't know anyone that has ever had the mumps

I've had the mumps. It was the second-most painful thing I've ever gone through.

Mumps can be deadly to the very young, and it hits adults quite hard. I was in Grade 12, and it was two weeks before final exams. I missed my exams and ended having to repeat my two science courses.

I was 16 at the time and already had medical problems and a compromised immune system. I have no idea where I was exposed to mumps, as there weren't any outbreaks reported that year. But I was out of school for three weeks and quite weak for several weeks after. I had a high fever, and eating was impossible because it just hurt too much. So I lived on grape juice for two weeks. That's all I could manage that wasn't too painful (although it still hurt) and that I could keep down.

That bout of mumps had permanent, long-term consequences to my life. And no, I hadn't been immunized -- and I truly think that if I had been, I would probably have been safe.

It was much nicer when they sent us tulips.

No, thanks. Tulips are pretty to look at, but I'm allergic.

This reminds me: I need to check with the Health Unit to find out when and where the flu immunizations are being held this year...

 

[choxorn]

Screw Religion, you have to take your medicine.

 

[Bigfoot3814]

The mumps? Isn't that a Brady Bunch disease?

 

[West 36]

This isn't what I expected having read the title, but whatever!
What is the reasoning of the group here? Why exactly would God not like being treated?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

The mumps? Isn't that a Brady Bunch disease?

It's a disease that if you're going to get it, it's best to happen before puberty. Afterward, it can cause all kinds of complications.

 

[jameson]

What is the reasoning of the group here? Why exactly would God not like being treated?

The basic reason, IIRC ( I went to school with some people with similar beliefs), is that everything that happens to you is God's will, and seeking treatment or vaccinations would therefore be to act against God's will. In the same vein, I was told by a classmate that they wouldn't seek treatment if they broke a leg, because if God wanted you to lose your leg, then you just had to accept that, and having surgery or getting a prosthetic leg would also be to defy Him.

I thought these people were insane.

 

[Leifmk]

The mumps? Isn't that a Brady Bunch disease?

In the real world, it's a disease where you go through a period of quite intense discomfort and pain due to swellings and fever. If you're lucky. If you're unlucky it can cause viral meningitis or encephalitis and quite possibly kill you (although this is a fairly rare outcome), and can also make you infertile for life if you get it after puberty.

It is rare now due to vaccines. But I'm only in my mid-thirties and when I was a kid it was one of those diseases that parents deliberately exposed their kids to when it was going around, since the risk of dying from it when you were around eight or ten was lower than the risk of dying from it (or becoming infertile) if you got it later.

 

[Leifmk]

The basic reason, IIRC ( I went to school with some people with similar beliefs), is that everything that happens to you is God's will, and seeking treatment or vaccinations would therefore be to act against God's will.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I sent two boats and a helicopter..."

 

[Simple Simon]

Mumps is not as bad as some other illnesses, but it is bad enough. Although complications such as meningitis are rare, and rarely deadly, they are much more common, and much worse, than the rate of complications derived from vaccination. Ergo, it should be considered bodily injury if parents refuse to have their kids vaccinated and the kids contract the disease.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Just confine them. Problem solved.

 

[Simple Simon]

Just confine them. Problem solved.

Not really - or did you mean confining ALL non-vaccinated people at ALL times?

 

[JohnRM]

http://communities.canada.com/vanco...tives-at-root-of-canadian-mumps-outbreak.aspx



Is it unacceptable to put others at risk by refusing basic medical treatment to prevent deadly infectious diseases? Will God hate you if you decide to do your part to eradicate disease? Does God love disease? Discuss.

Assuming, for the moment, that there is a God, do you actually think that God favors human beings over all other life forms, including bacteria and viruses?