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The Media and the Worried Well
Every morning I watch the local news to see what kind of medical problems and issues I will be discussing that day. If there is a story about a new case of West Nile Fever in the area, I will be getting calls as soon as the phones open. A Lyme disease case was diagnosed thirty miles from here, so I will get a few of those calls, too. These calls come from a large group of media-inflamed people called the "Worried Well" - well people that think they might be ill, or at least, exposed.
A rash that would have been otherwise ignored is now a target lesion characteristic of Lyme. A fever that would have been previously attributed to a viral infection is now the H1N1 (swine) flu. I saw two, perfectly-well boys, ages 7 and 9, last evening because the father felt they had swine flu. Apparently, they had a particular rare type of swine flu - one that had no symptoms. They have not traveled to Mexico, although they were in Venezuela last year to visit relatives. They had no contact with others who were ill at school; and there were no reported cases in that particular school or city. The answers to all of the H1N1 medical screening was a flat negative. No symptoms. No contacts. Well kids. I literally had to argue with the parents that a screening test was not only not indicated, the Health Department would refuse to run it.
This recent influenza pseudo-pandemic is a prime example of media hype, not unlike yelling "Fire" in a crowded theater. I really can't fault the CDC and the Health Departments for going on alert, even high-alert, but the media fed the fires of fear that drove people into a frenzy. Tents were set up to screen people outside of standing-room-only emergency rooms. People, whose only contact was with a cooked pork chop, demanded to be tested and treated. A local Catholic school was closed after one case was found (not a bad idea), but several more schools were closed in neighboring communities "just in case". There were no firm guidelines on school closures. Each hour, I would get an email from our lab or from the Health Department on how to collect and store the viral swabs and where we should send them. Our clinic ended up sending several dozen cultures of suspected cases over the last two weeks. We have yet to hear about any of them.
If this potential pandemic was a test of our public health system's response to a biological emergency, I am not sure we passed. The first day that I sent the proper viral swabs to the local health department, they were closed due to budget constraints! Millions of doses of Tamiflu - an antiviral flu medication - were sent to the border states for possible public distribution. The federal government had bought tons of these expensive drugs during the last flu scare - the bird flu - when it was assumed that we would see millions of cases of a deadly strain spread by birds along their migratory routes. It didn't happen, obviously. It was sure financially-convenient to have this new swine flu emerge since those medications were due to expire anyway. I had two courses of Tamiflu in my medicine cabinet from the bird flu that I didn't take; it was expired, too. Oh, by the way, the companies that make Tamiflu and Relenza (another anti-flu medication) are ecstatic.
This morning, I had a heated thirty-minute counseling session with a mother who did not want to give her healthy five-year old any more vaccines in preparation for kindergarten for fear that he would get autism. Yes, autism exists, and yes it is being diagnosed more and more in the U.S. (Although not so often in other countries where the exact, same vaccines are used.). There is absolutely no scientific evidence that autism is directly or indirectly caused by any of the vaccines, or combination of vaccines, or the preservatives in the vaccines (which, incidentally, no longer exists). Of course, these medical claims vindicating the vaccines, made from years of controlled studies, reviewed by experts in their respective fields, must be wrong. Why? Because someone disputed it on the Internet claiming that the studies are wrong - motivated by vaccine-manufacturer's greed and profit, or a neighbor told her that she had a cousin that got autism from the vaccine. Rumors, anecdotal claims, and unsubstantiated personal testimonials appear to have more credibility than a published study in the New England Journal of Medicine. In the end, the mother agreed to get the MMR vaccine, but did not want to get the other three required, school-entry vaccines at this time. Okay, one vaccine (three, actually) is better than none at all.
I feel sorry for the media. Unless they have a good story, no one will watch the news or read the paper. If readership goes down and people stop watching, advertisers will not buy time or space. If advertisers stop advertising; newspapers and television stations will go under. It has already happened with the economic downturn.
There are some days, when I am getting my morning "Disease of the Day" briefing on television, that there are no good stories. They may have a "breaking news" story about a new meat-slicer at the local market that is safer than the older, finger-amputating model. A few years ago, I turned on the news to see live helicopter footage of a local swimming pool. Someone (unnamed) had pushed the wrong button to automatically chlorinate the pool, and several people had become sick from the chlorine fumes, while others had bleached-out Speedos. I could see ambulances with light flashing. Paramedics ran dragging gurneys with people on oxygen. It was chaos. Two hours later at work, I saw an endless dance of potential chlorine victims. A few hours after that, it was determined that the chlorine levels in the pool were really not that high; certainly not toxic.
About 12 years ago, when I was teaching in Michigan, another chlorine incident happened. The people doing the laundry at the Indian Casino used concentrated chlorine instead of Clorox. The fumes wafted through the casino, much to the horror of the semi-drugged gamblers. Some became nauseated. A few vomited. The rest fled in a wild panic. The rumor was that there was a terrorist, nerve gas attack. The local fire department quickly set up a make-shift decontamination area for the many victims before transporting them to the local emergency room. Totally-naked gamblers stood in the freezing weather and were systematically hosed down with even colder water. Once they were blue and placed in paper gowns, they were sent to the ER. I can tell you that this was big news for Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. I was puzzled all day why anyone would think that terrorists or a disgruntled loser would consider an Indian casino in Mt. Pleasant to be a target.
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A rash that would have been otherwise ignored is now a target lesion characteristic of Lyme. A fever that would have been previously attributed to a viral infection is now the H1N1 (swine) flu. I saw two, perfectly-well boys, ages 7 and 9, last evening because the father felt they had swine flu. Apparently, they had a particular rare type of swine flu - one that had no symptoms. They have not traveled to Mexico, although they were in Venezuela last year to visit relatives. They had no contact with others who were ill at school; and there were no reported cases in that particular school or city. The answers to all of the H1N1 medical screening was a flat negative. No symptoms. No contacts. Well kids. I literally had to argue with the parents that a screening test was not only not indicated, the Health Department would refuse to run it.
This recent influenza pseudo-pandemic is a prime example of media hype, not unlike yelling "Fire" in a crowded theater. I really can't fault the CDC and the Health Departments for going on alert, even high-alert, but the media fed the fires of fear that drove people into a frenzy. Tents were set up to screen people outside of standing-room-only emergency rooms. People, whose only contact was with a cooked pork chop, demanded to be tested and treated. A local Catholic school was closed after one case was found (not a bad idea), but several more schools were closed in neighboring communities "just in case". There were no firm guidelines on school closures. Each hour, I would get an email from our lab or from the Health Department on how to collect and store the viral swabs and where we should send them. Our clinic ended up sending several dozen cultures of suspected cases over the last two weeks. We have yet to hear about any of them.
If this potential pandemic was a test of our public health system's response to a biological emergency, I am not sure we passed. The first day that I sent the proper viral swabs to the local health department, they were closed due to budget constraints! Millions of doses of Tamiflu - an antiviral flu medication - were sent to the border states for possible public distribution. The federal government had bought tons of these expensive drugs during the last flu scare - the bird flu - when it was assumed that we would see millions of cases of a deadly strain spread by birds along their migratory routes. It didn't happen, obviously. It was sure financially-convenient to have this new swine flu emerge since those medications were due to expire anyway. I had two courses of Tamiflu in my medicine cabinet from the bird flu that I didn't take; it was expired, too. Oh, by the way, the companies that make Tamiflu and Relenza (another anti-flu medication) are ecstatic.
This morning, I had a heated thirty-minute counseling session with a mother who did not want to give her healthy five-year old any more vaccines in preparation for kindergarten for fear that he would get autism. Yes, autism exists, and yes it is being diagnosed more and more in the U.S. (Although not so often in other countries where the exact, same vaccines are used.). There is absolutely no scientific evidence that autism is directly or indirectly caused by any of the vaccines, or combination of vaccines, or the preservatives in the vaccines (which, incidentally, no longer exists). Of course, these medical claims vindicating the vaccines, made from years of controlled studies, reviewed by experts in their respective fields, must be wrong. Why? Because someone disputed it on the Internet claiming that the studies are wrong - motivated by vaccine-manufacturer's greed and profit, or a neighbor told her that she had a cousin that got autism from the vaccine. Rumors, anecdotal claims, and unsubstantiated personal testimonials appear to have more credibility than a published study in the New England Journal of Medicine. In the end, the mother agreed to get the MMR vaccine, but did not want to get the other three required, school-entry vaccines at this time. Okay, one vaccine (three, actually) is better than none at all.
I feel sorry for the media. Unless they have a good story, no one will watch the news or read the paper. If readership goes down and people stop watching, advertisers will not buy time or space. If advertisers stop advertising; newspapers and television stations will go under. It has already happened with the economic downturn.
There are some days, when I am getting my morning "Disease of the Day" briefing on television, that there are no good stories. They may have a "breaking news" story about a new meat-slicer at the local market that is safer than the older, finger-amputating model. A few years ago, I turned on the news to see live helicopter footage of a local swimming pool. Someone (unnamed) had pushed the wrong button to automatically chlorinate the pool, and several people had become sick from the chlorine fumes, while others had bleached-out Speedos. I could see ambulances with light flashing. Paramedics ran dragging gurneys with people on oxygen. It was chaos. Two hours later at work, I saw an endless dance of potential chlorine victims. A few hours after that, it was determined that the chlorine levels in the pool were really not that high; certainly not toxic.
About 12 years ago, when I was teaching in Michigan, another chlorine incident happened. The people doing the laundry at the Indian Casino used concentrated chlorine instead of Clorox. The fumes wafted through the casino, much to the horror of the semi-drugged gamblers. Some became nauseated. A few vomited. The rest fled in a wild panic. The rumor was that there was a terrorist, nerve gas attack. The local fire department quickly set up a make-shift decontamination area for the many victims before transporting them to the local emergency room. Totally-naked gamblers stood in the freezing weather and were systematically hosed down with even colder water. Once they were blue and placed in paper gowns, they were sent to the ER. I can tell you that this was big news for Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. I was puzzled all day why anyone would think that terrorists or a disgruntled loser would consider an Indian casino in Mt. Pleasant to be a target.
Related Topics:
- Worried Sick? Help for Hypochondria
- Ear, Nose & Throat Message Board with Rod Moser, PA, PhD
- Living Better Newsletter - Wellness news to keep you healthy and strong!
Labels: media, medicine, worried well
