A study done in 2017 showed that within a 2015 measles outbreak in California, a large number of cases occurred within recent vaccinees (73 out of 194 cases). Researchers within the study developed a test to identify measles vaccine strains within patients. While this study is one of the first of its kind, this is not the first time that the effectiveness of the measles vaccine has been brought into question. As early as 1994, researchers published a paper questioning how effective the measles vaccine was, as the measles has yet to be eliminated. Shortly after the paper was published, a second dose of the measles vaccine was introduced.

There have been many cases of measles outbreaks in well-vaccinated areas. This has been well documented in China in 2013, in Israel in 2017, as well as many places in the U.S. That being said, measles outbreaks often occur in unvaccinated areas as well.

How often are measles outbreaks that cause quite a stir as a result of mainstream media coverage actually a result of the MMR vaccine itself? How often are people in these measles outbreaks analyzed and tested to determine whether they have contracted a wild type measles, or a vaccine strain measles?

37% of Measles Cases Analyzed In The US In 2015 Were Caused By The MMR Vaccine

Related: How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children

While children have died from measles, many children have died from the measles vaccine as well. Data from the FDA Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) shows that the MMR vaccine has 93,929 accounts of adverse events, 1,810 disabilities, 6,902 hospitalizations, and 463 deaths. VAERS is a voluntary reporting system and it’s estimated to only capture 1% of adverse.

If you are worried about the measles, (vaccinated or unvaccinated), or any other disease, the best thing you can do is prioritize gut health through a healthy diet. Check out this article for more on how to heal the gut.

A new study done by the University of Queensland shows how bad the pesticide mixture problem is, in the first comprehensive analysis of the pesticide mixtures in rivers and creeks that discharge into the Great Barrier Reef.

Image credit: Force Change

Professor Michael Warne, a researcher at UQ’s School of Environmental Sciences, analyzed 2,600 water samples from 15 different waterways that discharge into the Great Barrier Reefs, over a four-year time span.

The data showed pesticide mixtures in 99.8% of the samples collected, with as many as 20 different pesticides in one sample. The more individual pesticides in a sample, the more detrimental the pesticide mixture is to the aquatic ecosystem. The results of the study further encourage the Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan.

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Dr. Warne said the best way to address the problem of pesticides and pesticide mixtures in run-off was to work with land managers, share information and help them to improve their pesticide management practices.

“We are doing just that with other partners including Farmacist, James Cook University and the Department of Environment and Science through Project Bluewater which is funded by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation,” he said.

Pesticide mixtures a bigger problem than previously thought

The study found that pesticide runoff was generally the worst in areas where sugar cane was being grown. As a result of these findings, the researchers are working with sugar cane farmers to improve pesticide management and application through upgraded equipment as well as reduce overall pesticide usage while switching to lower risk pesticides.

Many COVID-19 patients are testing positive for COVID-19 through stool samples even after testing negative for viral respiratory infections. Scientists have found that patients have prolonged viral gut infections, even without gastrointestinal symptoms.

SARS-Cov-2 primarily spreads through respiratory droplets but finding viral infections in the stool of patients shows that Sars-CoV-2 does more than just infect the respiratory system. Evidence suggests that COVID-19 also affects the intestinal tract.

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“We used to think of SARS-CoV-2 as just a pulmonary or respiratory disease,” said Siew Chien Ng, assistant dean of medicine and associate director of the university’s Centre for Gut Microbiota Research, in an interview Tuesday. “But over the last couple months, a lot of evidence has emerged that SARS-CoV-2 also affects the intestinal tract.”

Covid-19 May Cause Prolonged Gut Infection, Scientists Say

Within a study that tested 73 patients, more than half tested positive for coronavirus through stool samples. Data collected showed that patients who tested positive for COVID-19 in the gut had an abundance of opportunistic microbes and a loss of beneficial protective microbes. This was amplified in cases where antibiotics were used for treatment.

Related: How To Heal Your Gut 

Scientists are just now beginning to understand the important role gut health plays in overall health. We have known this for quite some time. If you’re at all worried about COVID-19 or any other disease, the best thing you can do is focus on gut health.

A new study done by the University of California showed that 1 in 3 young adults is at risk for severe COVID-19, and smoking plays a big role in determining that risk.

Researchers looked at more than 8,000 participants between the ages of 18-25 and found that 32% of the total survey population fell into the high-risk category.

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The participants answered the National Health Interview Survey to determine what their medical vulnerability was to severe COVID-19. Results were determined based on risk indicators laid out by the CDC.

Recent evidence indicates that smoking is associated with a higher likelihood of COVID-19 progression, including increased illness severity, ICU admission or death,” said Sally Adams, lead author of the study and a specialist at University of California, San Francisco’s National Adolescent and Young Adult Health Information Center, in a press release. “Smoking may have significant effects in young adults, who typically have low rates for most chronic diseases.”

1 in 3 young adults vulnerable to severe Covid-19 — and smoking plays a big part, research finds

Within the study, 1 in 10 young adults reported smoking within the last 30 days, and 1 in 14 young adults reported E-cigarette usage. When you remove smokers from the analysis, the percentage of young people medically vulnerable to COVID-19 drops to 16%.

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Young men were at a higher risk for COVID-19 than women. However, women had higher rates of asthma and immune conditions, making them a higher risk for COVID-19 when you remove smokers from the analysis.

Data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics shows that suicide rates in youth aged 10-24 have increased by 57% between 2007 and 2018. This is a rise from 7 in every 100,000 people to 11. The U.S suicide rate within all age groups was 14 people in every 100,000 in 2018. More than a quarter of young adults reported seriously considering suicide in the last 30 days.

“There are many reasons to suspect that suicide rates will increase this year too, not just because of Covid-19 but because stress and anxiety seem to be permeating every aspect of our lives,”

Suicides Among U.S. Kids, Young Adults Jumped 57% in Past Decade

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Rural states showed the highest suicide rates, namely Alaska, South Dakota Montana, Wyoming, and New Mexico. Alaska was the highest with 31.5 young suicides per 100,000 young people. In contrast, Northeastern states, including New Jersey, Rhode Island, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts had the lowest suicide rates. That being said, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts saw 44%, 39%, and 64% increases in suicide rates respectively.

With the ongoing political, social, and socioeconomic stress in today’s climate, plus the added stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is likely that suicide rates will continue to rise.

Through researching the relationship between diet and COVID-19 death rates, researchers have found a positive correlation between the consumption of fermented food and COVID-19 mortality rates.

Although aspects such as age structure, the timing of interventions, employment type, and housing conditions are likely to be the most relevant factors, other potentially relevant factors such as nutrition should not be overlooked, say Bousquet and colleagues.  

Study links fermented vegetable consumption to low COVID-19 mortality

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The study, which was conducted by Jean Bousquet, looked at COVID-19 mortality rates based on data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. For information on fermented food consumption, researchers looked at the Comprehensive European Food consumption Database to assess the consumption of different fermented foods from each European country.

The study found that “For each gram per day increase in the average national consumption of fermented vegetables, the risk for COVID-19 mortality fell by 35.4%.” Of all the fermented foods, only fermented vegetables made a significant impact on mortality rates. The study looked at the consumption of a variety of different fermented foods, including vegetables, milk, yogurt, sour milk, and pickled/marinated vegetables.

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Researchers believe that changes in the microbiota, fueled by less fermented foods and less diversity, may contribute to increased spread or severity of COVID-19.

It might be time to switch to loose leaf tea.

A study from researchers at McGill University in Canada has found that a single tea bag releases 11.6 billion microplastic particles and 3.1 billion smaller nano plastic particles. Those numbers are much higher than the amounts of plastics measured previously in other foods and beverages.

Researchers tested 4 different types of plastic commercial tea bags by cutting them open, washing them, and steeping them in almost-boiling water for 5 minutes. Researchers then analyzed the tea bags and their particles using electron microscopes and spectroscopy.

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The Canadian team tested the potential toxicity of the microparticles released from the tea bags by exposing water fleas to the contaminated water, finding the particles had behavioural effects and developmental malformations on the fleas.

Milk? Sugar? Microplastics? Some tea bags found to shed billions of particles

Teabags were commonly made out of natural fibers and many still are, however many tea bags made out of natural fibers are sealed with plastic. It’s becoming more and more common for teabags to be made out of heat-safe plastics. These are most common in the pyramid-shaped tea bags that tend to be a bit more heavy-duty.

Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastics less than five millimeters long. Microplastics are the most prevalent type of marine debris, and can also be found in the rain, the wind, and even inside our own bodies. Microplastics come off of out clothes, plastic bottle fragments, cigarette filters, beauty products, and many other plastic materials. The particles then breakdown into nano-plastics, even smaller particles of plastic.

Related: How to Detox From Plastics and Other Endocrine Disruptors

The effects of microplastics on human health are largely unknown due to a lack of research. That being said, plastic is toxic and has been proven to cause cancer. Microplastics are everywhere, and we really have no way to filter them at this point. Check out this article to learn more about plastic toxicity and how to detox from it, and other endocrine system disruptors.

For alternatives to tea bags, try compostable tea bags, loose leaf tea, or metal reusable tea ball strainers.