Well, I've been bitten thousands of times by a mosquito and haven't gotten malaria. Could be because I grew up in the northen hemisphere.

You don't get sick from the ticks, you get sick from the bacteria/virus they spread and that happens to vary depending on where you are in the world. In certain parts, like Switzerland e.g., a very big portion of the ticks carry these bacteria.

It's your choice to ignore the danger of course but please at lease keep an eye out for ticks on your kids.

Just to join the tick discussion on the measles thread:

Here are a couple of maps stating where the highest risk areas in Switzerland are for both types of tick infection.

Dark green on the first map shows high-risk areas for FSME (virus) and the red areas on the second show the risky areas for the bacterial infection.

never mind.

I fear we all may be off topic and be told to put a lid on it shortly

Thanks for the great map! Last year we found 2 ticks on my 4 year old. We were hiking in the mountains around Lugano. Now she only wears pants in the mountains! She was fine after they were removed.

Do you know if there is an English or Italian version to these maps?

I just found this link in English about the current Measles outbreak in Switzerland.

http://www.eurosurveillance.org/edit...8/080221_1.asp

Not quite a lid put on it but a new thread dedicated to Homeopathy which can be found here.

HI,

Does anyone know whether the swiss school system (ie. teachers or admissions) follow whether your children are vaccinated or not?

Ie. do you have to show vaccination certificates in order for your kids to be enrolled in kindergarten/schools here? How does the whole thing work?

Thanks for letting me know, I would be particularly interested in information about Canton St Gallen.

I used to be vaccinated in school by the cantonal doctor. Still have the records somewhere.

Merged the thread to where it belongs.

By the way: To keep vaccination records is the responsability of the patient/parents. I've nearly lost mine once more and more time passed between my vaccinations. And back when I was in the military they refused to enter the vaccinations in non-military booklets. That has changed though.

One possible explanation may be found in this video.

(Not really trying to stir up further debate — IMHO it's worth watching for the entertainment value alone, and I didn't find it posted here already.)

I will admit that I only watched a brief bit of your video.

All children's vaccines do indeed list the ingredients. The full list. And, vaccines approved for children to not contain Mercury, which by the way is listed as thimersol. If you consult a proper pediatrician they will be informed of the issues and not give only thimersol free vaccines. I have discussed this issue with my pediatricians in the US, Italy and Switzerland and am confident it is ok. I ask the pediatrician for the insert of the vaccines and all the information is there, I walked away with the lot number and everything.

However, it is true, up until my last check, the flu vaccine still contains Mercury. My last check into that was approximately 3 years ago. If I had a child with sever asthma or major chronic disease, I would try to keep up to date with this thimersol thing and give it once it is no longer an ingredient.

As far as the other children's vaccines are concerned everyone needs to be sure their research is up to date because these ridiculous thimersol scares, which is links vaccinations to Autims maybe but not evidently, never get taken down off of the internet. Of course we are glad for this information, becuase regardless of whether it truely causes autism, Mercury cannot be good.

By the way, a special Tick vaccine is recommended for people playing in grass in Switzerland. It is given to prevent Tick born encephalitis. The central European form of the disease has a longer course, often with biphasic fever, but severe sequelae are less frequent. The initial febrile stage is normally not associated with disease of the central nervous system, but the second phase, following approximaely 4-10 days after apparent recovery, is characterized by fever and meningoencephalitis. The case-fatality rate is approximately 1-5% for the European form.

Sorry to dig this up, but just read this article and it reminded me of this post.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/1...nscience/all/1

How thoroughly depressing.

When you meet a 9-year-old child who has the brain of a three-year-old because they suddenly developed stage 6 autism one week after getting their final MMR (Measles Mumps Rubella) shot, you would be questioning the vaccinations, too! Then to find out that 11 other children had the same life-altering reaction to what the officials called "a bad batch"! Are you serious?! My child will not be the one "sacrificed for the masses". That said, I also don't believe in total denial. It is a parent's responsibility to find alternative vaccination options (i.e. homeopathy) if they are going to refuse standard vaccinations. You also need to educate yourself on the symptoms of these common diseases so that you can be extremely proactive in dealing with any suspicious symptoms.

It is not the actual vaccine that I have a problem with but the preservatives they use to give them a shelf-life. It is commonly believed that these additives are the real cause of major adverse reactions (i.e. brain damage).

I've heard that in the states you can get preservative-free vaccines (for a cost, of course) -- anyone heard of that here??

I suggest you read the article.

Here's a link to CDC regarding Flu vaccine which indicates that there is some supply without thimerosol... http://www.cdc.gov/FLU/ABOUT/QA/thimerosal.htm

I read elsewhere (lost the link, sorry!) that the vaccines used for young children (under 7'ish) no longer contain thimerosol, or only in trace amounts.

I used to work with a woman who's grandson has Autism, she spent quite a bit of her free time helping her daughter and grandson with ways to help him and research about how it could have happened. I remember her talking about the link to mercury in vaccines but never put it together with the name "thimerosol."

This name is significant to me because through working in optics, I already know of that substance... it was used also as a preservative in the chemical supplies (cleaner, saline solution, eye drops) used by contact lens wearers... and is no longer used because it was found to actually damage soft lenses over time AND there are a lot of folks who are sensitive if not allergic to it.

Kinda a bit cross-purpose to me to think that they took it out of something as (relatively) simple as contact lens solutions but left it in chemical mixes that go right into our bodies.


Meanwhile, having some pretty low physical tolerance to communicable illness myself (I tend to catch "everything" I am exposed to) AND the fact that through my experiences with my mother's health, I know there are many more people than most folks realize taking immuno-suppressant drugs... I am really really against the idea of folks running around carrying / spreading diseases because they were not vaccinated.

I wasn't aware autism was something that could be "suddenly developed", I'm pretty sure it doesn't affect mental age and I've never heard it linked to brain damage.

I mean, I've never heard of an adult suddenly developing autism as a result of poisoning or accident resulting in brain damage.

Aren't autisitics just wired a little different?

And it tends to manifest itself around the same age as vaccination is to be administered. Correlation does not equal causation

There also have been no medical studies that link Autism to vaccination.

One of my closest friends had a happy, normal toddler and then in a very short span, she had a boy sitting there, non-verbal and crying. Both her and her husband kept asking to themselves where their interactive, intelligent and creative little boy went.

He was diagnosed as autistic. It does strike that suddenly.

He's now in grade school - well, as best as they can do for him. He is intelligent, however, he's non-verbal and can't express himself. He gets violent, bites, throws temper tantrums that get violent and will scream or laugh and rock back and forth for hours on end.

He's also a loving little boy, bits of him shine through.

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Removals to and from Switzerland & the UK and UK business moves