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Vaccination among the Amish?

Not currently. Since the Amish and Mennonites are rather sequestered populations and don't care for 'outsiders', it isn't easy to ascertain data.

Este
 
Yeah, that was more or less the conclusion I made from the sources in OP as well. Thanks for the comment.
 
Well, I guess this means they must be completely free of autism then.
 
Has anyone done a genetic study of those isolated communities? As one of the original articles you posted to suggested, those groups may just not carry the markers that would make Autism as prevalent as it is in other segments of a more mobile and diverse society (as suggested in the Photoninthedarkness link). That and actual diagnosis. ;)
 
Any comparison between the Amish and the general population will have issues with the limited gene-pool in Amish communities. I live near a large Amish population and know of several families with numerous wheelchair-bound children who suffer from a few heritable genetic conditions.

As far as I know, their use of medical care is fairly similar to the mainstream population, although there is widespread belief among them in herbal remedies for non-critical conditions such as burns, menopausal symptoms, colds etc..
 
Freethinker said:
Any comparison between the Amish and the general population will have issues with the limited gene-pool in Amish communities. I live near a large Amish population and know of several families with numerous wheelchair-bound children who suffer from a few heritable genetic conditions.

As far as I know, their use of medical care is fairly similar to the mainstream population, although there is widespread belief among them in herbal remedies for non-critical conditions such as burns, menopausal symptoms, colds etc..
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This is my understanding also. As far as I can gather, the Amish will not refuse medical treatment or even hospitalisation from the "outside" world. In fact, I think that they are more likely to seek professional medical help for moderate to severe conditions, as they implement their own brand of health insurance. I.e. they contribute collectively and whoever needs medical attention gets it paid from communal resources. They are not put off seeking medical help by having to hassle with an insurance company or paying completely out of pocket.
 
LarianLeQuella said:
Has anyone done a genetic study of those isolated communities? As one of the original articles you posted to suggested, those groups may just not carry the markers that would make Autism as prevalent as it is in other segments of a more mobile and diverse society (as suggested in the Photoninthedarkness link). That and actual diagnosis. ;)
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Yes. In this clinic that Dan Olmsted could not find.
 
Well, all the data I have seen would indicate that Dan Olmsted has some fascinating blinders on, and most likely couldn't find anything unles led there by a third party. :p
 
I have the regular occasion to treat many adults from the "Plain community".

Not sure about vaccinations as children, but they get the same standard of care that every other patient gets when they arrive at the hospital including the routine vaccinations for influenza, etc. before they are discharged. Most don't refuse.

Many are heavily into naturopathy, though. Needless to say (to this audience), it hasn't done a damn thing for the patients I've treated. Most of them present late in the course of their disease (when they actually do present to the hospital) with the long-standing stigmata of untreated disease (severe coronary artery disease, stroke, vascular disease mostly, etc.).

There's a lot more crossover into mainstream than you may think. The first time I saw an Amish kid carrying over a box of Pizza Bites to his mother at the local Costco, with her then promptly throwing them into their cart along with the Huggies diapers, Infamil formula, and a whole host of other off-the-shelf products, I realized that many are FAR more integrated into "modern society" than they often want to let on.

And let's not even get into the whole Rumspringa thing...

Mostly, I'd politely call them a "weird" and "strange" yet warm and friendly people, although I'm recognizing my own culturocentrism when I say that. Still, my pattern of interaction I've had with the members of the Plain community I've met to date has, at best, made it unreliable for me to discern any autism spectrum disorder (e.g., cultural difference vs. actual clinical pathology).

~Dr. Imago
 
whatthebutlersaw said:
This is my understanding also. As far as I can gather, the Amish will not refuse medical treatment or even hospitalisation from the "outside" world. In fact, I think that they are more likely to seek professional medical help for moderate to severe conditions, as they implement their own brand of health insurance. I.e. they contribute collectively and whoever needs medical attention gets it paid from communal resources. They are not put off seeking medical help by having to hassle with an insurance company or paying completely out of pocket.
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Yes.

They are ideal patients: they pay their bills in full, and they NEVER sue.

~Dr. Imago
 
I'm wondering if there's any better data about VPDs among Amish than this:

http://www.quackwatch.org/03HealthPromotion/immu/pertussis_outbreak.html

Outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs), such as rubella and Haemophilus influenzae type b, have been reported in Amish communities (1,2). Control of VPDs in these communities presents unique challenges, in part because of their isolation. Amish persons typically have lower vaccination coverage and often delay or avoid seeking medical care (1). Since 1980, public health nurses in Delaware have conducted immunization clinics at two fixed outreach sites in Amish homes, but coverage rates have remained low. After the outbreak described in this report, DPH staff distributed educational pamphlets discussing immunization and VPDs, including information about Amish immunization outreach clinics. The reasons cited by persons in Amish households for failure to vaccinate children (e.g., fears of vaccine-related adverse events and general lack of awareness regarding vaccination) were not religious or doctrinal. This suggests that enhanced outreach and education regarding vaccination safety and protective benefits might help increase coverage rates.
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One would expect there to be more cases of VPDs than in the general population, because their vaccinations rates are probably below the herd immunity. Any data on this?
 
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This was the study that the Quackwatch article linked to:

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/108/4/e60

The prevalence of carriage in the Amish communities was similar to prevaccination carriage surveys in the United States, and the incidence of Hib disease also similar to that of the prevaccine era.3 Low coverage with Hib vaccine put the children in these communities at risk for Hib disease, both because they were not protected by the vaccine and they did not benefit from herd immunity.
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Although the incidence of Hib disease among children in the United States is low, Hib cases do still occur, and, as this investigation demonstrates, some communities have high prevalence of Hib carriage and are poorly vaccinated. To reduce Hib disease in children further will require high vaccination levels of all US children, especially in pockets of continuing Hib transmission, such as the Amish communities identified in this study. The Amish and other undervaccinated communities represent challenges to current US vaccination programs and primary care health practitioners to improve community education and vaccine delivery in populations outside the mainstream. Besides putting an unvaccinated child at risk, undervaccinated communities may facilitate Hib transmission to a child by creating an ecological niche where the bacterium persists. In addition to improving vaccination levels, a better understanding of the reservoirs of Hib carriage and the interaction between vaccine coverage and Hib carriage is essential to eliminating Hib disease.
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I don't fully understand the rest of the paper, but the part that I quoted seems logical and as expected with lower vaccination rates.
 
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