Something is bothering me, so I'm going to have a rant.

Firstly my apologies as I feel I do not have all the facts, so might be wrong in my feeling.

I saw a BBC World program today on JE, and how tens of thousands of Indian children have been affected by it (30% die, 30% are physically or mentally disabled, the rest make it).

The problem was that the vaccine was expensive because you need three mouse brains to get just one vaccine, so it was only available to us wealthy.

Then the Chinese figure out how to make the vaccine in a different way, which reduced the cost to a level that there is now a mass immunisation process happening in India. Basically, tens of thousands of children will be saved.

Then I got to thinking about the US bombarding China over human rights. Then I started thinking, if the US is so darned concerned about human rights (like the right of children to live), why was it the CHINESE who figured out a cheaper vaccine on this???

The more I think about it, the more wired I get. The US could have done this years ago with its technology, but it spends its time demeaning other countries, who, in the meantime, get to fix these basic problems and save childrens lives.

USA. yet more brownie points lost.

Then I got to thinking about the US bombarding China over human rights. Then I started thinking, if the US is so darned concerned about human rights (like the right of children to live), why was it the CHINESE who figured out a cheaper vaccine on this???

Maybe developing medicine and abusing human rights are two different things. Perhaps scientific research is meant to benefit their society as a whole, whereas the abuse of human rights is a way of controlling individuals whose beliefs aren't in line with those of the state.

I'd be interested to know what motivated the chinese to develop the alternative vaccine. Is encephalitis a big problem there, cos honestly, I can't see any major power spending millions in drug research to help anyone other than themselves.

Also, was the research gov't funded or the product of a clever drug company who realised they could out-sell the opposition by finder a cheaper product and thereby make themselves huge sums of cash?

Call me cynical, but when it comes to drug research, I firmly believe that money is the key motivator in research rather than life.

I think you got it in one floopy. Lots of Chinese kids were dying of JE so they spent a lot of research trying to figure out how to stop it, and found a cheap way (or a way that stopped them getting indebted to the US).

The dynamics of getting it to India were interesting as the Chinese offered it, but India was sceptical along the lines of "its not American, how do we know it works without bad side effects". China gave a modest respose of "errr, look at the 50 million Chinese kids immunised without side effects and figure it out for yourselves", so India ok'ed it in record time and now its getting done.

A happy result at least.

The BBC World programme showed how horrible the disease was - not nice watching a child actually live his last seconds. Good on the BBC to show it though.

Not about JE, but about my country and thier medicinal priorities...I have medical insurance thru hubby's work, but the co-pay on our prescriptions have gone through the roof!! I went from paying $3.00 per prescription to anywhere from $15.00, $25.00, or $50.00 a script. I CAN'T AFFORD them!!! I have gone from paying $33.00 a month for MAINTENANCE meds to $325.00 a month. Hubby's getting 50% of his sick pay till 9/20/06 and then we have to pay $160.00 a month to keep his (crappy) insurance for one year on C.O.B.R.A. which will last for a year. My doctor signed me up for free meds from the drug companies and I've already gotten 3 rejections b/c hubby has insurance even though it's buy my meds or pay the electic or eat one week. I guess I will have to try to go through Canada to get them for more than half of what they charge here. It's a CRYING shame!! So far my doctor has been given me samples that the drug reps come by and leave...they LEAVE them but they can't give them to me!!! I'm hacked off!:mad2: