183
votes
Accepted
Do studies show that viruses are contagious?
A qualified doctor challenging the Germ Theory of Disease after 1900? Wow.
This is just a smattering - just a random tasting - of the thousands - or perhaps millions - of studies showing that ...
- 144k
94
votes
Accepted
Are vaccinated children significantly less healthy than the unvaccinated, as recent study claims?
Almost all studies in this arena are correlative-based and not causation-based, so that I would take them all with a grain of salt. I would all suggest that Weiler and Thomas (2020) omit some ...
43
votes
Are vaccinated children significantly less healthy than the unvaccinated, as recent study claims?
David Gorski has some (updated) comments about the methodology of the study such as:
The authors claim that RIOV “reflects the total number of billed office visits per condition per group, reflecting ...
- 63.6k
35
votes
Do fevers caused by infection not exceed 105 °F (40.6 °C)?
The claim is false, as evidenced by Prospective Evaluation of the Risk of Serious Bacterial Infection in Children Who Present to the Emergency Department With Hyperpyrexia (Temperature of 106°F or ...
- 108k
27
votes
Are vaccinated children significantly less healthy than the unvaccinated, as recent study claims?
It is worth noting that almost all of the conditions listed in the chart, unless they are unusually severe, do not need professional medical intervention. Skin rashes, coughs, minor to moderate asthma,...
- 1,591
21
votes
In February 2020, did Tencent release accurate statistics for the Wuhan coronavirus that were 10 times the official figures?
The Tencent screenshot is almost certainly a hoax, for the simple reason that such screenshots are extremely easy to fake. For example, here's how easy it is to get a "screenshot" of the New York ...
- 319
19
votes
Accepted
To what degree do facemasks protect against COVID-19?
Regarding the bounty, which asks a somewhat broad question:
I still see comments in social media where people claim masks are ineffective. Has new data or research come out?
Yes. There's a Dec 18 ...
- 63.6k
19
votes
Accepted
Is there a dramatic decrease in the number of diagnoses of noninfectious diseases?
That's true.
It is of course difficult to pinpoint any number for all diseases and all countries, but is not just an anecdotal observation from your local oncology section:
In France, "the delay ...
- 44.1k
13
votes
Is Lyme disease a global pandemic?
TL;DR summary:
There are indeed varying definitions of a pandemic; some emphasize (or even require) human-to-human transmission and some don't.
It's difficult to apply a definition that emphasizes ...
- 63.6k
9
votes
Accepted
Are 40% of the oceans' bacteria killed by viruses every day?
According to Bacteriophage Distributions and Temporal Variability in the Ocean’s Interior mBio Nov/Dec 2017 Volume 8, e01903-17:
Phages have been
shown to kill hosts at rates of up to 20 to 40% of ...
- 108k
8
votes
To what degree do facemasks protect against COVID-19?
We don't know exact numbers. As of July 17, 2020, international public health agencies have published no data regarding percentage reduction of transmission rates for Sars-COV-2 when masks are ...
- 862
8
votes
Can the BCG vaccine cure type 1 diabetes?
I work in Diabetes research in the UK and Can find no evidence to support the wild claims in the paper, press release and press reports. Sadly hidden away in a table in supplementary data is the fact ...
7
votes
Accepted
Do antibiotic resistant infections kill 700,000 people a year?
These estimates are worldwide, with this being the source (AMR = AntiMicrobial Resistance):
Antimicrobial Resistance: Tackling a crisis for the health and wealth of nations
The 700k number was ...
- 32.7k
6
votes
Was COVID-19 in Italy by September 2019?
I don't have the immunology expertise to analyze this particular study (e.g. in re cross-reactivity), but I'll just note when it come to antibodies, results are harder to interpret than for PCR tests, ...
- 63.6k
4
votes
To what degree do facemasks protect against COVID-19?
WTHR did a fact check on this image in May 2020:
“CDC can’t confirm the accuracy of the numbers reflected in this image,” they said in a statement. “Currently we are not finding any data that can ...
- 2,865
4
votes
In February 2020, did Tencent release accurate statistics for the Wuhan coronavirus that were 10 times the official figures?
Tencent denied those figures were ever published on their site. And there's seemingly no corroborating evidence besides that screenshot:
The screenshot was first picked up by NTDTV, a U.S.-based, ...
- 63.6k
3
votes
Do young people with no previous pathologies, end up admitted with bilateral pneumonia and serious breathing difficulties due Covid-19?
COVID-19 is so new that there are a lot of things that are uncertain.
There is some anecdotal evidence that young people can develop significant complication. For example, this article in the ...
- 7,134
3
votes
Is the Zika virus a serious threat?
Now that two years have passed since January 2016, let's review again what scientists have learned about microcephaly and Zika.
In October 2018, Regina Grazel and Pamela Harris-Haman write in Advances ...
- 2,883
3
votes
Accepted
Can teasel root cure Lyme?
In short: There have been no clinical trials.
In December 2016, an article was published in a journal called Alternative and Complementary Therapies. That is normally a red flag, but this one had a ...
- 144k
3
votes
Can the BCG vaccine cure type 1 diabetes?
No. The study doesn't claim that and the results are very weak anyway
This story is an interesting case where the headlines exaggerated the claims and the claims were far weaker than many supposed ...
- 56.3k
3
votes
Can avoiding certain foods reduce inflammation? (Gluten, sugar...)
There are actually two possible answers here. One is simply answering the title and a different answer regards the content of the question.
That restricting certain types of food can reduce bowel ...
- 921
3
votes
During the disintegration of the Soviet Union, was there a surge of child allergies in Tajikistan because people hoarded soap?
The June 1990 Atlantic article Inside the Collapsing Soviet Economy says:
Soviet TV and newspapers, liberated by glasnost, are filled with stories about these rising prices and their consequences. In ...
- 108k
2
votes
Are vaccinated children significantly less healthy than the unvaccinated, as recent study claims?
A quick glimpse on the article reveals that their study didn't have a control group, that is, children who received a saline shot and were told to be vaccinated. A difference in disease rate between ...
- 2,437
2
votes
Is Lyme disease a global pandemic?
In brief, Lyme disease, although classed as being infectious, the albeit significant number of sufferers is insufficient for the illness to be called a global pandemic. It is a disease, and it is ...
- 1,050
2
votes
Is fever (temperature) below 106° F harmful?
Your source claims that
The common cold and influenza are the most common sources of elevated temperatures.. they can generate fevers that range all the way up to 105 degrees, but even at that ...
- 7,134
2
votes
Can the BCG vaccine cure type 1 diabetes?
Andrew H's answer is only somewhat correct, the 3 patients were only the first phase of the first phase (ha), the grand total seems to be 9; still this treatment is controversial, something that was ...
- 63.6k
1
vote
Is Lyme Disease endemic in Australia?
Short answer: Lyme disease is not endemic to Australia. This is the conclusion supported by all credible recent scientific articles. This is also the Australian Government's official position.
Note: ...
- 14.2k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible