Letter to the Editor

Homeopathic Links editor,

A recent judgement in an Australian Federal Court case,[1] concerning information placed on a Web site about whooping-cough immunisation and homoeoprophylaxis (HP), provides a focus for reflection, which extends into the Homeopathic Links articles on HP by Dr. Isaac Golden, published through 2014. Some of the pertinent issues are common to both, concerning published material that may mislead or deceive the reader, whether intentionally or not.

• References

• 1 Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Homeopathy Plus! Australia Pty Limited [2014]. http://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2014/2014fca1412 Last accessed on February 3, 2015
• 2 Golden I. The immunization dilemma Part 1: An opportunity for homeopathy?. Homoeopathic Links 2014; 27 (1) 13
• 3 Golden I. The immunization dilemma Part 2: The longterm safety of immunization options. Homoeopathic Links 2014; 27 (2) 75
• 4 Golden I. The Complete Practitioner's Manual of Homoeoprophylaxis. A Practical Handbook of Homeopathic Immunisation. Gisborne 2012; 66
• 5 Zhang L, Prietsch SO, Axelsson I, Halperin SA. Acellular vaccines for preventing whooping cough in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2012; 3 (3) CD001478
• 6 Gustafsson L, Hessel L, Storsaeter J, Olin P. Long-term follow-up of Swedish children vaccinated with acellular pertussis vaccines at 3, 5, and 12 months of age indicates the need for a booster dose at 5 to 7 years of age. Pediatrics 2006; 118 (3) 978-984
• 7 Pertussis surveillance in Sweden. Fifteen year report. Smittskyddsinstitutet. http://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/pagefiles/17379/pertussis-surveillance%20in-sweden-fifteen-year-report(2).pdf

• References

• 1 Goodman N. Letter to the editor. Homoeopathic Links. 2015; 28 (1) 2-5
• 2 Quinn HE. Pertussis control in Australia—the current state of play. Editorial Commun Dis Intell Q Rep 2014; 38 (3) E177-E178
• 3 Sheridan SL, Ware RS, Grimwood K, Lambert SB. Number and order of whole cell pertussis vaccines in infancy and disease protection. JAMA 2012; 308 (5) 454-456 [Erratum, JAMA 2012; 308:1432.]
• 4 Warfel JM, Zimmerman LI, Merkel TJ. Acellular pertussis vaccines protect against disease but fail to prevent infection and transmission in a nonhuman primate model. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2014; 111 (2) 787-792