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More than 30% of American adults, and about 12% of children utilize health care approaches that were developed outside of conventional medicine.
Most childhood vaccines are 90–99% effective in preventing disease. Side effects are rarely serious.
It is believed that the Incas used anesthesia. Evidence supports the theory that shamans chewed cocoa leaves and drilled holes into the heads of patients (letting evil spirits escape), spitting into the wounds they made. The mixture of cocaine, saliva, and resin numbed the site enough to allow hours of drilling.
Cytomegalovirus affects nearly the same amount of newborns every year as Down syndrome.
Since 1988, the CDC has reported a 99% reduction in bacterial meningitis caused by Haemophilus influenzae, due to the introduction of the vaccine against it.


