Measles in U.S. at Highest Level Since 2001

[depakid]

Source: NY Times

The United States has had 64 cases of measles since January, the highest number reported for this time period since 2001, federal health officials reported Thursday. Nearly all the cases, 63 of the 64, were in people who had not been vaccinated, and 54 resulted from overseas travel. Sixteen cases occurred in families who had refused vaccination for religious or personal reasons. Fourteen patients have been hospitalized.

Nine states have been affected, including four with continuing outbreaks: Arizona, Michigan, New York and Wisconsin. New York City has had 22 cases, all in Brooklyn and linked to travel to Israel, where there is a large outbreak, according to the New York City Health Department.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/02/health/02measles.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Turbineguy]

1. Outbreak in Israel?

Measeltov!

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

2. Welcome to the 50s.

I had the measles- I was perhaps seven or eight at the time. This would have been in the early sixties, before the vaccination program became national. All the kids in my family had 'em. Mumps, too. And my mom had polio as a child- that's another one eradicated by cheap vaccine.

I have difficulty understanding what a "religious" person would have to object to. To my knowledge God never advised anyone to shun advances in knowledge. (And I say this as a Christian.)

[LeftishBrit]

6. I've never understood this...

But it's a problem. As soon as smallpox vaccination was introduced in the late 18th century, there were religious fanatics complaining that this would thwart the will of God who had decided that certain people should get smallpox. The most famous proponent of this view was probably Timothy Dwight.

Although most religious people don't oppose vaccination, there are some extreme Christian and similarly extreme Muslim and Jewish groups that oppose it. (Many of the measles cases in Israel occur among ultra-Orthodox groups who often avoid vaccination; and polio cases increased in Nigeria a few years ago, due to some Muslim clerics opposing vaccination.)

But it's not only the ultra-religious who oppose vaccination; there are many people influenced by exaggerated reports of the possible dangers of vaccination, put forward by the likes of Andrew Wakefield.

[kimmylavin]

14. My sister-in-law is one of the second type.

She will rant on and on to anyone who will listen that when she has kids, she's not going to get them vaccinated.
And then I just smile at her and say its too bad my kids aren't going to get to hang out with their cousins...

[GaVetRay]

16. Why?

Please, indulge me. If their cousins are vaccinated, why deprive them of associating with their cousins? You make a helluva lotta sense. Ignorant I would suggest!

[kimmylavin]

24. Thanks for that!

I appreciate accusations of ignorance! :)

However, what I meant was that I wasn't going to send my kids to play with hers since hers would be completely vulnerable to anything my kids may be carrying...

[Orrex]

3. Gee, I wonder if this has anything to do with anti-vaccine hysteria

You know, the irrational frenzy fostered by such well-meaning but ill-informed zealots as RFK Jr., Jenny McCarthy, etc.?

Who'd have thought that an abandoning of critical thinking and empirical evidence would lead to negative consequences?

At least those measles victims don't have to worry about Thimerosal in their MMR vaccines. Which wasn't there anyway.


This story is unfortunate, all the more so because it could have been almost completely prevented, if only the victims had had access to information instead of anti-vax propaganda.


K/R

[elfin]

4. Partly - and partly due to upswing immigrant population

that hasn't had the shots before arriving here and also because many are illegal and afraid to get the shots -- or else cannot afford them with no health care.

Used to be you couldn't get your kid enrolled in school without proof of inoculations.

Now, they don't bat an eye, afraid to offend some wacko religious practice or just plain stupidity.

[Hestia]

5. I've been reading about MMR vac's and found out you can't

vac against Measles. Just because you received the MMR, doesn't mean it lasts forever, and doesn't mean you won't get measles. It also depends on which type of measles you contract. There are hard measles and 3 day measles, which is rubella. I don't understand why you are calling people stupid when the MMR really doesn't work. Besides, there is 80 +/- million people who had the measles and lived to tell about it and never contracted them again, because of immunity. It's a scare tactic regarding measles. You get sick but don't necessarily die. When we were kids there were measles parties for kids to go ahead and get sick so they wouldn't miss school.

[LeftishBrit]

7. The MMR vaccine is pretty effective in preventing measles

Nothing is 100 per cent foolproof; but usually this works quite well. And even when vaccinated people do get measles, it's usually far less severe than in the unvaccinated.

[Connonym]

9. Measles parties, jesus

1:1000 people who get measles end up with encephalitis. 1:15 get pneumonia. 80 +/- million who survived it but how many died of it? If the vaccines don't work the majority of the time how come we don't have measles epidemics the way we did prior to vaccination? How about polio, smallpox, mumps? What you're describing is Darwinism in action.

[Robb]

13. "Reading?"

Prevention or TV Guide?

[NickB79]

22. The MMR vaccine really doesn't work?

"Globally, measles deaths are down 60 percent, from an estimated 873,000 deaths in 1999 to 345,000 in 2005. Africa has seen the most success, with annual measles deaths falling by 75 percent in just 5 years, from an estimated 506,000 to 126,000.<11>"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measles#Public_health

500,000 lives saved by a vaccine over 6 years has now become a "scare tactic". For the love of God, make the ignorance stop.

[GaVetRay]

15. Anti-Vaccine Hysteria - BULLSHIT

Orrex, Obviously you don't have a grandson with autism you
ignorant SOB. Autism is REAL and it IS caused by the
thimerosal preserative in vaccines. I would much rather have
my grandchildren be infected with measles than have autism.
Autism is not a disease, it is a symptom. Learn the facts
before degrading parents looking after the wellbeing of their
children. None of my grandkids will ever be affected with
autism again.

[razors edge]

17. You need to reread the rules

regarding personal attacks here on DU.

[GaVetRay]

18. Apology

Sorry about the "personal attack".I just can't stand
people making asinine statements regarding the health of
children. I guess I should have stated it another way. I still
hate political correctness.

[razors edge]

19. You may want to tell that to Orrex

and welcome to DU.

[Orrex]

20. Welcome to DU

I'm sorry that your grandson is autistic--truly I am. But his condition has no demonstrable link to Thimerosal, and assertions to the contrary are false. It is baseless and dangerous to chart a course of immunization based on a falsehood, especially when the real risks of known, preventable diseases greatly outweigh the likelihood of autism. I don't degrade parents who make informed choices in looking after their children's well-being. However, I take issue with dangerous choices made contrary to evidence.

You're welcome to take it out on me, and to call me whatever you like, but it won't hurt me in the slightest nor help your grandchildren.

[NickB79]

23. Are you aware there has NEVER been thimerosal in the MMR vaccine? nt

[fed-up]

8. Oh My God-64 cases nationwide-equals # of traffic fatalities per year in my county-outlaw cars! nt

[depakid]

10. I know it's too much to ask...

but try to consider that epidemiological principles with respect to infectious disease have little to do with what's behind your traffic fatalities.

Numerate folks can tell you what the difference is....

[Warpy]

11. That doesn't include the most recent 8 cases,

and it should be noted that 14 of the earlier 64cases required hospitalization.

Anybody who suggests the MMR vaccine is more harmful than the disease is a lunatic and should be ignored. Measles is a dangerous disease.

[cureautismnow]

12. Lovely.

Same source.

"In 17 cases, patients were infected in clinics and doctors’ offices, including a year-old baby who contracted the disease in a pediatrician’s office during a routine visit — for a measles shot."

[Connonym]

21. Somewhat ironic

That similarly happened in my family back in the 70s. There was a local outbreak of measles and we all went in to the clinic to be vaccinated and it worked for 4 of the 5 kids in my family. My younger sister contracted a very mild case of measles but it was unclear whether her exposure had been at the shot clinic or prior to that.

I'm sorry for anyone who has a problem with autism but I'm old enough to remember having to experience mumps, chickenpox and the near miss with measles. I'm so old that I actually had a smallpox vaccine. The complications of these "usual childhood diseases" in my opinion, as a mom, outweigh the risk of the still not proven theory that immunizations cause autism. We have virtually eliminated most of these potentially dangerous diseases with vaccination and I think that's a good thing. It's just as possible that the diagnosis of autism has risen because of better diagnostic techniques (instead of the catch-all "mentally retarded" that was used when I was young). I have a child with a learning disorder. I know it's heartbreaking and I know that she struggles and I know that I'm sometimes terrified about her future but I tell you what, I'd rather have her as she is than dead from a preventable disease. Furthermore, in her diagnostic testing the doctor specifically indicated in the final report that I had a very stressful pregnancy and there is a forming belief that chemicals produced from stress can adversely affect a fetus. And we cannot exclude the knowledge that toxins in the environment, including synthetic estrogens in just about everything under the Sunday, can also damage sperm which could also be responsible for increase in disease.

I'm rambling here but what I'm trying to say is that the case is not clear that autism is "caused" by vaccinations. There are far too many other environmental factors, entirely too many variables that we are discovering that affect reproduction and genetics. Much of that is still an area of investigation but we DO know for a fact that vaccination significantly reduces childhood death by disease. I would choose vaccination again in a heartbeat because the evidence is much stronger that the benefits outweigh the risks.

I try not to judge parents who choose to not vaccinate but there is a part of me that thinks that instead of being scornful of parents who opt to go with traditional vaccine, these parents should be grateful that the majority of us vaccinate which also helps to protect YOUR unvaccinated child from acquiring disease. Science falls firmly on the side of vaccination. You do what your conscious tells you to do but I think "measles parties" and not vaccinating are just as much a folly as the parents in WI who are now facing abuse charges for using prayer instead of medicine to prevent their daughter from dying.