Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in NYC.

The Daily Beast ^ | March 13, 2014 | Russell Saunders

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Of all the things to be nostalgic for, infectious diseases probably don’t make it onto many lists.

However, if you happen to pine for the good old days when measles was an active public health threat, I have good news for you. The anti-vaccine crowd is bringing it back.

There is currently an outbreak of measles in New York City. Considered eliminated in the United States in 2000, last year saw a record number of outbreaks around the country. It’s only three months into 2014, and not only is the nation’s largest city seeing cases in several boroughs, but other major metropolitan areas are warning of new cases as well.

This is not some inconvenience to be laughed off. Measles is a highly-contagious illness caused by a virus. It usually presents with a combination of rash, fevers, cough and runny nose, as well as characteristic spots in the mouth. Most patients recover after an unpleasant but relatively uneventful period of sickness. Unfortunately, about one patient in every 1,000 develops inflammation of the brain, and one to three cases per 1000 in the United States result in death.

Reports from New York note that several people have been hospitalized, and infected patients include infants too young to be vaccinated themselves. Because the American public hasn’t needed to worry much about this once-contained threat in quite some time, most people probably don’t know that measles can kill, or leave children permanently disabled.

We vaccinate people for a reason.

[brothers4thID]

I contracted measles at 3 months of age and rubella at 9 months(far too young to have been vaccinated) and suffered permanent hearing loss.

I have 2 children on the Autism spectrum and while I’ll try many things to make their lives easier, I have NEVER considered not vaccinating. We even vaccinated at their “actual” age instead of “adjusted” age (both were preemies).

Adults should be aware that you need a pertussis (whooping cough) booster. This can be administered in combination with your tetanus booster. Those with weak or compromised immune systems should also consider an MMR booster as well as the pneumococcal and shingles vaccines.

[brothers4thID]

Yeah shingles is one of those diseases that I’m convinced are some sort of horrible curse. I literally cried in my doctors office when he told me you could have shingles MULTIPLE times.

[NoLibZone]

The nation pays a steep price for NYC.

[Yaelle]

Stupid article.

Sixteen people got the measles in New York. Two were unvaccinated by choice. Two others were infants too yng to be vaccinated. TWELVE PEOPLE WERE ALL VACCINATED.

If vaccinations were so great, who cares if some people aren’t vaccinated? But vaccinated does not equal immune. And it does equal a lot of neurotoxins in the brain. A FREE REPUBLIC would allow freedom to choose and this outbreak is a perfect example.

Don’t support following governments blindly.

[Black Agnes]

I’ve had FIVE rubella boosters in the space of about 15 years. Had ZERO titer when tested approximately 1 year after the latest one.

How many boosters would you have me get?

In some people they wear off after a year. Others it’s 2 or 3 or 5 or 10 years. Titers aren’t inexpensive medical procedures. Would you have every single person get a booster of every single vaccine yearly? You just THINK healthcare overhead costs are high now...

[fso301]

Sounds like child endangerment to me.

The cases seem relatively small but I wonder what the mathematics are for one unvaccinated child to come in contact with and expose another child having no immunity? My hunch is that these kids expose each other at some leftist private school.

[rlmorel]

Good God. Looking at the responses on this thread is amazing, but having seen it before, not surprising.

I find this response amazing, but I shouldn’t, because most of these people didn’t live through the cold fear of wondering if their beloved child was going to come down with some terrible and irreversible disease. They didn’t have to live during times when a horrible, disfiguring, disabling, or deadly disease swept like a wildfire through the community, and even locking your family and yourself in your house wasn’t protection enough.

These addled people haven’t experienced the terror of waiting in a panic for the first itching, pain or skin change that would be a harbinger of a terrible disease against which there was no cure or remedy, and the only people who survived were those who were lucky, not those who were careful.

Most of these people are lucky enough to live in a society that virtually eradicated many of these diseases through vaccination, so they don’t have to experience those kinds of terror.

Well, if a kid gets polio because their parents are against vaccines, the kid might not be able to walk without braces or breathe without an iron lung, but the parents at least will have their principles.

And that is, after all, what is most important. Right?

[Right Wing Assault]

Mumps is making a comeback, too, at Ohio State.

http://news.yahoo.com/mumps-outbreak-ohio-state-grows-23-cases-215639075.html;_ylt=Agv2w.jPsG0X4JLnerZYuMTQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTBtMnEyb2psBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxMARzZWMDc3I-

[9YearLurker]

Thimerosal has been removed from or reduced to trace amounts in all vaccines routinely recommended for children 6 years of age and younger, with the exception of inactivated influenza vaccine (see Table 1).

http://www.fda.gov/biologicsbloodvaccines/safetyavailability/vaccinesafety/ucm096228

[Kozak]

Yeah, what big deal. What's a little blindness, encephalitis and death? "Complications from measles can occur in almost every organ system. Pneumonia, croup, and encephalitis are common causes of death; encephalitis is the most common cause of long-term sequelae. Measles remains a common cause of blindness in developing countries. Complication rates are higher in those <5 and >20 years old, although croup and otitis media are more common in those <2 years old and encephalitis in older children and adults. Complication rates are increased by immune deficiency disorders, malnutrition, vitamin A deficiency, intense exposures to measles, and lack of previous measles vaccination. Case-fatality rates have decreased with improvements in socioeconomic status in many countries but remain high in developing countries"

[Kozak]

Oh. Forgot. With German measles you also get dead and damaged infants. Remember when young girls were all exposed to make sure they didn't get it while pregnant. "Rubella virus usually causes a mild fever and rash in children and adults.* However, infection during pregnancy, especially during the first trimester, can result in miscarriage, stillbirth, or infants with congenital malformations, known as congenital rubella syndrome (CRS)"

I am disgusted that people forget what death, disability and misery we we used to have from these completely preventable infectious diseases.

[exDemMom]

Herd immunity would protect people, if everyone eligible to be vaccinated were vaccinated. With the minimum of about 90% of the population vaccinated, an occasional infected immigrant would not be able to cause an epidemic. What we are seeing in New York is measles spreading between unvaccinated Americans.

Maybe we should take Jenny McCarthy and the other anti-vax loonies and send them to some hell hole in Africa, so they can see first-hand what disease does to unvaccinated children. There is no reason to bring them back afterwards.

[Eric Pode of Croydon]

Thanks for a great post.

My grandfather's brother died of pertussis at age seven. I have heard the story of his death in all its agonizing detail.

I've not yet gotten to the point of wishing the anti-vax fools could experience such an event in their own households.

But I'm getting close.

[exDemMom]

OK, so only the unvaccinated get the disease. What’s the issue?

For various reasons, some still not understood to science, some people do not become immune after vaccination. They can get very severe, potentially life-threatening disease if they are exposed. Also, children too young to be vaccinated are at risk, as are those who have immune system disorders.

[Eric Pode of Croydon]

The “totalitarians” in your state say you have to drive on the right side of the road. Do you exercise your freedoms and prove you are a Real Patriot by driving on the left??

[exDemMom]

I will never understand the conservatives that believe everything they are told about vaccinations from big government, big insurance, and pharma backed doctors.

I will never understand the people who ignore mountains of evidence about the safest, most effective medical intervention ever invented. It would be one thing if only your children were at risk from your refusal to protect them, but you are endangering other people's children. And I don't think those other people are very happy about that.

[savedbygrace]

Russell Saunders is the pseudonym for a pediatrician in New England. He is also a contributor at Ordinary Times, where he writes about medicine, gay rights issues and popular culture.

There's a big clue or two as to why Saunders defies logic to present his opinion in public.

[exDemMom]

I’ve had the chicken pox four times. The first time was miserable. Each time it gets milder.

Wow! I've never heard of that happening before. Usually, people get the chicken pox the first time, but get shingles from the same virus later on.

The chicken pox virus is never eliminated from your body, so it can make you sick again. I got shingles a couple of years ago, and it took well over a year for the pain to stop--long after the lesions healed. It felt like I was being stabbed in the neck.

[exDemMom]

Guess I’ll find out if some kid coughs on me.

You can have an antibody titer done, if you are really worried about your immunity.

Personally, I'd rather get vaccinated again than have blood drawn for a titer.

[exDemMom]

I say this agreeing that the yearly flu vaccines may not help. I never take them and not get the flu

This year's vaccine was an excellent match to the circulating strains. It was over 60% effective as a result.

I've never had the flu (that I know of), and I receive the vaccine every year. Because of my job, I don't have a choice about getting vaccinated, so I stand in line with everyone else on the day they set up a vaccine clinic at work.