Measles Outbreak: Multi-State

Pythoness · #1 07-12-2008, 02:47 PM

US Measles Outbreak Has Now Reached 15 States
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The largest measles out break in the United States in more than a
decade has now spread to a total of 15 states. Cases 1st began
popping up in May [2008], when more than 70 people in a dozen states
came down with the illness. According to federal health officials,
most of those who contracted measles were not vaccinated against the
highly contagious virus. The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) said in a statement that the outbreak has been
traced to travelers who became sick overseas, returned home, and then
spread it to others.

Health officials are warning against the trend of parents not
immunizing their children, saying that failing to do so could have
devastating effects on the health of the country and world as a
whole. According to experts, outbreaks and epidemics will continue
throughout the developed world. Just last month [June 2008], British
health officials said that measles had become an epidemic there for
the 1st time since the mid-1990's due to parents not immunizing their children.

Dr. Larry Pickering of the CDC said in a news conference, "Until
better global control is achieved, cases will continue to be imported
into the United States and outbreaks will persist as long as there
are communities of unvaccinated people."

Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus that
typically grows in cells lining the back of the throat and lungs.
Once you have it, it is very difficult to get rid of. Symptoms
include: coughing, runny nose, high fever, and a rash that usually
starts on the face and spreads to the rest of the body. One in 5
measles suffers may experience a more severe illness which could
include ear infections, diarrhea, pneumonia, chronic neurological
deficits, encephalitis, and even death.

In poorer countries, measles remains a leading cause of death amongst
children. This outbreak comes just 8 years after the virus [was]
declared virtually dead in the US, thanks to a vaccination program
which began in the 1960s.

According to the CDC, states with reported cases now include:
Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana,
Michigan, Missouri, New York, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Virginia,
Wisconsin and Washington state, and Washington, D.C.

Panama Girl · #2 07-12-2008, 02:55 PM

Virtually dead is not the same as eradicated.

Never mind the purported autism link to vaccination, any children I have are getting ALL their shots... except maybe chicken pox, they can suffer through it just like mommy did

Pythoness · #3 07-12-2008, 02:59 PM

My friend and I were talking the other day about the whole vaccination vs. autism thing.

And I thought, what if some of the recent research is right and it's just exposure to one of those viruses (measles, mumps, or ruebella) that causes kids to be more at risk to developing autism?

If so, you could not vaccinate your kids all you want, if they catch measles and recover from it, they might still develop autism. The only difference is, you have now put them at a higher risk of dying from what may contribute to autism than simply vaccinating them.

Also, if kids develop the encephalitis and severe form of measles.. there's a much higher chance they're coming out of it with brain damage.

So yeah, to me.. Risks vs. benefits of not vaccinating = not worth it.

I might have a kid die from measles, OR, I might have a kid develop autism. Hmm...

wendy · #4 07-12-2008, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Panama Girl

Virtually dead is not the same as eradicated.

Never mind the purported autism link to vaccination, any children I have are getting ALL their shots... except maybe chicken pox, they can suffer through it just like mommy did

Well Py is just bursting with good news today, huh PG!?
My kids have had all of their vaccinations; I was going to fore-go the chicken pox shot too but my pediatrician insisted only because I was pregnant with Mathew right as Kelsey was beginning school. He said she'd be fine catching them, but if she brought them home to a new born there could be some serious trouble. I'm really glad he did because even though Kelsey was vaccinated, she still got the chicken pox. Fortunately because she was vaccinated it was a very mild case, like those rare cases that get them twice. Mathew was only a few months old then and I can't imagine how bad she would have been if not for the shot.

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Pythoness · #5 07-12-2008, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wendy

Well Py is just bursting with good news today, huh PG!?

LOL Soweee. I get these alerts from ProMED in my inbox. I just like to make everyone aware of stuff.

Okay okay, the marburg thing is just 'cause I'm fascinated with the filoviridae family, and I knew Jess sort of had an interest in it too.

But the measles outbreak.. we've got a lot of 'rents here, and more moms migrating in every day. PA's got it, and that's right next door. D.C. and Virginia both have it, and you know if they do, MD does, it just hasn't been reported yet.

And if MD, PA, and VA all have it.. we're sandwiched right smack ass in the middle of a measles outbreak, during vacation season.

I spy DE cases forthcoming.

I thought the rest of the parents on here needed to know.

wendy · #6 07-12-2008, 03:09 PM

You know I'm only teasing! And I agree, this is important stuff to get out to everyone. It was just that I read one thread and then moved right on to the next one. Back to back it was pretty funny.

Pythoness · #7 07-12-2008, 03:13 PM

Py is interested in infectious disease, specifically viruses, specifically Ebola and Marburg. But they're all interesting.

Py can't help it. :P

But it comes in handy sometimes.

Panama Girl · #8 07-12-2008, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wendy

Well Py is just bursting with good news today, huh PG!?

Totally.

When we got chicken pox (ages 10, 7 and 3) it was from playing with the kids next door who had just had it.

My Mom thought she'd had it already, so imagine her surprise when she came down with it two weeks after we got through it. From what I know her doctor said it wasn't something to worry about, even though it's much worse for adults than for most children.

Jessica · #9 07-12-2008, 04:20 PM

While I plan to become much more informed on the subject as I get closer to having children, my initial thoughts right now are that I will absolutely vaccinate my children. This excerpt sort of sums up how I feel:

My intuition suggests that it is reckless to deliberately inject a potentially harmful, foreign substance into my son's body. In reality, though, nature places foreign substances--foodstuffs, pollen, and infectious agents, for example--in his body all the time. Some of those are harmless, but others can be deadly. By using vaccines, I can carefully introduce into his body substances that mimic harmful foreign substances (i.e., bacteria and viruses) and, in so doing, teach his immune system to protect him from potentially deadly diseases (and avoid the use of antibiotics and other drugs). Intuitively, that sounds like great idea; empirically, the data show that it is, indeed, a great idea. What is my intuition-based decision? Vaccinate.

Emotionally, it is hard for me to participate in causing my son pain, and it is particularly hard for me to think that the act of vaccinating him may result in an adverse reaction. But when I recall some of the pain and devastation that I have observed as a result of vaccine-preventable diseases, it's much easier for me to proceed with vaccination. I have seen, for example, children with brain injury resulting from not being able to breathe during spells of whooping cough (pertussis). I have seen children and adults unable to walk or even speak their names because of severe brain damage resulting from Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) meningitis (which was, before the availability of Hib vaccines, the most common cause of mental retardation acquired after birth). I have seen a person on a ventilator, convulsing grotesquely from the spasms of lockjaw (tetanus). I have seen scores of African children and adults crawling on their knees or hobbling with the help of a stick after having polio as youngsters. Finally, I have heard my grandmother's grief after losing her four-year-old daughter to diphtheria--she mourned the child the rest of her life, and for years she was afraid to let her other children out of her sight. These are heart-rending scenarios, now preventable. What is my emotion-based decision? Vaccinate.

(By Dr. David Keller, Chief of the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Program,
New Mexico Department of Health)

I don't know as much as I want to know about epidemiology or changes in helath practices over the past 5-6 decades, but it seems to be that there has been some sort of shift.

We have better hygiene and access to vaccinations, which means we're less succeptible to certain diseases (and I'm speaking about the western world, here...) but we have a whole slew of ridiculous problems.

Are the environmental? Biological? Why the increase in severe childhood food allergies? Are things like ADHD and autism and Alzheimers more common now, or just easier to diagnose?

God, these things are a complete mind hump, because there are no definitive answers.

Take HIV for example. HIV was present in the Congo since the late 1950s. Researchers believe that a British sailor passed away from it around the same time, as well as a teenager in St. Louis. These are extremely isolated cases, but it shows that at least one strain of SIV had already made the jump into humans by that time. Roughly 20 years later, to amount of people with HIV explodes.

There are a lot of reasons for the increase, and most of them have to do with the change in lifestyle. People traveled more internationally because airline flights increased. Drugs and sex became more prevalent. The patient X theory says that one man, a Quebecois flight attendant, was responsible for the infection of thousands of people - not all directly, of course.

Still, we have to ask: was there another shift that took place that allowed the virus to mutate and humans to become even more succeptible to it? If so, what was it? Something in our food, our water, our medication, our vaccines?

Why are some people seemingly immune?

Are we giving kids too much medicine and making our houses to clean and using too much anti-bacerial soap and thus weaking their immunity to things? Is the increased use of hormonal birth control before children are even conceived harming them? Tests during pregnancy?

It's a neverending chain of questions, and it drives me crazy.

Okay, now we can get back to talking about measles

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Doris · #10 07-12-2008, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Panama Girl

any children I have are getting ALL their shots... except maybe chicken pox, they can suffer through it just like mommy did

I knew 2 adults who got chicken pox as adults. One within one months time developed full blown cancer and died within 6 months. The other a very sever case of shingles. So it is dangerous to get chicken pox as an adult. I do not agree with this vaccine.

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Measles Outbreak: Multi-State

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