Measles cases at a 12-year high
Categories: Preschoolers, Kids 5-7, Health & safety, Medical conditions, In the news
It's the time of year when school nurses across the country are looking over student's immunization records to make sure they've had all the shots they need in order to attend class. But as we've discussed here many times before, not all students will be required to show proof of immunizations before being allowed in school. Every state in the U.S. allows students to skip the shots if their parents object for medical reasons and most states allow an exemption for religious reasons. And with the growing fears that autism and other disorders might be tied to immunizations, more parents are claiming those exemptions.Skipping the shots may give some parents peace of mind, but it is also being blamed for the increase in measles cases. The first half of 2008 saw 131 cases of the highly contagious disease, compared to just 42 in the entirety of 2007. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 112 of this year's cases were in people who were either unvaccinated or had unknown vaccination status.
"At the national level, I am concerned about our situation," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. "Every year, the U.S. experiences importation of measles. What is different this year is once it is imported, we are seeing it spread to more people, and most of that spread is to people under 20."
Dr. Neal Halsey, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, says that many parents who don't immunize mistakenly believe that the risk of contracting measles is very low. "That is, unfortunately, a false belief," he says. "It is important we maintain high disease vaccination. Getting vaccinated is the safest thing we can do for children."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SKL 8-24-2008 @ 5:03PM
131 cases is extremely low. How is it not low in a population of 300 million?? And not one single person died. Only 15 were hospitalized. Measles is not as deadly as people make it out to be.
Why is everyone ignoring the fact that due to (a) not having measles as a child and (b) not getting boosters as an adult, most adults in this country are just as likely to catch and spread these diseases as unvaccinated children? And nobody is giving any of those adults any crap. Why does this country place all the burden of public health on tiny children (and their parents)?
Personally I wish I had had measles as a child, like my parents and most in their generation did. Having it as a child is a lot less dangerous than having it as an adult. Right now I am more worried about myself catching measles than my kids catching it. Most adults in this country are blissfully ignorant of the fact that their immunizations wore off long ago.
Vaccines are like industrial unions. There was a time when we really needed them, but at some point they began to create more problems than they solved. In retrospect, medical professionals have been short-sighted in preventing generations of Americans from naturally developing lifelong immunity to these diseases. Maybe the number of cases in those days was unacceptable, but a more short-term or targeted approach, coupled with continued research on treating the disease (which actually killed very few people just before the vaccine came out due to medical and hygienic advances up to that time), could have created a much more optimal result as far as public and individual health are concerned. And then we wouldn't be arguing about whether the vaccine causes autism, epilepsy, or the various other well-documented problems associated with it.
It's not too late for medical professionals to learn from the past and take a fresh look at the immunization policy. Maybe big pharma is paying them off, or fighting them too hard, I don't know. I just know it's extremely narrow-minded to harp on folks who made different choices as far as vaccines go, just because a few people caught (and recovered from) the measles.
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c_rousseau05 8-24-2008 @ 5:36PM
It's just as narrow-minded to not get your child immunized because you feel that measles is not deadly or that just because a measly 131 people got it and didn't die but "only hospitalized". I don't know, but in my book, hospitalization is not fun and means there's something seriously wrong. You can come up with all the excuses in the book from vaccines causing autism to claiming that the vax companies just want to make money. Whatever your excuse is, you are rolling the dice with your childs life when you don't get them vax'd. It is your choice but what are you going to do when terrorists decide "wow, America has some pretty paranoid parents out there not vaxing their kids, we could nearly wipe out a whole generation and hit them where their heart is, in their children". If it wasn't for vaccines and the medical advances we have today (even though some people died to get us all to this point) we'd have a lot more lost children. Maybe vaccines have caused problems in some kids that made them not worth getting in the long run, but how many problems are the parents who don't vax going to cause for their children and future generations? Those numbers and consequences have yet to be seen. There is a reason for our medical community wanting to protect, yes protect, us.
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lkselzer 8-24-2008 @ 9:35PM
So, have you had your boosters, and if not, why not?
SKL 8-24-2008 @ 9:37PM
So, have you had your boosters, and if not, why not?
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dee 8-25-2008 @ 11:25AM
No, I haven't gotten any boosters recently--because my OB/GYN ran a titers panel when I was pregnant and confirmed that my vax-based immunities are all still in full effect. That's a normal part of standard pre-natal care.
rnintraining 8-24-2008 @ 11:03PM
Personally, all my children will be vaccinated. There's a reason why the number of cases are still so low in diseases like the measles and polio. Kids are still being vaccinated against them. These diseases weren't and probably will never be irradicated completely, they're just in remission, so to speak. Given enough kids who do not get vaccinated, these diseases will reemerge. And that is a scary thought, from a parental and medical standpoint.
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Maureen 8-24-2008 @ 11:40PM
Not really going to weigh in on the pro or con vaccine debate here because it seems pointless. Everyone has their view and it's not going to be changed here. However, the scary thing to me is that when someone is hospitalized they are in danger of contracting VERY dangerous bacteria in hospitals. With a child's immune system compromised due to measles, they could contract something like MRSA -- very bad stuff. Although this bacteria is being seen in areas outside of hospitals recently, you are still most likely to contract it in a hospital. Makes me want to make sure my kids aren't hospitalized even for a little disease like measles.
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c_rousseau05 8-24-2008 @ 11:42PM
Yes, I had a tetanus shot at 19, meningitis at 22, MMRV at 21 and I get the flu shot every year provided it's available. I'm 28 years old so i'm "up to date" on all of my vaccinations. I only got the meningitis because it was recommended by the University I went to (lived in a dorm for a year) and the flu shot I got this year because I didn't want to expose my young 4 month old daughter to the possibility of getting flu from us. My husband and I both got vaccinated since she couldn't, as did my parents who sit for her occasionally. Happy?
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SKL 8-25-2008 @ 12:16AM
Sure, if you promise that you will keep getting boosters for the rest of your natural life. And if you can convince me that most adults are doing the same.
c_rousseau05 8-25-2008 @ 12:48AM
I sure will keep up my vax's on myself and my family. However, no one can speak for the rest of the world, but hey, when your kids are out there getting measles and ending up in the hospital from whatever illness you could have gotten them vax'd on and you're crying to the doctor and blaming everyone but yourself, remember what you wrote today. ^_^
Tia 8-25-2008 @ 3:33AM
Just for a balanced commentary:
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/6mishome.htm#Diseaseshadalready
I don't think the point is that it's 131 cases is some sort of pandemic, but 131 cases is many more than previous years indicating an increase in cases. Given the highly infectious nature of measles this indicates that the cases of measles may continue to grow.
SKL, you are correct that not everyone is protected from measles. Vaccines are not 100% effective which is why it is important that those who can be vaccinated are, to provide herd immunity.
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