# The benefits of having measles **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 6, 2015, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940 "2015-02-06T03:56:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940/21 "2015-02-06T21:34:45Z")
> [@Norse](#): > > You DO know that Olivia Dahl died in 1962? And that the measles vaccine was invented in 1963 and was licensed in the UK in 1968, and that the MMR vaccine was licensed in 1988? Yes, yes, no, no. The letter is from 1986, and he does imply that at that time the vaccine is not required for school children. I’m guessing that changed in the intervening years? Good. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940/22 "2015-02-06T22:04:13Z")
> [@Twit](#): > > Surprisingly, there were times when my unvaccinated children were blamed for their peers’ sickness. Something which is just not possible when they didn’t have the diseases at all Typhoid Mary would like a word with you. Or rather, the people she killed and sickened. Roald Dahl was kind of an asshole, but that was an interesting/sad read. Luckily we have grown up in the last 28 years :rolleyes:. Chicken pox/varicella has only been vaccinated in the US since 1995. I never got it, and didn’t even know it was a thing until I was an adult, but by then I had already gotten the 'pox. I got MMR at some point in the 80s. > [@armedmonkey](#): > > I love the first five star review of that book: > > I had to snip it for brevity because he goes through the whole alphabet, even including “Vivian’s Voluminous Vaginitis”. By “first,” it doesn’t imply chronologically, but it is the “The most helpful favorable review.” Thank you, Amazon users! Lots of the other 5-star reviews are similarly sarcastic. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940/23 "2015-02-06T22:31:03Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > I guess the main advantage to having measles is that you can’t get measles again, which is a good thing, because measles is pretty horrible. If you haven’t seen it, here’s Roald Dahl’s brief letter about his daughter, Olivia, and the measles. > > [https://roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/timeline/1960s/november-1962](https://roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/timeline/1960s/november-1962) > [@](#): > > The measles had turned into a terrible thing called measles encephalitis and there was nothing the doctors could do to save her. That was twenty-four years ago in 1962, but even now, if a child with measles happens to develop the same deadly reaction from measles as Olivia did, **there would still be nothing the doctors could do to help her.** :eek: The above was written in 1986 or thereabouts. Is the bolded part still true? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940/24 "2015-02-06T22:49:30Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > :eek: > > The above was written in 1986 or thereabouts. Is the bolded part still true? It’s a viral infection. [Treatment](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalitis#Treatment) of measles encephalitis is [difficult](http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/27/5/811.abstract). As he said, she seemed to get over the plain measles part, then it got to her brain and 12 hours later she died. ETA: appropriate username, there. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940/25 "2015-02-06T23:06:57Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > :eek: > > The above was written in 1986 or thereabouts. Is the bolded part still true? Pretty much yes. There are some experimental treatments that prolong life, but the child keep deteriorating, usually, and it’s frightening. The worst thing is that it can appear up to _7 years_ after a child appears to have recovered from the measles. Someone I know who does autism research thinks a number of now-identified degenerative conditions are responsible for “childhood disintegrative disorder” (something that was identified before WWI, and was confused with autism for a long time), and delayed measles encephalopathy is probably one of them. Since genetic and infectious conditions have been identified that cause degenerative conditions, and diagnosed as separate things, “childhood disintegrative disorder” has become pretty much unheard of. ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940/26 "2015-02-06T23:10:26Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Irrelevant to the (valid) point you’re making, I know, but this didn’t sound right, and upon checking Wikipedia, I see “The three vaccines (for mumps, measles, and rubella) were combined in 1971 to become the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.” Which I had, one of the first off. I was unlucky enough to have childhood convulsions (Febrile siezures) as a probable consequence. 1 in 4000 incidence from the MMR apparently. Had 3 each of which were probably severe enough to kill me without modern medicine. The last of which i can remember coming around in a treatment room with worried looking staff, ice packs strategically positioned and about half a dozen fans blowing at full blast directed on me. NB. This isn’t an argument against vaccination. A tiny chance of what is usually a much milder thing vs Measels, Mumps and Rubella and all their grisly toll is no choice at all. They wouldn’t give my sister the MMR however, suceptibility to bad reactions is almost certainly genetic, so she couldn’t have it. Ironically i actually slipped though the effectivness net, and actually had mumps when i was 16. Pretty mild dose however, so the vaccine at least probaby helped with that. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940/27 "2015-02-07T15:17:50Z")
I know someone who had an older sibling and an aunt or uncle (I forget which) with epilepsy. She had extra precautions when she had her vaccines, which included a dose of Tylenol 1/2 hr. before, and staying for an hour after at the doctor’s office each time she was vaccinated, IIRC, until she was 2, and she never did have a seizure. Later, she had something like strep throat (at a pretty advanced age to have one-- it’s mostly infants and toddlers who get them), and did have a febrile seizure, but never developed epilepsy. Supposedly, she has one irregularity on her EEGs, so that if she ever has a high fever or head injury, she’s as a high risk for developing a problem like epilepsy. My two points there are that there are precautions for at-risk children (I have heard stories from other parents, like parents of kids who had birth injuries, or family histories of food allergies, who had special precautions around vaccinations), and that kids who do have vaccine side effects very often have known risks; the side effects don’t come out of the blue. Not to say that what happened to DeptfordX wasn’t bad, but if risks were known ahead of time, and nothing was done, someone dropped the ball. ---
**Author:** ![Askthepizzaguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askthepizzaguy/32/9405_2.png) [@Askthepizzaguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askthepizzaguy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940/28 "2015-02-07T15:50:25Z")
> [@armedmonkey](#): > > I love the first five star review of that book: > > I had to snip it for brevity because he goes through the whole alphabet, even including “Vivian’s Voluminous Vaginitis”. That’s a lot of effort for a gag. I approve. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940/29 "2015-02-07T17:36:32Z")
Why is this book getting attention again? It was released 3 years ago. The very fact that every almost every 5 star review the book got was a joke review should tell you everything you need to know. ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940/30 "2015-02-07T18:22:08Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > My two points there are that there are precautions for at-risk children (I have heard stories from other parents, like parents of kids who had birth injuries, or family histories of food allergies, who had special precautions around vaccinations), and that kids who do have vaccine side effects very often have known risks; the side effects don’t come out of the blue. > > Not to say that what happened to DeptfordX wasn’t bad, but if risks were known ahead of time, and nothing was done, someone dropped the ball. Nah, nothing like that. No family history of anything like that, i’m in my 40’s and I’m still not (as far as I know) allergic to anything. Pure bad luck,bolt from the blue as far as I can tell. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940/31 "2015-02-07T19:20:08Z")
I’m sure the parents of the 500 or so kids who used to die from measles yearly prior to vaccines didn’t think measles were so marvelous. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940/32 "2015-02-07T21:37:33Z")
Has anyone actually read the book? what’s the story? Is it really propaganda aimed at little kids, or is it just a book meant to help kids get through having the illness? The latter is still unforgivable, given that no one should be getting this illness, but if someone wrote a book back in the 1930s aimed at kids convalescing from the measles, it wouldn’t be bad. I guess, is it just “sorely misguided thing,” or is it “evil, cultist indoctrination thing”? is my question. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940/33 "2015-02-07T22:40:59Z")
Here’s the story basically. A little girl, Tina, is in school, and she sees her friend Melanie isn’t there, and the teacher makes an announcement that the reason Melanie isn’t in school is because she has the measles. Some of the kids are afraid that they’ll get the measles too. There’s this one kid, Jared, who says that he can’t catch the measles because he’s been vaccinated, and the kid sitting next to him is probably going to get the measles and die because he never got vaccinated. So Tina goes home and asks her mother about it. Her mother explains that catching measles is a good thing, because it makes your body stronger, and that they didn’t vaccinate Tina for measles because they vaccinated her older brother, Sam, who got really sick, and now, because of that, he has a weakened immune system. Tina then tells her mom that she wants to go to Melanie’s house to get measles too, because it’s the best thing that can happen to a kid, basically, and her mom says, “That’s a great idea.” So Tina and mom go to Melanie’s house to see her. It turns out Melanie was vaccinated, but it didn’t work…she has the “worst case of measles the doctor had ever seen”. Melanie’s not bothered by that, though. She shows off her spots, which aren’t itchy and don’t hurt at all, and she and Tina play. Meanwhile, Tina’s mom gives Melanie’s mom a melon and carrot juice, because, if you have enough vitamin A, you won’t get measles. Melanie recovers and Tina’s upset she didn’t get measles either, but her mom explains to her how eating raw food with a lot of vitamins, getting fresh air and a lot of exercise, and stuff protects your body, and since Tina’s such a healthy kid, that probably explains it. Jared, meanwhile (he’s the vaccinated kid who was teasing the unvaccinated one at the beginning of the book), who eats mostly junk food and sweets, does get measles. The book ends with Tina hoping she’ll be lucky enough to get measles someday. So, that, in a nutshell, is the plot of Melanie’s Marvelous Measles. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940/34 "2015-02-07T23:22:05Z")
This may be anecdotal observations, but it seems to me that the types of parents who would take this as gospel are the same types who get kids with multiple allergies and refuse to let their kids play in the dirt. A dropped pacifier gets sterilized for 3 hours (unless they don’t “believe in” pacifiers). Antivaxers don’t believe that because they believe that exposure is the best way to build a healthy immune system; they just believe in junk science. They don’t eat junk food though, organic only, please! ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940/35 "2015-02-07T23:39:02Z")
One of the worst “junk sciencers” I knew, who was making he kid crazy (literally) with all the food restrictions, had a huge thing about how evil sugar was. The kid couldn’t have a single piece of candy, or even juice, when the rest of the kids had it (at my son’s preschool, and we watered down the juice, because you need to do that so preschoolers don’t get the trots), but get this-- the kid was allowed to have honey, because honey is natural, not unnatural and refined, like sugar. As any diabetic can tell you. :dubious: Of course, most of the parents subscribed to the myth that a lot of sugar makes kids hyper. I’d point out things, like the fact that people with diabetes or hypoglycemia actually get out of sorts when their blood sugar is low, but they get confused and groggy when their blood sugar is high, or the fact that if their kids are healthy, their bodies regulate how much sugar gets to their brains no matter how much they eat, and as a lat resort, offer to send them the article I had documenting how self-identified parents of kids who got hyper on sugar recorded more bad behavior from their kids, and more activity if the kids had eaten something sweet, and they’d been told it had sugar (surprise: it had Nutrasweet) in spite of kinectometers the kids wore, and videotapes recording the kids showing something different from what the parents claimed to experience. It’s a losing battle, and I don’t understand the psychology behind it. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940/36 "2015-02-07T23:40:44Z")
BTW: thanks CPT Amazing. It sounds just awful. I’m glad I didn’t actually read it myself. Melons? seriously? Was that made up just for the book, or was that already part of anti-vax lore? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940/37 "2015-02-08T00:01:26Z")
Honey is one sugar that we _know_ can be bad. You’re not supposed to give it to \<1 for risk of botulism. Then there’s [this allergy card](https://imgur.com/E09jplv) and its comments. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940/38 "2015-02-08T00:29:55Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Tina then tells her mom that she wants to go to Melanie’s house to get measles too, because it’s the best thing that can happen to a kid, basically, and her mom says, “That’s a great idea.” One reason my mom was so gonzo about us kids getting vaccines is that she had a school friend whose mom did, indeed, think that way - now, in the mom’s defense this was the 1930’s and there was no measles vaccination back then. The idea was to expose the kids young in hopes they’d have a milder disease than if they caught it when older. Well, her friend did get the measles. Then got one of the brain complications of measles and died from it. Oh, yeah - marvelous indeed. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940/39 "2015-02-08T01:17:45Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > This may be anecdotal observations, but it seems to me that the types of parents who would take this as gospel are the same types who get kids with multiple allergies and refuse to let their kids play in the dirt. A dropped pacifier gets sterilized for 3 hours (unless they don’t “believe in” pacifiers). Antivaxers don’t believe that because they believe that exposure is the best way to build a healthy immune system; they just believe in junk science. They don’t eat junk food though, organic only, please! there’s that, but honestly I think a big part of the problem is that these diseases have been out of the public consciousness for so long that these dipshit airhead parents think they’re no big deal. They don’t know anyone (or know of anyone) who died from said diseases or is suffering from the long term effects. They think measles is just a rash, mumps makes you look like a chipmunk, and pertussis is just a cough. They don’t really understand how bad things can get. of course, when you call them on it they hide behind the “_I_ know what’s best for _my_ child!” BS. And nobody has the balls to go up to these stupid fucks and scream "_NO YOU FUCKING DON’T!!!_ in their faces. Honestly, I’d be perfectly fine with the parents of unvaccinated children being held civilly and criminally liable for any outbreaks. These people need to be shut down fast. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940/40 "2015-02-08T02:45:08Z")
My favorite recent line about people getting measles of late has been: “Hey! We got measles back in the day and we lived. We came out fine!” Sure, except all the kids who didn’t live. You speaking for them? Last heavy outbreak in the US was in the late 80’s. 50,000 cases and over 120 deaths. Sure, everything is fine when you get measles. Sure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-benefits-of-having-measles/711940.md?page=3)