US measles cases at an all time high

[LavenderBlue]

http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/19/11288194-us-measles-cases-highest-in-15-years

The number of measles cases and outbreaks spiked last year, with unvaccinated people making up the majority of those affected, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 2011, there were 222 cases of measles in the United States. That’s the highest number reported measles cases in the united states in 15 years, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of CDC’s Office of Infectious Diseases, speaking to reporters today.

I’m so grateful I can get my youngest her MMR shot next week. The anti-vax brigade can go fuck off. Do they really us to be like Europe with over 30,000 cases of measles last year?

[LavenderBlue]

Fuck. That should read CASES not calses.

[thelurkinghorror]

If you scratch the rash too much, you can get measles calluses.

I think MMR is still required in a lot of places. Pertussis? Not so much. I don’t get any vaccines; wouldn’t want to risk contracting autism at 29.

[LavenderBlue]

@thelurkinghorror

If you scratch the rash too much, you can get measles calluses.

I think MMR is still required in a lot of places. Pertussis? Not so much. I don’t get any vaccines; wouldn’t want to risk contracting autism at 29.

Please tell your last sentence is a whoosh.

The MMR actually helps prevent autism. Congenital rubella syndrome (the R in the MMR shot) is a known cause of autism.

[gazpacho]

Measles is at a recently local high. It is bad that the number of cases of measles is going up but lets keep some kind of perspective. Back before the vaccine came out there were 400 thousand + cases of measles a year. 222 is a lot less than 400,000.

[Spice_Weasel]

I am totally okay with charging these parents with neglect. Or endangering the public health, or something.

[Jackmannii]

LavenderBlue, don’t you know we’re not supposed to worry about diseases like measles? “Amanda” told me so in an Amazon health forum:

“What there is supposed to make us afraid of these diseases? That they were devastating to the Native Americans? All “white man’s” diseases were harder on them than Europeans. Mostly because they are childhood diseases that are so much worse in adulthood and they had no immunity!”

And, like, childhood diseases were disappearing even before vaccination began! Don’t pay any attention to those disease incidence graphs showing cases nosediving right after vaccines were introduced.

I’ve got to stay away from the venomous crazy in those threads, and just tell myself that these people are a small but loud minority.

[Darth_Panda]

@Jackmannii

I’ve got to stay away from the venomous crazy in those threads, and just tell myself that these people are a small but loud minority.

But on the plus side, they are doing us the favor of making it less likely that their own genes will carry on.

[Thudlow_Boink]

An “all time high”?

[Anne_Neville]

Antivax idiots. I know when my baby is born, I’m going to get her vaccinated on the schedule recommended by her pediatrician. And I also know that I’m going to have a hard time not decking anyone who says I should be doing otherwise. Must… restrain… fist… of… death…

This kind of thing is why I stay away from parenting boards. I wish I could find a parenting board that is sensible and evidence-based, but there don’t seem to be any such places. I guess I’ll have to ask my parenting questions here.

[Hal_Briston]

Fuck me, the comments section to that article wants to make headbutt my monitor.

“Ohhh, more kids DIE from the measles vaccine then die from measles!!” Even if that really were the case, you can’t wrap your head around the fact that that’s a good thing?? Nearly everything you can conceivably put in your body is going to have a bad, sometimes fatal, reaction for someone. Tragic, but thems the facts. So you can’t put it together that a dozen kids dying each year as a result of the vaccine is better than the millions who died each year in the pre-vaccine age? Sweet mother of fuck, I hate people.

[Cat_Whisperer]

There’s a comments section? Be right back - have to go post my research on preventable fatality of childhood diseases.

[Sailboat]

@LavenderBlue

That should read CASES not calses.

Measles Calses sounds very, very serious.

[Cat_Whisperer]

Oh my fucking God - you think you’re immune to how stupid people can be, then you see a comment like this:

Not only did the CDC admit in 2000, that vaccines are a cause of autism, they are full of various toxins and mineral oil, which causes auto-immunity in lab animals. Our newborns need to have their titters checked at birth, and for allergies also, before vaccination.

I did not know that the CDC admitted that vaccines are a cause of autism - bad CDC! Bad! The scariest part - her handle is “Mom-1124152” - she apparently has already bred.

[LavenderBlue]

@Anne_Neville

This kind of thing is why I stay away from parenting boards. I wish I could find a parenting board that is sensible and evidence-based, but there don’t seem to be any such places. I guess I’ll have to ask my parenting questions here.

So true unfortunately. The anti-vax nuts have poisoned the well on this issue. You can’t begin to touch this subject in real life or online without one of them showing up alas.

@Sailboat

Measles Calses sounds very, very serious.

Youngest was in holdme-holdme-holdme-HOLD ME and nurseme-nurseme-NURSE ME damn it! mode all of yesterday. Hence the brain fart.

[LavenderBlue]

Doctor Offit gives a free online course on vaccines.

Does anyone want to post this link at Mothering?

[Mighty_Girl]

@Hal_Briston

This kind of thing is why I stay away from parenting boards. I wish I could find a parenting board that is sensible and evidence-based, but there don’t seem to be any such places. I guess I’ll have to ask my parenting questions here.

I learned that lesson 7 years ago.

The internet is a scary place, and getting out of the Dope makes me feel surrounded by hordes of illiterate idiots. I’ve crawled in the SDMB and will never leave again.

At least people know how to capitalize and use commas here. For the most part.

[bouv]

@Hal_Briston

“Ohhh, more kids DIE from the measles vaccine then die from measles!!” Even if that really were the case, you can’t wrap your head around the fact that that’s a good thing?? Nearly everything you can conceivably put in your body is going to have a bad, sometimes fatal, reaction for someone. Tragic, but thems the facts. So you can’t put it together that a dozen kids dying each year as a result of the vaccine is better than the millions who died each year in the pre-vaccine age? Sweet mother of fuck, I hate people.

One thing I always remembered from my epidemiology class was that you need to know the denominator.

Simply saying that X people died from the vaccine, and Y from the disease, is not tangible information. Without knowing how many got the vaccine, and how many contracted the disease, it’s useless.

And guess what? When you compare the incidence rates of death from the vaccine vs the disease, surprise surprise, the vaccine is orders of magnitude safer.

[Kolga]

@bouv

One thing I always remembered from my epidemiology class was that you need to know the denominator.

Simply saying that X people died from the vaccine, and Y from the disease, is not tangible information. Without knowing how many got the vaccine, and how many contracted the disease, it’s useless.

And guess what? When you compare the incidence rates of death from the vaccine vs the disease, surprise surprise, the vaccine is orders of magnitude safer.

Another problem with anti-vax claims of “death by vaccine” is temporal. I’ve seen instances where deaths six months after a vaccine were attributed to the vaccine. I’ve seen instances where parents of girls who received the Gardasil vaccine and then died of a drug overdose or in a car accident blamed those deaths on the vaccine.

Just because A follows B doesn’t mean A causes B (as this board knows), but in Anti-Vax Land, anything negative that happens after a vaccine is always and forever directly related to the vaccine.

[Jackmannii]

@Hal_Briston

Fuck me, the comments section to that article wants to make headbutt my monitor.

“Ohhh, more kids DIE from the measles vaccine then die from measles!!” Even if that really were the case, you can’t wrap your head around the fact that that’s a good thing?? Nearly everything you can conceivably put in your body is going to have a bad, sometimes fatal, reaction for someone. Tragic, but thems the facts. So you can’t put it together that a dozen kids dying each year as a result of the vaccine is better than the millions who died each year in the pre-vaccine age?

Hal, I suspect that that fatal measles vaccine reactions are far fewer than the figure you give. According to the National Network for Immunization Information:

“In very rare cases (far less than 1 child out of 10,000 given MMR (measles, mumps and rubella vaccine)), children have a serious reaction, such as lowered consciousness, coma, or hypersensitivity (anaphylaxis)—swelling inside the mouth, difficulty breathing, low blood pressure, and rarely, shock. Even more rarely, children may have low blood platelets that can lead to a temporary bleeding problem that is described in more detail in the “Related Issues” section below. Since 1990, there have been 11 case reports of anaphylaxis in those who received the vaccine. Thirty to 40 million children were vaccinated during this time period. No children who experienced such a reaction died as a result.”

Of course, that site must be “biased” because someone in one of the antivax forums said she heard that lots of kids die (or immediately turn autistic) because of vaccines. :rolleyes: