# US Measles Cases Hit Twenty Year High **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 30, 2014, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610 "2014-05-30T01:28:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [June 2, 2014, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/61 "2014-06-02T15:44:32Z")
Is she still trying to pretend her son was autistic, and she cured him with magic? I read the first half of her book, which was all I could stomach, and her son definitely had some kind of problem, but it didn’t sound like autism. It sounded the most like Landau-Kleffner Syndrome, which is sudden onset aphasia, with seizures. It usually improves a little as the child gets older, responds to therapy (the aphasia), and some children outgrow the seizures. Interestingly, if her son had a fever after a vaccine, it’s possible he was having absence seizures before the vaccine, but had his first tonic-clonic (what used to be called “grand mal”) as a febrile seizure. The vaccine did not cause the disorder, it just exacerbated it a little bit, and if McCarthy had been more aware of her son’s health, she would have taken precautions like giving him Tylenol prior to the vaccination. But eventually, he would have had a fever-- he would have had strep throat, and a fever, and had his first tonic-clonic seizure, and McCarthy would be blaming penicillin for the “autism” that she diagnosed with her university of Google degree. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/62 "2014-06-03T15:17:29Z")
[www.mediaite.com/tv/the-daily-show-tears-into-liberal-idiocy-on-vaccines/](http://www.mediaite.com/tv/the-daily-show-tears-into-liberal-idiocy-on-vaccines/) I just love the way the anti-vaccer on the show comes right out and says that it doesn’t matter how many experts you line up to tell her she’s wrong, it doesn’t matter what data you have to offer, she will still be convinced of her position. This is what we’re dealing with - a religious faith as noxious as any other I’ve seen outside of Islam in the modern world. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/63 "2014-06-03T18:38:52Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > [liberals | Mediaite](http://www.mediaite.com/tv/the-daily-show-tears-into-liberal-idiocy-on-vaccines/) > > I just love the way the anti-vaccer on the show comes right out and says that it doesn’t matter how many experts you line up to tell her she’s wrong, it doesn’t matter what data you have to offer, she will still be convinced of her position. This is what we’re dealing with - a religious faith as noxious as any other I’ve seen outside of Islam in the modern world. She’s even dumber than you think: > **[My Appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart](https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/appearance-daily-show-jon-stewart/#more-14874)** > > The Healthy Home Economist appears on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to discuss why she doesn't vaccinate her children and why she decided this back in 1997. Stupid, stupid, stupid bitch. ---
**Author:** ![DZedNConfused](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dzednconfused/32/15991_2.png) [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/64 "2014-06-03T18:45:10Z")
My dad’s baby sister, at age 3 caught chickenpox… in her mouth and throat. The lesions caused her throat to swell up so badly she couldn’t breathe. We’ve been decorating her grave since 1942… Don’t effing tell me this shit ain’t so dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/65 "2014-06-03T19:16:29Z")
My Australian friend lost her nine year old son from chicken pox during the course of a single weekend in 2001. When she bravely speaks out, she often gets attacked by anti-vax assholes. I cannot begin to voice her pain or match her fury at them. ---
**Author:** ![DZedNConfused](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dzednconfused/32/15991_2.png) [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/66 "2014-06-03T19:27:54Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > My Australian friend lost her nine year old son from chicken pox during the course of a single weekend in 2001. When she bravely speaks out, she often gets attacked by anti-vax assholes. I cannot begin to voice her pain or match her fury at them. If ever there was a reason to shoot up an audience…:mad: ---
**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:** [June 3, 2014, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/67 "2014-06-03T19:33:28Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > My Australian friend lost her nine year old son from chicken pox during the course of a single weekend in 2001. When she bravely speaks out, she often gets attacked by anti-vax assholes. I cannot begin to voice her pain or match her fury at them. The anti-vaxx assholes in Australia are a particularly nasty, disgusting breed. Their whiny leader Meryl Dorey gets a single threat on her Facebook and whines up a storm, and the [Daily Fail laps it up](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2638667/Anti-vaccination-campaigner-receives-terrifying-death-threat-questioning-shots-save-lives-health-convention.html). This coming after having her own crew[harasses parents of victims](http://www.scribd.com/doc/55873718/More-harassment-of-a-grieving-family-and-members-of-Stop-the-AVN-from-AVN-Member-using-fake-accounts-and-profiles-impersonating-Stop-AVN-members), [trying to silence opponents](http://www.danbuzzard.net/journal/legal-victory-meryl-doreys-gag-order-failed.html), tried to claim that ‘vaccines were rape’, not to mention her fraudulent fundraising. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/68 "2014-06-03T19:45:56Z")
Here she is, telling her story to a friend of mine. > **[When the Good Die Young: How Chicken Pox Took Jesse](http://beforevaccines.blogspot.com/2013/06/when-good-die-young-how-chicken-pox.html)** > > Jesse's picture, and his family's picture are provided courtesy of his mother, Renay, and posted with her permission. Jes... Meryl Dorey is a truly evil woman. Another friend, Toni McCaffrey, lost her baby daughter to pertussis. She, too, has been cruelly treated by Australian anti-vax nutters like Dorey for speaking out in favor of the vaccine: [http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/grieving-mother-toni-mccaffery-was-vilified-by-anti-vaccination-bullies/story-fni0xqrc-1226650600820](http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/grieving-mother-toni-mccaffery-was-vilified-by-anti-vaccination-bullies/story-fni0xqrc-1226650600820) ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/69 "2014-06-03T19:47:39Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > Don’t not equate with educated with smart. Wait…what? Is this some kind of jedi mind trick? ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/70 "2014-06-03T19:58:17Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I think some people who believe in conspiracy theories feel powerless in their lives. It makes them feel good to “know” the “real” story about something, to be in an inner circle of illuminati, and superior to those who don’t believe. I think it was here that I first read the theory that people become conspiracy nuts because they want to believe that they have super-special knowledge about and understanding of a situation. It’s not just knowing the “real” story, but it’s also feeling like they have the analytical skills to see through the “lies.” Like you said, it makes them feel superior. This rang true when I first read it, and my observations over the intervening years have only made me more certain that this explains the majority of the nuttery out there. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/71 "2014-06-03T20:02:11Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > Here she is, telling her story to a friend of mine. > > [Before Vaccines: When the Good Die Young: How Chicken Pox Took Jesse](http://beforevaccines.blogspot.com/2013/06/when-good-die-young-how-chicken-pox.html) > > Meryl Dorey is a truly evil woman. Another friend, Toni McCaffrey, lost her baby daughter to pertussis. She, too, has been cruelly treated by Australian anti-vax nutters like Dorey for speaking out in favor of the vaccine: > > [http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/grieving-mother-toni-mccaffery-was-vilified-by-anti-vaccination-bullies/story-fni0xqrc-1226650600820](http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/grieving-mother-toni-mccaffery-was-vilified-by-anti-vaccination-bullies/story-fni0xqrc-1226650600820) The only upside to this is that it showed much of Australia the true colors of the antivax movement and it has been anything but smooth running for them since. No more morning talkshows for Dorey, no more fake fundraising tactics, no more deceptive AVN name, and the media wasn’t as sympathetic to their ‘passionate cause’ anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/72 "2014-06-03T20:02:25Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Neigh-sayers. Hay!! I call foal! There’s no horsing around here! ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/73 "2014-06-04T03:55:04Z")
I just learned that our receptionist is anti-vax because she gets the flu every time she gets a flu shot and she doesn’t want her baby to catch anything until he’s older and better able to deal with it. :smack::smack::smack: (Wishes there was a bitch slap smiley because that’s really what I wanted to do after she told me that.) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/74 "2014-06-04T05:00:45Z")
I had a reaction to my first MMR shot when I was a kid, and think it may have led to me being clinically dead for 45 minutes. I actually got a test to see if I was immune so I wouldn’t need a booster shot. And I still advocate that people get their MMR shot. If I have a kid, I may be extra careful watching to make sure nothing bad happens, but I’ll still make sure they get it. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/75 "2014-06-04T08:03:21Z")
Here’s a chart plotting anti-Vax attitudes against political ideology. > **[Vaccine Fear Mongers Are Wrong, But They're Not Ideological](https://prospect.org/power/vaccine-fear-mongers-wrong-ideological/)** > > Despite what some believe, liberals are no more likely than conservatives to believe in a link between childhood vaccines and autism. There’s no relationship. But apparently snarky anti-Vax articles encourage some conservatives to switch to the anti-Vax camp. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/76 "2014-06-04T13:32:35Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I had a reaction to my first MMR shot when I was a kid, and think it may have led to me being clinically dead for 45 minutes. :dubious: Tell me you actually meant 4-5 minutes. ---
**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:** [June 4, 2014, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/77 "2014-06-04T17:40:57Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > I just learned that our receptionist is anti-vax because she gets the flu every time she gets a flu shot and she doesn’t want her baby to catch anything until he’s older and better able to deal with it. > > :smack::smack::smack: > > (Wishes there was a bitch slap smiley because that’s really what I wanted to do after she told me that.) She probably gets the shot at the doctor’s, and catches a cold while she’s in the waiting room. It takes a culture to differentiate the flu from another viral infection, or even a bacterial infection. Some people get the flu, but their symptoms are mild, and it manifests more like a cold. Other people get very bad colds that look like the flu, especially if they have a pre-existing condition like asthma or IBS, that gets exacerbated by the infection. I once had a bacterial sinus infection that the doctor was sure would turn out to be the flu, because it was flu season, and I had GI symptoms, but not a bad sore throat. She was surprised that the flu culture was negative, even though I told her I’d gotten a shot (she said some people just don’t hold a titer, or they get a flu other than the one the shot is for); I insisted it was going to be bacterial, because I get a lot of bacterial sinus infections. It wasn’t strep, but something else finally convinced her to give me an antibiotic. 24 hours later, I felt 90% better (I know to finish the whole scrip, though, don’t worry). > [@BigT](#): > > I had a reaction to my first MMR shot when I was a kid, and think it may have led to me being clinically dead for 45 minutes. I actually got a test to see if I was immune so I wouldn’t need a booster shot. > > And I still advocate that people get their MMR shot. If I have a kid, I may be extra careful watching to make sure nothing bad happens, but I’ll still make sure they get it. 45 minutes? That’s pretty dead. Assuming that’s a typo, what happened? allergic reaction to what it’s cultured in? (I can’t remember if it’s gelatin or eggs.) I know someone whose kid has a egg allergy, but she gets some vaccination just fine-- she gets an antihistamine ahead of time, and they hold her at the doctor’s office for an hour after the shot, with an epi-pen at the ready. The kid has a lot of allergies and asthma, so it’s pretty important for her to be fully immunized, because she might be allergic to some of the medications that are used for palliative care if she gets sick, and as an asthmatic, many of the vaccine-preventable diseases could be much worse for her. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/78 "2014-06-05T15:24:28Z")
[Notmilk](http://www.notmilk.com/aa.html) on the milk-autism “connection.” Did you know that dairy food is an opiate, which causes autism? ---
**Author:** ![DZedNConfused](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dzednconfused/32/15991_2.png) [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/79 "2014-06-05T15:34:56Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > [Notmilk](http://www.notmilk.com/aa.html) on the milk-autism “connection.” Did you know that dairy food is an opiate, which causes autism? Which TOTALLY explains why there are only a few thousand autustic children among the million+ children who drink milk. _snort_ ---
**Author:** ![Fallen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@Fallen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fallen)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/80 "2014-06-05T15:45:20Z")
of all the people and kids in U.S. that get measles-mumps-rubella, I wonder how many are “anti-vaxx” and how many are just lazy-or-didn’t-think-about-it vaxx (like adults who travel overseas routinely and have never bothered to be vaccinated). Ultimately, those who get their kids vaxxed needn’t worry so much. I believe there’s a 95% protection, but that doesn’t mean you cannot get it. If your vaccinated kid winds up catching it, that doesn’t automatically mean it’s \*because \* another kid did not (I’d hate to be identified as an anti-vaxxer’s kid during an outbreak; that’d kinda suck). You can be surrounded by one or more anti-vaxxed kids and either get it or not. Five percent is five percent. And if you have a baby and you know about an outbreak, I gather CDC recommends that babies as little as six months should get a dose. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610.md?page=5)