# 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:** 5
**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 5, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/81 "2014-06-05T16:30:10Z")
> [@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? You can tweak casein in a lab to produce something that is opiate-like, and the “no milk” people call a “caseomorph.” The theory is that during digestion, casein becomes this medium-chain protein (IIRC, I haven’t read about this theory in a long time), and in certain children with problems with their intestines, this “caseomorph” leaked into the bloodstream, went to the brain, and acted like an opiate. The theory was proposed in the early 1990s, when I was working with autistic children, and it seemed worth investigating, so it was thoroughly investigated, and turned out not to be true. If it were true, normal children would act autistic when you gave them opiates, and they don’t-- they may act dopey, but they don’t act autistic, even children on long-term opiate therapy for things like JRA. Mainly, though, there was not enough correlation between children with intestinal problems and autism, and children who didn’t drink milk because of problems like glactosemia, or lactose intolerance, or being raised as vegans, would still sometimes develop autism. Still, there are parents who will try anything, so lots of autistic children are on dairy-free diets. ---
**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 5, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/82 "2014-06-05T16:55:08Z")
> [@Fallen](#): > > 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. Wrong. > **[Herd immunity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity)** > > Herd immunity (also called herd effect, community immunity, population immunity, or mass immunity) is a form of indirect protection that applies only to contagious diseases. It occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population has become immune to an infection, whether through previous infections or vaccination, that the communicable pathogen cannot maintain itself in the population, its low incidence thereby reducing the likelihood of infection for individuals who lack immunity. > Once the he... ---
**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, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/83 "2014-06-05T17:06:04Z")
> [@Fallen](#): > > 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. > [@Green\_Bean](#): > > Wrong. > > [Herd immunity - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity) Not to mention it isn’t MY job or moral duty to protect anyone else’s child. (Beyond my tax dollars helping to finance low cost immunizations, but that’s not the point.) ---
**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 5, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/84 "2014-06-05T17:44:44Z")
> [@DZedNConfused](#): > > Not to mention it isn’t MY job or moral duty to protect anyone else’s child. That’s the same line anti-vaxxers give when they refuse to participate in herd immunity, not realizing the irony that they are “participating” in it by benefiting from it just by living in a place where most people are vaccinated. They ought to all be forced to go live some place together. A couple of years of rampant measles and polio, toddlers dying from epiglottitis, children destined to spend the rest of what might end up being very long lives on respirators, children born deaf and blind from rubella, I’ll bet they’ll be begging for vaccines. I’m actually of the opinion that it is our job to protect other people’s kids. I slam on my brakes all the time, because stupid parents let their kids ride their bikes around the parking lot here, without helmets, and any regard for the direction of traffic, or that you can’t just shoot out from between parked cars, no matter how much fun it is to go down that hill-- I swear, some kid is going to have to get hit before parents get a clue. My kid gets teased because he’s the only one who has to wear a helmet (even though it’s the law). I tell him that people who walk funny after head injuries get teased even more, and that’s wrong too, but he’d like it even less. Not that I have an “issue” or anything. But yeah, I fully support removing exemptions for “philosophical” and religious objections to vaccinations before children can go to public school, and I do partly for my own kid’s sake, but partly to protect other kids from their wacko parents. Obviously, there would still be exemptions for kids who are allergic, or live with someone who is undergoing chemotherapy. Funny how anti-vaxxers are the first ones to say “But, but, what about those kids-- you can’t remove all exemptions!” You never hear it from the parents of the kids with the egg allergies. They know which side the wacko extremists are on. And if their kid _really_ can’t be vaccinated, they want absolutely everyone else who can to be so. ---
**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 5, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/85 "2014-06-05T17:45:05Z")
> [@DZedNConfused](#): > > Not to mention it isn’t MY job or moral duty to protect anyone else’s child. I would amend this slightly. There are people in our society who are not protected by vaccination through no fault of their own. These include: - Children and adults with medical conditions that rule out some or all vaccinations, such as immunity system disorders. - Children and adults who have been vaccinated normally but who are unaware that the vaccine didn’t fully “take.” - Newborns I believe that it is morally wrong to voluntarily damage the herd immunity that provides these children and adults with protection from these horrible and easily avoided diseases. ---
**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 5, 2014, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/86 "2014-06-05T17:46:24Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > I would amend this slightly. > > There are people in our society who are not protected by vaccination through no fault of their own. These include: > > - Children and adults with medical conditions that rule out some or all vaccinations, such as immunity system disorders. > - Children and adults who have been vaccinated normally but who are unaware that the vaccine didn’t fully “take.” > - Newborns > > I believe that it is morally wrong to voluntarily damage the herd immunity that provides these children and adults with protection from these horrible and easily avoided diseases. This. ---
**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, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/87 "2014-06-05T18:11:46Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > I would amend this slightly. > > There are people in our society who are not protected by vaccination through no fault of their own. These include: > > - Children and adults with medical conditions that rule out some or all vaccinations, such as immunity system disorders. > - Children and adults who have been vaccinated normally but who are unaware that the vaccine didn’t fully “take.” > - Newborns > > I believe that it is morally wrong to voluntarily damage the herd immunity that provides these children and adults with protection from these horrible and easily avoided diseases. Well yes of course, but those aren’t the anti vaxxers… ---
**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 5, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/88 "2014-06-05T18:33:25Z")
Neither are the small children of anti-vaxxers unvaccinated by choice. Most anti-vaxxers are probably vaccinated themselves-- or were as children. I’ll bet they even go to the ER if they step on a nail, and get the “tetanus shot,” without even processing the fact that it’s a vaccine. Heck, I dare one of them to get bitten by a raccoon and refuse the rabies shot. But their children are not protected from measles, polio, etc., and it isn’t the children’s fault. I really don’t mind that the fact that my son is vaccinated protects them-- albeit, if I found out that my son was going to a camp, or something, with a below herd immunity vaccine rate, for some reason, I wouldn’t withdraw him. Unvaccinated people in a 99% vaccinated crowd are safer than a vaccinated person in a 60% vaccinated crowd. ---
**Author:** ![Athabasca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Athabasca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athabasca)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/89 "2014-06-06T02:14:55Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Just a random aside- I’m involved in the UK circus scene, which means I have a lot of hippy friends. > > A while back, someone posted a throwaway antivacc comment on a mutual friend’s Facebook page. After all, she’s a vegan who lives in a van and makes a living teaching circus skills. > > What she didn’t know, however, is that said mutual friend may be a hippy vegan who lives in a van, and she may make a living teaching circus skills, but she also has a PhD in immunology, as do several of her old uni friends who are also on her Facebook friends list. > > Truly, the takedown was a thing of beauty 😃 > > Not all crunchy hippies have no brain. To which the anti-vaxxers reply: **Brain? Brain? What is brain?** ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/90 "2014-06-13T23:50:08Z")
[Whooping cough epidemic declared in California. 800 new cases reported in the last 2 weeks.](http://www.dailybreeze.com/health/20140613/whooping-cough-declared-an-epidemic-in-california) Thanks, anti-vaxxers!! ---
**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 13, 2014, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/91 "2014-06-13T23:55:40Z")
Well, as has been said, this is what it takes, aint it? ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2014, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/92 "2014-06-14T00:39:43Z")
My daughter’s school now requires a Tdap as a booster shot for older kids entering 6th grade. I think that needs to be public policy everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2014, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/93 "2014-06-14T00:54:01Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Truly, the takedown was a thing of beauty 😃 Yeah, ain’t cow-tipping great. ---
**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 14, 2014, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/94 "2014-06-14T03:53:59Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > [Whooping cough epidemic declared in California. 800 new cases reported in the last 2 weeks.](http://www.dailybreeze.com/health/20140613/whooping-cough-declared-an-epidemic-in-california) Thanks, anti-vaxxers!! Notice that crackpottery occurs in epidemics. Marin, Sonoma and Napa are all adjoining counties and they have among the highest rates. “119 of those affected have been hospitalized and 21 of them have required intensive care, according to the department of public health.” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2014, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/95 "2014-06-14T04:12:10Z")
This seems to always happen once every twenty years. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2014, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/96 "2014-06-14T04:51:21Z")
> [@Mr.Nylock](#): > > This seems to always happen once every twenty years. According to the article it happened in 2010 as well. It’s not sinking in yet. ---
**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:** [June 14, 2014, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/97 "2014-06-14T12:26:58Z")
Makes me glad that when I got my tetanus booster in 2008 the doc used a vaccine that also protected against diphtheria and pertussis, that is, whooping cough. Thanks, doc! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2014, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/98 "2014-06-14T13:08:08Z")
Antivaxers have an important ally: [http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/5be8e1f4-e169-45ed-986e-7133114228c0.html](http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/5be8e1f4-e169-45ed-986e-7133114228c0.html) ---
**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 14, 2014, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/99 "2014-06-14T13:28:42Z")
> [@Grey](#): > > :dubious: > > Tell me you actually meant 4-5 minutes. Nope. I had a fever and was placed into an ice bath, so I think that might have had to do with it. I’m also unsure what is meant by “clinically dead” when my mom tells me this. I was 16 months old, so it’s not as if I remember myself. Perhaps that was as long as I wasn’t breathing (I turned blue.) Perhaps I was just considered brain dead but still on life support. Doctors can make mistakes. The story has been consistent throughout my entire remembered life. It’s always been 45 minutes. So I don’t think it’s grown in the telling. In some way or another, I was dead for 45 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610/100 "2014-06-14T19:59:17Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Nope. I had a fever and was placed into an ice bath, so I think that might have had to do with it. I’m also unsure what is meant by “clinically dead” when my mom tells me this. I was 16 months old, so it’s not as if I remember myself. Perhaps that was as long as I wasn’t breathing (I turned blue.) Perhaps I was just considered brain dead but still on life support. Doctors can make mistakes. > > The story has been consistent throughout my entire remembered life. It’s always been 45 minutes. So I don’t think it’s grown in the telling. In some way or another, I was dead for 45 minutes. You couldn’t have been considered “brain dead”, since brain dead means, well, dead. You can have other organs functioning, but you can’t wake-up or be revived from brain death. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-measles-cases-hit-twenty-year-high/689610.md?page=6)