Measles resurgence
As I have written several times in the past about vaccinations and their importance, 2008 is beginning to show the downside of utilizing what we know works.
Childhood diseases are making a comeback and infectious disease experts say that measles is the first of the childhood diseases to rear its ugly head.
According to health officials in the US, the first seven months of 2008 saw 131 cases of measles whereas there were only 42 cases in all of 2007. The last time the number was close to this was in 1997 when we saw 138 cases.
More than half of cases this year involve children whose parents did not allow their children to be vaccinated.
In the past, there were only a few kids who weren’t vaccinated and their risk of acquiring a disease was minimal because of the “herd immunity” of the rest of the population. But as more parents refuse vaccination, the herd is becoming smaller and the risk is greater.
As measles becomes more prevalent again, the complications will also. We will again see children born with congenital Rubella syndrome with mental retardation, deafness and death.
We continue to have advocacy groups promoting new vaccines that immunize against diseases that can only be acquired by high risk behaviors, but we fail to reinforce the importance of these vaccines that protect our kids from airborne and casual contact diseases with significant morbidities
There are pros and cons to every medical treatment including vaccinations. There are also moral and ethical questions, especially with some of the new vaccines.
But it is a shame that some parents will have to learn by their own mistakes because they have never witnessed the problems associated with these diseases. As occurs too often, our children and their children will suffer because of the decisions we are making now.
Childhood diseases are making a comeback and infectious disease experts say that measles is the first of the childhood diseases to rear its ugly head.
According to health officials in the US, the first seven months of 2008 saw 131 cases of measles whereas there were only 42 cases in all of 2007. The last time the number was close to this was in 1997 when we saw 138 cases.
More than half of cases this year involve children whose parents did not allow their children to be vaccinated.
In the past, there were only a few kids who weren’t vaccinated and their risk of acquiring a disease was minimal because of the “herd immunity” of the rest of the population. But as more parents refuse vaccination, the herd is becoming smaller and the risk is greater.
As measles becomes more prevalent again, the complications will also. We will again see children born with congenital Rubella syndrome with mental retardation, deafness and death.
We continue to have advocacy groups promoting new vaccines that immunize against diseases that can only be acquired by high risk behaviors, but we fail to reinforce the importance of these vaccines that protect our kids from airborne and casual contact diseases with significant morbidities
There are pros and cons to every medical treatment including vaccinations. There are also moral and ethical questions, especially with some of the new vaccines.
But it is a shame that some parents will have to learn by their own mistakes because they have never witnessed the problems associated with these diseases. As occurs too often, our children and their children will suffer because of the decisions we are making now.
posted by Anonymous at 5:52 AM
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