I am still working on the reference for a couple of longer blog posts, but since measles cases in the US have crossed the 150 mark, more than in almost two decades, I thought I'd post a quick reminder that "death isn't everything" (hat tip to Bad Astronomy)
Constrast her account with this - a call for a measles party!
I posted this vid at the measles party link... That is just sick.
ReplyDeleteIt is deluded. I think these mums are under the impression that if they do "the right thing", measles will be a breeze for their child. What "the right thing" is varies with paradigm. It usually includes high dose vitamin A and NOT interfering with the high fever (which can spike to 106 deg over weeks).
ReplyDeleteT Lissauer Illustrated textbook of Paediatrics 2nd ed
ReplyDeletep76 child abuse
Types of child abuse
<physical abuse
< Neglect
<emotional abuse
<non-accidental poisoning
<Munchhausen Syndrome by proxy
Gross neglect of a child`s developmental needs may present clinically as:
<<failure to thrive...
<< poor attendance for immunisations and school
None of us are perfect parents. I have to wonder, however, if more parents heard this mother, discuss what happened to her child, down to the fact of speech/language/and hearing impairment, then perhaps a different decision would be made about vpd.
ReplyDeleteI know vaccinating can be scary, and there are rare exceptions, and *some* vaxes can wait, if situation appropriate, but I would forever hate myself, as a mother, knowing I "should have...."
Thank you for your perspective, Amber. I think this is part of the "victim of their own success" problem that measles have. When measles and co were much more frequent, everyone knew at least someone with a severe course. My grandmother lost most of her eyesight to measles, the colleague of my mum's had a daughter with full blown congenital rubella (so heart breaking), I had a teacher with a wonky foot from polio. People forget that and the good access to medical care (in general in those groups that consciously don't vaccinate) instills a feeling of invulnerability.
ReplyDeleteLarian, the vitamin A has since come as an argument on mumsnet - predictably.
this one just popped up on mumsnet and left me speechless http://www.arnica.org.uk/
ReplyDeleteI agree that this is a "victim of success" thing, but I also think that the CDC and vax companies are cutting off their own feet. If you will make and put on the required schedule vaccines for lesser diseases (Rotavirus and arguably chix pox), don't be surprised when all the vpd get equated with them.
ReplyDeleteMy generation (I'm almost 30) can't remember when polio, measles, mumps, reubella, diptheria, and pertussus were very common, so we have no idea what the "normal" courses of the diseases are. So when you lump them in with rotavirus, chix pox, and the flu (which we do know), we tend to think that they are no more serious than these.
I am an RN and I am aware of many adversities related to not only the vaccines, but the other ingredients mixed with them, as well as sometimes contaminated vials if not a single dose vial. I am not for forced immunization. If you choose to vaccinate, then trust the vaccine, and leave the rest of us alone.
DeleteJennifer O, what is the purpose of necromancing this post to only demonstrate your ignorance. Do tell what the other scary ingredients of doom are. Do tell what incidences are due to contaminated multi-dose vials. And no, you won't be left alone as long as you help to spread preventable infectious diseases.
DeleteWhat will happen when the last members of the remembering generation pass away? Anyone here remember smallpox?
ReplyDeleteInteresting thought, MR. I don't think anyone remembers smallpox first hand, and the perception of chicken pox, rotavirus and even flu is very variable and personal (whereas very few people my age doubt the need for polio, rubella or measles vaccine).
ReplyDeleteMiddle Roader, my son ended up in the hospital with seizures from rotavirus. Those seizures are the them main suspect in his lifelong disabilities.
ReplyDeleteIt is not a minor disease.
Full blown chicken pox is also not minor. I have been reading lately that it lasts only five days. That is a lie. It lasts about ten to fourteen days, and involves very miserable children.
Do not be fooled into complacency.
I merely meant that the perception of Rotavirus, Chix Pox, and Flu was that they are minor diseases. I know that there are bad cases and complications possible for all three. Try taking an informal poll of those that you know and see the response is to each disease.
ReplyDeleteThousands of people die of influenza every year. It is only a mild disease in healthy people. Likewise shingles (the re-eruption of chicken pox later in life) often leaves people with permanent and severe nerve pain. These are not harmless diseases.
DeleteMR, it really depends on year though. One year, the answer to rota will be "rota what?!", but about 3 years ago Europe had an epidemic and every other mother seemed to have a child in hospital on a drip. Flu is similar - often you will hear "no big deal" (mostly because of the terminology and "flu" being used for rhino- or enterovirus infections), but the last couple of winters were epidemic here and no one currently thinks of the flu as particularly mild. In my experience, chicken pox is the one that is most consistently refered to as "mild" or "no big deal"...
ReplyDeleteI believe the perception of chicken pox being mild is because kids still get it, but because they are vaccinated it is much much milder. So it has been forgotten that it is two weeks of misery, no sleep and trying to make sure the child does not get a secondary bacterial infection by scratching.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a child chicken pox was mild when compared to measles. Measles is worse, but not in pain, but in fever and potential harm.
It is a matter of degree.
Very few get measles these days. The diseases kids these days is mostly rhino viruses or mild intestinal bugs that last about two days, or a week at most. Other than the rotavirus that one child had, the sickest my kids have ever been was during the full month of chicken pox (a year before the vaccine was available). It was two weeks for each child, with the second about two weeks after the first one got it.
Importantly, chicken pox may be mild-ish but shingles is NOT. Shingles is a localized outbreak of the chicken pox virus later in life, and often leaves people with permanent nerve pain. Google "postherpetic neuralgia" and particularly "trigeminal neuralgia" for more information. Vaccinated individuals will not get shingles.
Delete