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[moonshaz]

Measles outbreak worries health officials as hundreds of cases are reported across U.S.Authorities say 129 cases in 13 states were reported by mid-April, the bulk of them in California and New York City

Comments

[maynardsong]

Fucking anti vaxxers

[ayajedi]

Damn!! Give your children their required shots and on time people!!!

[lied_ohne_worte]

There's a school where I live that adheres to a "philosophy" which includes rejecting vaccinations, because "children's illnesses" are needed for the proper spiritual development, so depriving children of that experience causes them to regress, or something. These schools are notorious for having measles outbreaks, sometimes spreading them from school to school. The local one had one last year too. Among those who got it were older teenagers, and also adults, for whom of course measles are even more dangerous than for younger children. In my region, 95 percent of children are vaccinated - at that school, the number was estimated at 25 percent. And the people sending their children to these schools tend to be of higher education, so they should definitely know better

[grace_om]

Seriously this. I am not a better person for having had measles as a child. Luckily for me, I did not have a life-threatening case, but I can still remember the misery. Also used to work with someone who had lost her hearing as a result of severe measles morphing into meningitis. She was one of the earliest civilian patients to receive antibiotics -- which saved her life, but not her hearing.

[moonshaz]

I think being old enough to remember what some of those disease were like makes a big difference! I was among the first cohort to get the Salk polio vaccine (the Sabin/oral vaccine came a few years later), and I remember how exciting it was to know you could have these shots and never have to worry about getting polio (which was a very scary disease and still should be). I had my dpts, but there was no MMR or chicken pox vaccine until after I was grown. I got chicken pox in first grade and promptly gave it to my 1.5 year old sister. I had measles at 5 or 6 and got rubella in high school (during a big countrywide epidemic that also caused a major wave of serious birth defects--rubella can do all kinds of horrible things to a fetus if a woman gets it during pregnancy). I managed to escape mumps, but I knew lots of kids who got it and heard about how miserable it was. And you know what? ALL of it sucked, and anyone who tells me it was somehow developmentally beneficial to go through all those diseases gets a big one of THESE from me:

[wrestlingdog]

I do think that actually seeing the diseases makes a real difference. A science teacher I had in middle school had polio, and you could very clearly see the impact fifty years after he'd been infected. And when I go places and see iron lungs... *shudder* no one should have to go through that if we can avoid it.

[nicosian]

theres's a measles outbreak where my family/sister live in Calgary/edmonton area and my sister's kid is un vaccinated.

Yeah. I'll sit back and watch.

We're due to visit in July and my baby's MMR is due three days before we leave and I think I'll just reschedule that a few weeks earlier. I'd like to tell my sis to stay away, because my kid's health comes before her "Jenny Says!" objection.

I have no patience for the antivaxxers. I just don't give a fuck. There's people with real reason they can't be protected with vaccine, and these screwballs are riding on everyone else's good graces.

I'll feel bad for my sister's kid if he gets sick but I will give nary a fuck for my sister's woe if he does.

[jennilee]

I work on the front lines of health care in the Calgary/Edmonton area (lol that's a big area) so I am seeing these measles cases.

My brother and sister-in-law refuse to vaccinate their 18 month old. I've tried talking to them about it but I read a study that came to the conclusion that the more you try to convince an anti-vaxxer the more stubborn they become so I don't know what to do. :( I love my niece to pieces and I am worried about the danger they are putting her in. :(

[nicosian]

Theyre in the middle in Red deer but travel to both cities fairly often so yeah I'm kinda worried about it. I will call my doc and get my boy vaccinated about a month before we go. It jumps the schedule by a couple weeks but i think in this instance that's probably fine.

I don't even talk to my sister after she said when i came down with chicken pox while immunocompromised, and in ICU, that "I had it coming". Sucks for her kid that her mom's an idiot and I don't even bother trying to change her mind.

( I am not 100% sure but I wonder if grandma took him in for shots anyway. My sister's kind of oblivious to be honest. My mom said something to that effect that she had. I don't know. If my kid can't be vaxed in time, I don't want hers around.)

[jennilee]

Does she think her kid will have had it coming if/when s/he does contract something? Wow. What a horrible thing to say to someone. Although I've heard much worse said to patients by their families in the ICU. You'd think people would want to support someone going through a difficult time.

[belleweather]

I've been watching this, and am sad to say that I'm feeling way safer in the 'developing' world, where the people and the government take vaccination seriously than I would be in the States. :(