Anti-vaccine groups blamed in Minnesota measles outbreak

[ScienceRocks]

Anti-vaccine groups blamed in Minnesota measles outbreak
By Jacqueline Howard, CNN

Updated 4:30 PM ET, Mon May 8, 2017

Anti-vaccine groups blamed in Minnesota measles outbreak - CNN.com

48 confirmed measles cases in Hennepin, Ramsey and Crow Wing counties, mostly affecting unvaccinated Somali-American children, according to data released by the state's Department of Health on Monday.
Of those impacted, 46 are children 10 and younger; 41 are Somali-American; and 45 have not been vaccinated against the disease, according to the data.

This anti-vaccine crap is killing people and will end up killing a lot more people. Foolish fucking idiots.

 

[OldLady]

It's pretty unlikely that it will kill any of them. Unless a pregnant woman gets it; then it might kill the fetus.
Not that I'm an anti-vacciner. But in such a small group, the instances of serious repercussions would be rare.

 

[Manonthestreet]

Oh shut up...try their religion......

 

[Sunni Man]

When I grew up, every kid in my neighborhood caught the measles, including me.

It was like a rite of passage.

Now they act like the measles is some kind of deadly plague.

And spend billions of dollars trying to eradicate it.

Why? ......

 

[OldLady]

When I grew up, every kid in my neighborhood caught the measles, including me.

It was like a rite of passage.

Now they act like the measles is some kind of deadly plague.

And spend billions of dollars trying to eradicate it.

Why? ......

It causes miscarriage, stillborns and severe birth defects if a pregnant woman gets measles, especially in the first trimester. It can cause deafness and blindness in young children.

 

[Sunni Man]

It can cause deafness and blindness in young children.

Must be very rare.

Every kid I knew at my elementary school had the measles, and I never heard of any of them suffering from after affects. ......

 

[Old Rocks]

It's pretty unlikely that it will kill any of them. Unless a pregnant woman gets it; then it might kill the fetus.
Not that I'm an anti-vacciner. But in such a small group, the instances of serious repercussions would be rare.

Except that measles can have effects that dog you for life. And even take your life later.

How measles can change a life - VaccinesToday

 

[Old Rocks]

It can cause deafness and blindness in young children.

Must be very rare.

Every kid I knew at my elementary school had the measles, and I never heard of any of them suffering from after affects. ......

Not all that rare. One of our friends girls is deaf from measles.

 

[hadit]

When I grew up, every kid in my neighborhood caught the measles, including me.

It was like a rite of passage.

Now they act like the measles is some kind of deadly plague.

And spend billions of dollars trying to eradicate it.

Why? ......

It still kills when the victim isn't very strong, as in the very young, very old, those suffering from poor nutrition, or those already sick from something else. It used to kill thousands every year.

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - get yer kids vaccinated against measles...

Measles Can be Deadly, But is Preventable
June 26, 2017 | WASHINGTON — More than 75 people, mostly young children, have gotten measles in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Nearly all were unvaccinated. Measles is one of the most highly contagious diseases that exists. All it takes is a sneeze or a cough to spread the virus in tiny droplets through the air.

One person can infect up to 18 others. Each one of those people infects another dozen or so people, and it spreads from there. Ninety percent of those exposed will get the virus, unless they have been vaccinated or have already had measles. The measles virus can linger on doorknobs, tables, any surface for up to two hours. Touch it and you're exposed.

'Not a trivial disease'

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, says, "Measles is not a trivial disease. If you have a measles outbreak, a proportion of people are going to have serious complications." The complications can be as serious as permanent brain damage. It can leave a child blind or deaf. Measles also kills. Dr. Peter Hotez is a professor at Baylor College of Medicine. He's also the director of Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development. Hotez told VOA, "In the pre-vaccine era, we had about 500 kids die of measles every year in the U.S. and 50,000 hospitalizations."

And that's not all. Dr. Flavia Bustreo at the World Health Organization says measles can have lingering consequences. "Measles can lead to pneumonia, and a reduction in immune function for some time after the infection, so the child becomes weaker and more susceptible to other infections," Bustreo said. The U.S. was declared measles free in 2000. Last year the World Health Organization declared the Americas measles free. This came after a 22-year campaign to eradicate this disease in both North and South America. The achievement was considered a historic milestone.

International hub

So, why, you could ask, have more than 75 people, mostly children, gotten measles in the Midwestern state of Minnesota? All cases of measles in the Americas are imported. In Minnesota, the outbreak started among the Somali-American community and spread because this group had low vaccination rates for measles. Minneapolis is an international hub where people arrive from countries around the world. As of now, no one knows the identity of the first patient with measles, whether it was someone visiting from abroad or if an unvaccinated American brought the disease home after traveling overseas.

Like most pediatricians in the U.S., Dr. Hope Scott counts herself lucky to have never seen a case of measles. "The kids who get measles are really, really sick. It’s a pretty big deal to get measles," she says. The first signs of measles are a runny nose, cough and a fever followed by a blotchy rash that starts on the face and then spreads all over the body. Once the rash appears, the fever spikes. An infected person can spread the virus to others about four days before the rash appears and for about four more days afterward.

Hospitalizations

See also:

Measles Hit Minnesota Somalis Amid Low Vaccination Rates
May 10, 2017 - Any outbreak of measles is cause for concern, but the current outbreak in Minneapolis, Minnesota stands out for two reasons. One, almost none of the victims were vaccinated against the disease. Two, nearly all of the victims are ethnic Somalis.

Doctors say the situation is the result of the disproven, but persistent, belief the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) can cause a child to develop autism. Dr. Mohamed Hagi Aden, an internal medicine specialist at Regions Hospital in neighboring St. Paul, says more than 50 percent of Somali-American children in the area never get the MMR vaccine, due to autism fears. The result is seen in the measles outbreak statistics. As of Tuesday, the Minnesota Department of Health had recorded 50 cases of measles in the state. It said 45 of those infected were confirmed to be unvaccinated against measles, and 45 of the cases were Minnesotan Somalis (or Somali Minnesotans, as the department put it).

A sign at the specialty clinic at Children's Minnesota in Minneapolis, alerts patients to a measles outbreak in the area.​

Dr. Aden says opposition to the MMR vaccine stems from a perceived high rate of autism within the local Somali-American community. A report by the University of Minnesota showed that in 2010, about one in 32 Somali children in Minneapolis between the ages of 7 and 9 was identified as having autism spectrum disorder (ASD). "And while parents were looking for answer, they found a study by a British researcher that linked the autism and the MMR vaccine, and that has created fear and suspicion with the community,” Dr. Aden told VOA's Somali Service. The study he cites is real; it was published in the British medical journal The Lancet in 1998. But the journal retracted the finding 12 years later, saying it contained errors.

In the meantime, multiple studies have failed to find any evidence to back up the original study's claims. One study of 95,000 American children found "no harmful association between MMR vaccine receipt and ASD," even in cases where kids' older siblings had been diagnosed with autism. "There is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism,” says Dr. Aden.

Making the case for vaccination

Related:

Italy Warns of Measles Epidemic Amid Debate About Vaccines
April 19, 2017 — Italy reported a measles epidemic Wednesday following a fall-off in vaccinations, as the United States issued a warning to visitors about the outbreak of the potentially fatal disease.

The Health Ministry said there had been almost 1,500 registered cases of measles so far this year, compared with 840 in all of 2016 and 250 in 2015. "Italy and Romania have an epidemic at the moment," said Walter Ricciardi, president of the Higher Health Institute, adding that he understood why the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had issued an advisory this week. Ricciardi told Radio 24 that the United States, unlike Italy, had launched a massive campaign to persuade parents to vaccinate their children.

The Higher Health Institute said that only about 85 percent of Italy's 2-year-olds were being vaccinated against measles, well below the 95 percent threshold recommended by the World Health Organization to block the illness. The center-left government has accused the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) of spreading concern among parents by questioning the safety of some vaccines and by loudly denouncing efforts to make vaccinations mandatory.

'They bring a risk'

"Vaccinations have played a vital role in eradicating terrible illnesses ... but nonetheless, they bring a risk associated with side effects," M5S founder Beppe Grillo wrote in 2015, saying mandatory vaccination represented a gift for multinational pharmaceutical firms. A leading M5S politician, Andrea Cecconi, suggested last month the jump in measles cases might be part of a natural cycle for the illness rather than a preventable epidemic.

Renewed concern over measles came amid fury among doctors over a program on state broadcaster RAI that highlighted the possible side effects of the human papillomavirus vaccine, which protects against cervical cancer. The M5S defended the report, but health officials accused RAI of being unnecessarily alarmist. "It is very serious that a TV program, which is supposed to be at the service of citizens, spreads fear by telling lies and giving credence to the anti-vaccine lobby," said Giuseppe Mele, chairman of the Italian Society of Pediatricians.

Italy Warns of Measles Epidemic Amid Debate About Vaccines

 

[Old Rocks]

It's pretty unlikely that it will kill any of them. Unless a pregnant woman gets it; then it might kill the fetus.
Not that I'm an anti-vacciner. But in such a small group, the instances of serious repercussions would be rare.

Rubella
Known as the virus that causes German measles, rubella can cause viral heart infection. It’s also associated with miscarriages, stillbirths, and birth defects. It can cause myocarditis if it infects the heart, although it’s not common. A vaccine against rubella is available.

Viral Heart Disease

The potential is there for serious infections.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Stupid is as stupid does.

What a bunch of idiots.

 

[SixFoot]