Measles Outbreak!

[cleanhippie]

Beware: 2011 is on track to be the worst year for measles cases in more than a decade. Although the Centers for Disease Control declared the highly infectious and potentially fatal disease “eliminated” from the US in the early 2000s, it continues to spread, with the highest number of cases this early in the year since 1996, the CDC reported this week. Here’s the scoop on the outbreak and how to protect yourself and your family.

--snip--

What’s behind the rise? 90% of the current cases were “imported” into the US by travelers who visited countries with measles outbreaks, then brought the infection home, sometimes spreading the virus to other people. Almost all of the cases were in people who hadn’t been vaccinated. Another factor in the outbreak is some parents’ unfounded worries about vaccination, due to the now thoroughly disproven belief that the vaccine might cause autism. Extensive research by the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the CDC have shown no link to autism.

http://health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/measles-outbreak-how-to-protect-yourself

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Ignorance is the problem here. What more can be said.


Oh right, I almost forgot...

BIG PHARMA!!!! OH NOES!!!111!!!11

[Ian David]

1. Vaccination is a personal choice. Just like driving drunk is a personal choice. n/t

[cleanhippie]

2. Yes, a personal choice with public consequences.

[Ian David]

3. Which was my point. n/t

[cleanhippie]

7. I was agreeing with you.

:fistbump:

[cleanhippie]

5. .

[mzmolly]

10. Except no one is selling flawed cars claiming that they protect people from the proverbial

drunk drivers. And, no one is mandating the purchase of such a car.

[Ian David]

13. There is nothing wrong with the cars.

And if you don't want to drive, then move to Somalia where nobody...

Oh, fuck the metaphors.

Just go to the island of unvaccinated misfits.

[mzmolly]

15. Why the "fear"

when others don't drive the same car? Either the car "protects" you, or it doesn't.

[Ian David]

17. There are pedestrians on the road who are too young to drive.

Boy, there really are some fucking idiots out there.

[mzmolly]

18. Aren't they protected by the fact that nearly everyone has bought the car

in question? This, in spite of the fact that the car is known to have faulty tires and anyone who questions this, is called "anti-transportation."

[Ian David]

19. The idea that the car is faulty has been proven false.

Besides, I'm convinced by the evidence that Autism is caused by Refrigerator Moms.

There's stuff on the internet about it, from doctors.

[mzmolly]

20. Actually. It's a known fact that

aspects of the car are considered http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/intheworkplace/formaldehyde">flawed, unless they're part of the car in question.

Here's more on the 'tire' problem I take issue with.

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) is formed from parts of several different US government agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Exposures that are thought to be carcinogenic are included in the Report on Carcinogens, published every few years. The NTP lists formaldehyde as "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen."

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is part of the World Health Organization (WHO). Its major goal is to identify causes of cancer. IARC has concluded that formaldehyde is "carcinogenic to humans" based on higher risks of nasopharyngeal cancer and leukemia.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), an electronic database that contains information on human health effects from exposure to various substances in the environment. The EPA has classified formaldehyde as a "probable human carcinogen."

National Cancer Institute researchers have concluded that, based on data from studies in people and from lab research, exposure to formaldehyde may cause leukemia, particularly myeloid leukemia, in humans.

It's a shame some can't separate the tires from the car and help advocate for simply replacing the tires with an alternative. If that happens, I'll purchase the vehicle ASAP.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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[cleanhippie]

6. + infintiy!

[mzmolly]

11. You were asked to remove that insulting

sig line before. Why the disrespect for the mods and this board?

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mzmolly]

14. You mean people who sell vaccines to "protect children" - while claiming

that the same vaccines are ineffective if a single child isn't up to date on vaccines?

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[CoffeeCat]

8. There is a measles situation here in Iowa...

...someone got off an airplane in Des Moines and wandered around the airport for an hour or so. They
were sick and went to a Des Moines area hospital. This person was in the waiting room for more
than an hour and in the hospital for a total of two hours.

The hospital test results showed measles. The result of this?

Every single person who was at the Des Moines airport within the same 2 hour time span as this person,
was asked to get tested for measles. Also, every person who was in the same vicinity at the Des Moines
hospital was asked to be tested. Hundreds of people. Hundreds of tests. Who knows how many dollars!

I didn't know this, but measles is a very serious disease and people do die, even if they have access to
the best medical care. People with measles have a cough, and when they cough--the measles germs
are blown into the air. These germs live in the air for TWO HOURS and if you breath them in, it is highly
likely that you will catch measles.

So, even 2 hours after the person with measles left the Des Moines airport or the hospital--those germs
are still communicable.

This is, and has been, a serious situation for the Des Moines area, affecting hundreds of people--because
of ONE case of the measles.

I'd also like to add---Verbiage like "Big Pharma Oh Noes!!" is grossly misplaced. The pharmaceutical
industry has done so much harm to us. They've got our politicians by the balls--and they've bought
influence that has helped sell harmful drugs that have killed and harmed. They also lobbied to prevent
Congress from negotiating better drug prices in the Medicare/Medicaid programs---which means that taxpayers
get billed billions more, so these jerks can make more profit. So PLEASE--don't act like this industry
is some kind of honest, above-board parade of saints. Should be get our kids vaccinated? Hell yes.
But that doesn't mean that the greedy pharmaceutical industry should not be criticized for horrendous
decisions and practices! Two separate issues...big time!

[LeftishBrit]

21. I think that the 'Big Pharma Oh Noes' and similar lines..

are not ridiculing all criticisms of Big Pharma, but are ridiculing the idea that *vaccines* are just an evil tool of Big Pharma.

I certainly agree with you about the bad influence of the Pharma (and insurance) lobbies on American healthcare. Things are much better in the UK, but even here (especially right at the moment with the dreadful health secretary Andrew Lansley), we have to be constantly vigilant against attempts to make the NHS more profit-driven.

[Maraya1969]

9. I'm 53 and my mother told me years ago that I had had "all the childhood diseases"

I thought that included measles. Was there not a vaccine back then or was the measles not as dangerous?

In fact I remember when my next door neighbor, (we were both around 5 years old) had German measles my mother sent me over there to play with her so I would catch it early and not get really sick if I got it as an adult. I don't know if that is true about German measles but that is what I remember.

[susanr516]

22. MMR became available in the early 70s

I'm 57, never had measles although both my sisters caught it. One of my sisters almost died. Measles was always an extremely serious illness, but all they could do was give gamma globulin shots to the siblings of a child with measles to beef up their immune systems. Conventional wisdom now says anyone born earlier than 1958 doesn't need to worry about getting a measles vaccination because they either caught the disease (it's very easily transmitted) or, like me, they have a natural immunity to it.

Rubella (German or three-day measles) is a very mild disease. However, it causes extremely serious birth defects if an expectant mother catches it in early pregnancy. Therefore, many parents would intentionally expose their young daughters to the disease to ensure the girls caught it before puberty. I had it when I was 10. Strangely enough, both of my sisters had a natural immunity to rubella, or had such a mild case of it that no one even noticed they had caught it.