Crosswords1 min ago
Measles Epidemic
Am I alone in being amazed at the scale of the recent measles epidemic ? Its occurred here in my home town of Swansea, and there appears to be 1000's of children who have been immunised, with 100,000's others around the UK.
Why have the parents not made sure that their kids are properly protected ? The original fuss over the MMR jabs is now a long time ago, having occurred in 1998, and the false reporting has been thoroughly dealt with. So why are the parents of babies born NOW not receiving their jabs ? I would have thought that Doctors, Health Visitors, etc would have been doing their jobs these last few years.
The BBC report today that 1 million kids are going to be targeted in a new campaign ::
http://
That sounds like a huge number to me !
Why have the parents not made sure that their kids are properly protected ? The original fuss over the MMR jabs is now a long time ago, having occurred in 1998, and the false reporting has been thoroughly dealt with. So why are the parents of babies born NOW not receiving their jabs ? I would have thought that Doctors, Health Visitors, etc would have been doing their jobs these last few years.
The BBC report today that 1 million kids are going to be targeted in a new campaign ::
http://
That sounds like a huge number to me !
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reading the "reader's comments" at the bottom of recent measles articles on any newspaper website, be it mail, independent, guardian, whatever, reveals a sizeable proportion who believe the risk of getting the disease is far lower than the possible side effects from the jab - along the lines of "they'll just be off colour for a few days".
You could argue that the Press are still at it.
The Independent recently gave Wakefield 15 paragraphs to brazenly attempt to defend his now completely discredited theories and lay the blame for the Swansea measles outbreak at the door of the Government.They even printed a long statement from his own website in full. Following a fairly indignant response, they moderated their story a little, and changed some of the writing - but the article is still there.
And the Express are still casting doubt on the MMR vaccine - giving story space to Dr. Halvorsen, a well known MMR critic who-coincidentally- runs a clinic that offers single jabs. They repeat assertions and allegations about the relative danger of MMR without offering any kind of attribution or source.Its a really poor story.
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JIm posted an interesting OP inthe AB Science section recently, all about the public mistrust of science, and scientists. Wakefield has a lot to answer for, but the media must examine its own role in this issue and more widely on the way it represents science to the public. The government needs to learn some lessons too, on how to better communicate issues surrounding relative risks and harms.
The Independent recently gave Wakefield 15 paragraphs to brazenly attempt to defend his now completely discredited theories and lay the blame for the Swansea measles outbreak at the door of the Government.They even printed a long statement from his own website in full. Following a fairly indignant response, they moderated their story a little, and changed some of the writing - but the article is still there.
And the Express are still casting doubt on the MMR vaccine - giving story space to Dr. Halvorsen, a well known MMR critic who-coincidentally- runs a clinic that offers single jabs. They repeat assertions and allegations about the relative danger of MMR without offering any kind of attribution or source.Its a really poor story.
http://
JIm posted an interesting OP inthe AB Science section recently, all about the public mistrust of science, and scientists. Wakefield has a lot to answer for, but the media must examine its own role in this issue and more widely on the way it represents science to the public. The government needs to learn some lessons too, on how to better communicate issues surrounding relative risks and harms.
jim360...thanks for your post....I suspected that it was pretty unknown now in Britain but I wasn't sure.
I have a smallpox story. In about late 1950's we all had the smallpox shots. well, everybody except my Dad that is, who was well known for hating any Doctors and all needles. We were all supposed to go as a family but he made some excuse at the last minute and he went instead the following week. He came home the next week with a bandage over his arm and regaled us boys with stories about how horrid it had been but he was very brave, etc, etc.
But a year later my Mum was in the surgery for some repeat prescription or other and our little Jewish lady Doctor, who had escaped the Nazis just before the war, asked my Mum when her husband was going to come for his smallpox jab, "as time was getting on a bit"
Of course, Dad fessed up, as they say these days, and Mum frog marched him to the Surgery the day after and stood over him while the Doctor did her work !
I have a smallpox story. In about late 1950's we all had the smallpox shots. well, everybody except my Dad that is, who was well known for hating any Doctors and all needles. We were all supposed to go as a family but he made some excuse at the last minute and he went instead the following week. He came home the next week with a bandage over his arm and regaled us boys with stories about how horrid it had been but he was very brave, etc, etc.
But a year later my Mum was in the surgery for some repeat prescription or other and our little Jewish lady Doctor, who had escaped the Nazis just before the war, asked my Mum when her husband was going to come for his smallpox jab, "as time was getting on a bit"
Of course, Dad fessed up, as they say these days, and Mum frog marched him to the Surgery the day after and stood over him while the Doctor did her work !
On the topic of vaccinations and scares, Ben Goldacre wrote a piece a while ago that is quite interesting.
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And he was on Newsnight last night with Clare Gerada, President of the Royal College of GPs talking with Paxo about this latest scare in Swansea that some might find worth a watch...
http://
And he was on Newsnight last night with Clare Gerada, President of the Royal College of GPs talking with Paxo about this latest scare in Swansea that some might find worth a watch...
A link to the OP referenced by LazyGun. Perhaps unfortunately it asked two questions but presented them as one and the same. My mistake!
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This is caused by dopey parents avoinding immunisation because of a gazillion to 1 chance of some sort of brain damage. These idiots would rather buy the separate vaccines out of the nack of a pikey's van in pub car park than get the MMR, thick doesn't even come close to describing it. Bottom line we have this because people are idiots.
...and that article said there is a very small chance of brain damage. So small that it is basically only scientists/doctors covering themselves because they will never say anything is 100% safe. I would say that injecting your kids with something bought from a stranger in a pub car park, and this did happen, was infinitely more risky than getting an MMR jab from the NHS. I was lucky my kids were immunised before any issue even came to light so I never had go through the dilema that many did but I still would have had MMR, if you apply rational thought it's a no brainer.
Even though I'd say that the public were misled "a bit too easily", they were certainly misled. In that at least it's worth forgiving the parents who were bombarded with the scare stories, that they bought into it eventually. The blame has to lie mainly with those spreading the scare stories. With Andrew Wakefield, and ultimately the media.
When the whole MMR thing blew up, the NHS was pressured into having the the 3 vaccines administered separately as pre MMR days. Essentialy at the time it was thought that it was the combination of the 3 that caused the problem. The NHS/Governement refused. There then openned an illicit market in the 3 separate injections, often sold out of the boots of a car in a pub car park. Panorama/horizion/equinox type programs did some undercover reporting on this to highlight the dangers and found in some cases the injections where just some sort of dummy material, thankfully harmless but not actual imunisations. They did their standard interview with concerned but not too bright paraents who where considering the separate vaccines. Hence by posts above.
@Tora - Ahh, thanks for the detail. Must admit, I had never heard of people being willing to buy vaccines from a stranger out of a car boot before. Quite astonishing really - that you would mistrust the vaccine offered by GPs etc for free in favour of injecting your children with something infinitely more uncertain that you actually paid for....
Don't think we had the vaccine when I was a child (early 1950s) but people were aware of the dangers of measles, and mumps too. If a child in the village caught measles the rest of the class, and the school, were exposed to it. If they weren't, the mothers made sure that their own child was, by its meeting the affected child. That way, all the children in the village acquired immunity after being ill when still young.
I think this is part of the problem. People have short memories. Measles is a very unpleasant childhood disease, and highly contagious. In extremis it can be a killer.
Some people appear to take the view that unless there is a clear and present danger of death, then the disease cannot be that serious.
From Wiki
"Between the years 1987 and 2000, the case fatality rate across the United States was three measles-attributable deaths per 1000 cases, or 0.3%.[7] In underdeveloped nations with high rates of malnutrition and poor healthcare, fatality rates have been as high as 28%.[7] In immunocompromised patients (e.g. people with AIDS) the fatality rate is approximately 30%.[8]"
Some people appear to take the view that unless there is a clear and present danger of death, then the disease cannot be that serious.
From Wiki
"Between the years 1987 and 2000, the case fatality rate across the United States was three measles-attributable deaths per 1000 cases, or 0.3%.[7] In underdeveloped nations with high rates of malnutrition and poor healthcare, fatality rates have been as high as 28%.[7] In immunocompromised patients (e.g. people with AIDS) the fatality rate is approximately 30%.[8]"
My mother was given Thalidomide in the late 50's for morning sickness - because it had been tested and was 'perfectly safe'. She took around 3 tablets before my father tipped them down the toilet - my life would have been very different if he hadn't. I was the one who said I would not put poison in my babies . It is known that women who have had the measles vaccine are pmore prone to arthritic conditions (Schattner A (2005). "Consequence or coincidence? The occurrence, pathogenesis and significance of autoimmune manifestations after viral vaccines".)
The Urabe strain of Mumps was used in the MMR up until the 1990's until it was found that this was the cause of transient mild viral meningitis in some babies -how would you feelif that had been your baby?
MMR vaccines have trace amounts of a preservative called thimerosal which contains mercury. I decided not to give my baby a toxic heavy metal -my decision -and preferred to let my children get childhood illnesses and take their chance.
The drugs companies have been losing money for years as less and less people take up vaccination - they must be very very happy not that people are getting into frenzies over an illness that millions of people over the age of 5o went through without much fuss -2 weeks off school -we hoped we'd get measles! Yes measles can kill -so can lots of mundane diseases if the patients immune system is compromised. If you are given the whole facts about what is in the vaccine and then make an educated decision to put that stuff into your baby fair enough -your decision -as it was mine not to.
The Urabe strain of Mumps was used in the MMR up until the 1990's until it was found that this was the cause of transient mild viral meningitis in some babies -how would you feelif that had been your baby?
MMR vaccines have trace amounts of a preservative called thimerosal which contains mercury. I decided not to give my baby a toxic heavy metal -my decision -and preferred to let my children get childhood illnesses and take their chance.
The drugs companies have been losing money for years as less and less people take up vaccination - they must be very very happy not that people are getting into frenzies over an illness that millions of people over the age of 5o went through without much fuss -2 weeks off school -we hoped we'd get measles! Yes measles can kill -so can lots of mundane diseases if the patients immune system is compromised. If you are given the whole facts about what is in the vaccine and then make an educated decision to put that stuff into your baby fair enough -your decision -as it was mine not to.
