Measles: 'Check Your Immunity'
Woman Begs After Husband, 45, Gets Encephalitis
Dubby Henry
NZ Herald
A 45-year-old man who wrongly thought he was vaccinated against measles is in hospital with swelling on the brain after catching the virus. His wife has urged people to double-check they are vaccinated after her husband contracted the highly contagious disease 10 days ago. The woman - who asked not to be named as the situation was still sensitive - told the Herald she wanted people to know measles could hit anyone and it could be fatal. "This virus is horrific. If it can do this to a fit 45-year-old male I can't imagine how a child or baby would cope." . . . .
The woman said she had no idea what measles encephalitis was until doctors diagnosed her husband. She was stunned when the doctor told her there was no treatment - they could only offer him support like keeping him hydrated and managing his pain.
"[He said that] as medical professionals, this is what we're trying to stop because once we get here this is the worst of it." Doctors told her it was clear from the severity of her husband's symptoms that he hadn't been immunised. Her husband's condition had improved in the past day or so. . . .
Medical facilities have run low on MMR vaccines but a fresh batch of 52,000 doses has arrived in the country and is being readied for distribution. New Zealand's director general of health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, said processes were being fast-tracked to ensure extra stock was distributed as quickly as possible. . . .
New Zealand's measles outbreak is now believed to have surpassed that of the United States.
Showing posts with label Vaccines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vaccines. Show all posts
Saturday, 21 September 2019
Thursday, 19 September 2019
Deadly Risks
The World Before Vaccines is a World We Can’t Afford to Forget
Measles is now resurgent in the United States and many other countries. Historical amnesia is partly to blame.
By Richard Conniff
National Geographic
Aug 16, 2019
Like most American children of my generation, I lined up with my classmates in the mid-1950s to get the first vaccine for polio, then causing 15,000 cases of paralysis and 1,900 deaths a year in the United States, mostly in children. Likewise, we lined up for the vaccine against smallpox, then still causing millions of deaths worldwide each year. I’ve continued to update my immunizations ever since, including a few exotic ones for National Geographic assignments abroad, among them vaccines for anthrax, rabies, Japanese encephalitis, typhoid, and yellow fever.
Having grown up in the shadow of polio (my uncle was on crutches for life), and having made first-hand acquaintance with measles (I was part of the pre-vaccine peak year of 1958, along with 763,093 other young Americans), I’ve happily rolled up my sleeve for any vaccine recommended by my doctor and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with extra input for foreign travel from the CDC Yellow Book. I am deeply grateful to vaccines for keeping me alive and well, and also for helping me return from field trips as healthy as when I set out.
One result of this willingness, however, is that I suffer, like most people, from a notorious Catch-22: Vaccines save us from diseases, then cause us to forget the diseases from which they save us. Once the threat appears to be gone from our lives, we become lax. Or worse, we make up other things to worry about. Thus, some well-meaning parents avoid vaccinating their children out of misplaced fear that the MMR vaccine (for measles, mumps, and rubella) causes autism. Never mind that independent scientific studies have repeatedly demonstrated that no such link exists, most recently in a study of 657,000 children in Denmark.
Measles is now resurgent in the United States and many other countries. Historical amnesia is partly to blame.
By Richard Conniff
National Geographic
Aug 16, 2019
Like most American children of my generation, I lined up with my classmates in the mid-1950s to get the first vaccine for polio, then causing 15,000 cases of paralysis and 1,900 deaths a year in the United States, mostly in children. Likewise, we lined up for the vaccine against smallpox, then still causing millions of deaths worldwide each year. I’ve continued to update my immunizations ever since, including a few exotic ones for National Geographic assignments abroad, among them vaccines for anthrax, rabies, Japanese encephalitis, typhoid, and yellow fever.
Having grown up in the shadow of polio (my uncle was on crutches for life), and having made first-hand acquaintance with measles (I was part of the pre-vaccine peak year of 1958, along with 763,093 other young Americans), I’ve happily rolled up my sleeve for any vaccine recommended by my doctor and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with extra input for foreign travel from the CDC Yellow Book. I am deeply grateful to vaccines for keeping me alive and well, and also for helping me return from field trips as healthy as when I set out.
One result of this willingness, however, is that I suffer, like most people, from a notorious Catch-22: Vaccines save us from diseases, then cause us to forget the diseases from which they save us. Once the threat appears to be gone from our lives, we become lax. Or worse, we make up other things to worry about. Thus, some well-meaning parents avoid vaccinating their children out of misplaced fear that the MMR vaccine (for measles, mumps, and rubella) causes autism. Never mind that independent scientific studies have repeatedly demonstrated that no such link exists, most recently in a study of 657,000 children in Denmark.
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