U.S. Measles Cases Triple In 2013
An anonymous reader writes "The U.S. Centers for Disease Control have announced that measles cases in the U.S. spiked this year, rising to three times their recent average rate. It's partly due to a greater number of people traveling to the U.S. when they're infectious, but also because a frustrating number of people are either failing to have their children vaccinated, or are failing to do so in a timely manner. Dr. Thomas Friedman said, 'Around 90 percent of the people who have had measles in this country were not vaccinated either because they refused, or were not vaccinated on time.' Phil Plait adds, 'In all three of these outbreaks, someone who had not been vaccinated traveled overseas and brought the disease back with them, which then spread due to low vaccination rates in their communities. It's unclear how much religious beliefs themselves were behind the outbreaks in Brooklyn and North Carolina; it may have been due to widespread secular anti-vax beliefs in those tight-knit groups. But either way, a large proportion of the people in those areas were unvaccinated.'"
It goes without saying that the moronic get what they deserve, though sadly, when herd immunity is compromised, sometimes the innocent (those who cannot be inoculated) pay the price too.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
... and other idiots
I actually have a co-worker who refused to get the MMR vaccine for his two children, both of whom came down with the measles last year. They didn't shun the vaccine because of religious reasons; rather, Jenny McCarthy convinced them that it would give their children autism. And while it's entertaining to watch this, and it's fun to sit back and mock these people, their belief system, and the consequences of their actions, the fact remains that these idiots are a real threat to our herd immunity.
The real answer to this is education, although that's almost as dirty a word as "vaccination" in 2013 United States.
We even now have a permanent Tetanus combo booster shot (TDAP) instead of the old every ten year one (that probably expired, don't step on a rusty nail!).
Correlation is not causation, but not getting an MMR measles mumps rubella shot is just criminal. Without herd immunity we're starting to see hospitals requiring people to wear masks or stay in isolation wards, measures we never had to do before the "fad" of not getting shots started.
And, no, I don't care what your objections are - there are nasal spray versions of all the shots, so stop endangering everyone else with your stupidity.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Bottom line, normally 60 cases a year, but spike was 175 cases. so what, that is nothing. measles therefore is not a concern in this country.
PDP-11s forever!
Hopefully these people are not allowed in public or private schools or daycare. We care enough about our dogs and cats to not let them in kennels and grooming situations unless they have vaccinations. Why should we care about kids any less. I mean if someone want to start a vac-free school where everyone is not vaccinated, that is their right, but we shouldn't put innocent kids at risk.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
that they learn their lesson and get the kids vaccinated against other diseases before it is too late...
So... this is what happens when you don't use your brain -- and you take medical advice from a stripper.
Fact: In the 1970's more people got vaccinations that today.
Fact: Atheism is more popular now in the U.S. than it was in the 1970's.
Conclusion: Atheism leads to a wave of anti-science bigotry that results in people not getting immunized. Case in point: Jenny McCarthy.
WAIT WHAT? You say that's a correlation == causation strawman argument?!!??!?!?
YOU'RE RIGHT IT IS!
So is the snide comment in the original post that is automatically taken as "gospel" truth by people who have bigotry against other people based on their beliefs but justify being bigoted in the name of "science" with just as much logic to support their beliefs as was common when eugenics was the latest word in "science".
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
that measles cases in the U.S. spiked this year, rising to three times their recent average rate. It's partly due to a greater number of people traveling to the U.S. when they're infectious...
I find it interesting that in times when there's been greater scrutiny of who comes to the US, and in some cases tourist dollars having significantly reduced because of the tougher US visa regime and other factors, there are articles like those quoted that "blame" the incidence of disease on outsiders. Incredible!!
The USA should man up and state categorically that some of its citizens are behaving like uneducated villagers by refusing to vaccinate. Do not blame those you call aliens because measles has been and still is on the decline everywhere else.
What will happen when polio strikes?
Just last month, a friends kids class had 8 become infected with measles, but they were all vaccinated.
46137
At least they didn't develop autism
Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
I have insurance. My insurance covers vaccinations. However, my primary care provider will not administer vaccinations because they agreed to a contracted amount with the insurance company but they don't feel that that amount is enough. I called several other primary care physicians who similarly refused to administer vaccinations. I finally got one that agreed to do it but only if I also did a well child checkup, which would cost hundreds of dollars. All of these doctors suggested I go to the Health Department. So I did, and stood in line for a long time, to be told that you had to be on state aid in order to get vaccinations from the state.
Walgreen's and other facilities would do vaccinations, but my insurance would not pay because they are not a Primary Care facility. I would have to pay full price.
So basically, I have to pay for insurance which covers vaccinations AND I still have to pay full price for vaccinations, while if I were poor, I would neither have to pay for insurance nor pay for vaccinations.
To me, the fact that a Doctor can refuse to perform a service because they don't like their profit margin on it even though the AGREED to accept that amount in their contract, is BS. This is akin to a retailer advertising a model of TV for a cheap price, but not having ever even purchased any of said model to be sold.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
How about this: Inject a few million people with the virus and release them into the population.
It's vaccinated people who now carry and spread sickness. Not those who are uninfected.
Don't like the sound of that? Sorry. The science holds on this one.
http://www.sott.net/article/269563-You-will-never-look-at-vaccinated-children-the-same-Shedding-Viruses
Make these people buy mandatory insurance
Holy crap everybody, it's Rip Van Winkle back from visiting the little people!
It's unclear how much religious beliefs themselves were behind the outbreaks in Brooklyn and North Carolina; it may have been due to widespread secular anti-vax beliefs in those tight-knit groups. But either way, a large proportion of the people in those areas were unvaccinated.
Knee jerk much Phil? Just jump right to religion? Really? Most of the anti-vaxxers I know of do it because they think there are side effects associated with the treatment. I know there are people out there who "trust god" over medical science but they're few and far between in comparison of those who hold western medicine in contempt.
Phil Plait has such a chip on his shoulder it makes him painful to listen to if he's not staying strictly on topic. Even look at his pictures.... he looks like someone just pissed in his corn flakes in every picture I've ever seen of him.
Why do asshats like this thrive when decent people like Carl Sagan die?
Better than autism
After reports of half a dozen or so children dying because they were not vaccinated parents will start getting their children vaccinated again. Pitty some kids will have to die first though.
Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
Find out how many people got polio in each year before the vaccine came out
That is why Jenny McCarthy should be on death row.
Who said anything about blame? In order for an outbreak to occur, you need a source for the infection as well as a vulnerable population. The article is simply stating that increased travel provides more sources of infection, while anti-science idiots in the United States provide the vulnerable population.
Yes, if the U.S. got the vaccination situation under control, no one would be particularly concerned about measles exposed visitors. That doesn't mean they aren't a factor in this present situation.
What will happen when polio strikes?
He'll probably have some free time to get himself and his kids vaccinated. Possibly sign up for some government programs as well.
The article states that 90% of the people in the outbreak weren't vaccinated. I'm all for vaccines but didn't realize it had a 10 % failure rate. I know herd immunity but still. Is that typical of most vaccines?
What about all the illegal immigrants that come here without getting properly vaccinated?
As a conservative, religious man, I find the religious anti-vaccination crowd a bunch of blind ninnies. I have a few at my church like that, and I want to smack them as they put my children who are too young to receive these vaccination at risk of catching a deadly disease.
I would tell you that your friend isn't very well educated, because he clearly sucks at basic math and statistics. Please tell him to go get a job that he is actually qualified for.
Anti vaccination people should be shipped off somewhere where they can all be together and stop endangering the rest of the population. These people are doing the biological equivalent of firing guns in the air in the middle of a crowded city. Yeah, the chance of someone getting killed is low, but eventually if enough people do it, people will start dying. You want your kids to risk death or permanent disability? Fine, be a shitty parent, that's your choice. But your rights stop at the end of your nose. You don't have the right to put the rest of society at risk.
Ship em to fucking north Alaska.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
The numbers are low, because herd immunity is still strong. The reason for concern is that the infection rate curve probably isn't linear. At some point on the curve there is going to be an inflection point where a lot of people will start getting sick. So, while there are probably things that are currently causing a lot more child deaths now, this is could change quickly.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
Resurgence of eradicated disease... brought to you by people I embarrassed to be related to that "feel" that vaccines aren't safe.
Why do these people reproduce?
No vaccines when I was a kid. Didn't go deaf from measles, but I can tell you first hand, Meniere's is not a nice condition.
Vaccinate your children.
40-60% is total childhood mortality in primitive societies. Most of the reduction in childhood mortality since then is probably due to better sanitation, better treatment of diarrhea, and the use of antibiotics, not vaccinations.
For every 1 person that dies, 2 people suffer brain damage or deafness, per the CDC.
http://www.medpagetoday.cominfectiousdiseasegeneralinfectiousdisease/43268
For measles, it says that for every
500 deaths, you have:
48,000 hospitalizations,
7,000 seizures, and
1,000 cases of permanent brain damage or deafness each year, according to the CDC.
So brain damage/deafness is about 2x as common as outright death from measles.
--PeterM
I knew the top post here would be slamming the unvaccinated. Of course you blame them for others infections too. This is slashdot, shouldn't we praise those who are helping evolution to solve the problem of disease instead of those who do the opposite by getting the vaccination? Yep, I'd be all for mandatory vaccination IFF there was an effort to eradicate the disease. Unfortunately the plan seems to be nothing more than perpetual vaccination until the virus evolves to evade it. So I'm here to rant back and say screw you for wanting to mandate what other people have to inject into their body - what ever happened to freedom?
Anytime someone brought in a kid suffering from a disease that could have been prevented by vaccination, I would first ask whether the parent was brain dead.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
When comparing modern mortality improvement over the older pre-industrial, pre-modern-medicine regimes, the "most helpful" reductions vary with the age group you're dealing with:
Overall, clean water and sanitation probably win as the single most important advancement in public health, ever, but vaccines are a *very* strong second. Frankly, drugs are at best a distant fourth, behind even improved medical understanding of the human body (enabling more effective trauma and non-drug treatments of common diseases and accidents). Drug improvements really have helped two big categories of people: soldiers at war, and the elderly.
-Erik
There are always four sides to every story: your side, their side, the truth, and what really happened.
Perhaps something will come along, a 1918 influenza would wipe them out for us It would be hard to hold my glee.
CONservatives can't even tell the truth about how to spell the word what. The most common word their kind lies about is the word lose. So often they lie and try to con others into thinking that it is spelled loose. They are insane.
due to a greater number of people traveling to the U.S. when they're infectious aka illegals
but also because a frustrating number of people are either failing to have their children vaccinated aka Jenny McCarthy types.
Here's my idea: offer an insurance program that kicks OUT when you do something deliberately disregarding reasonable methods of protection.
1) smoke? Then no, your lung-cancer isn't covered.
2) don't believe in vaccines? Then no, your measles/mumps/rubella isn't covered.
3) Like to ride a motorcycle without a helmet? No prob, but no coverage for head-related injuries resulting from a motorcycle incident.
Anyone interested?
-Styopa
... and your repeatedly discredited, disproved autism-vaccine crap. Though I should blame the idiots who actually listen to a plastic bimbo like you for medical advice, I still hold you accountable in large part. People have DIED because of you, b*tch.
'The unexamined life is not worth living' - Socrates
Vaccinations not up to date? No passport.
=Smidge=
about the fact that vaccinated children indeed have a slightly higher risk of having autism... because those that aren't vaccinated have a higher risk of dying before they're even old enough to be diagnosed with autism.
Opus: the Swiss army knife of audio codec
The stories are fading, but I have a grandfather who has a lifetime disability from polio as a young adult. 'Last rights 3 times' level of sickness from it. Just recently I learned that my grandmother on the opposite side had to relearn how to walk after her bout of polio.
Grandpa took his kids to the doc the moment he learned that a polio vaccine had been released for it. He didn't wait for it to be given out at the schools.
I don't read AC A human right
While your reasoning is off, from what I've read most vaccines have single digit ineffectiveness rates of up to around 10%, but consider the proportion of the population that's immunocompromised today; the figures I've read about average around 10% still vulnerable even if you jab everybody that isn't medically contra-indicated. The very young, the very old, the sick, immunocompromised(not all of whom know it yet), etc...
I don't read AC A human right
I still say people should have the choice as a fundamental aspect of their freedom, but that if they choose not to be vaccinated they should have to declare the fact before they leave the country and on their return they should be quaranteened and/or refused entry to certain facilities (e.g., childcare, hospitals, etc.). In other words, they should be obliged to inform other people about their choice. Don't like it? Tough. Either don't travel or get vaccinated. Typhoid Mary didn't get a lot of sympathy either.
This is a social problem. These people continue to be idiots because all of the rest of us are "too nice" to say anything when they start spewing their bullshit. Every time I run into one of these asshats at work, or at a party, I tell them they're committing child abuse, they should be ashamed of themselves, and more importantly they're child is not allowed to play with my child. Then I inform every other parent that might know them that they should let their kids play with them either and that they should shun the adult. This wont change until it's no longer socially "cool" to do this.
If you're a parent who is anti vaccination and your child ends up getting infected with a disease they could of easily fought off with a vaccination then I think you should go to jail for abuse. 99% of the parents who deicde they know better or are better qualifed to make the vaccination choice are simple unaware and dangerous morons who think they should be allowed to play doctor and medical expert based on incorrect reports and very poor evidence. If you play doctor professionally and don't have license you can go to jail, so why should we not subject these parents to the same and worse? If you don't vaccinate and your child gets sick because of not being vaccinated then you abused the child and hence should suffer for that.
People need to evaluate each medical intervention on its own merits. Unfortunately when lied to about one vaccine they will mostly assume that all are worthless.
The Cochrane Collaboration has high regard for the measles vaccine:
http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD004407/using-the-combined-vaccine-for-protection-of-children-against-measles-mumps-and-rubella
Compare that with their review of the seasonal influenza vaccine:
http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD001269/vaccines-to-prevent-influenza-in-healthy-adults-
and you see why people get suspicious. They are told that all vaccines work and find out otherwise. My advice to those who want everyone vaccinated is to be honest. Get them to focus on the most dangerous diseases with the most effective vaccines. Admit that problems exist with some vaccines like the influenza ones.
What percentage of these cases are illegal immigrants and their children living outside the system and getting free (to them) healthcare?
Vaccines are not what they present themselves to be like most things that come from the mainstream "medical" (synthetic drug pusher) regime.
My personal research on the efficacy of vaccines shows that most info out there is pure brainwash... for profits. There are much healthier ways to protect against disease - a vaccine jab is rarely one of them. I use intelligent medicine to protect myself and my family, and it's not found in modern "medicine." I am my own doctor and am intelligent enough to take care of my own health issues as well as those of my family. The only reason I would ever need an MD is if I was in a serious car accident and required surgery, etc. - as I don't care to do surgery on myself or set a bone. Other than emergency medicine, I find the "medical" establishment totally useless and, thankfully, many others are waking up and realizing this too and are taking 100% responsibility for their health rather than placing *unthinking* confidence in vaccines and other fiction that MDs promote.
Here's a great article that breaks down the rest of the story on the CDC scare tactic to push more vaccines...
http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/2013-measles-outbreak-failing-vaccine-not-failure-vaccinate1
I find it interesting that it's those who are vaccinated who are the ones spreading disease, not the non-nvaccinated.
http://www.naturalnews.com/028142_mumps_vaccines.html
That vaccine-induced "herd immunity" is mostly a myth and applies only to natural immunity.
http://www.vaccinationcouncil.org/2012/02/18/the-deadly-impossibility-of-herd-immunity-through-vaccination-by-dr-russell-blaylock/
Outbreaks prove that vaccines don't work.
http://www.newswithviews.com/Tenpenny/sherri128.htm
The US medical system has killed more people in the last decade with their wares than all the wars combined going back to the Revolutionary War. Check out the number of folks they murder in hospitals alone every year. Dr. Barbara Starfield Study - JAMA 7/2000
http://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/an-exclusive-interview-with-dr-barbara-starfield-medically-caused-death-in-america
Thankfully, these murderous drug pushers (doctor/nurses) are being exposed more and more for what they really are and *thinking* people are taking appropriate action to protect their family against this medical mafia.
'inoculations are liberal gummint intrusion' donchyano
"In all three of these outbreaks, someone who had not been vaccinated traveled overseas and brought the disease back with them"
One thing seems obvious to me. Ban our CITIZENS from reentering the US unless they can show that ALL of their vaccinations are current. We could delay reentry to the US by quarantining them in a place similar to Ellis Island for 21 days (or some suitable time) to make sure they were not carrying in a disease. Those people that have religious, moral (or just plain stupidity in the case of vaxers) could avoid the vaccinations by just being sequestered.
NOTE: Quarantining is not incarceration and has been proven legal such as in the case of "Typhoid Mary" and quarantining by the health department. I don't see any legal problems but IANAL.
To many, read a bit of the following information of Mumps outbreak (you know, one of the other M's in the MMR vaccine) and the increase in national cases from 300 to 5700 in one year or less.
I believe it was also tracked back to a similar outbreak in the UK.
Check out http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5520a4.htm#fig4
Iowa was one of the hardest hit states. although the outbreak covered up to 45 states.
In part because of a local college student who had just returned back from the UK.
As mentioned in the article "The first cases in the current outbreak were detected on a college campus in eastern Iowa in December 2005", I believe that it was a local college here that was hardest hit, along with other colleges across the state. I believe I remember many events were cancelled as they wanted to stop the spread across people in the 18-24 year old groups.
I believe that outbreak had 5700+ cases, versus a couple years earlier in 2001 there were less than 300 nationally.
Keep in mind mumps CAN have a detrimental effect on adult and pubescent age males, other than the normal swelling associated with it.
Society has of course changed (a lot) ,but (currently in my seventies) when a primary/elementary school pupil, I had measles (a short term disease) and so had most if not all chidren of my age and to my knowledge no-one has ever suffered from ill effects from measles. ,in those days parents were worried when one of their chidren did NOT get the measles ,because when they would get it later in life the disease would hit much harder and could have longer term health effects .
However
After having had the measles you are automatically immunised for life (as I have been told).
Again , I never suffered from having had measles and chicken-pocks.
" The Return of Smallpox "
Heh heh heh...
Parents who don't vaccinate their kids for other than a known allergic reaction should be charged with child abuse, grievous bodily harm or manslaughter if the child get sick or dies from a disease the can be immunised against.
As for the argument that vaccines contain mercury they don't any more. Even when they did it was chemically bound inside the atom.
To you freaks who believe vaccines still do I say..
You put sodium or chlorine on your food...and you don't die....is table salt.
Dr. Maurice Hilleman
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/02/18/leading-vaccine-doctor-states-cancer-linked-to-polio-vaccine.aspx
For several reasons:
1) It's not the doctor's money. It's yours.
2) They get a cut for pushing drugs
3) Your insurance take a cut % of how much is spent
4) It's expensive so you, the "consumer", demand something for your money other than "go home and sleep it off".
5) "individualism" means that everyone runs after the same promoted bullshit in a herd of sheeple and will sue the arse off a doctor if they don't medicate you when they demand.
You in the USA 100% definitely over medicate.
Vaccination isn't medication, it's health and safety.
Viagra is medication.
Herceptin is medication.
Anti-drepressands are medication.
My sister worked for a while some years back in a veteran's hospital. An old guy came in and since she was the admitting doctor she went through the paperwork and she had a conversation a lot like this:
"Have you ever had any serious life threatening diseases?"
"No."
"What about malaria?"
"Oh yes, gave me trouble for years."
"Yellow fever?"
"Yes."
"Beri Beri?"
"That too, but everybody who fought in the jungle had all those. They were not unusual life threatening diseases."
What you and I don't take seriously and doctors know to take seriously can be different things. I'm not a doctor so I just have to take their word for it with chicken pox. As I kid I didn't take it, mumps or measles seriously.
I don't want to be insensitive to the children, that have little choice on whether they are vaccinated or not, or more responsible relatives that would have vaccinated these children if they could have, but isn't this just natural selection at work in our modern society? How is this any different than parents that smoke around their kids or don't put them in the proper restraints when in a car? The parents, who either because of their intrinsic intelligence or because of the beliefs of their social groups, etc, choose to not protect themselves and their offspring from danger. Because of this, they can be removed from the gene pool, and this alters the future generations, hopefully for the better.