Measles Outbreak In NYC

sandbagger writes "New York City may have to deal with a measles problem. New Yorkers are being urged to make sure all household members, including young children, are vaccinated. To date, there have been 16 confirmed cases and four hospitalizations. This follows news from the CDC in December that 2013 saw triple the average number of yearly measles cases. 2014 is off to an even worse start; there have been cases recently in the Boston metropolitan area and more than a dozen in the Bay Area as well. Vaccinations seem to be a victim of their own success — people look around and see no polio or measles and wonder why they should bother. Others repeat bogus claim about vaccines causing autism. How do you think we can get through to the anti-vaxxers?"

Comments

Thanks Jenny

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks a lot you dumb bitch.

Re:Thanks Jenny

[Anonymous Coward]

I see her as a mass murderer. People have died as a direct result of her bullshit. She ought to be put through the justice system in the same way that someone impersonating a doctor would be tried for a death resulting from his or her false medical advice. Except in her case, it's not just one death, it's a whole lot of deaths. Sure, it's not solely her fault, but it doesn't have to be (nor should it need to be) in our justice system.

Re:Thanks Jenny

[hrvatska]

Jenny McCarthy couldn't have done it without news and talk shows presenting her views as being just as valid as real medical experts. It isn't so much 'Thanks Jenny' as 'Thanks Oprah for being more interested in ratings than public health'.

Re:Thanks Jenny

[operagost]

In other news, scientists have found that everyone you disagree with is, in fact, just as bad as Hitler.

Obvious Answer

[Anonymous Coward]

We should present to them the facts! That will sway their minds. /sarcasm...

Re:Obvious Answer

[Gr8Apes]

Expose them to measles, mumps, diptheria, etc seems to work. Maybe not compassionate, but neither is preaching ignorance and endangering society.

Re:Obvious Answer

[ibwolf]

Remember, those who do not vaccinate their children put their children at risk, but these are THEIR children, not 'ours'.

This is simply not correct. There are a number reasons some children can not be vaccinated, including allergies and other health problems. Generally, if vaccinations are widespread, those that can not be vaccinated will benefit from the herd immunity afforded by general vaccination. When the number of non-vaccinated kids goes up, the effect of the herd immunity goes down putting the children that can not be vaccinated at risk.

Re:Obvious Answer

[mrbester]

So, just as it is now?

Re:Obvious Answer

[bmeiers]

I agree. I can't take my dog to a kennel without proof of vaccination. Are our dogs in kennels more important to protect than our children in schools?

Re: Obvious Answer

[wagnerrp]

It goes even further than that. When the virus is allowed to propagate among even a small percentage of the population, there is a chance for that virus to mutate in a manner that renders the vaccine less effective, putting everyone at risk.

Tell them a story

[Anonymous Coward]

Tell these people a story about a kid that got sick and nearly died because of not being vaccinated. It was recently shown to be effective, which makes sense, since these people seem to think emotionally rather than rationally. Evidence does nothing to convince them.

Dumb logic

[Vermonter]

"Well my kid died of measles, but at least he didn't get Autism"

Re:Dumb logic

[slashmydots]

OMG measles is like a 1700's pirate disease. Nobody catches it anymore. That's ridiculous. The government is just injecting nano-bots into your bloodstream to spy on you and make you eat fatty foods so you die before they can pay you social security and...*cough*...*dies from measles*

People need to realize...

[dosius]

People need to realize that Andrew Wakefield, the father of the anti-vax movement as we know it today, was discredited and disgraced for the shoddiness of his so-called "research".

Oh yeah, and he had a vested interest in kids not getting MMR vax - I think he had ownership of a patent on a different rubella-only vaccine. Herp derp.

Marketing is everything.

[TomRC]

Just tell them that the vaccine is fully organic, low sodium, fat free and gluten free.

Also, it's got Electrolytes.

Why worry - its natural selection in action

[Viol8]

Its sad, but if the kids of parents who only think on a base emotional level die then its clearing out the human gene pool. We should thank them.

Re:MMR Outcry?

[wagnerrp]

4) Viruses mutate, and mutations can bring rise to resistance against the existing vaccine. The more people who get the virus, the higher the chance it has to mutate into a new strain.

Re:MMR Outcry?

[Jason Levine]

As a parent of a child with autism (as well as someone who is likely on the spectrum as well, albeit not diagnosed), I feel qualified to clarify some of this:

Now a spectrum, not a syndrome or disease. This has enlarged the affected population, enhancing the power of their advocates and increasing the urgency of finding a solution;

Autism is a developmental disorder. (It was never a "disease" as that implies being contagious. You'll never "catch" autism from me or my son.) The term "spectrum" is used because autism can describe individuals with vastly different levels of developmental delays. My son is very high functioning, you might not know from a casual observance that he even has autism, until he can't cope any more and melts down because his schedule changed slightly. Other kids with autism around my son's age might be non-verbal or have other, more severe, issues that their parents deal with.

Being blamed (root cause) on vaccines, diet, environmental effects, technology, with a de-emphasis on genetics and prenatal care.

This is only true for the anti-vaxxers and other such groups. Scientists actually investigating the cause of autism are focused on genetics as the primary cause. There might be environmental factors as well, but it looks like those only trigger existing genetic markers. I often liken it to diabetes. You can get diabetes from environmental factors (eating too much high sugar food), but your risk for it is determined by your genes.

Used to describe many more behaviors, hence becoming a 'spectrum', not a syndrome or disease or even a process.

See my first answer as to why it is a spectrum.

Described as a growing treat, capable of potentially impacting a majority of the population, being caused by a multitude of toxins, exposures, and behaviors, hence the urgency to find 'a cure'.

Again, this is just those anti-vaxxer/etc groups. Personally, I don't want to be cured. My brain is just fine as it is. In fact, I credit my autism with helping me program computers. (One of the traits of people with Asperger's Syndrome/High Functioning Autism is thinking in If-Then terms. Horrible for social situations, but fantastic for working with computers which operate - at a basic level - on an if-then system.)

The "growing threat" is just due to better detection. Were I my son's age now, I'd likely get diagnosed, but back when I was a kid that didn't happen. I was just termed as "shy" and perhaps "weird." I took things too literally ("take off your coat" => I take it off and put it on the floor) and didn't understand why people seemed to "get" this socialization thing where I didn't. It was almost like everyone got some How To Socialize instruction book and they forgot to give one to me. (I could get a diagnosis now, but that would spend money we don't have and wouldn't really help me or my son.)

The best thing for kids with autism is early intervention. Detect it early and give them therapy and other resources to help them deal with the neurotypical world. (That'd be the rest of you who aren't autistic. Never use the term "normal" to someone dealing with autism unless you want an angry diatribe directed at you.)