Recent Episodes
Measles - It Should Not Be Back
The US set a milestone in the year 2000: It had eliminated measles through the measles vaccine. Now, a quarter century later, measles is making a comeback because fewer people are choosing to get vaccinated. Anti-vaccine groups, as well as Robert F Kennedy, the head of American’s top health agency, are falsely claiming the vaccine is unsafe.
Most people don’t know that before the vaccine, which became available more than 50 years ago, 3 to 4 four million measles cases caused about 500 child deaths every year in the US.
Complications included pneumonia and encephalitis, which is swelling in the brain that caused seizures, which in turn caused deafness or intellectual disability.
Pregnant women with measles could have premature births and stillbirths. Measles also causes immune amnesia, which means the immune system loses memory of all previous pathogens, including ones it was vaccinated against. So, the Texans caught up in the current measles outbreak are vulnerable to common disease pathogens months and years into the future.
Compared to the dangers of measles, side effects of the MMR vaccine are mild. Studies show 1 in 4,000 children will get febrile seizures 1 to 2 weeks after the vaccine. But NO measles vaccine or any other vaccine causes autism.
Talk to your doctor about getting vaccinated. And do it for people who can’t, such as unborn and newborn babies, and anyone with a weakened immune system.
More Information
CDC: History of Measles
In the 9th century, a Persian doctor published one of the first written accounts of measles disease. Widespread use of measles vaccine drastically reduced the disease rates in the 20th century.
CDC: Measles Symptoms and Complications
Measles is a highly contagious disease that can lead to serious complications and can be dangerous, especially for babies and young children. Symptoms usually begin 7 to 14 days after infection.
Measles Virus: A Summary of Experiments
Concerned with Isolation, Properties,
and Behavior
Study of the etiologic agent of
measles began with Home at the end
of the 18th century and has been continued ever since.
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1954 Recipient: John F. Enders
In 1946, John Enders was asked to establish a laboratory for research in infectious diseases at the Children’s Medical Center at Boston. In this laboratory much outstanding work on the viral diseases of man has been done under his direction and it was here that the work was done on the cultivation of the poliomyelitis viruses for which Enders was awarded, together with T. H. Weller and F. C. Robbins, the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1954.
