The anti-vaccine movement is alive and well, and it’s not working out so well for a batch of children in Sarasota. WFLA says that health officials are delivering stern warnings after four kids in the area caught measles.
The youngsters are homeschooled, according to officials, and efforts are being made to reach everyone who was exposed.
The viral disease is a major pain, too. Here’s a measles explainer for the uninitiated (and probably vaccinated): It typically occurs in childhood and causes fever and a red rash on the skin. Symptoms include muscle pain, fever, malaise, fatigue, or loss of appetite. A patient’s nose may run, and the infection may also come with skin rash, dry cough, pink eye, diarrhea, headache, koplik's spots, sensitivity to light, sore throat, or swollen lymph nodes.
Sounds fun, right? Experts pointed out these children were not vaccinated.
The good news is that a vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella was actually made available to the public starting in the late-’60s and early-’70s (mumps is an another contagious viral condition; rubella is also a viral disease like measles, but it comes with the ability to cause fetal malformation if contracted in early pregnancy). Typically referred to as the “MMR Vaccine,” the treatment is a weakened live virus vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that that after injection, the viruses cause a harmless infection in the vaccinated person with very few, if any, symptoms before they are eliminated from the body. The person’s immune system then fights the infection caused by these weakened viruses, and immunity (the body’s protection from the virus) develops.
“The vaccine works by triggering the immune system to produce antibodies against measles, mumps and rubella,” writes the CDC. “If you or your child then comes into contact with one of the diseases, the immune system will recognise it and immediately produce the antibodies needed to fight it.”
"These are old world diseases and there's no need, no place for them in today's society,” Dr. Prerak Shukle of CAN Community Health told WFLA.
But come on, why can’t we go back to the good ol’ days? Contact your local health department to see how you can vaccinate your kids.
This article appears in Dec 13-20, 2018.