Wellness

[NoelSeven]

On 1/23/2015 jaxs mom said:

On 1/23/2015 NoelSeven said:

On 1/23/2015 jaxs mom said:

On 1/23/2015 terrier3 said:

This is coming back because New Age parents don't believe in vaccines and are putting their kids at risk.

Just get the vaccines, folks!

Ignorance about so many topics appears to be making a comeback in America.

No, it's coming back because, unlike natural immunity which results from having the disease usually provides lifelong immunity, vaccinations wear off. So we've moved childhood diseases to adults, where it's more dangerous in many cases.

By the way this isn't anything new, it's the reason that most colleges have required MMR boosters. Because the childhood vaccinations wore off.

The vast majority of those down with the Disneyland measles are children, unvaccinated children.

And even the news reports admit that not all the children were old enough to even have been fully vaccinated against it in the first place. I remember I got chickenpox when my sister was an infant. Luckily, my mom had natural immunity from having the disease in childhood and she breastfed my sister so she got immunities from my mom. The idea that every child that gets a communicable disease suffers from medical neglect is ridiculous. Which is what some posters are implying.

That's not what I said, for sure.

Measles is a virus. Like the flu, it is possible to catch viruses if one is in close contact with someone with an active case... even if one has been vaccinated.

However, the lack of vaccinations for numerous children is the reason some childhood diseases are making a comeback. Whooping cough is another that's back with a vengeance.

[NoelSeven]

On 1/23/2015 Jersey Born said:

On 1/23/2015 Clover29 said:

On 1/23/2015 Jersey Born said:

Has anyone here given thought to the very real possibility that measles outbreaks are not due one's measles vaccination status, but rather to one's Vitamin A levels?

And this is the other bonkers reason why New Age parents don't get their kids vaccinated. They think that a macrobiotic, organic, vitamin-rich diet makes their kids into some kind of immunity super beings, who can't possibly get diseases because they're too healthy, and diseases are only for poor, malnourished people.

Diseases are like nits. They like clean, healthy people just as much as people with no personal hygiene.

I guess you didn't bother to read the articles provided. The information I provided has absolutely nothing to do with New Age parents.

It is well known in medical circles by pediatricians, medical researchers, and even members of the World Health Organization that, "Vitamin A deficiency is a recognised risk factor for severe measles."

I guess the World Health Organization and medical professionals are bonkers, too, by your definition.

A risk factor is not going to give you measles. It may make it easier to catch if exposed to measles, but measles is a VIRUS.

[AnotherView2]

Polio also making a comeback...hopefully not coming to the US.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/05/140507-polio-health-disease-vaccination-war-world/

[NoelSeven]

On 1/23/2015 AnotherView2 said:

Polio also making a comeback...hopefully not coming to the US.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/05/140507-polio-health-disease-vaccination-war-world/

You're right, it is. There's been an outbreak in the Philippines and the worry is that might bring it to the US because there's A LOT of travel and contact between that country and our Pacific Coast.

[Jersey Born]

On 1/23/2015 NoelSeven said:

On 1/23/2015 Jersey Born said:

On 1/23/2015 Clover29 said:

On 1/23/2015 Jersey Born said:

Has anyone here given thought to the very real possibility that measles outbreaks are not due one's measles vaccination status, but rather to one's Vitamin A levels?

And this is the other bonkers reason why New Age parents don't get their kids vaccinated. They think that a macrobiotic, organic, vitamin-rich diet makes their kids into some kind of immunity super beings, who can't possibly get diseases because they're too healthy, and diseases are only for poor, malnourished people.

Diseases are like nits. They like clean, healthy people just as much as people with no personal hygiene.

I guess you didn't bother to read the articles provided. The information I provided has absolutely nothing to do with New Age parents.

It is well known in medical circles by pediatricians, medical researchers, and even members of the World Health Organization that, "Vitamin A deficiency is a recognised risk factor for severe measles."

I guess the World Health Organization and medical professionals are bonkers, too, by your definition.

A risk factor is not going to give you measles. It may make it easier to catch if exposed to measles, but measles is a VIRUS.

What you say is true, NoelSeven, but not everyone exposed to measles virus catches the measles. It may not be the antibodies that are protecting those individuals all of the time. Nutritional deficiencies may have something to do with why certain individuals are more susceptible to diseases. If the severity of measles infection is driven, in part, by Vitamin A deficiency, why hasn't anyone done a comprehensive study to determine if the vitamin A levels of children who were exposed to measles, yet didn't develop the disease, were particularly high? Even if measles incidence cannot be stopped by Vitamin A derived nutritionally, or by supplementary means, it still should be recommended for children in communities with a high incidence of circulating measles, and a proper dose for this Vitamin should be established for both children and adults.

The Journal of Infectious Diseases states, "An estimated 125 million preschool-aged children are estimated to have vitamin A deficiency, placing them at high risk for death, severe infection, or blindness as a result of measles."

http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/189/Supplement_1/S4.long

Shouldn't those in public health be doing something about extreme Vitamin A deficiency for any such deficient children in the US, other than promoting a measles vaccine that doesn't work for everyone?

[jessa]

[jessa]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/01/22/the-devastating-impact-of-vaccine-deniers...

The devastating impact of vaccine deniers

If you want to quantify the alarming impact of the anti-vaccine movement, the chart above is a good place to start.

It plots the cumulative number of new measles cases by month, for each year from 2001 to 2014.

There were 644 new measles cases in 27 states last year, according to the CDC.

That's the biggest annual number we've seen in nearly a quarter-century.

The vast majority of people who contracted the disease were unvaccinated, including the dozens of cases related to an outbreak at Disneyland in Orange County, California, which is basically Ground Zero in our current epidemic of anti-vaccine hysteria.

A 2014 AP-GfK survey found that only 51 percent of Americans were confident that vaccines are safe and effective, which is similar to the proportion who believe that houses can be haunted by ghosts.

I don't need to make the case about how harmful these beliefs are -- it's been done plenty of times before, and moreover studies show that arguing with anti-vaxxers only makes them more confident in their beliefs.

But the latest CDC data illustrate the troubling resurgence of a disease that, as of 2000, had been declared eliminated.

Anti-vaxxers are quite literally turning back the clock on decades of public health progress.

[jessa]

[AnotherView2]

Vitamin A deficiency is a red herring in this conversation. Very few children in the US have Vitamin A Deficiency anyway. It is found in undeveloped countries mostly in Africa and Asia.

Also, a bunch of upper crust, organic food eating Moms who won't vaccinate their kids aren't making sure their kids get enough Vitamin A so that is why they are getting measles and it's NOT because they didn't vaccinate their kids?

No. There is no logic in that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_A_deficiency

[Jersey Born]

Well, I think I'm onto something regarding Vitamin A supplementation for those who are deficient in Vitamin A in a community where measles is rampant.

This Medscape link states, "Vitamin A supplementation, especially in children and patients with clinical signs of vitamin A deficiency, should be considered."

Also, "

<h2 style="font-size: 1.3em; border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 4px 0px 10px; background-image: url('http://img.medscape.com/pi/reference/h3bg.png'); color: #444444; font-family: proxima_nova_ltsemibold, arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;"> Vitamin A Supplementation</h2>

Vitamin A supplements have been associated with reductions of approximately 50% in morbidity and mortality and appear to help prevent eye damage and blindness.

Because vitamin A deficiency is associated with severe disease from measles, The World Health Organization recommends all children diagnosed with measles should receive vitamin A supplementation regardless of their country of residence, based on their age,^[5] as follows:

• Infants younger than 6 months – 50,000 IU/day PO for 2 doses
• Age 6-11 months - 100,000 IU/day PO for 2 doses
• Older than 1 year - 200,000 IU/day PO for 2 doses
• Children with clinical signs of vitamin A deficiency – The first 2 doses as appropriate for age, then a third age-specific dose given 2-4 weeks later
  http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/966220-treatment