Measles Cases At Highest Level In Years

Health Officials Say Parents' Fear Of Vaccination The Prime Cause

(CBS/AP)  Measles cases in the U.S. are at the highest level in more than a decade, with nearly half of those involving children whose parents rejected vaccination, health officials reported Thursday.

Worried doctors are troubled by the trend fueled by unfounded fears that vaccines may cause autism. The number of cases is still small, just 131, but that's only for the first seven months of the year. There were only 42 cases for all of last year.

"We're seeing a lot more spread. That is concerning to us," said Dr. Jane Seward, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook reports, the 131 cases is nowhere near the roughly four million seen annually before the measles vaccine came along. But the spike is enough to worry doctors.

Dr. David Namerow, a pediatrician, said it "doesn't surprise me at all, doesn't surprise me, because as you get people who don't fully immunize their children, we're going to see more and more cases like this, and that's a very scary thing."

Pediatricians are frustrated, saying they are having to spend more time convincing parents the shot is safe.

"This year, we certainly have had parents asking more questions," said Dr. Ari Brown, an Austin, Texas, physician who is a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics.

But it's not so scary to Emily Fano, a member of a group of moms who often choose not to immunize because they think the vaccine is more dangerous than the disease, LaPook reports.

"We're more concerned about the rising rates of autism than contracting measles," Fano said.

The CDC's review found that a number of cases involved home-schooled children not required to get the vaccines. Others can avoid vaccination by seeking exemptions, such as for religious reasons.

Measles, best known for a red skin rash, is a potentially deadly, highly infectious virus that spreads through contact with a sneezing, coughing, infected person.

It is no longer endemic to the United States, but every year cases enter the country through foreign visitors or Americans returning from abroad. Measles epidemics have exploded in Israel, Switzerland and some other countries. But high U.S. childhood vaccination rates have prevented major outbreaks here.

In a typical year, only one outbreak occurs in the United States, infecting perhaps 10 to 20 people. So far this year through July 30 the country has seen seven outbreaks, including one in Illinois with 30 cases, said Seward, of the CDC's Division of Viral Diseases.

None of the 131 patients died, but 15 were hospitalized.

Childhood measles vaccination rates have stayed above 92 percent, according to 2006 data. However, the recent outbreaks suggest potential pockets of unvaccinated children are forming. Health officials worry that vaccination rates have begun to fall - something that won't show up in the data for a couple of years.

The vaccine is considered highly effective but not perfect; 11 of this year's cases had at least one dose of the vaccine.

Of this year's total, 122 were unvaccinated or had unknown vaccination status. Some were unvaccinated because the children were under age 1 - too young to get their first measles shot.

In 63 of those cases - almost all of them 19 or under - the patient or their parents refused the shots for philosophical or religious reasons, the CDC reported.

In Washington state, an outbreak was traced to a church conference, including 16 school-aged children who were not vaccinated. Eleven of those kids were home schooled and not subject to vaccination rules in public schools. It's unclear why the parents rejected the vaccine.

The Illinois outbreak - triggered by a teenager who had traveled to Italy - included 25 home-schooled children, according to the CDC report.

The nation once routinely saw hundreds of thousands of measles cases each year, and hundreds of deaths. But immunization campaigns were credited with dramatically reducing the numbers. The last time health officials saw this many cases was 1997, when 138 were reported.

The Academy of Pediatrics has made educating parents about the safety of vaccines one of its top priorities this year. That's partly because busy doctors have grown frustrated by the amount of time they're spending answering parents' questions about things they read on the Internet or heard from TV talk shows.

In June, the CDC interviewed 33 physicians in Austin, suburban Seattle and Hollywood, Fla., about childhood vaccinations. Several complained about patient backlogs caused by parents stirred up by information of dubious scientific merit, according to the CDC report.

Questions commonly center on autism and the fear that it can be caused by the measles shots or by a mercury-based preservative that used to be in most vaccines. Health officials say there is no good scientific proof either is a cause. Also, since 2001, the preservative has been removed from shots recommended for young children, and it was never in the measles-mumps-rubella combination vaccine. It can still be found in some flu shots.

Brown said she wrote a 16-page, single-spaced document for parents that explains childhood vaccinations and why doctors do not believe they cause autism. She began handing it out this spring, and thinks it's been a help to parents and a time-saver for her.

"People want that level of information," she said.

At least one outbreak this year of another preventable disease was blamed on lack of immunizations. At least 17 children were sick with whooping cough at a private school in the San Francisco Bay area, and 13 were not vaccinated against the disease, which can be fatal to children.

[vigilantmom]

What they ought to be asking is how come half of the cases were in vaccinated kids?! Come one, folks! Don''t be brainwashed and do the research for yourselves.

Ever heard of VAERS? They have a database where the vaccine adverse events are logged. Check it out some time. I''ll take my chances with the disease.

[mollydtt]

Some people just don''t get immunity from the vaccine. Some people just can''t be vaccinated. In the past, with a critical mass of people vaccinated, all you had to worry about was travel abroad. Now, (since measles is HIGHLY contagious), those without immunity are more apt to contract the disease. (And spread it to even more people, who will in turn spread it ....)

[mollydtt]

So, if you yourself were vaccinated, you might not know if you still have immunity, since you wouldn''t be coming into contact with the actual disease. Now you can find out.

[tutney]

Next time, include the complications of measles (encephalitis etc) and the rate of these occurances and information about the many cases of failure to prove any connection between autism and MMR vaccine.

[crvick2]

I work in the health care profession (chiropractic care) and the biggest contributor of non-vaccinated carriers are the children of chiropractors! This profession is becoming a cult in terms of brainwashing people to the "evil effects" of vaccines. Older chiropractors do not feel this way, but the younger ones take it to the extreme. They even have their own society who claim it is their "religious" belief to not be vaccinated. It is hypocritical, though, because they receive tetanus shots, meningitis shots, gardasil shots, etc. When an outbreak occurs, we''ll see what happens then. It is not fair to my child to be exposed to those who are unvaccinated and do not follow CDC guidelines for school-age children.

[lucasnico]

if you''''re not vaccinated, you''''re a parasite in our society, depending on others to keep you safe from almost obliterated illnesses like measles. thank you very much! if you bothered to get the right info, you''''d get vaccinated. listen to vigilantmom say she''''ll take her chances with the disease?? how dumb are you?? side effects of vaccines are handed to you with every shot! and they are MINOR, NOTHING, compared to the effects of the diseases they protect you from, OR the sequelae from the diseases. comments like this leaved me floored that folks are this uninformed, and content to stay that way.

Posted by smart4peace

some people actually run a health risk with a vaccination, and the side effects for these people are not minor, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!.... idiot redneck!

[eggy1620]

crvick2 said %u201CIt is not fair to my child to be exposed to those who are unvaccinated and do not follow CDC guidelines for school-age children.%u201D

An unvaccinated child poses no threat to a vaccinated child. In fact, these phobic moms may be doing the rest of us a favor by removing competition for resources our vaccinated children may one day face. Thank you for betting your child%u2019s health on irrational fears.

[kibitzer3]

smart4peace says; "side effects of vaccines are handed to you with every shot! and they are MINOR, NOTHING, compared to the effects of the diseases they protect you from..."Sorry to spoil your reverie, s4p, but it''s obvious that you are new to this subject area, and thus the answer to why you can''t understand the concerns going on. In short: You, and we, have been sold a pup by the medical authorities for years. As a downside to vaccines, we''re not just talking about a little soreness at the site of the injection & the occasional fever. We''re talking the likes of allergies/asthma/anaphylaxis; arthritis/arthralgia; convulsions/seizures/epilepsy; CFS/ME; type 1 diabetes; MS, and other autoimmune diseases - plus the whole range of neurological disorders, like ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and yes, ASD. Do your homework, and then let''s get to the next stage of this dialogue; to wit: How much risk is society willing to take in relation to the benefits of the medical modality involved. You have been denied that dialogue by a medical-pharmaceutical-govt complex that has made that decision for you. Well, no longer. This ASD situation has brought it to a head. And past time.

[kibitzer3]

P.S. And as part of that dialogue, we need to know that it''s not as if we would be totally at the mercy of a return of the ch. diseases until safer vaccines could be developed for them. A good old-time dr knows about treating measles with vitamin A/cod liver oil; some o-t docs know ab. treating polio with large doses of vit. C; some know of the efficacy of treating the likes of D-P-T with colloidal silver; and there are a whole range of natural anti-virals and -bacterials that can deal with these diseases, like olive leaf extract, grapefruit seed extract, astragalus, various mushrooms - the list goes on, of help from the natural world, without even needing to touch the allopathic world of drug treatment. We have a serious conversation to get to, in society, ab. the ch. diseases & the best ways to deal with them, in balance. Let''s get to it.

[docfortruth]

smart4peace:

thank you! finally, someone with a f#$%ing brain. is there some fairy website the rest of you visit to get your info from? seems to be the case. god bless education.

[docfortruth]

Sorry to spoil your reverie, s4p, but it''''s obvious that you are new to this subject area, and thus the answer to why you can''''t understand the concerns going on.
***************
wow this jack must feel like a hole now. you bumped into someone who knew what they were talkin about, eh? LOL!!!! the frolicky fairy tells the physician they are new at this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! too much!!!

[medmom04]

that''s right. vaccines ARE good for you! LISTEN to your doctors!

[drinuk]

ABSOLUTE RUBBISH ! this report is yet another BIG PHARMA push for mandatory vaccination. Politicians, Government oganisations and the media all recieving "Back Handers" from Big Pharma to poison our children ! Why ? simply because parents have seen through this wicked scam.

Take Note, those posting on here in support of vaccination and Big Pharma, are indeed paid lobbyists.
People like smart4peace, SusanHelit and Doctorfortruth are scam merchants working for and on behalf of the Pharmaceuticals, they should be ashamed to carry US citizenship, they are the enemy of the people and all for personal gain.

Not content with poisoning our kids they have now turned on our Military, with service personel being forced under duress and the threat of Courts Martial to ingest a long list of experimental vaccines. So having established a incestuous relationship with the FDA, Big Pharma have now successfully infiltrated the Pentagon AND guess who signed away a soldiers right to prosecute for medical maladministration ? Why ! It was no less than Bill Clinton.

Ignor this BS report, keep your kids and our fighting forces away from BIG Pharma, They are the REAL TERRORISTS hurting America.

[drinuk]

To all the Big Pharma Big Mouths on here I would ask one simple question, How Many Kids Have Died of Measles? No need to answer I''ll tell you, from a population of almost 300,000 = NONE. I would also point out that many kids who did get Measles were from immigrant communities.

You are worse than the guy peddling "Crack" on the street corner, just go away America does not need you creeps.

[downwithtrlz]

To all the Big Pharma Big Mouths on here I would ask one simple question, How Many Kids Have Died of Measles? No need to answer I''''ll tell you, from a population of almost 300,000 = NONE. I would also point out that many kids who did get Measles were from immigrant communities.

*****************
Dear Drinuk, you can''t see the forest for the trees, eh? sure, so far, no one in the very recent outbreaks of measles has succumbed to it. The big picture? Small pox? Mumps? Polio? Whooping Cough? Are you familiar with these bugs? They kill children quickly. So shall we wait and see if you uneducated warts and your paranoid delusions pan out, or should we practice preventive care, which to date, has STOPPED the spread and outbreak of said diseases, and perhaps try to educate ourselves the same way our docs do, reading the most current research data, speaking with those who''ve dedicated their lives to the study of medicine and disease, experience......

You see, you really sound like the wart on the bolz of a mule, Drinuk. You have no CLUE what the connect is between medicine and pharm, and if you bothered to research it, you''d discover the truth. Docs are NOT paid more if they see more patients in a day. Docs are NOT paid stipends if they rx from particular pharm companies. Docs are not benefiting from pharm profits. Pharm puppets who they want as they are the richest entity in our country. A good debate is always great, listening to ignoramouses spout falsehoods is repugnant.

[medmom04]

To all the Big Pharma Big Mouths on here I would ask one simple question, How Many Kids Have Died of Measles? No need to answer I''''''''ll tell you, from a population of almost 300,000 = NONE. I would also point out that many kids who did get Measles were from immigrant communities.
*********************************

300,000? your statistics are so far off the mark, are you speaking in terms of decades? You''re wrong about the immigrant communities as well. And you''re wrong to state that no child has died from measles, esp with the incident rate you ''attempt'' to quote. Again, even a halfwit should be able to figure out that their child''s pediatrician will provide the facts for them on vaccinations. If you doubt this, then call your local medical school and find out just how much education a pediatrician has. Versus you. and then, think about that. actually, you''ve been told already that the best thing you could do would be to take an immunology course. then, blessed universe, you would see the light. along with all the dinkfink chiropractors out there who think we ''run out of memory T cells''. and that should tell you the amount of education a chiropractor DOES NOT get: not even ONE immunology course.

[kibitzer3]

Posted by smart4peace at 09:30 PM : Aug 22, 2008:
"And you, my friend, have been denied a dialogue with anyone who will offer you facts. Besides myself, of course. The med students I teach get this because they''''ve had courses upon courses, in a vertical learning curve..."
So you teach med students, eh? I think that''s our answer to our situation right there - our situation of more and more vaccines, and more and more chronic illness and disease.
Believe what you want, doc. But you''re not firing on all cylinders. Speaking of the lack of an educational approach to this matter; as Docfortruth chimes in with as well.
So vaccines don''t/can''t cause autoimmune diseases, eg? Sad, what a little hubris will do to you. Unfortunate, what it will do to those around you, if you are in a position of responsibility.
Time to wake up, docs. Parents are trying to tell you something. The day is over that patronizing them is going to be enough of an answer. Or trying to get super tough with them. How dare they, jeoparadize your best-laid plans...
So let''s have that dialogue, docs. Name the time and place. And be prepared - apparently; I''ll take it that you''re sincere - to be terribly surprised, about YOUR education.

[kibitzer3]

1 reference as an example of what I speak:

[ http://tinyurl.com/6h73sp
"Tuesday, August 19, 2008 by: David Gutierrez
Key concepts: Diabetes, Vaccines and Type 2 diabetes

NaturalNews) Two new studies showing that vaccines increase the risk of diabetes have been published in the Open Pediatric Medicine Journal.

In a prior study, published in the journal Autoimmunity, Dr. J. Bartholomew Classen of Classen Immunotherapies and David Carey Classen of the University of Utah compared more than 100,000 children who had received between one and four doses of the hemophilus vaccine with more than 100,000 unvaccinated children. The Classens found that after seven years, children in the vaccination group had a 26 percent higher risk of developing diabetes than children in the non-vaccine group. This amounted to an extra 54 cases of diabetes per 100,000 children vaccinated.

The Classens noted that the vaccine itself is only projected to prevent seven deaths and seven to 26 cases of permanent disability per 100,000 children.

"Our results conclusively prove there is a causal relationship between immunization schedules and diabetes," J. Bartholomew Classen said at the time.

[kibitzer3]

(cont''d)
"In the more recent study, Classen examined data on the same vaccine, this time looking only at children who had a sibling with Type 2 diabetes. He found that the hemophilus vaccine led to an extra case of diabetes in one of every 50 such children, or 2 percent. This is 40 times higher than the already-elevated rate found in the Autoimmunity study.
"The recent data shows that common childhood vaccines are especially dangerous to children with a strong family history of diabetes," Classen said. "Parents of a child with a strong family history of insulin-dependent diabetes ... should know that the administration of a full series of vaccines may have a greater than 5 percent chance of causing their child to develop diabetes."

Another study, published in the same issue of the Open Pediatric Medicine Journal, demonstrated a connection between the hepatitis B vaccine and Type 2 diabetes." (End article)

[kibitzer3]

The HepB vax has also been implicated in cases of MS (enough to cause the French govt to put a halt to a major HepB v. campaign some years ago). And so forth.
I''m not a doctor. But I read a lot in this subject area; have been for years. And I am not impressed with the response of the medical profession to legitimate concerns about the safety of various vaccines - their response dictated presumbly by a true belief: that the benefits of vaccines "far outweigh" their risks. And so they don''t want to know the details of those risks, because their minds are made up. Not a very educated response, to a very serious matter.

[kibitzer3]

There''s more - much more - but I just want to paint a picture, that all is not well in this area.(Eg, Google Richard Deth, PhD of N/E Univ in the US, for his research.) There is a legitimate dialogue to be engaged in here. And that''s what seekers of the truth like me want; not rejection out of hand, by a professional body feeling threatened by troublemakers.
I have a feeling that we could meet in here somewhere.
And P.S. I meant your daughters, plural.

[kibitzer3]

s4p:
I don''t know what''s happened to a comment I made, that had some references in it. I''ll try to organize it again.
But as to your reference ab. "autistic incidence": I know 1 thing that has been confusing the picture in the US has been that they expanded the definition of ASD, so that they''re comparing apples and oranges. But anyway, let me find my source references to put in the pot here.