'It will take off like a wildfire': The unique dangers of the Washington state measles outbreak

[workinclasszero]

By Lena H. Sun and Maureen O'Hagan February 6 at 8:42 PM

VANCOUVER, Wash. — Amber Gorrow is afraid to leave her house with her infant son because she lives at the epicenter of Washington state’s worst measles outbreak in more than two decades. Born eight weeks ago, Leon is too young to get his first measles shot, putting him at risk for the highly contagious respiratory virus, which can be fatal in small children.

Gorrow also lives in a community where she said being anti-vaccine is as acceptable as being vegan or going gluten free. Almost a quarter of kids in Clark County, Wash., a suburb of Portland, Ore., go to school without measles, mumps and rubella immunizations, and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) recently declared a state of emergency amid concern that things could rapidly spin out of control.

The Pacific Northwest is home to some of the nation’s most vocal and organized anti-vaccination activists. That movement has helped drive down child immunizations in Washington, as well as in neighboring Oregon and Idaho, to some of the lowest rates in the country, with as many as 10.5 percent of kindergartners statewide in Idaho unvaccinated for measles. That is almost double the median rate nationally.

“You know what keeps me up at night?” said Clark County Public Health Director Alan Melnick. “Measles is exquisitely contagious. If you have an under-vaccinated population, and you introduce a measles case into that population, it will take off like a wildfire.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/it-will-take-off-like-a-wildfire-the-unique-dangers-of-the-washington-state-measles-outbreak/2019/02/06/cfd5088a-28fa-11e9-b011-d8500644dc98_story.html

[NurseJackie]

1. That will be a shame. And an object lesson.

[workinclasszero]

2. Innocent children will be the ones that pay the price

for their ignorant fearful fake news believing parents.

Needless sickness and death is possible as well. Sadly you can't pick your parents and some doom their children from birth.

See working class people who voted Trump/GOP for instance. It would seem these people hate their own offspring.

[NurseJackie]

4. Hard lessons to learn. It's such a shame.

[GusBob]

3. Ok, if the rate of imunizations is down, how did that affect the incidence of autism?

should clear things up

[EllieBC]

5. Vaccination compliance rates are bad in BC too.

I live in a small town outside of Vancouver. Over the last 10 years we’ve had a population boom as people sold their homes in Van and moved here. Conincidentally our vaccination compliance rates have fallen. One of our elementary schools had several cases of whooping cough last year.

Big city allegedly well educated organic non GMO hippy dippy bullshit parents who think essential oils and breastmilk cure all ills are screwing up herd immunity.

[Javaman]

6. Measles complications...

https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/complications.html

Complications of Measles

Complications
Measles can be a serious in all age groups. However, children younger than 5 years of age and adults older than 20 years of age are more likely to suffer from measles complications.


Common Complications
Common measles complications include ear infections and diarrhea.

Ear infections occur in about one out of every 10 children with measles and can result in permanent hearing loss.
Diarrhea is reported in less than one out of 10 people with measles.


Severe Complications
Some people may suffer from severe complications, such as pneumonia (infection of the lungs) and encephalitis (swelling of the brain). They may need to be hospitalized and could die.

As many as one out of every 20 children with measles gets pneumonia, the most common cause of death from measles in young children.
About one child out of every 1,000 who get measles will develop encephalitis (swelling of the brain) that can lead to convulsions and can leave the child deaf or with intellectual disability.
For every 1,000 children who get measles, one or two will die from it.
Measles may cause pregnant woman to give birth prematurely, or have a low-birth-weight baby.

The Measles chapter of the Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine Preventable Diseases (Pink Book) describes measles complications in more depth.


Long-term Complications
Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a very rare, but fatal disease of the central nervous system that results from a measles virus infection acquired earlier in life. SSPE generally develops 7 to 10 years after a person has measles, even though the person seems to have fully recovered from the illness. Since measles was eliminated in 2000, SSPE is rarely reported in the United States.

more at link...

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on edit: sorry to say, but maybe it takes a bad outbreak like this to get the anti-vaxx assholes to wake the fuck up.