Health and Psychology

Before 1957 in the United States, measles was a common infection.  About 5,000 people out of the 500,000 or so people that caught the infection died each year.  The first measles vaccine came out in 1963.  It was updated in 1968.  In 1971 the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine came out.  In 1970 there were about 47,000 cases of measles with 89 deaths.  By 1978 there were about 27,000 cases.  In 2007 there were 43 cases.  Measles was almost eliminated.  Then came Jenny McCarthy talking about vaccines and autism and Dr. Bob Sear's book on vaccines in 2006 and 2007.  Some worried parents stopped vaccinating their children.  

Measles in a highly infectious respiratory illness spread by sneezing and coughing.  The droplets from an infected person can remain in an area and contagious for several hours.  The rate of transmission of infection is extremely high.  Of 100 people exposed to meales, 90 unvaccinated or limited vaccinated people will become ill.  It takes two doses of vaccine to acquire immunity in most cases.  The doses need to be about a month apart.  

Measles starts off like the flu.  There is a fever, general malaise, coughing and sneezing.  After about 4 days there is a characteristic rash that spreads over the entire body.  The person may not exhibit symptoms for up to 21 days after exposure and may mistake early symptoms for a cold or flu.  

Complications of measles include pneumonia, ear infections with the possibility of developing deafness, encephalitis or swelling of the lining of the brain causing seizures and loss of intellectual capacity.  Pregnant women can have preterm infants, or low birth weight babies.  About 1 person dies for every 1000 that contracts measles.  There is a rare long term complication of measles known as subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.  This disease occurs 7 to 10 years after a person is infected with measles and appears to have recovered.  The disease is fatal.  

There are 91 confirmed cases in California; most are the result of exposure at Disneyland.  That outbreak has expanded to six states and 2 countries.  Last year there were 644 cases of measles in the United States.  The more children are not vaccinated the more diseases thought to be rare or eliminated will recur.

A person who has ever had a life-threatening allergic reaction to gelatin, neomycin, or a previous dose of the MMR vaccine should not get the immunization.

Check with your doctor about giving the MMR vaccine if:

• The child or adult is taking steroids
• Has a disease that affects his immune system, like HIV/AIDS or leukemia
• Has cancer
• Has a blood disorder or has recently received a blood transfusion
• Because the measles and mumps vaccines are made by growing the virus in the cells of chicken embryos, children with egg allergies used to be advised not to get the vaccine. However, studies have found that even children with severe egg allergies can receive this vaccine without a greater risk of side effects.
• Kids who are moderately or severely ill are usually advised to wait until they're better to get the vaccine.