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alex
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16 Apr 2008, 5:32 pm

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A preschool-age child in Los Angeles County has been hospitalized with measles, and public health officials Monday urged parents and physicians to be on alert for the highly contagious disease. It is the first case reported in the county since 2006.

The child had not been vaccinated against measles, said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, the county's public health director.

The virus is spread by sneezing and coughing. Symptoms include a rash, coughing, a runny nose and red, watery eyes.


quote from twitter:

Quote:
D'oh! Measles in L.A.! Anecdotes of autism vs documented possible death. Hmm.


http://twitter.com/aswang/statuses/789404050

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/los_a ... 9829.story


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Nan
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16 Apr 2008, 6:02 pm

We've had several cases of measles in San Diego in the last few months. Unfortunately.

Measles left my mother blind and almost deaf as a young child, and there may have been some brain damage as well. She was severely handicapped all her life.

The vaccine was not available when she was a child. It is now.

It'd be almost insane to risk that for a child based on unfounded fears that have repeatedly been shown to be unprovable as fact.



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16 Apr 2008, 6:05 pm

Measles is usually a harmless childhood illness like chickenpox. Serious complications are possible but rare and are more likely to have other causes. Dozens of people have died after receiving the measles (MMR) vaccine so it's probably safer to risk getting measles than getting vaccinated for it. Before improvements in sanitation, it used to be so common that most people got measles by age 20. It's nothing to worry about. The symptoms usually go away in about 2 weeks without any treatment.



Last edited by zendell on 16 Apr 2008, 6:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Nan
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16 Apr 2008, 6:08 pm

Complications occur in about 20% of reported cases and can include diarrhea, ear infections, pneumonia, brain inflammation and seizures.

"A lot of parents may not really have any knowledge that it can be a very serious disease," Fielding said. "This is not like getting a cold."



Complications Risk
Diarrhoea 1 in 6
Ear infections 1 in 20
Pneumonia / bronchitis 1 in 25
Fits (convulsions) 1 in 200
Meningitis / encephalitis 1 in 1000
Death 1 in 2500 to 5000
Serious brain complications years later (Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis) 1 in 8000 (of children who have measles under 2 years)



alex
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16 Apr 2008, 6:10 pm

zendell wrote:
Measles is usually a harmless childhood illness like chickenpox. Serious complications are possible but rare and are more likely to have other causes. Before improvements in sanitation, it used to be so common that most people got measles by age 20. It's nothing to worry about. The symptoms usually go away in about 2 weeks without any treatment.


complications are common, serious complications are not common but also not rare. However, the disease is so incredibly infectious to the point that so many people will get it, there will be enough serious cases to constitute a major public health problem.


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lau
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16 Apr 2008, 6:16 pm

I'm having a truly gruesome/tasteless thought, which I'm sure no one else will voice.

Is measles going to be an evolutionary force that weeds out the genes for being unable to understand statistics?


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Mage
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16 Apr 2008, 6:20 pm

zendell wrote:
Measles is usually a harmless childhood illness like chickenpox. Serious complications are possible but rare and are more likely to have other causes. Dozens of people have died after receiving the measles (MMR) vaccine so it's probably safer to risk getting measles than getting vaccinated for it. Before improvements in sanitation, it used to be so common that most people got measles by age 20. It's nothing to worry about. The symptoms usually go away in about 2 weeks without any treatment.


Zendell your assessment of measles is incredibly inaccurate. I'd advice you not to give medical advice without doing some research first. The vaccine is FAR less harmful than measles.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/rel ... index.html
"Global deaths due to measles fell by 48%, from 871 000 in 1999 to an estimated 454 000 in 2004, thanks to major national immunization activities and better access to routine childhood immunization, the agencies said. These measles mortality data, calculated by WHO, are the latest available."

Do you understand that there are HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of people that still die from measles every year because they do not have access to a vaccine? Do you understand how misguided your advice is?



zendell
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16 Apr 2008, 6:28 pm

Mage, correlation does NOT equal causation. Just because measles rates decreased after vaccinations does NOT mean that the vaccines caused the rates to decrease. If they introduced a vaccine during the end of the plague, the rate would have decreased (as it did without vaccines) but that does NOT mean that the vaccines are effective.

Here's a graph that shows measles deaths declined substantially BEFORE vaccines were available. Mortality from measles decreased 99.7% BEFORE vaccinations. http://www.healthsentinel.com/graphs.ph ... _list_item



lau
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16 Apr 2008, 6:39 pm

Hello zendell... I see you've found another fake graph.


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zendell
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16 Apr 2008, 6:50 pm

Nan wrote:
Death 1 in 2500 to 5000

Mage wrote:
"Global deaths due to measles fell by 48%, from 871 000 in 1999 to an estimated 454 000 in 2004


Ok, in 1999, there were 871,000 deaths due to measles. The death rate is 1 in 2500 to 5000.

Put them both together and that means in 1999, somewhere between 2.2 billion and 4.4 billion people got measles. Considering that it's close to half the world's population and considering that a person acquires a lifelong immunity once infected, I'm having trouble believing that.



Shayne
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16 Apr 2008, 6:51 pm

In roughly the last 150 years, measles has been estimated to have killed about 200 million people worldwide



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16 Apr 2008, 8:22 pm

lau wrote:
I'm having a truly gruesome/tasteless thought, which I'm sure no one else will voice.

Is measles going to be an evolutionary force that weeds out the genes for being unable to understand statistics?


ROFL


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Nan
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16 Apr 2008, 9:24 pm

lau wrote:
I'm having a truly gruesome/tasteless thought, which I'm sure no one else will voice.

Is measles going to be an evolutionary force that weeds out the genes for being unable to understand statistics?



:lol: Bad, Lau. Bad, bad Lau. :lol:



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17 Apr 2008, 7:13 am

zendell wrote:
Measles is usually a harmless childhood illness like chickenpox. Serious complications are possible but rare and are more likely to have other causes. Dozens of people have died after receiving the measles (MMR) vaccine so it's probably safer to risk getting measles than getting vaccinated for it. Before improvements in sanitation, it used to be so common that most people got measles by age 20. It's nothing to worry about. The symptoms usually go away in about 2 weeks without any treatment.


This is the most stupid post you've made in a while.


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17 Apr 2008, 1:02 pm

zendell wrote:
Nan wrote:
Death 1 in 2500 to 5000

Mage wrote:
"Global deaths due to measles fell by 48%, from 871 000 in 1999 to an estimated 454 000 in 2004


Ok, in 1999, there were 871,000 deaths due to measles. The death rate is 1 in 2500 to 5000.

Put them both together and that means in 1999, somewhere between 2.2 billion and 4.4 billion people got measles. Considering that it's close to half the world's population and considering that a person acquires a lifelong immunity once infected, I'm having trouble believing that.


Zendell, once again, I'm with you here.

Until the vaccines are made safer and the risks of being vaccine-damaged are lower than the risks of getting measles, there's no way I would ever let anyone near me or my children with those needles. Not a chance.

Once again, statistics show measles WAS on the decrease prior to the introduction of vaccination, as tends to be what happens when they're introduced; wait till an 'epidemic' is on the decline (usually due to improved sanitation, increased access to healthcare, availability of antibiotics in the past, etc etc) and then bring in the vaccine so the statistics will coincide nicely. The perfect modern example is the meningitis B vaccine inflicted and tested on over a million New Zealand children in the last few years.

I'd have no problem with these things if they were safe, if the companies that made them trialled them properly and were more transparent in those trials and what they were doing (i.e. it was mandatory to publish a statement of intent prior to every test, so they can't just ignore the ones that don't show what they want them to show), and if they gave guaranteed immunity - and gave it without so many reactions. You can shout at me about how 'no medicine is ever safe! You don't know what you're talking about!!' all you like as I'm sure some here will, but the fact is, they can still be made far safeR than they are at present.

At the moment they don't work, and they aren't safe. So it doesn't make sense at present to take that risk of the jab when the risks related to that are higher than those of catching the bug.


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17 Apr 2008, 1:25 pm

You show me a reliable source that backs up your claim that more people die each year from the measles vaccine than from measles itself, and I'll give you a million dollars.

If you can't find such a source, may I suggest you and Zendell stop adding your nonsense to every vaccine thread that comes up.