I heard something ridiculous today...

I heard one of the most idiotic things today and I just had to share it with all of you. I “heard” a girl telling her friend that 131 cases of measles in the United States was not a big deal. She went on to tell her friend that she didn’t understand why the CDC was calling 131 cases an “epidemic” since it clearly wasn’t. I had to laugh out loud when I heard this (I hope at least one of you are laughing with me). In order to help you see the “humor” in this statement I need to give you a little bit of background information. According to Merrill and Timmrick and epidemic is defined as the occurrence in a community or region, cases of an illness CLEARLY IN EXCESS OF NORMAL EXPECTANCY. In simpler terms, an epidemic is more than the expected number of cases of a given disease in a specific population. By those terms 131 cases of measles in the US population is clearly an epidemic. After hearing this ridiculous comment I needed more information so I turned where any good public health professional would turn… to the CDC, specifically to the MMWR. I found a very informative article there. Let me give you a little bit of information, according to the MMWR there were 131 cases of measles reported January- July 2008 in the US. Just as a point of reference, on average there are 63 cases of measles reported each year in the US (according to MMWR). There were reported cases of measles in 15 states, 89% of those infected were school age children (5-18) and the very best part… 91% of those infected were unvaccinated, or of unknown vaccination status. Let me give you few highlights. Two of the largest outbreaks occurred in Washington and Illinois. In one case (Illinois) unvaccinated children came in contact with a peer who contracted the disease while in Italy, this one individual went on to infect 29 additional people, 25 of whom “were home schooled and not subject to school-entry vaccination requirements. Because of their parents' beliefs against vaccination, none of the 25 had received measles-containing vaccine.” In Washington 19 were infected, including, “16 in school-aged children, among whom 11 were home schooled. Because of their parents' philosophical or religious beliefs, none of the 16 children had received measles-containing vaccine.” Hmm… are you noticing a pattern? I have heard from quite a few people that they don’t vaccinate their kids because everyone else does and their kids are protected… obviously not. Another small fact, in order to create “herd immunity” or “community immunity” as it is currently known at least 80% of the population needs to be vaccinated, new studies show this number needs to be closer to 90%. In addition to that there are some people that cannot be vaccinated for health reasons (allergies, immunocompromised, etc). If the entire community is not vaccinated these individuals are at high risk for infection… which to me doesn’t seem fair.
 In Utah you can opt out of vaccination for three reasons: health, religion and philosophical. I understand the first two reasons, but the third one I have a hard time with. I have heard several arguments from this camp about why they are not going to be immunizing their children, and let me share them. One, the government puts microchips in the vaccinations that they inject into you and they can track your movements via satellite (I am not kidding I did hear this). Okay first off, why does the government care what you are doing? Second, really? Are you kidding me? Second reason, my child will survive these diseases, people have been doing fine for thousands of years. While this is true, please take one quick look at Africa, thousands of children die there on a daily basis as a result of vaccine PREVENTABLE diseases, so obviously not everyone survives, if you could guarantee your child doesn’t have to go through that shouldn’t you? Second, isn’t that a little selfish of you? What about those kids that cant be vaccinated, if they cant be vaccinated, there is a chance that one of these illnesses can be devastating to them. Third, I want to be “natural”? First, what does this even mean? “Natural”, you are putting your preferences above other people’s health which seems a little off. Fourth, my child is “allergic” to uncooked eggs. Well I think 99% of the population might have an adverse reaction if they ate uncooked eggs, fortunately your child wont be eating the vaccine (I am aware that some people have legitimate allergies and therefore they cannot be vaccinated, one of the most common ones is egg allergies and I think these people should opt out for health reasons). Fifth, I am breastfeeding my child. That is fantastic, and I applaud you but still I hate to break it to you, maternal antibodies start to wane after 6 months, so really you aren’t offering them the protection you think you are. Sixth, vaccinations cause autism. No they don’t, the NIH has NOT been able to find any correlation between vaccinations and autism… sorry. I have dozens more reasons why NOT to vaccinate but those were my very favorite Finally,for all of you concerned about the LDS Church's position on vaccinations, I have kindly provided it for you. In 1978 the LDS church issued a statement in FAVOR of vaccinations, “We urge members of the Church … to protect their own children through immunization. Then they may wish to join other public-spirited citizens in efforts to eradicate ignorance and apathy that have caused the disturbingly low levels of childhood immunization.”-Thomas S. Monson. Please do the responsible thing and vaccinate your children!