UPDATE 4-Doctors group urges measles shots as Disneyland outbreak spreads

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Reuters

By Dan Whitcomb

Jan 23 (Reuters) - The leading U.S. pediatrician group on Friday urged parents, schools and communities to vaccinate children against measles in the face of an outbreak that began at Disneyland in California in December and has spread to more than 80 people in seven states and Mexico.

The American Academy of Pediatrics said all children should get the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella between 12 and 15 months of age and again between 4 and 6 years old.

"A family vacation to an amusement park - or a trip to the grocery store, a football game or school - should not result in children becoming sickened by an almost 100 percent preventable disease," Errol Alden, the group's executive director, said in a statement.

The California Department of Public Health has reported 68 confirmed measles cases among state residents since December, most linked to an initial exposure at Disneyland or its adjacent Disney California Adventure Park.

FULL story at link.



Read more: http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/01/24/usa-measles-disneyland-idINL1N0V21Q120150124

---

There is no known connection between Disneyland and the Omaha measles outbreak. (We have chickenpox going around too)

Local health officials (Omaha area) say people exposed to measles should be quarantined


http://www.livewellnebraska.com/health/local-health-officials-say-people-exposed-to-measles-should-be/article_1bad086c-a348-11e4-b3ae-877a85a5458d.html


Staff reports

Douglas County and Washington County health officials are advising people who aren't immune to the measles and were at one of four public spots in Omaha or Blair at certain times and dates should quarantine themselves into February so as not to expose others.

That means they should stay home: no school, child care, church, work, shopping or other activities.

Health officials confirmed a case of the measles on Wednesday. That person visited several places in Blair and Omaha, including the Children's Museum and Costco.

People who aren’t immune to measles either through vaccination or a history of illness could have also been infected. Health officials say these people include all infants under 12 months and adults under the age of 57 who have never been immunized against measles.

FULL story at link.

[hobbit709]

1. Cue the anti-vaxx DUers in 3..2..1..

[FLPanhandle]

4. Wait, we have anti-vaxx idiots here on DU?

I thought the science deniers were locked into the republican party. What are they doing here with rational people?

[Hekate]

18. It's all about freedom from Big Pharma to them. Also, in general...

...they seem to have won the genetic lottery for good resistance to flu and such, so they think the rest of us get sick just to spite them, or because we don't eat right or something.

Don't worry if you haven't seen them yet. Just look around for the flu-vaccination threads and, lately, the measles-outbreak threads.

[lbrtbell]

5. Cue the uncontrolled immigration supporters in 3...2...1...

This is precisely why immigration needs to be controlled. When people come here illegally, they're not vaccinated, either.

[frylock]

8. cue the xenophobic apologists for idiot anti-vaxxers in 3...2...1...

Disease Threat From Immigrant Children Wildly Overstated

Vectors or Victims? Docs Slam Rumors That Migrants Carry Disease

[geek tragedy]

10. Really, the "disease-carrying immigrant" card? Shame on you for peddling that ugly racist shit.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/immigration-border-crisis/vectors-or-victims-docs-slam-rumors-migrants-carry-disease-n152216

“There is a long, sad and shameful tradition in the United States in using fear of disease, contagion and contamination to stigmatize immigrants and foreigners,” said Arthur Caplan, director of the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University’s Langone Medical Center and a frequent NBC contributor. “Sadly, this letter which rests firmly on innuendo and fear-mongering proudly continues this unethical tradition.
...

World Bank statistics indicate that some of the countries that the kids are traveling from actually have higher vaccination rates than the United States. The U.S. has a 92 percent vaccination rate for measles. Mexico vaccinates 99 percent of its children; Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras all have a 93 percent vaccination rate.

[CreekDog]

14. they're actually wrong about the immunization rates too

not sure whether it's an intentional falsehood or just simply posting a uninformed stereotype and not realizing the stereotype is wrong.

but based on their post, i'm doubting they are the researching kind.

[geek tragedy]

17. Same smear xenophobes have been peddling for centuries.

They just assume immigrants are unclean, diseased, etc.

[geek tragedy]

11. jury results:

YOUR COMMENTS

Ugly, racist shit about immigrants being carriers of disease. Mexico and most other Latin American countries have higher vaccination rates than the US does. This is straight out of the Steve King playbook.

JURY RESULTS

A randomly-selected Jury of DU members completed their review of this alert at Sat Jan 24, 2015, 08:20 PM, and voted 2-5 to LEAVE IT ALONE.

Juror #1 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: Everything the alerter said!
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Alerter is living in a fantasyland to assume that the poorest of central american residents have access to healthcare. It's one of the reasons they come to the united states.
Juror #4 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: Bigoted. No place for that here.
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: The alerter, then, should post exactly this rebuttal, without the name calling.

Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: A thought provoking counter argument. Would have made an effective reply.
Juror #7 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given

[CreekDog]

13. I didn't see a cue for you to post falsehoods

Immunization, measles (% of children ages 12-23 months)

2013:
USA 91%

Belize 99%
Canada 95%
Costa Rica 91%
Cuba 99%
Dominican Republic 79%
Guatemala 85%
Haiti 65%
Honduras 89%
Mexico 89%
Nicaragua 99%
Panama 94%

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.IMM.MEAS/countries

[CreekDog]

15. ah, you have posted made up stuff before

Remember when you said that the 14th amendment only applied to certain ethnic groups and that the amendment said so in its text?

Also made up.

Also wrong.

[7962]

2. Apparently there are a lot of parents out there NOT vaccinating their kids??

Here your kid cant go to school if they dont have their shots.

[SunSeeker]

16. Yes, especially in Orange County, California.

My kid's public elementary school in Orange County lets kids get out of vaccination requirements if their parents sign a statement that they are opposed to vaccinations for religious or philosophical reasons. This ridiculous accommodation for anti-vaccination nutjobs puts lives in danger and must change.

BTW, Disneyland is in Orange County, CA.

[7962]

19. Sounds like some highly educated fools.

I mean, I know there has been questions over the years about shots, but even if any of that were true the risks of NOT taking them would be a lot higher

[NickB79]

3. America: Bravely marching into the 19th century!

[heaven05]

6. idiots believing

something that is not true, now have caused a disease that has been almost non-existent to reemerge. This is more of the ignorance the RW has stirred up and the lemmings are marching in lockstep off the cliff to drown in the sea, in lockstep!!!!!!!! Sad indeed. Because of certain segments of this society the 'Middle Ages' are returning with all that was WRONG with that era. The people who don't want protection, it's on them. The only ones I feel sorry for are the ones who had no say in this decision not to vaccinate and are ill..

[Igel]

9. There are two large groups of anti-vaxxers.

One has been around longer, and is religious. In some cases they're not so much religious as homeopathic and, often, anti-allopathic. Of the two groups, this is the less common one these days. Some of these are anti-science, but usually they're completely capable of being pro-science in other areas. I know a number of anti-vaxxers who are mechanical or chemical engineers, one's a materials scientist with his PhD, but who are anti-vaxxer for religious reasons. To be sure, some in the religious camp are completely anti-science and very CT-oriented, and I've known some who were deeply into the idea of zero-point energy or the idea of a hollow Earth. It's a real grab-bag of different types, not a monolithic group.


The other variety is often very educated, reasonably well off, and view things like autism as environmental in origin. They believe that there's a vast corporate conspiracy to harm us, and the medical establishment is in cahoots. Some of the areas with the highest rates of unvaccinated kids in California, for instances, are in areas that most lower-middle class folks couldn't afford to live in and, if they could, would feel out of place in. Far too much organic food. They're the kind that would have been into transcendental meditation at some point, or feng shui.

Anti-vaxxer and anti-GMO often go hand in hand. Sort of a cult. One such grad student in the humanities--hardly a RWer--chewed me out for using a microwave to heat up my lunch. "The microwaves go into the food and cook your stomach when you digest it!" I think she's tenured faculty now at a tier 1 liberal arts school. Quite the fool.

In this the insane left and insane right often overlap. (They'd still reject each other, but at least think the other side "got it right" on that particular point ... purely by accident.)

[heaven05]

12. thank you

more ammunition for me.

[iandhr]

7. The worst part about the anti-vaxers...

is there not just wacko faith healers.


There are many educated people who by into the BS. (e.g RFK Jr.) These people I think are worse because they should know better.