Hib infection in children makes a deadly return (USAToday) {re vaccinations}

[eppur_se_muova]

By Anita Manning, special for USA TODAY

***
The cases, along with scattered measles outbreaks last year that infected about 140 children and adults, most of them not immunized, have health officials concerned that a growing trend among some parents to delay or forgo infant vaccinations could create a large enough population of unprotected children to allow outbreaks of diseases that haven't been seen by most doctors for a generation.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports national immunization rates are still high, and in most areas there are enough vaccinated children to create a "herd immunity," a wall of immunized people that prevents spread of disease, so children who are vulnerable — those too young to be vaccinated or who can't be because of immune disorders or other medical problems — are protected.

But health officials are concerned that herd immunity is not holding in the face of a rise in the number of parents who, believing that vaccines are unsafe, unnatural or unnecessary, are not allowing their babies to be vaccinated.

"Some parents wonder if these diseases are a risk," says Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. "With something like Hib, many people have never heard of it because we haven't seen it.
***
In Minnesota, the number of parents who choose not to vaccinate their children has increased from fewer than 1% a few years ago to "3, maybe 4%," she says. But "those individuals are extremely vocal, and they're drowning out the majority of parents who want their children to be in an environment where they're not exposed unnecessarily. By vaccinating your child, you're doing good not only for that child, but for the community."
***
more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-02-15-hib-kids_N.htm

[trotsky]

1. K&R

It's easy to forget just what a benefit vaccines have been to our health.

[FirstLight]

2. sorry, i am on the other side of this debate...

I chose not to vaccinate my youngest 2 kids, and their immune system is stronger as a result...

Now before you all go berzerk on me - I will mention that my family has a genetic auto-immune issue that can be trigered by the assault of immunizations. So that was my main reasoning for avoiding the vaccines. AND the more research I did, the worse it sounded, (i.e. the dose that is given to an infant is not calibrated for their size & age, so it is like giving them 300 times the dose) so I opted to err on the side of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"

...and the kids are healthier, have less illnesses than their cousins who are all immunized... and I stand by my choice

[DeepBlueC]

4. be thankful their cousins and classmates are immunized

your kids are benefiting if those around them are not likely to be vectors of the most dangerous infections. Immunizations also help you if everyone else gets them.

[kestrel91316]

6. If your children CANNOT be immunized, then they are exactly the ones

counting on everybody else being immunized in order to protect THEM.

Guess what? Yours are not safe, because the denialists have ruined the HERD immunity.

[flyingobject]

17. in this massive outbreak involving a total of 5 children, 3 had not been immunized

Not everyone's child becomes immune, something you'd know if you read package inserts
that the mfr puts in the box.

If a child has an immune deficiency, the are not to be immunized.
If a child is too young to be fully immunized, they are still susceptible, through no fault of the parents.

From the USA Today article, (to the illiterate, I apologize for cutting and pasting from t
the article that was cut and past into the fracking OP)

"That was the first of what would be five cases of Hib in Minnesota in 2008, the most since 1992. Normally, the state sees no more than one or two cases a year, often none. Three of the babies, including a 7-month-old who died, had not been immunized. Of the remaining two, one was too young to be fully immunized and one had an immune deficiency, so vaccination was not effective."

In this MASSIVE OUTBREAK of 5 children, out of 300 million US citizens,
3 had not been immunized.

[trotsky]

18. Try reading next time.

Good grief, your reading comprehension is pathetic.

"Of the remaining two, one was too young to be fully immunized and one had an immune deficiency, so vaccination was not effective."

"One was too young to be fully immunized." I.e., had not completed the vaccination schedule and therefore would be considered unvaccinated. So that makes 4 of the 5 unvaccinated.

The last "had an immune deficiency" which made the vaccine ineffective. Exactly the kind of individual that the rest of us should be vaccinated to help protect. Innocent bystanders in the war against vaccines.

And no one ever called this a "massive outbreak" - just an example of what anti-vax nutters are accomplishing.

[trotsky]

9. There's nothing wrong with someone in your position making that decision.

However it appears you've gotten ahold of some pretty bad misinformation regarding what a "stronger" immune system is, but especially that nonsense about an infant getting a dose 300x too strong. Both are totally bogus, FYI.

[elias7]

13. Not sure I understand you

If you have concluded that your kids' immune system is stronger as a result of not getting immunized, you don't really understand immunology at all. Kids get sick all the time upon first exposures to a plethora of viral antigens. These result in essentially a vaccination against that particular bug for the future, by creating a memory of how the body fought off the infection in the form of antibodies. You get exposed again, you don't get sick.

Immunizations do not lessen your immune system, they activate it; and specifically towards the virus or bacteria that is being vaccinated against.

Your kids may have a stronger immune system than your cousins' kids or they may not. There are a whole host of factors contributing to an actual or perceived healthierness. But vaccinations are irrelevant to the discussion (as should be anecdotal evidence). If your cousins kids have gotten vaccinated for Hib, they are protected from Hib and Hib only and yours are not. They are not getting "overdosed" on inactivated bacteria, since it is inactivated. It cannot cause infection. The dosing info you have is misinformation.

I do know that your children are somewhat protected from Hib meningitis or epiglottitis (both kid killers) due to herd immunity (since most are vaccinated) and due to the odds, but I know that your cousins kids will not get Hib.

[flyingobject]

14. "massive outbreak" was 5 children in MN, & due to Vaccine Shortage

Could the subject line of the US Today article be any more misleading?

From MD Consult, perhaps a more honest view:

Outbreak of five Hib cases reported in Minnesota
January 26, 2009

By Kerri Wachter
An outbreak of invasive Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) in five infants in Minnesota last year appears to be related to vaccine shortages in 2008, officials of the state and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported.

A review of the state’s vaccination registry indicates that not all Minnesota infants have been getting the full course of Hib vaccine doses necessary for primary immunization because of a vaccine supply shortage that started last year, …

http://www.mdconsult.com/das/news/body/123748607-2/mnfp/0/205042/1.html?nid=205042&date=all&general=true&mine=true

AND THE SHORTAGE WAS DUE TO RECALL OF POSSIBLY CONTAMINATED STOCK - MERCK'S FAULT.

WHAT A WING NUT STORY USA TODAY PUT OUT.

[kath]

20. Do you have a link about this "genetic auto-immune issue that can be triggered by the assault of

immunizations"? I'm a physician, and I really would like to know.

[trotsky]

23. Yeah, was wondering about that.

If vaccination is an "assault" on their immune system, I wonder how they function in the real world where it's under assault from 10,000 pathogens daily. :shrug:

[bluestateguy]

3. I wonder: do any non-vaccinated children get autism anyway?

nt

[kestrel91316]

7. Yes. But the denialists don't like to admit it.

[flyingobject]

15. But the Vaccine evangelists don't like research

so they try to taint it before it happens

[kath]

21. "vaccine evangelists don't like research" -

Jeebus H. Christ on a fucking trailer hitch.

The mind reels...

[varkam]

22. I think your irony thingie is broken.

Aren't you folks always the ones saying that this study is terrible because of X or that study is wrong because of Y?

[truedelphi]

19. That is not true. Those of us seeking vaccine safety readily admit that

NOT ALL autism cases come about as a result of vaccination.

I think what we would find out (Assuming we ever get a truly investigative study of the autism situation) is that there is a huge correlation between
heavy metal poisoning - people use wood preservatives that contain copper or mercury or other heavy metals. Etc. There might also be an unexpressed measles component. So things other than vaccinations do cause some cases of autism.

The big problem is that industry has done a great job in smearing us activists who want the following
1) for safe vaccination procedures - ie that nurses at Healthy child clinics quit vaccinating kids on a day they are brought in by parents because the kids are ill
2) Until we know more about vaccination safety, let's not have multiple vaccines within an injection. Separate them out
3) Clean up the labs. It is truly a worry to oem of us that an established newspaper such as the SF Chronicle ran a vaccination clinic/lab mini-series several years ago, which revealed among other things, that even though the labs know when they will be inspected, they still flunk. Bacteria-ridden and other contaminant-ridden labs are not the places where our vaccine material should be develloped.

SIDEBAR: In the 1980's, some researcher or group of researchers came out and said that when children under the age of six have a high fever, they should not be given aspirin, as doing so might cause the child to come down with Reyes Syndrome and die. No one castigated that researcher(s) as being a Luddite who was against anti-inflammatory, or against fever relief, or against anti-bacterial remedies.

But the Big Pharma Corporations have effectively created a society in which the film "Idiocracy" does not at all refer to the future, but to the current day situation, in which people are so scared to do anything other than the absolute nonsense of some of these Pharmaceutical companies demand that thinking people can only shuffle off, Semmelweiss-like, to the nearest corner to shake their heads and cry.

[flyingobject]

16. CA and OR study: 155% greater chance of ADHD or Autism in vaccinated boys

http://educate-yourself.org/vcd/califoregonunvaccinatedchildrensurvey03nov07.shtml

[Name removed]

5. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[xchrom]

8. recommend

[emilyg]

10. k/r

[knitter4democracy]

11. I put off most of my kids' vaccines, but I always did Hib.

That one scares me, as does tetanus, so we did the DTaP, Hib, and Polio vaccines on time and delayed the others. They're mostly caught up now (just need Hep B in another year). Both of mine had such major reactions to the shots that I was glad we spaced them out.

[trotsky]

12. Kick for the morning. n/t