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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy New North Carolina Measles Cases Worries Health Official
A case of red measles, also known as Rubeola, was diagnosed earlier this week in Moorseville, North Carolina -- worrying health officials and highlighting the renewed threat of measles in this country.The infected person was unvaccinated and had recently returned from a trip to India confirmed Rebecca Carter, the public information officer for Mecklenburg county. Carter said she could not release any additional details such as the age or sex of the person due to patient confidentiality.
Dr. William Schaffner said this case is no trivial matter, warning that measles is highly contagious, spreading easily through coughing and sneezing. Symptoms include high fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and sore throat followed by a rash that spreads all over the body. It can also lead to death, he added.
People without gray hair forget that before vaccines became available, measles used to kill approximately 400 children a year in this country, he said.
Before the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine series became common practice there were hundreds of thousands of cases each year in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevent reported. The disease has come roaring back as more people refuse or delay immunization, Schaffner noted.This year there have been 610 confirmed measles cases reported to CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. That is the highest number of cases since measles elimination was documented in the U.S. in 2000.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/north-carolina-measles-cases-worries-health-officials/story?id=27903231
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)xchrom
(108,903 posts)Arkansas Granny
(31,518 posts)I remember the relief when polio vaccine became available. Where I lived the Health Department would have mass vaccination clinics at schools. Every kid in the district, even those who weren't school age, would be lined up and be inoculated, en masse. PSA's on the radio would caution parents about how to recognize the symptoms of the disease and how best to avoid contagion. It was a scary time.
deurbano
(2,895 posts)MiniMe
(21,717 posts)Back in the 60's
AwakeAtLast
(14,130 posts)Her father was not totally convinced about vaccines (she told me lots of people her dad's age felt that way). That is, until Polio reared its ugly head. He made sure they got that one. have a 2nd cousin who got a mild form of it before she could get vaccinated.
on point
(2,506 posts)Political mistakes or personal mistakes like being an anti vaxer leading downward spiral
Avalux
(35,015 posts)This friend thinks that drug companies should be able to make whatever drugs they wish and sell them, without clinical trials or regulatory oversight.
Same sort of mentality as the anti-vaxers. It's ignorance combined with a self-righteous know-it-all attitude that will ensure the divide between the rich and the poor gets worse and worse. Third world status here we come.
on point
(2,506 posts)Return to patent medicine junk remedies and mass poisonings.
Buying the right wing nut job ideology that all regulations hurt, when in fact most regulations help people, they just hurt the predators.