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Texas Measles Outbreak 2025

(43 Posts)
Indigo8 Wed 12-Mar-25 16:37:55

There have been a growing number of reported cases of measles in West Texas. Those affected are mainly children or teenagers. The first reported case was a school age child who had not been vaccinated.

Several deaths have been recorded and an increasing number of hospitalisations.

Deedaa Tue 08-Apr-25 21:20:29

I didn't catch measles till I was 13. In spite of the GP giving me antibiotics as a preventive I developed bronchitis and was in bed for a month having a miserable time.

Because my daughter had been in hospital with gastroenteritis and possible kidney failure we were advised to delay the measles vaccine. This meant that she caught measles and gave it to her 2 year old brother. He got off quite lightly but, after 45 years, she still has trouble with her eyes in sunny weather.

When it comes to autism, my autistic grandson has actually had less vaccinations than his neurotypical brother. His mother is a biochemist and is perfectly happy that there is no link.

Iam64 Tue 08-Apr-25 20:50:09

Goodness chocolatelovingran, I thought my next door neighbours a bit of a challenge but now realise they’re fairly ordinary

Chocolatelovinggran Tue 08-Apr-25 15:00:11

Sadly, nothing stops bears of little brain posting utter nonsense on the world wide web.
Some people who read this balderdash believe stuff unconditionally.
A friend is being harassed by a neighbour who insists that her many ailments - headaches, nausea etc etc are caused by my the ( detached) house of my friend having the internet.
She " knows" that this is the cause of her symptoms because her doctor has been unable, despite a range of exhaustive tests, to find any other cause. She is able to quote any number of random " specialists " who warn of the dangers of living near to internet routers.
Where did she find this dubious reasoning: on the internet, of course!

Chocolatelovinggran Tue 08-Apr-25 14:42:02

Agree absolutely Iam64.

Iam64 Tue 08-Apr-25 14:36:10

The USA is no longer a beacon of light is it, more like a place of doom

GrannySomerset Tue 08-Apr-25 13:43:04

I remember the misery of both measles and mumps and made sure my children had the early measles jab. Why on earth would anyone not want to protect children?

Magenta8 Tue 08-Apr-25 13:26:50

Two children have now died from measles in Texas.

SueDoku Fri 14-Mar-25 09:56:23

Measles damaged my ex-husband's eyes when he was 7, and left my best friend with lifelong lung problems... It's a horrible disease, can be easily prevented (in the vast majority of cases) and any parent who doesn't get their child vaccinated is taking risks with their life... 😥

Galaxy Fri 14-Mar-25 09:02:12

I think it will be partly due to a reaction against what happened in Covid, the bullying and authoritarianism towards the issue of vaccination was unpleasant, it was bound to cause a reaction.

Elegran Fri 14-Mar-25 08:54:36

CocoPops

Do you remember Dr.Andrew Wakefield who published his very, very dodgy research in 1998. He claimed the MMR vaccine caused autism and the newspapers latched on to it and the vaccine uptake dropped for a time.

In his first study (on 91 children with autism) Andrew Walker claimed he found a spectacular degree of link between the MMR vaccine and autism (75 of the 91). The paper, published in 1998, was flawed for two reasons (detailed in chop.edu link below)

In 1999, Brent Taylor and co-workers examined the records of 498 children in the North Thames region with autism or autism-like disorder, in an excellent, well-controlled study. (see chop.edu link below)
They found that:-
1) The percentage of children vaccinated was the same in children with autism as in other children in the North Thames region.
2) No difference in the age of diagnosis of autism was found in vaccinated and unvaccinated children.
3) The onset of symptoms of autism did not occur within two, four, or six months of receiving the MMR vaccine.

One of the best studies was performed by Madsen and colleagues in Denmark between 1991 and 1998 and reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study included 537,303 children representing 2,129,864 person-years of study. Approximately 82% of children had received the MMR vaccine.
The risk of autism in the group of vaccinated children was the same as that in unvaccinated children. Furthermore, there was no association between the age at the time of vaccination, the time since vaccination, or the date of vaccination and the development of autism.

Subsequent studies and meta-analysis have corroborated the findings that the MMR vaccine does not cause autism.

Andrew Walker resigned from his UK positions 2001 "by mutual agreement", then moved to the United States. In 2004, Wakefield co-founded and began working at the Thoughtful House research centre (later renamed the Johnson Center for Child Health and Development) in Austin, Texas. He served as executive director of the centre until February 2010, when he resigned in the wake of findings against him by the British General Medical Council which had struck him off their register. He has subsequently become known for his anti-vaccination activism.

www.chop.edu/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-safety/vaccines-and-other-conditions/autism

and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wakefield

Indigo8 Fri 14-Mar-25 08:51:36

One of the antivaxxers I saw on Youtube had a placard which read "MY CHILDREN MY DECISION" implying that you own your children and therefore have an absolute right to dictate what happens to them.

Iam64 Fri 14-Mar-25 08:21:25

I agree with yiu Lovemylife, it’s a social responsibility to have vaccines.
The general anti vax movement is growing. I hear younger people blaming the covid vaccine for all manner of health issues, whilst insisting they’ll never have vaccines again

Lovemylife Fri 14-Mar-25 08:07:11

My DD1 has already bought Calpol in anticipation of GS’s first vaccinations, although he’s only 7 weeks old so not due them yet. DD was not able to have all her jabs growing up as she wasn’t allowed live vaccines. Herd immunity is so important to protect the vulnerable. IMHO it’s a social responsibility but know that not everyone feels the same.

nanna8 Fri 14-Mar-25 02:37:17

Nearly every child of my immediate post war generation caught it. Pretty nasty disease and if there had been a vaccine then we would all have had it. Much worse than chickenpox or German measles and even mumps - that wasn’t much fun, either.

CocoPops Fri 14-Mar-25 02:30:28

I just googled him. After being struck off the register he moved to the US where he is an active antivaxer.

CocoPops Fri 14-Mar-25 02:01:24

Do you remember Dr.Andrew Wakefield who published his very, very dodgy research in 1998. He claimed the MMR vaccine caused autism and the newspapers latched on to it and the vaccine uptake dropped for a time.

Indigo8 Thu 13-Mar-25 21:08:45

Who are these antivaxxers? They seem to be very influential as take up of MMR is falling year by year.

They claim that they have doctors among their number but, if this is true, these doctors seem very reluctant to explain their position.

I looked on Youtube in an effort to find an explantation as to why they take this view and all I could find was anti antivax stuff.

Grantanow Thu 13-Mar-25 18:19:52

Anti-vax propaganda is pure bonkers.

IamMaz Thu 13-Mar-25 17:25:18

I had measles when I was about 5 in probably 1960. I can remember having to lie in bed in a darkened room because the light hurt my eyes.
My son is now 32 but I made sure he had the MMR jabs.

Stepgranonabroomstick Thu 13-Mar-25 15:43:52

The US Health Secretary is one of those “irresponsible, conspiracy theorist "health gurus”

Cold Thu 13-Mar-25 15:15:26

The measles vaccination has been around for a long time - not as the MMR but as a separate vaccination in the UK at least. I was vaccinated against measles in 1970 in the UK. The vaccination I missed out on was Mumps which I caught at the age of 33 and developed viral meningitis.

DH was a med student in the 1980s during a measles outbreak - he was on his paediatric rotation on a ward where several children died or suffered life changing effects.

It made us keep that our children were vaccinated

leeds22 Thu 13-Mar-25 14:10:13

I had measles when I was 5 and remember lying in a darkened room to protect my eyes. I was left with poor eyesight. I am happy to say that our children and GC are all vaccinated.

annodomini Thu 13-Mar-25 10:00:19

Soon after starting school, at 5, I got measles and gave it to my sisters, one of whom was under a year old and still breast-feeding. I remember our bedroom curtains remained closed as our eyes were sensitive to light. One of my aunts had lost the sight of one eye from measles as a child. I don't remember being very ill. Another aunt, who was visiting, sat on my bed and taught me to knit. I can still hear her voice: "in, over, through and off" and on and on...

Casdon Thu 13-Mar-25 09:06:25

The bigger worry is for the future I think, if vaccination is no longer available on Medicaid. With a Health policy against state involvement in healthcare, that must be a real possibility.

AGAA4 Thu 13-Mar-25 08:54:35

Robert Kennedy has linked the measles outbreak to poor diet.
Measles is highly contagious and anyone can be infected however well fed they are.
He is against vaccination.
Children can die from measles or suffer life changing effects. My cousin is deaf and partially sighted after measles.
Vaccination has saved countless lives from many diseases and RFK, an influential man, is anti-vaxx.