Marked: Why Berkeley Expert Calls Worsening Measles Outbreak “A Very Large Red Flag”

[KamaAina]

http://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/just-in/2015-01-29/marked-why-berkeley-expert-calls-worsening-measles-outbreak

As a UC Berkeley School of Public Health emeritus professor specializing in infectious diseases, John Swartzberg knows viruses as well as other people know their lapdogs. So when he gets concerned about a bug, so should you. And right now he’s pretty concerned about measles. Anyone who has perused a news site or suffered through a CNN broadcast over the past week can guess why: An outbreak of measles that erupted in Disneyland now has spread to at least seven states and resulted in almost 100 cases, with no sign of abating....

“The current outbreak can’t be considered momentous in terms of mortality, but it’s still a very large red flag for the U.S. public health system,” says Swartzberg. “It says there are far too many people in our nation who aren’t protected from disease by immunization. We don’t have that herd immunity that widespread vaccination once provided.”

Indeed, until the recent rash of outbreaks, measles was eliminated from the United States. That’s not the same thing as eradicated, Swartzberg observes. Eradication means zero cases, period. In the medical context, elimination is the absence of “autochthonous” cases: Infections that were not imported, but arose from native sources. The Happy Kingdom’s outbreak, it’s believed, originated from foreign tourists.

Still, the chances of an outbreak would have been almost nil if everyone at Disneyland had been up-to-snuff on their inoculations. That’s because the measles vaccine is 95 percent effective in preventing infection. Swartzberg provides one qualifier: For people who’ve gone decades following their initial vaccination, an extra jab doesn’t hurt (in the public health sense, at least).

[NuclearDem]

1. If there were any sense in this country, that graph would have no bars whatsoever.

Fucking anti-vaxxers.

[KamaAina]

2. Note that there seems to be a spike about every three years.

But they've been small spikes. Until now.

[MohRokTah]

3. This is what I've been saying

We've played cutesy with the anti-vaxxers as they droned on with their lies for over a decade. We've allowed them their bullshit, but they've swindled enough other people into believing their complete line of bullshit to now have broken herd immunity.

We talked, presented the science and given them the facts, and through it all they've denied everything. No amount of talking has altered their stance and it has only allowed matters to get worse.

The time for talk is over. The cries about "freedom" must be ignored. Their children MUST be removed from these neglectful homes and vaccinated.

We've allowed the morons to play games for far too long and now the lives innocent people who were responsible and got the vaccination are in danger. That danger must be eliminated and a return to herd immunity must be accomplished.

[still_one]

4. I blame entertainment TV with shows like Dr. Oz which give free reign to quacks

[Cali_Democrat]

5. Thanks anti-vaxxers...

you fucking assholes....

[WDIM]

6. it is encouraging

That despited the spike in cases there has been zero deaths in the US.

Our health care system is world class.

Through voluntary vaccinations and modern medicine we have taken a once deadly disease that killed thousands in this country and we have made it almost benign.

And through reason, sound science, and educating the public it will continue to be erradicated. Without kid napping peoples children or quarantining innocent americans.