Measles case noted in town
A case of measles has been noted in town, the piece saying the person had just visited Africa. Measles has been rising again in Europe and could circulate again here, with families refusing to vaccinate.
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Kate
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MarcG 11:13 on 2024-02-08 Permalink
Measles is airborne like COVID so the same simple clean air protections we’ve put in place for that virus (N95s, air quality monitoring, filtration and ventilation in schools, hospitals and offices) will ensure this doesn’t get out of hand.
Ephraim 11:26 on 2024-02-08 Permalink
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases! R0 of 12 to 14. The original thought was that COVID was R0 of 2.2 to 2.7 but it’s actually 5.7 (delta variant). Measles, Chicken Pox and Mumps are so contagious that you need over 90% vaccination rates to have herd immunity.
If someone with Measles walks through a room with 100 people who are vaccinated, 1 to 2 might still get it. If they walk through a room with 100 people who are unvaccinated… they all will likely get it. Hospitalization is 1 in 4, death is 1 per thousand. Long term complications are also high.
Kate 11:28 on 2024-02-08 Permalink
Ephraim, what if you had measles as a little kid, like me? Still immune?
Ephraim 11:45 on 2024-02-08 Permalink
@Kate – It’s in the area of presumptive… you are “probably” immune. Of course, even of those vaccinated, it’s only 97% effective, hence the reason that 1 in a 100 will leave with measles, even if vaccinated.
A few years ago, I was at the travel clinic to update my vaccinations. I got a Polio booster because I was going to Africa. And I checked my Tetanus and Hepatitis vaccinations. I asked about the MMR because I’m in the group that is presumptive (last of the Boomers, first of the Gen-Xers.) And she said it was $5. I gladly paid the $5, since it serves as a booster if I had received it.
Incidentally the first thing they do, if you may have been exposed to measles is… give you a booster shot. The body has a much better chance of fighting it, that way. Travel clinic is the place to get this. Most people forget that they need to redo their Tetanus ever 10 years anyway, same with diptheria, now usually given as the TDAP. Not all vaccines are for life. They think the Hep B is lifelong, but Hep A is 10 years. Yellow fever before 2016 is 10 years, but now is considered lifelong.
Kate 12:03 on 2024-02-08 Permalink
Looking through my archives I see that measles has been mentioned in local media several times over the last few years, but individual cases have never resulted in the outbreak feared by public health.
Joey 12:04 on 2024-02-08 Permalink
No need to go to a travel clinic for most vaccines – you can get all public health vaccines at any pharmacy, though you may need to book in advance as some are unlikely to be on hand at any given moment. You might also have to pay if you’re ineligible for the publicly funded program (e.g., if you are aged 50-80 but are not immunosuppressed, you can access the Shingles vaccine but it won’t be reimbursed), but that would be the case in any clinical setting, no just the pharmacy. That being said, a travel clinic might be warranted if you’re not sure or if you’re an edge case.
Kevin 13:54 on 2024-02-08 Permalink
The most recent outbreak in Quebec was in 2011, at more than 700 cases. At the time it was the largest measles epidemic in North America since 2001.
https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/207/6/990/898747
Kate 14:23 on 2024-02-08 Permalink
Thank you, Kevin. I don’t think I was aware of that one.
Tee Owe 16:05 on 2024-02-08 Permalink
Answering Kate’s Q – When I was a kid (I may be older than you), there were no vaccines against measles – you caught it, you were sick for a few days (most people), you were immune thereafter – same for mumps and chickenpox. I don’t know enough to be able to say that being infected as a child gives better protection, but I suspect that’s the case. Adult infections with ‘childhood diseases’ are generally more serious. Like Ephraim says, vaccination as an adult is a booster, so do it – whether or not you had measles as a kid.
Kate 16:34 on 2024-02-08 Permalink
Tee Owe, when I checked recently with a nurse practitioner about immunizations, I was given a tetanus shot because I hadn’t had one in ages, but she said the policy was that if you’d never had an MMR vaccination (which I hadn’t, having also been around before they existed), the assumption was you’d either have had those diseases, or been exposed enough to develop immunity. So I didn’t get one.
I don’t remember mumps being around at all when I was a kid, although I had measles and chicken pox. Rubella I’m not sure about.
Tee Owe 16:53 on 2024-02-08 Permalink
Kate – I had mumps too, consider myself immune – my ex-wife had mumps as an adult, way worse than what I experienced as a kid. I too consider myself immune to measles but with all of these reports about increasing incidence I will ask my doctor – better safe than sorry.
jeather 17:52 on 2024-02-08 Permalink
Part of the reason people stayed immune, probably, is that they were around measles and chicken pox etc, so the immunity didn’t wane. That doesn’t mean you’re not immune anymore, though. They can do a blood titer if they have to — I was in a group that got just one shot, so when I needed proof of 2 for school they offered titer or a booster.
They no longer suggest Diphtheria-tetanus every decade, just once at 50.
Kevin 21:47 on 2024-02-08 Permalink
Tee Owe
“I don’t know enough to be able to say that being infected as a child gives better protection, but I suspect that’s the case.”
No, there is no evidence of this whatsoever.
Diseases make you sick and repeated exposure makes you worse.
The adage “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” doesn’t apply to biology.
MarcG 10:09 on 2024-02-09 Permalink
I’m not a science person but I’ve read a lot and my understanding is that these things can all be true:
It is always better to not be infected by a virus at all (what Kevin said)
If a vaccine is available it is better to get a vaccine vs getting infected (what everyone says)
If you are unfortunately infected and are lucky enough not to die, the infection could provide better protection against future infections compared to a vaccine. (what Tee Owe said)
Unfortunately the 3rd point has been used to justify the forced-infection Covid policy by twisting it into “infections are mostly harmless and actually beneficial”, which nullifies the first 2 points.
JaneyB 13:00 on 2024-02-09 Permalink
Interesting. As Gen-X and from Manitoba, MMR was actually compulsory to attend school (itself compulsory). This is still the case. Measles is just insanely contagious. Still, the Rubella part sometimes didn’t take perfectly for my cohort so screening was standard as a young adult. Chickenpox had no vaccine so everyone got it. I’ve had boosters for MMR and DPT since then because, why not.