Measles -- March 19, 2024

Locator: 46801MEASLES.

Reposting from one day ago:

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Measles

Folks who think Florida's response to current measles epidemic is the right way to do things need to re-read the history of measles in the US.

The vaccine took about a decade to develop, from the mid-50s to mid-60s. Not readily available until mid- to late-60s.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, nearly twice as many children died from measles as from polio. The vaccine Enders developed was based on the Edmonston strain of attenuated live measles virus, which was named for 11-year-old David Edmonston, the Fay student from whom Peebles had taken the culture that led to the virus's cultivation. 

Nearly twice as many children died from measles as from polio. Wow. Florida's response: parents know best.

In the mid-20th century, measles was particularly devastating in West Africa, where child mortality rate was 50 percent before age 5, and the children were struck with the type of rash and other symptoms common prior to 1900 in England and other countries. The first trial of a live attenuated measles vaccine was undertaken in 1960 by the British paediatrician David Morley in a village near Ilesha, Nigeria; in case he could be accused of exploiting the Nigerian population, Morley included his own four children in the study. The encouraging results led to a second study of about 450 children in the village and at the Wesley Guild Hospital in Ilesha.

Following another epidemic, a larger trial was undertaken in September and October 1962, in New York City with the assistance of the WHO: 131 children received the live Enders-attenuated Edmonston B strain plus gamma globulin, 130 children received a "further attenuated" vaccine without gamma globulin, and 173 children acted as control subjects for both groups.

As also shown in the Nigerian trial, the trial confirmed that the "further attenuated" vaccine was superior to the Edmonston B vaccine, and caused significantly fewer instances of fever and diarrhea. 2,000 children in the area were vaccinated with the further-attenuated vaccine.

Look at the mortality rate. Florida's response: parents know what is best for their children.

The measles vaccine -- and now the MMR vaccine -- has almost no side effects; one of the safest; one of the best. Parents know best. 

The measles vaccine: perhaps one of the best vaccines ever developed --

• 100% safe;
• 100% effective;
• two and done.

While typing that, CNBC had an advertisement on "women's health." Oh, give me a break. Maybe making sure little girls got their measles vaccine would be more effective. After decades of research and billions of dollars, breast cancer mortality pretty much unchanged and uterine cancer surging. 

Gotta love the anti-vaxxers.

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Today: Everybody's Reading The Blog

After posting the blog above, the following popped up today: