CNN) — More people have been infected with measles in the United States during the first four months of this year than have been infected in the first four months of the past 18 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Data released Thursday reveal a dramatic rise in measles outbreaks. Health officials say 13 outbreaks and 129 cases have been recorded this year, according to the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
I have before written on the problem of the parents who have bought into the idea that they should not vaccinate their children because vaccinations are no longer needed. Worse are the parents who knowingly rely on herd immunity to keep their children safe from childhood diseases. Then there are those parents who claim to play the odds saying that not vaccinating is safer than vaccinating. At the bottom of the group are those parents who have decided that one random study means that children who are vaccinated are more prone to autism despite all the studies disproving that one study. And, in their deluded belief they willingly endanger their children.
And, sure enough, measles rates are going up again. And, with the increase in the measles rate, there is another, and worse, danger.
Schuchat says it’s impossible to predict what the coming months will bring, but she thinks more people could die from measles. "Unfortunately, it’s probably just a matter a time."
Sadly, many still will not listen and will continue to endanger their children and/or themselves. If you are one of those people, please do not use the word Christian about your non-vaccination beliefs.
It’s not so much the measles themselves, though they’re itchy and miserable and you feel awful (I’m old enough to have had them as a child), it’s the complications that can arise if you do get measles. If you’re pregnant, catching measles can lead to losing the pregnancy, stillbirth, or premature birth; otherwise, you can end up with an ear infection or two, bronchitis, pneumonia, and/or conjunctivitis; if you’re a small child, you may have seizures from the accompanying fever; and if you’re really unlucky you may get hepatitis, meningitis, or encephalitis. According to the National Health Service in the UK, one in 5,000 cases results in death. This is not one of the times when “the cure is worse than the disease,” no matter what anyone says.