Why Measles?

[Rebel_Giratina]

Watching Gone With the wind as a teenage Civil War buff was my "Thank God for vaccines!" moment. Before then, I thought all those shots were just so that you could grow up healthy and strong. When I saw that one scene in GWTW, I thought, "Wait - you can die from the measles?" Hit me like a ton of bricks.

This is why the anti-vaccination propagandists burn my bacon. Denying life-saving health interventions just because they're afraid their kids will turn up damaged is, well, words fail me. Or, shall I say, I can't say the words that come to mind on this forum. /rant off

 

[kevikens]

Watching Gone With the wind as a teenage Civil War buff was my "Thank God for vaccines!" moment. Before then, I thought all those shots were just so that you could grow up healthy and strong. When I saw that one scene in GWTW, I thought, "Wait - you can die from the measles?" Hit me like a ton of bricks.

This is why the anti-vaccination propagandists burn my bacon. Denying life-saving health interventions just because they're afraid their kids will turn up damaged is, well, words fail me. Or, shall I say, I can't say the words that come to mind on this forum. /rant off

I hope other readers knew what I was referring to with that remark.

 

[James B White]

I skimmed the thread, but has anyone mentioned yet the difference between measles as a child and measles as an adult? If caught by an adult, it's similar to other childhood diseases in that it's more serious. From the CDC:

"Measles can be a serious [sic] in all age groups. However, children younger than 5 years of age and adults older than 20 years of age are more likely to suffer from measles complications... Some people may suffer from severe complications, such as pneumonia (infection of the lungs) and encephalitis (swelling of the brain). They may need to be hospitalized and could die."

So country boys who had been relatively isolated in childhood and hadn't caught measles before age 20 were facing a higher risk of complications than those who had already caught it between age 5 and 20.

 

[huskerblitz]

I skimmed the thread, but has anyone mentioned yet the difference between measles as a child and measles as an adult? If caught by an adult, it's similar to other childhood diseases in that it's more serious. From the CDC:

"Measles can be a serious [sic] in all age groups. However, children younger than 5 years of age and adults older than 20 years of age are more likely to suffer from measles complications... Some people may suffer from severe complications, such as pneumonia (infection of the lungs) and encephalitis (swelling of the brain). They may need to be hospitalized and could die."

So country boys who had been relatively isolated in childhood and hadn't caught measles before age 20 were facing a higher risk of complications than those who had already caught it between age 5 and 20.

Not with measles, but I mentioned this point with chicken pox, where the same can be true.

 

[Littlestown]

I skimmed the thread, but has anyone mentioned yet the difference between measles as a child and measles as an adult? If caught by an adult, it's similar to other childhood diseases in that it's more serious. From the CDC:

"Measles can be a serious [sic] in all age groups. However, children younger than 5 years of age and adults older than 20 years of age are more likely to suffer from measles complications... Some people may suffer from severe complications, such as pneumonia (infection of the lungs) and encephalitis (swelling of the brain). They may need to be hospitalized and could die."

So country boys who had been relatively isolated in childhood and hadn't caught measles before age 20 were facing a higher risk of complications than those who had already caught it between age 5 and 20.

...reported cases of measles and 551 deaths of Union soldiers mainly from respiratory and cerebral brain involvement ...

... many young recruits who had lived their lives in rural areas where they were never exposed to all of the diseases that lingered and thrived in Civil War camps. ...

Agreed. Some of those points were mentioned but their importance definitely need to be emphasized. Thank you.

 

[Northern Light]

Measles could also cause serious side effects, such as blindness and deafness. In her Little House books, Laura Ingalls relates that Wilder's sister Mary become blind following an attack of measles, and this was not uncommon. People were usually kept in a darkened room while the disease ran its course.
Edit: I was in error when I posted this. Although measles can cause blindness and deafness, that is not what caused Mary Ingalls' blindness.

 

[huskerblitz]

Measles could also cause serious side effects, such as blindness and deafness. In her Little House books, Laura Ingalls relates that Wilder's sister Mary become blind following an attack of measles, and this was not uncommon. People were usually kept in a darkened room while the disease ran its course.

I thought it was scarlet fever?

Regardless, your point is still well taken. Complications would further hamper full recovery or recovery at all.

 

[Littlestown]

I thought it was scarlet fever?

Regardless, your point is still well taken. Complications would further hamper full recovery or recovery at all.

Maybe neither. But you are correct that scarlet fever has most often been blamed for Mary Ingalls' blindness.

"The disease that Mary Ingalls probably had is called meningoencephalitis (muh-NING-go-en-sef-ah-LY-tis). It can be caused by bacteria and treated with antibiotics, but Tarini said it's likely she had the viral kind, which can be spread by mosquitoes and ticks. ...

Historian William Anderson, author of Laura Ingalls Wilder biography, said various theories about Mary Ingalls' blindness have been floating around for years. The new analysis provides credible evidence that it was caused by something other than scarlet fever, but it does nothing to discredit the books, Anderson said.

"From a literary standpoint, scarlet fever just seemed to be the most convenient way" to describe Mary's illness, he said."

Full article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...fever-little-house-brain-fever_n_2615195.html

 

[peteanddelmar]

Here's a very good book that describes what soldiers went through just trying to keep themselves healthy during the war.
Nature's Civil War: Common Soldiers and the Environment in 1862 Virginia (Civil War America) by Kathryn Shively Meier
"In the Shenandoah Valley and Peninsula Campaigns of 1862, Union and Confederate soldiers faced unfamiliar and harsh environmental conditions--strange terrain, tainted water, swarms of flies and mosquitoes, interminable rain and snow storms, and oppressive heat--which contributed to escalating disease and diminished morale. Using soldiers' letters, diaries, and memoirs, plus a wealth of additional personal accounts, medical sources, newspapers, and government documents, Kathryn Shively Meier reveals how these soldiers strove to maintain their physical and mental health by combating their deadliest enemy--nature.
Meier explores how soldiers forged informal networks of health care based on prewar civilian experience and adopted a universal set of self-care habits, including boiling water, altering camp terrain, eradicating insects, supplementing their diets with fruits and vegetables, constructing protective shelters, and most controversially, straggling. In order to improve their health, soldiers periodically had to adjust their ideas of manliness, class values, and race to the circumstances at hand. While self-care often proved superior to relying upon the inchoate military medical infrastructure, commanders chastised soldiers for testing army discipline, ultimately redrawing the boundaries of informal health care." http://www.amazon.com/dp/1469610760/?tag=civwaraca-20

Do you mean they straggled to help their health?
Or did it mean their buddies let them straggle when they were sick?

 

[peteanddelmar]

I think of things like this when I read that Grant was so avid to end the war as quickly as possible because he knew how fatal the camps were to the men.

Yes the West Pointers new as a whole that they needed to keep men moving. And they encouraged there vets to help the new recruits learn how to live in camp.

 

[MaryDee]

Most "childhood diseases" are much more severe in adults. I had measles at age 22 and was seriously ill for several weeks. I had to take incompletes in all my courses in my first semester, and was left seriously weakened (and therefore subjected to lots of colds) for most of the rest of the school year. Yes, people die from measles. It, as much as smallpox. had a lot to do with wiping out (or nearly so) many American Indian tribes.

I have no idea why I didn't catch measles as a child; I did have a couple of illnesses that were diagnosed as measles but obviously weren't. The docs in charge of me at my age 22 bout theorized that one of them was probably German measles (rubella) and the other might have been roseola, a lesser disease that causes a rash.

When the measles vaccine first came out, I made an appointment for my first child (then aged 3). The day of the appointment he broke out with high fever (105*F) and a rash--guess what! He was a mighty sick kid for over a week!

I too am most thankful for vaccines! Just before the Salk vaccine came out in the mid 1950's, several of my friends died of polio during a big epidemic among college students. When the vaccine arrived at the student health service, the line to get it extended across campus. I fail to understand why some people risk the lives of their precious children by withholding vaccines!

 

[Northern Light]

I thought it was scarlet fever?

Regardless, your point is still well taken. Complications would further hamper full recovery or recovery at all.

You are correct! When I went back to check, I realized that my memory isn't as good as I thought. I was just coming back to correct my error. Sorry about that!

 

[huskerblitz]

You are correct! When I went back to check, I realized that my memory isn't as good as I thought. I was just coming back to correct my error. Sorry about that!

Ha! No problem. I teach middle school so someone is always reading that book around school.

 

[ole]

Mr. White beat me to it.

The so-called childhood diseases affect adults quite differently. Had a boss that picked up chicken pox when he was 36. Danged near killed him. While a kid can go back to school next week, an adult might be hospitalized for that same week.

In the not so old days, mothers would hear that a schoolmate had chicken pox. They would bring their kids over to play so as to get the kids infected. They knew that it was best to get the disease and get it over with. So yes, adults can die from mumps, measles, chicken pox, scarlet fever.

 

[Northern Light]

Maybe neither. But you are correct that scarlet fever has most often been blamed for Mary Ingalls' blindness.

"The disease that Mary Ingalls probably had is called meningoencephalitis (muh-NING-go-en-sef-ah-LY-tis). It can be caused by bacteria and treated with antibiotics, but Tarini said it's likely she had the viral kind, which can be spread by mosquitoes and ticks. ...

Historian William Anderson, author of Laura Ingalls Wilder biography, said various theories about Mary Ingalls' blindness have been floating around for years. The new analysis provides credible evidence that it was caused by something other than scarlet fever, but it does nothing to discredit the books, Anderson said.

"From a literary standpoint, scarlet fever just seemed to be the most convenient way" to describe Mary's illness, he said."

Full article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...fever-little-house-brain-fever_n_2615195.html

As I just explained to Huskerblitz, I am incorrect and my memory failed me. Sorry.

 

[Northern Light]

Mr. White beat me to it.

The so-called childhood diseases affect adults quite differently. Had a boss that picked up chicken pox when he was 36. Danged near killed him. While a kid can go back to school next week, an adult might be hospitalized for that same week.

In the not so old days, mothers would hear that a schoolmate had chicken pox. They would bring their kids over to play so as to get the kids infected. They knew that it was best to get the disease and get it over with. So yes, adults can die from mumps, measles, chicken pox, scarlet fever.

There is also a re-occurence of whopping cough in adults who had the vaccine as children. Apparently the vaccine does not last as long as other vaccines. In any case it can be very dangerous and potentially life threatening for adults, so we had to be vaccinated again last year.

 

[Littlestown]

Do you mean they straggled to help their health?
Or did it mean their buddies let them straggle when they were sick?

?

 

[donna]

My husband had the mumps when he was 17 years old. His younger brothers had it and he caught from them. He almost died from them. All childhood diseases are much more severe in adults.

When I was 8 years old I got the measles. I was quite ill and out of school for 3 weeks. The eye doctor said later that the measles contributed to my lost in eyesight. I am not blind but have very strong corrections.

 

[18thVirginia]

Most "childhood diseases" are much more severe in adults. I had measles at age 22 and was seriously ill for several weeks. I had to take incompletes in all my courses in my first semester, and was left seriously weakened (and therefore subjected to lots of colds) for most of the rest of the school year. Yes, people die from measles. It, as much as smallpox. had a lot to do with wiping out (or nearly so) many American Indian tribes.

I have no idea why I didn't catch measles as a child; I did have a couple of illnesses that were diagnosed as measles but obviously weren't. The docs in charge of me at my age 22 bout theorized that one of them was probably German measles (rubella) and the other might have been roseola, a lesser disease that causes a rash.

When the measles vaccine first came out, I made an appointment for my first child (then aged 3). The day of the appointment he broke out with high fever (105*F) and a rash--guess what! He was a mighty sick kid for over a week!

I too am most thankful for vaccines! Just before the Salk vaccine came out in the mid 1950's, several of my friends died of polio during a big epidemic among college students. When the vaccine arrived at the student health service, the line to get it extended across campus. I fail to understand why some people risk the lives of their precious children by withholding vaccines!

I had mild cases of lots of childhood illnesses, but a severe case of measles. Can't imagine having that as an adult, especially a young adult male just away from home and not having good water or food or anyone to care for you when you're suddenly hit with 104* fever.

 

[kevikens]

Most "childhood diseases" are much more severe in adults. I had measles at age 22 and was seriously ill for several weeks. I had to take incompletes in all my courses in my first semester, and was left seriously weakened (and therefore subjected to lots of colds) for most of the rest of the school year. Yes, people die from measles. It, as much as smallpox. had a lot to do with wiping out (or nearly so) many American Indian tribes.

I have no idea why I didn't catch measles as a child; I did have a couple of illnesses that were diagnosed as measles but obviously weren't. The docs in charge of me at my age 22 bout theorized that one of them was probably German measles (rubella) and the other might have been roseola, a lesser disease that causes a rash.

When the measles vaccine first came out, I made an appointment for my first child (then aged 3). The day of the appointment he broke out with high fever (105*F) and a rash--guess what! He was a mighty sick kid for over a week!

I too am most thankful for vaccines! Just before the Salk vaccine came out in the mid 1950's, several of my friends died of polio during a big epidemic among college students. When the vaccine arrived at the student health service, the line to get it extended across campus. I fail to understand why some people risk the lives of their precious children by withholding vaccines!

As the OP, the reason why I bought up this topic was that my daughter is expecting, twins, and has sent me a notice that I have get vaccinated for shingles, whopping cough, flu and pneumonia before I get to hold the newborns. I guess she has no qualms about vaccinations. That got me started on thinking about Civil War soldiers and that "Gone With the Wind" death from measles. By the way I had said that as a child everybody got those "childhood" illnesses and I never once heard of anybody dying from them, but polio was a very, very different matter. Every summer we heard of neighborhoods kids getting it and if they were "lucky" they would spend the rest of their lives in an iron lung (look up that one, young folks). When the Salk vaccine came out in the mid 50's there was a stampede to get those three shots. Just to be safe I got the sugar cube, Sabin, vaccination in the early 60's to make sure. I wonder if people a hundred years from now will be wondering how we survived without the medical miracles that have yet to come that we can only speculate about, just as we wonder about how the Civil War generation managed to survive without ours.