Why Measles?

[ole]

Diphtheria, whooping cough, tuberculosis, small pox and lockjaw shots immunizations reigned in the 40s. Of course, polio was the big scare. Infantile paralysis. The March of Dimes. Baby Sis got in on the 50s trials of the sugar cube. (That was Sabin, wasn't it?)

Nobody was much worried about their kids getting measles, chicken pox, scarlet fever and mumps. As mentioned earlier, the Mom's made sure their kids got them when they were kids.

Mumps, while not especially fatal to adults, it did result in an extended period of misery. In children mumps cause swelling of glands in your neck; in male adults, different glands swell. (Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink.) Misery.

 

[Northern Light]

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!

Sometimes children get a very mild dose of these so called childhood illnesses that does not create the immunity, so that they can get it again. My eldest son had chicken pox as a baby; three spots in all! His younger brother brought them home from nursery school a few years later, and he was covered from head to toe, as was the baby who was a few months old at the time. The oldest one got a mild case that was soon over, but the other two, oh my goodness!, especially the one in diapers!
Rubella is mild but equally dangerous to growing fetuses, causing death and birth defects. My mother-in-law lost a baby due to rubella.

 

[donna]

If you had chicken pox, they recommend you get the Shingles vaccination when you are older. Shingles is terrible. It is so painful.

 

[kevikens]

If you had chicken pox, they recommend you get the Shingles vaccination when you are older. Shingles is terrible. It is so painful.

I probably would not have gotten the shingles vaccine for myself, but for the grandchildren.....