Our suburban Taliban have yet to begin to shoot at us, but they may be hatching biological weapons here and there:
<blockquote><http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/355/5/447> NEJM 355.5 (3 August 2006):447-455
Implications of a 2005 Measles Outbreak in Indiana for Sustained Elimination of Measles in the United States
Amy A. Parker, M.S.N., M.P.H., Wayne Staggs, M.S., Gustavo H. Dayan, M.D., Ismael R. Ortega-Sánchez, Ph.D., Paul A. Rota, Ph.D., Luis Lowe, M.S., Patricia Boardman, B.S., R.N., Robert Teclaw, D.V.M., Ph.D., Charlene Graves, M.D., and Charles W. LeBaron, M.D.
ABSTRACT
Background Measles was declared eliminated from the United States in 2000 but remains endemic worldwide. In 2005, a 17-year-old unvaccinated girl who was incubating measles returned from Romania, creating the largest documented outbreak of measles in the United States since 1996.
Methods We conducted a case-series investigation, molecular typing of viral isolates, surveys of rates of vaccination coverage, interviews regarding attitudes toward vaccination, and cost surveys.
Results Approximately 500 persons attended a gathering with the index patient one day after her return home. Approximately 50 lacked evidence of measles immunity, of whom 16 (32 percent) acquired measles at the gathering. During the six weeks after the gathering, a total of 34 cases of measles were confirmed. Of the patients with confirmed measles, 94 percent were unvaccinated, 88 percent were less than 20 years of age, and 9 percent were hospitalized. Of the 28 patients who were 5 to 19 years of age, 71 percent were home-schooled. Vaccine failure occurred in two persons. The virus strain was genotype D4, which is endemic in Romania. Although containment measures began after 20 persons were already infectious, measles remained confined mostly to children whose parents had refused to have them vaccinated, primarily out of concern for adverse events from the vaccine. Seventy-one percent of patients were from four households. Levels of measles-vaccination coverage in Indiana were 92 percent for preschoolers and 98 percent for sixth graders. Estimated costs of containing the disease were at least $167,685, including $113,647 at a hospital with an infected employee.
Conclusions This outbreak was caused by the importation of measles into a population of children whose parents had refused to have them vaccinated because of safety concerns about the vaccine. High vaccination levels in the surrounding community and low rates of vaccine failure averted an epidemic. Maintenance of high rates of vaccination coverage, including improved strategies of communication with persons who refuse vaccination, is necessary to prevent future outbreaks and sustain the elimination of measles in the United States.</blockquote>
<blockquote><http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/editorial/15739795.htm> Posted on Thu, Oct. 12, 2006 The immunization gap
Vaccines for common childhood diseases may have done as much as any medical advance to prevent suffering and disability. But sadly, many parents don't understand their importance.
According to the Indiana Department of Health, nearly one-fourth of Indiana's 2-year-olds have not received all the immunizations they need to protect them from polio, hepatitis B, mumps, measles and whooping cough.
In the days before immunizations, mumps, measles and chicken pox were childhood rites of passage. But for a few children, complications left them permanently disabled or even dead.
Although Indiana schools require children to be immunized before enrolling, parents can receive vaccination waivers for religious or medical reasons. Even those students are somewhat protected because of what epidemiologists call "herd immunity." Surrounded by vaccinated classmates, they're unlikely to be exposed.
But a resurgence in reported sufferers of whooping cough across the country since the mid-1980s underscores the risk of relying on chance to protect children. There were 105 people with whooping cough reported in Indiana in 2003, including 10 in LaGrange County and five in Steuben County.
The American Medical Association released a study this week suggesting that less stringent rules on immunization to enter school may be related to the rise in reported cases.
Several young children are admitted to Lutheran Children's Hospital each year with severe whooping cough, some of them so sick that they must be placed on ventilators in the intensive care unit, said Carmen Debruce, the hospital's outreach director. She said the families of the sick children are also at risk because the disease is highly contagious.
She said some families don't immunize their children for religious reasons, while others believe that the immunizations themselves are dangerous or unnecessary.
So much unnecessary suffering has prompted state and local health officials to make immunizations free and easily accessible.
But it's up to parents to bring their children there, and to make sure that they receive all the recommended doses to be completely protected.</blockquote>
That's another reason why white leftists must bid farewell to Zabar's and go into the wilderness to spread the word: e.g., immunization helps. -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>