Measles

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chutzpah44

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I notice there is concern about a measles outbreak. What I don't understand is that when i was young, late 50's early 60's, everyone got measles, mumps and chickenpox. It was just part of growing up and you missed school for weeks even if your brother and sister got it. So why all the fuss now?
 
The older you get, the worse measles can affect you. In some cases, it may be life threatening, so an outbreak is something that the public should be warned about.
 
You get different kinds and the so-called wild-measles can be quite dangerous.
 
chutzpah44 said:
I notice there is concern about a measles outbreak. What I don't understand is that when i was young, late 50's early 60's, everyone got measles, mumps and chickenpox. It was just part of growing up and you missed school for weeks even if your brother and sister got it. So why all the fuss now?
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Actually, that was probably german measles, which isn't as bad. Measles can be pretty nasty.
 
CathJ said:
Actually, that was probably german measles, which isn't as bad. Measles can be pretty nasty.
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No you got both measles and German measles. There was no shots at that time. You just knew you would get it and as far as I remember no one at my school ever died or anything.
 
chutzpah44 said:
I notice there is concern about a measles outbreak. What I don't understand is that when i was young, late 50's early 60's, everyone got measles, mumps and chickenpox. It was just part of growing up and you missed school for weeks even if your brother and sister got it. So why all the fuss now?
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It's the age old argument. When you were a kid, you didn't wear a helmit when you took a ride on your bike, electrical outlets weren't 'safety plugged' etc etc.
I call it the 'cottonwool effect' hehe.

Being serious though, I guess warning people (in this case) is just as effective as telling them nothing. Has anyone who heard the warning done anything other than the normal since hearing it? Sure, when you notice symptoms you need to stop, drop and think "hey maybe it's measles". What's the difference though, when you present with symptoms you'll go to a doctor and the doctor will figure it out, heck it's what you pay the doctor for.

Maybe in less fortunate communities where people don't rush to the doctor easily this serves as a reminder of the measles symptoms and to look out for them, so it might have more of an impact there...

Or am I missing the plot entirely?
 
Pregnant ladies can have deformed babies, and we sure have a lot of pregnant ladies in this country.
 
Mila said:
Pregnant ladies can have deformed babies, and we sure have a lot of pregnant ladies in this country.
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Sure, but will the warning make them stay home instead of going out or take some other kind of preventative measure? Even with the warning, when exactly do they use this knowledge to their advantage?
 
Lazy said:
Sure, but will the warning make them stay home instead of going out or take some other kind of preventative measure? Even with the warning, when exactly do they use this knowledge to their advantage?
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Maybe the people who see red dots will go to the doctor and stay away from pregnant ladies?
 
chutzpah44 said:
No you got both measles and German measles. There was no shots at that time. You just knew you would get it and as far as I remember no one at my school ever died or anything.
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I had both as well and I'm still alive.
 
I had the Mumps and I lost my hearing overnight. They didn't have the vaccine then, but now they do (MMR) but I am reluclant to vaccinate my family because of the autism risk. So damned if you do, damned if you dont.:(
 
I think considering we had a lot of people with swine flu etc etc. people are just freaked out. In any case, I'd rather be warned about measles, not knowing you have it can have serious health effects, e.g. blindness and for the men...sterile. Better to at least be suspicious if you have a funny looking rash going on.


Hosehead said:
I had the Mumps and I lost my hearing overnight. They didn't have the vaccine then, but now they do (MMR) but I am reluclant to vaccinate my family because of the autism risk. So damned if you do, damned if you dont.:(
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Happens to VERY FEW people, not vaccinating is taking a larger risk.
 
My school had a teacher that got measles, 2 days later the health dep. sent people out and they vaccinated the whole school for free???

Only thing is, I got HORRIBLY ill 3 days later. It wasn't measles, but I had to write prelims with a headache, body aches, a throat so sore that I couldn't swallow anything. runny nose, my eyes were sore, the works. What irks me is some guy got a little too drunk on the weekend and missed his Geog prelim because he "wasn't feeling well" (read as hang over).
 
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