Measles … I don’t understand!

We're just waiting for someone to reminisce fondly about Bring Your Own Rat plague parties, and how the Black Death wasn't so bad if you caught it early enough.

"My mum's generation had 'measles parties', like we had chicken pox when we were younger."

Well I was a child in the 60''s and can't recall anybody ever doing this. My perfectly healthy sister contracted measles and nearly died. she was in hospital for 6 weeks.

Naomi Klein has a great deal to say on anti vax pedlars in her recent book for those interested. Worth a read.

The single vaccines were pulled because they are less effective than the MMR. I'm all for a bit of government bashing but the return of measles to the UK is 100% the fault of Andrew Wakefield and the hypocritical anti vaxers most of whom were vaccinated themselves and are happy to use the herd immunity of other people's children to protect their own but won't return the favour by getting their kids vaccinated, only now because of so many stupid selfish people there is no real herd immunity so all the anti vaxers can look forward to explaining to their kids who survive why they decided to put their lives at risk and/or why they risked there long term health over discredited bs

This happened to me as well. Measles aged 8 followed by recurring tonsillitis about 4 times a year, and tonsillectomy at 12. Never made the connection before.

Measles can trigger what is known as “immune amnesia” - your immune system ceases to recognise pathogens it has previously encountered, including from immunisation.

When people say 'one man can't change the world' they never heard of Andrew Wakefield. He moved to America and has continued to have a successful career and still peddles this shit.

Its unlikely we would've seen the spike in measles that the govt not pulled the single measles vaccine either. If people were worried about MMR they still would've had choice of single vaccine which a lot would've taken instead. My eldest kids were young when all that palaver was going on and I remember clearly that many other parents didn't want MMR but would've happily taken the single vaccine But it was only the rich could afford to get them done privately

That sounds rough, I had measles and mumps (which did put me in hospital think I was 3 at the time) but several years apart. I am very happy I avoided Whooping cough as it sounds awful.

Being hospitalised does make you quite pro vaccine I think!

It is very very very unlikely that she will get the measles if she has already received a vaccination against them.

I'm so cross at that (subsequently discredited) doctor who put together a report years and years ago claiming (again, this has proven to be a false claim) that the MMR vaccination was linked to developing autism. Dangerous dangerous man!!!

We wouldn't be seeing a spike in these illnesses I honestly believe had that report never been written.

See I had that as well. A few months after the measles. And I had received the whooping cough vaccine also. My brother's on the other hand caught none of them. Strangely since the year ( aged between 5-6 ) I got measles mumps whooping cough and chickenpox I've never really been ill with any infection since

My Mum, had Whooping cough very badly as a little child {5} She has really bad asthma as an adult because of the Whooping cough exposure when she was young. {That's what the hospital told her, anyway}. Far better to be vaccinated.

Anti vaxxers can take liberties with their OWN health, but where children are concerned, it's not fair to put their lives at risk by not vaccinating them as children.

Polio parties? For crying out loud! Polio before vaccines was the childhood disease most parent feared their child getting it. It's highly contagious and killed and crippled small kids in their millions.

I thought I had read enough stupidity about "measles and chicken pox parties", but this takes it to new levels by spreading dangerous crap against vaccines.

@OhTediosity perhaps I wasn't clear?
I shared what 2 friends born in 1950 have told me: That there was a range of parental responses, even to the very serious disease of Polio. No, neither friend was taken to a 'party' but they did hear of it mentioned among some adults then.
1 friend was not vacinnated & was lucky. 1, I do not know but assume he wasn't & was unlucky. He was my Partner & I'm well aware of the lifelong shadow of that year in an iron lung both physically & mentally, no documentary needed.

I had both my kids vaccinated as babies despite the MMR 'ASD scare' then.
We all had Covid jabs, despite the then hysteria (& speed of roll out worries?)
I decided any risk was less than the disease if we were 'unlucky' as some were.

My son just had bad Myocarditis. The first thing 3 cardiologists asked me was: 'when did he have his last covid vaccine & which one did he have?'. The NHS is, I imagine, keeping data on such things (so vaccines can be updated/ tweaked?)
His vaccination was a while ago so it is unlikely it is linked in any way - anyway I'd still rather take a vaccine than a chance. With Measles, Polio, Covid. All of it.
We are fortunate to live in a a time & place where they are freely available.

Also, people who had whooping cough as babies or children are more likely to develop asthma when they are older.

Not true of actual measles. Before the vaccination existed, little girls were sometimes deliberately exposed to GERMAN measles (rubella) so that they would be immune by reproductive age, as it is usually a fairly mild disease for children, but has a high risk of causing birth defects in unborn babies. But measles is a much nastier disease for the individual, and one wishes to avoid it if at all possible. Vaccination usually does prevent it, and, even when it doesn't prevent it altogether, usually makes it much milder,

Yep I put German measles in my post. The problem was as Miss Marple explained in some detail, Agatha Christie worked as a dispenser at UCLH in ww2 and knew her onions, that it causes birth defects if a pregnant woman catches it. The murder victim knew she had german measles and still went out to a massive social function and passed the German measles on to the film star who later murdered her. Film stars baby was born with severe disabilities.

It's invariably fatal. It's a delayed onset progressive brain condition.

I used to know someone who had seen a case (worked in paediatric ICU in a large London hospital, initial disease contracted before the family moved to the UK). It's horrible.

It's also pretty rare.

But there are no known cases at all (worldwide) arising from any attenuated vaccine strain since the 1960s

To make it worse, the protection from the whooping cough vaccine doesn’t actually last long, particularly with the modern version of it - most teenagers and above no longer get any protection from their childhood whooping cough vaccinations. Various other countries offer boosters at around the age of 11 or 12 (and in the US they advise boosters every 10 years), but not the UK. This lack of protection means it can spread far more easily than it should, including to the babies who can be killed by it. Also, it may be considerably less likely to kill you when you are older, but it can still make you feel extremely ill for several weeks, is extremely contagious, and can even cause severe stress incontinence, hernias, pneumonia and even a collapsed lung, as the cough is violent, uncontrollable and debilitating (and goes on and on - another name being used for it is the 100-day cough…).

Thank you doginatent for your detective work. I don't normally get cross about misinformation, but honestly the thought people might read this and take their kids to measles party, is just worrying.
I'll say it one more before I head into work: measles remains a very serious and dangerous illness. If you don't vaccinate your kids, make sure you tell them, so they can choose to get the vaccine when they are older. If you don't vaccinate your kids, you put them at risk of permanent disability and potentially death.

I'd be wary of this. My mum was a fit and healthy kid. Suffered permanent sight damage and told me many times she felt extremely ill. So dieing isn't the only thing to be worried about. The effects can be major and life long

Kids have died from Whooping cough which is an absolute disgrace given its a vaccination the mother can get during pregnancy. My partner is old enough to remember having it as a child pre vaccine and says its horrific.

You’re not immune to catching something because you’ve had a jab. She can still catch it. It should just lessen her symptoms/reaction if she does get it

I'm wondering if the measles parties that I remember being dragged too to "help boost the vaccine efficency" was German measles (rubella) and if the authors of those articles are making the same mistake as I might have but either way they were only for the vaccinated

The oral version (given on a sugar lump) was withdrawn from NHS in 2004. Everyone has had the injectable since then.

This is a good thing, as the oral version shed through faeces, and could occasionally produce the actual disease. Which was mild in most, but produced appalling effects in the unlucky few (striking both those previously in good health, not just those with other medical conditions)