Measles … I don’t understand!

[dol1]

Dd has had the vaccine at 12 months. I’ve been watching news and there is apparently a ‘surge’ in cases now. The second vaccine for it isn’t until she’s 3… does this mean she could well get measles between now and then?

Chicken pox parties, yes. Measles? No. Parents were scared of measles because it could and did kill healthy children, and so quarantining infected kids was expected. A lass in my year at school was deaf due to measles. The current drop in vaccination is concerning.

My mum is 85. Her best friend died from measles and a classmate was left deaf. Nobody had measles parties. Nobody .

If you read some older children's novels you get a realistic idea of how measles was regarded. In "Tom's Midnight Garden" Tom is sent to stay with an aunt when his sibling has measles to maintain quarantine.

In "The family from one end street" a case of measles in the family means all the Ruggles children are in quarantine and do not even go to school.

Im probably around the same age as your mum. The measles vaccine was bought in 1968, not sure what age i was but queued up at school to get the vaccine as part of the catch up programme but because of an abnormal history of febrile convulsions in my family (now know as GEFS+) i was not allowed to have the vaccine. When i was 8 or 9 (early 70s) i caught measles and actually was really unwell. There is also evidence of a weakened immune system for up to 3 years after measles. I was really ill with recurring tonsilitis the year after and ended up having them removed

We had a letter from the local council to say that we were under quarantine.
Also children in measles were kept in the dark because of the worry that their sight would be affected. There were also plates in all the library books that if you had measles etc in the household you were not allowed to bring the books back for a while.
If you look at the numbers something like a 800 children died of measles in the 60s which doesnt always include deaths which are the consequences of measles.

This has to be utter bollocks. I've heard of this kind of thing for chicken pox but never measles. Even in books from the 1950s quarantine for measles is used as a plot device to get kids away from their parents so that they can have adventures, Tom's Midnight Garden, Enid Blyton etc.
Now, of course, quarantine isn't really a thing in the same way so authors simply kill of the parents of the child hero.

some things yes and other things no. But almost always to a lesser degree.

For example, whooping cough vaccine antibodies get through the placenta (not breastmilk) to offer SOME protection.

Breast milk antibodies are great for general health and immune system but is in no way effective for measles.

Measles is usually mild but it knocks out your immunity to other conditions.

asm.org/articles/2019/may/measles-and-immune-amnesia#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20most%20unique,a%20process%20called%20immune%20amnesia.

Is it not measles that resets the immune system and makes you vulnerable to other infections?

Xpost!

Wouldn't the broader context of this be "only measles and not small pox"?

Small pox had a fatality rate of at least 30% but is thankfully now eradicated because of comprehensive vaccinations.

Yes they did, but believe what you want

I like your point of reference!

Don't worry @dol1 you've done the right thing in getting the first one and it will offer good protection. The media posts are there not to scare you but to rightfully bring the conversation up and urge people to vaccinate their children, but understandably it worries all parents! X

The increase in cases is because less people are vaccinating:

vaccination rates are "well below" what is recommended by the World Health Organization…."On average about only 85% of children are arriving at school having had the two MMR doses," she said.
NHS figures show uptake of both MMR doses by the age of five was considered very low in some areas in 2022-23:
74% in London
83.7% in West Midlands
85.1% in the North West
WHO recommends two-dose vaccination coverage of at least 95% of the population because measles is highly infectious and spreads easily.
But in cities like Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and Nottingham only 75% of five-year-olds are in that position.

(https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68028530.amp)

it’s one to take seriously - by having a vaccination

MEASLES?
You all deliberately caught MEASLES? 😱😱😱

Are you sure you aren't talking about chicken pox?

People had chicken pox parties. Never heard of measles parties.

I loved reading Malory Towers as a child ❤️

Yep….
my son is immuno compromised and was in hospital last month, three cases of whooping cough on the ward. Two weeks ago I’m in Tesco and there’s a very obvious family of kids with whooping cough spreading it round the aisles! It’s so inconsiderate

It's not "dangerous nonsense" , it's a fact. Some people did want their children to get measles to get it done and over with before vaccines. You'd most likely get it at some point anyway

Isn't measles more dangerous for children- so why would people have measles parties? As opposed to chicken pox parties where it was thought it was better to have it younger.

It also isn't the same in every part of London - I think it depends on whether there are high rates if measles in each borough. So for example, my friends in Wandsworth and Lambeth did get the 2nd one early - we in Merton get the 2nd one at the usual age. Also doesn't help with the confusion!

i think that would have been German measles. People did that because of the devastating consequences of getting it whilst pregnant. Thankfully there’s a vaccine now.

Whereas these days, people pay for chicken pox vaccines. A completely normal childhood disease which our parents wanted us to catch young.
Future generations probably won't believe we had chicken pox parties, either.

@pepawepa. I was born in the 50s. I don't know anyone who deliberately exposed their childrento measles. It terrified parents as did polio. On the contrary anyone who didn't try to avoid exposure to even suspected measles would have been regarded as terminally stupid. I don't know if your ancestors were that stupid but suspect you are just muddled.

No, I think you'll find it was very common. Please refer to my comment above.