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?

This is anecdata but this news article from this year references measles parties. Not sure how reliable it is. I guess we rely on people who were alive then to report back.

Anyway, these parties are a bad idea!

Measles parties were reportedly popular in the 50s and 60s, before the MMR vaccine was introduced. More recently, parents have reportedly hosted chickenpox parties so toddlers catch the illness early.

inews.co.uk/news/measles-parties-risk-children-life-2873278?srsltid=AfmBOoqbxcCxJ-WPsEBtAZm6cNCncwmkF29CuR1seRQH-SbPsCi4p7qz

I remember chicken pox parties ….I was born mid 60s …..I got measles at age 17….I was proper poorly for a couple of weeks

Tell that to my uncle, who was perfectly healthy and went blind from measles, or Roald Dahl's family after he lost his young daughter to measles.

Mor didn’t come in til late 80s I think? ….you could get a single measles jab from earlier though

I know I posted the Guardian link, but this morning I've been trying to track back the possible origins and sources for multiple journalistic articles that make the same claim, and a similar claim that's made on a wiki article on the topic.

The best origin seems to be an unreferenced throwaway line in a Associated Press article, as this uses the phrase that's been re-used largely verbatim by most subsequent articles (probably quoting each other). And it's likely that this origin may be from a lazy journalist not understanding the difference between German Measles (Rubella) and Measles, and skimming the title whilst overlooking the detail of period articles like this.

Measles took my dads hearing and left him deaf for life from being a perfectly normal toddler. He nearly died. My grandmother carried huge guilt her whole life for having gone to work and put him in the childcare facility where he'd caught it- (vaccinations weren't available then until a few years later). It was (and is) a terrifying disease for the unvaccinated, my Grandmother told me she waa scared and worried about it before my dad caught it, I don't think anyone wished it on their kid.

@bruffin

I think I would have been part of the post 1968 mass rollout as it was offered to all children over the age of 1. My older sisters would have been part of the school catch up programme.

I had measles when I was 2. It affected my eyes. I have little clarity of vision in one eye and will eventually go blind. The other eye’s not too clever either.

Vaccinate your kids, it’s not just a few spots.

I have a friend (mid 70's now) who tells me that there were 'measles parties'.
Also even Polio Parties (!). Her parents did not get her the jab as they were concerned about it at that time she said. She did not get Polio & was lucky. My other mid 70's friend also didn't get the jab back then but was not so lucky and ended up in an iron lung aged 7. For a year. Parents not encouraged to visit in those days. Just awful. I have given my two (now 17 & 19) every jab recommended & been grateful for the opportunity to do so.
I remember the fuss about the MMR 'causing ASD'. My two had the MMR.
They are both Austistic. It's genetic (very clearly in our case!).
We all had the Covid vaccines too. I judged the risk to be lower than the risk of a bad dose of the disease. Unlikly but I considered it an insurance.

my mum definitely remembers the 'parties' being done for German Measles/Rubella but not for Measles itself. (she's' 72 and grew up in Birmingham if its relevant)

Thanks for the detective work @DogInATent. I was a 50s child and had measles aged 5, certainly was no picnic, I remember the dark room and horrible rash. Was off school for nearly 3 weeks with it.

Don't recall 'measles parties' at all, definitely did hear about chicken pox parties though. My mother (trained as a nurse) would never have sent me to one anyway!

Measles is certainly not a disease you'd want to have with the added complication of immune 'amnesia' afterwards. Probably explains why so many of us kids were constantly off school with illness!

I think you are muddling this with ''German measles'' which is NOTHING like Measles.
Years ago they allegedly had German measles parties for girls.

Measles Proper can be a serious illness.

I had it as a child, and remember the doctor calling at the house daily, and the headache and scary rash that frightened me.

Measles is not something to be taken lightly, its also extremely contagious.

I got measles as a child and it affected my sight. Please don't assume it's a "mild" disease.

I am a 70s child and my mum's GP advised her NOT to vaccinate me against measles. I of course caught it🙄

Also had mumps and chicken pox.

I wasn't allowed near ANYONE!

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2001/jul/26/healthandwellbeing.health

Pre vaccine if they had parties for measles it was so they caught it young. Better to lose an infant than a teen.

Which was daft, considering the complications of measles are: encephalitis, deafness and blindness.
The Victorians isolated measles cases for a good reason.
I think you have muddled this up with chicken pox (though that also has complications).

NHS GPs in London are advising exactly this as infection rates are high.

Details on council website https://www.southwark.gov.uk/health-and-wellbeing/health-advice-and-support/measles-mumps-and-rubella-mmr-vaccination-in-southwark

Me neither. I think this poster is maybe thinking of chickenpox. I’m old enough to remember the school of thought that it was inevitable your child would get it, so better to get it over with early as most people then have lifetime immunity. Measles is an entirely different beast and l remember being hospitalised because of some nasty complications it caused.

People are getting muddled up with German measles which is nothing like Measles proper.

As for ''polio parties'' Cannot believe that anyone would have held those - Who would risk their child, and condemn them to paralysis or even the dreaded ''Iron Lung''?

I too had Measles , and it was grim. Felt really bad with it. It swept around the school like wildfire - kids usually vomited as a first sign. I was sick in the car, but Dad still dropped me off at school as parents worked.

I was sick later at school , and they phoned Dad who carried me to step grandparents house where I was looked after for what felt like ages.

I remember the spinning antique cowl on the chimney of the house opposite, and watched it for hours while lying in bed through sore eyes.

There absolutely were NOT Polio parties. This is absolute crap!

I think that was chickenpox, not measles. Having chickenpox once gives most people immunity so they used to expose their kids to get it over and done with. Measles is potentially deadly.

I was born in 1980 so I think I would have had the single vaccines as I don't believe the MMR existed then. I caught measles in the mid 90s as a teen, I don't think I've ever felt as ill before or since as I did with measles, including when I caught covid. I just remember lying there in the dark all day, couldn't read, couldn't watch tv as my eyes were too sore. I remember them being so red and painful that I could barely open them.
I was lucky and didn't suffer any lasting effects but it is horrendous to have. Its really not a disease to be complacent about.

I'm now immunosuppressed for unrelated reasons and it makes me so cross that some people are so blasé about vaccines and childhood diseases. These diseases still have the potential to be killers, we're just lucky that science has allowed us to minimise that risk.

When people talk about increased life expectancy these days, a big part of that is that less people die in infancy or early childhood which is a large part of what brought average life expectancy stats down.

Just take advantage of the science we have available and vaccinate your children, for their sake and for the sake of those children who, for medical reasons, can't be.

A baby in our family was hospitalised with measles, week before vaccination was due. Apparently in our area only about 70% of people vaccinate, need over 90% for herd immunity. A big immigrant community here who unfortunately don't trust officialdom. Probably justified in some of their countries of origin.

Measles is horrible; had it as a kid and was really poorly
Please please vaccinate