measles parties, do they still happen?

[hairymclary]

just wondering if anyone still does this kind of thing any more. Obviously there are fewer kids who actually get measles these days, so therefore fewer parties. but just wondering really

I seriously doubt it. Measles can be fatal so should be avoided where possible.
I have heard of chicken pox parties.

I have a little man with german measles and was just about to email my non-vax friend to see if she is wanting it

It'd be pretty irresponsible if they did. Personally I wouldn't deliberately expose my child to a potentially fatal illness.

blimey what an idea.

Let's hope not eh?

German measles is so dangerous for anyome in the early stages of pregnancy - please keep it away from other people!! Rubella vaccine has been available for so many years I can't understand why someone wouldn't have it. (I speak as an ex midwife who has seen a rubella damaged baby).

There are many reasons why some people don't have the vaccines.

My dd had measles at 7 months old, then she went on to be so ill from Meningitis which ahs left her with lots of problems

The doctors reckon she got meningitis as her immune system had been weaker due to measles

so no, no parties!

Measles measles I entirely agree with you on btw

Hell no!

The hearing in my mother's ear was permanently damaged by measles and she's had problems with it ever since - she's got a grommet in it and she's 65!

A friend of mine, who is in his 50s, got it at the age of 7, as you did, and wound up completely blind and deaf in one ear.

You've had lots of viewpoints, and tragic stories, but no-one seems to have actually answered the question. I've heard that some people do have illness parties, and they are usually low profile, but I am not sure which diseases are covered. Some of the anti-vaccine campaign groups have lists of interested people I believe, and put them in touch with each other.

Last week there were some reviews in the broadsheets of a new book that has come out called "Vaccine", which supposedly presents a rounded, as opposed to one-sided picture. The author is apparently honest about the times when vaccines have gone wrong, as well as the benefits. Maybe there is some info in there.

it is weird, ds and i were reading Beatrix Potter Tom Kitten story yesterday, and the mummy cat excusing her kittens' absence by saying they have the measles. I suppose the problem with measles is it can affect some people mildly, some people badly. I had it at 11 even though i was vaccinated. I had it really badly and was in hospital, but as far a s iknow luckily no permanent damage. I wouldn't recommend the parties at all, but it does seem like the perception of measles has changed over the years.

yeah, I think most of my friends had it when I was little and my brother and I went to my best friends house to catch it.
It was just another routine childhood illness and as we weren't vaccinated against it then it was best that we got it while we were youngish I suppose.

Didn't think so many people on here would be so anti it tbh!

whereabouts do you live btw flame???

Measles isn't jst a routine childhood illness. It is not like chickenpox where it is more harmful if you get it when you are older. It is better to never get measles, that is why we are vaccinated against it.
Globally 345000 people die every year from measles. This has fallen from 873000 in 1999 due to vaccinations.

There's a website somewhere (apparently) where you can register for measles/german measles/chickenpox parties etc.

Seriously few cases of measles around though. My view is that if the ds's haven't caught it by beginning of puberty (when it starts to be more likely to be nasty) I'll vaccinate. Not sure about deliberatley exposing to measles though as it can be nasty at any age, and the few cases around now mean it is entirely possible to get to puberty without being exposed.

Suggest you move near a Steiner school, they have a high % of unvaccinated children so are more likely to have outbreaks!

It is more likely to be nasty post childhood btw- which is why vaccinating babies, and not then providing a teen booster is a bit barking imo.

I have never been immunised against anything and neither have my dd's.

I wouldn't go to a measles party, might give a chicken pox party a go though, I had german measles as a child.

here we go - register for the diseases of your choice!

Hillary- have you had tetanus vaccination? Does it worry you if not (my younger 2 haven't had anything, but I do have a fear of tetanus- we live in a rural area).

Hi Tracee, no didn't have that either, nothing at all, I don't touch anything rusty, and if I cut myself I clean it immediatley under running water. I Kept horses and a Livery yard, always had my hands in dirt.

Love the website! Sounds like they post you ill children to lick

My friend was saying yesterday that the main issue with measles is it leads to vit a deficiency, which in turn causes all the other problems so if they do get measles then one of the most helpful plans of attack is to get as much vit a in them as possible.

I'm in Bournemouth Hairy... the non-vax friend did want it Much better for her daughters to get rubella now than as pregnant women.

3LF - I wasn't taking him to pregnant women - to one house, nowhere else. They in turn know the infectious periods before/after spots and will do likewise in that time.

yep- re vitamin A. I keep emergency cod liver oil in the house to dose up in case of exposure. In malnourished children intravenous vitamin A is an excellent treatment for measles- less clearcut on uses for well fed children though.

Thanks Hillary- that's useful. In every biomedical test we've run on ds3 he comes up as "autistic" (in that he has the profile typical of an autistic children - usually worse than his severely autistic older brother), but aged 2 he is (touch wood) developing entirely normally - talking in sentences (older brother- aged 7- can't say mummy let alone yes or no or anything else- in fact doesn't have a single word).Not sure whether avoiding jabs, antibiotics or gluten have had the biggest effect, but not really wanting to push and find out! Have occasional night sweats about tetanus though, and find it hard to get a grip on how likely it is to catch it (know how awful it is if it is caught).

With tetanus, In the horse industry you have to immunise your horse against flue & Tetanus, If you show your horse you have to give a double dose of tetanus, in many cases of this the horse catches the disease and gets lock jaw. Not nice, since horse are happily unvaccinated licking the soil to get minnerals totally unaffected by it you have to wonder is it necessary!

I know someone who was given the polio vaccine and contracted polio, I know people who have had very content healthy babies and had them immunised, from that day on their once healthy strapping babies turned into sickly frail little mites who catch everything going. Its supposed to boost your immune system but in my view it gives it a battering.

traycee. I am thinking alonmg the same lines. will get ds vaccinated at puberty if he hasn't had it already.
I know it can be a nasty disease, but surely if you have a healthy child with a good immune system then it's unlikely to develop into anything serious?

I suppose I am basically weighing up the risks of complications from measles with the risks of being vaccinated.
plus, the vaccination won't provide him with lifelong immunity meaning he may still get it, which, with many people now rejecting vaccinations could be quite likely by the time he's in his teens

flamesparrow - of course you wouldn't deliberately go near pregnant women - I didn't mean to imply that you would. Unfortunately the damage is done in the early days of pregnancy and often by someone who is infectious, but doesn't know they've got german measles. By the time both parties know, it is too late.