Tag: measles

Did the AAP Say That Vaccines Cause Severe Brain Injury?

Bob Sears is telling folks that the American Academy of Pediatrics says severe brain injuries are caused by vaccines.

Bob Sears doesn't mention that measles is much more likely to cause severe brain injury and death, or more recent studies that counter his post.
Bob Sears doesn’t mention that measles is much more likely to cause severe brain injury and death, or more recent studies that counter his post.

Did the AAP say that?

“A causal relationship they say.”

Bob Sears

No, they didn’t.

The researchers in Pediatrics didn’t even say that…

Did the AAP Say That Vaccines Cause Severe Brain Injury?

What did they say?

“This clustering suggests that a causal relationship between measles vaccine and encephalopathy may exist as a rare complication of measles immunization.”

Weibel et al on Acute Encephalopathy Followed by Permanent Brain Injury or Death Associated With Further Attenuated Measles Vaccines: A Review of Claims Submitted to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program

The study was about reports to VAERS…

Over 23 years, the researchers (in 1998) found reports of 48 cases of acute encephalopathy among about 75,000,000 children who were vaccinated, some clustered in the second week after they received a measles containing vaccine.

Does that mean that those measles containing vaccines caused the encephalopathy?

“In the absence of a specific test to determine vaccine causation, these 48 cases may include some nonvaccine cases representing background rates.”

Weibel et al on Acute Encephalopathy Followed by Permanent Brain Injury or Death Associated With Further Attenuated Measles Vaccines: A Review of Claims Submitted to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program

No, it doesn’t.

It was a signal that got some attention though.

And as it has been further investigated, there has been no evidence that measles containing vaccines cause encephalitis, at least not above 1 in a million background rates.

What does cause encephalitis?

“About 1 child out of every 1,000 who get measles will develop encephalitis (swelling of the brain) that can lead to convulsions and can leave the child deaf or with intellectual disability.”

Complications of Measles

Measles.

Measles, a life-threatening vaccine-preventable disease, causes encephalitis.

Are your kids vaccinated and protected with two doses of MMR?

More on Vaccines and Severe Brain Injury

Does the MMR Vaccine Cause More Seizures Than Measles?

Why do some parents think that the MMR vaccine causes more seizures than measles?

That's a lot of misinformation about measles in one post...
That’s a lot of misinformation about measles in one post…

Because that’s the latest propaganda that they are seeing in anti-vaccine groups on Facebook…

Does the MMR Vaccine Cause More Seizures Than Measles?

The MMR vaccine doesn’t cause seizures in 1 in 640 children…

Posts like this about seizures and the MMR vaccine are why folks are reporting anti-vaccine Facebook groups for Fake News?
Posts like this about seizures and the MMR vaccine are why folks are reporting anti-vaccine Facebook groups for Fake News?

The MMR vaccine doesn’t even cause seizures!

“The MMR vaccine has been associated with a very small risk of febrile seizure as a side effect. Two recent studies indicate that for every 10,000 children who get the MMR and varicella vaccines for their first vaccinations when they are 12–23 months old, about 4 will have a febrile seizure during the 5–12 days following vaccination.”

Understanding the Risk of Febrile Seizures After the First Vaccination at Ages 12–47 Months

It can cause febrile seizures, but even then, it is only at about a rate of 1 in 2500 children after the first dose (0.04%).

Is that “five times the rate from the actual measles infection?”

As I’m sure you are guessing, the answer is obviously no.

Overall, seizures occur in about 0.6% to 0.7% of measles cases!

In addition, actual measles infections can cause non-febrile seizures, which are much more serious than febrile seizures.

Also, measles can cause encephalitis, a life-threatening complication that is often accompanied by seizures.

This is in contrast to simple febrile seizures, which again, are typically considered to be harmless.

More On Seizures from MMR Vs Measles

When is Measles Season?

For a while, especially once we eliminated the endemic spread of measles, we weren’t thinking about measles seasons anymore.

In addition to the recent rise in measles cases, this slide shows the patterns of measles seasons in different parts of the world.
In addition to the recent rise in measles cases, this slide shows the patterns of measles seasons in different parts of the world.

Unfortunately, with ongoing outbreaks and rising cases, many people are asking again – just when is measles season?

When is Measles Season?

Traditionally, the time when measles case counts are the highest occurs:

  • during the late winter and early spring (temperate climates, like the United States)
  • after the rainy season (tropical climates)
  • when kids are in school

So just like flu season, it’s always measles season somewhere…

And in areas of the world where measles is still highly endemic, you can expect cycles of larger measles epidemics every 1 to 4 years.

Can you guess why?

“As higher uniform population immunity is achieved the scale of epidemics, both their duration and absolute number of cases, progressively decreases. Epidemic frequency simultaneously decreases with increasing time intervals between epidemics. Another uniform feature as elimination is approached is the loss of epidemic seasonality.”

Durrheim et al on Measles – The epidemiology of elimination

I’ll give you a hint – there is nothing different about the measles virus during those years.

Eventually though, as the number of people susceptible to measles builds up, there is the opportunity for bigger outbreaks. Of course, that doesn’t happen if most people are vaccinated and protected.

When is Measles Season in the United States?

What about in the United States in the post-vaccine era?

Visiting a place with a lot of measles, especially if you aren't vaccinated and protected, increases the risk that you will bring measles home with you and start an outbreak.
Visiting a place with a lot of measles, especially if you aren’t vaccinated and protected, increases the risk that you will bring measles home with you and start an outbreak.

We don’t really have a measles season, as all of our cases are now imported from other parts of the world.

  1. Where and when are folks traveling?
  2. Where is measles on the rise?

That’s when we will see more measles cases here.

“Source countries included Philippines (14 cases), Ukraine (8), Israel (5), Thailand (3), Vietnam (2), Germany (2), and one importation each from Algeria, France, India, Lithuania, Russia, and the United Kingdom.”

Increase in Measles Cases — United States, January 1–April 26, 2019

In the early part of 2019, we saw a lot of cases because unvaccinated travelers were returning from Philippines, Ukraine, and Israel, countries in peak measles season.

Are Europe's measles outbreaks slowing down yet?
Are Europe’s measles outbreaks slowing down yet?

As cases in those countries hopefully slow down over the summer, unfortunately, we might see a rise in other parts of the world.

Of course, there is an easy way to end our measles seasons once and for all.

Two doses of MMR is your best protection against measles.

Get vaccinated and protected, especially before traveling out of the country.

More on Measles Season?

Is Measles Really Airborne?

As we reach record numbers of measles cases, what are anti-vaccine folks concerned about?

Anti-vaccine folks trying to do research about measles and miss dozens of articles describing how measles is indeed airborne.
Anti-vaccine folks trying to do research about measles and miss dozens of articles describing how measles is indeed airborne.

Making sure their kids get caught up on their vaccines so that they don’t catch measles, since it is so contagious? Nope. They are still trying to find reasons to justify their decision to leave their kids unvaccinated and unprotected.

Is Measles Really Airborne?

Guess what?

Measles really is airborne!

Surpised?

Are you thinking that I am relying on a single experiment from 1964 or do you think I found some more evidence when I did my research?

Is this something folks really doubt, after all, if measles isn’t airborne, how would it be so contagious? How would people get sick after simply being in the same room as someone else with measles, even if the sick person had already left?

“During the past decade, increasing attention has been giving to the theory that indoor air is a vehicle of respiratory infection and to the logical sequence of such a theory, that the transfer from person to person of such infection can be reduced by increasing ventilation.”

Wells et al on Ventilation in the flow of measles and chickenpox through a community

In fact, even before the measles virus was actually discovered in the 1950s, it was known that measles was airborne. Wells did her experiments in the 1940s.

“It is far from clear to me yet whether measles is solely an airborne infection, as I think Wells believed, or whether contact and airborne routes both play roles in different circumstances. It is clear however that airborne infection is sufficiently common and important to be a dertermining factor in the continuance of measles at the present time. It must receive due respect and weight in planning the future steps necessary for eradication.”

Langmuir on Changing concepts of airborne infection of acute contagious diseases: a reconsideration of classic epidemiologic theories.

And those experiments were revisited in the 1970s, when measles wasn’t eradicated as quickly as expected. Alex Langmuir was Chief Epidemiologist at CDC at the time.

Did you ever hear about the story of the folks who got measles International Special Olympics Games in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area during July 1991? It’s not a story the anti-vaccine groups would tell you. It’s a published case report, An outbreak of measles at an international sporting event with airborne transmission in a domed stadium.

“…the dynamic airborne transmission of measles illustrates the potential for transmission in the absence of a recognized exposure.”

Ehresmann et al on An outbreak of measles at an international sporting event with airborne transmission in a domed stadium

Several people at the Games got measles simply because they were in the domed stadium, even though they had no direct contact with anyone who had measles.

There are also reports of kids getting measles at their pediatrician’s office, simply because another kid with measles had been seen a little earlier.

Airborne Transmission of Measles in a Physician's Office

The kids described at the Michigan pediatrician’s office didn’t have any direct contact with the child with measles. They simply showed up in the same office an hour later.

“Four children had transient contact with the source patient as he entered or exited through the waiting room; only one of the four had face-to-face contact within 1 m of the source patient. The three other children who contracted measles were never in the same room with the source patient; one of the three arrived at the office one hour after the source patient had left.”

Block et al on Measles outbreak in a pediatric practice: airborne transmission in an office setting

Researchers described a similar situation at a pediatrician’s office in DeKalb County, Georgia at around the same time.

“Airflow studies demonstrated that droplet nuclei generated in the examining room used by the source patient were dispersed throughout the entire office suite. Airborne spread of measles from a vigorously coughing child was the most likely mode of transmission.”

Block et al on Measles outbreak in a pediatric practice: airborne transmission in an office setting

And increasing, we are seeing that airborne transmission means more folks are at risk on airplanes.

There is no doubt that measles is contagious and that measles really is airborne. Just like there is no doubt that vaccines are safe, with few risks.

More on Is Measles Really Airborne?