Vaccines

[debilorrah]

I am surprised I have not put my two cents in here yet. I DO believe that vaccines are needed, there was no other way to stop polio. However, my son had a SEVERE reaction to his first MMR vaccine. 104.9 fever, major rash all over his body. Poor kid was the 1 in 1,000,000 that a reaction. He developed Roseola, a form of german measles. After that I always had to FIGHT with school officials to even let him attend. It was a nightmare. Then I was at work, and my mom took him to school and they had a vaccine clinic going on. She allowed them to give him another one. MMR. Because he was behind. Well DUH!! Repeat visit to hospital, a very apologetic grandmother and he is now 22 years old and far beyond anyone telling him to get shots.

 

[Carols Clucks]

A family friend is fighting throat cancer, something guardasil will help with, I have already suggest to all my boys (over 18) that they get the shot.



Shoot, if I could get it I would too. And I will get the shingles shot too.

I do skip the flu shots, my dad was one of the many that nearly died from his back in the 70's

 

[gallopingfrog]

mom'sfolly :

Shingles is NOT a more severe form of chicken pox. Shingles is caused by residual chicken pox virus in your blood stream. If you have never, ever had any exposure to chicken pox, you cannot get shingles. Shingles happens when dormant virus on nerve cells is reactivated. Chicken pox is related to the herpes virus, and like herpes can linger lifelong. This means that the dormant virus can reactivate and cause shingles at any point in your lifetime. People can't catch shingles, it is not contagious, but occasionally people can catch chicken pox from shingles. If an older person, never exposed to the chicken pox virus, get exposed, they get chicken pox, not shingles.

I had shingles in my early 30s. It was miserable, and I've never been sicker in my life. I would rather have the appendix out, again, that have that again. My case, a rare type, affected 7 out of 12 cranial nerves on the left side of my body. I had vertigo, double vision, no sense of taste, Bell's Palsy, no sense of smell, no feeling on the left side of my face, tinnitus, sore throat (shingles on my throat), trouble swallowing, deafness, and horrible headaches.

Most adults over 30 haven't been vaccinated against chicken pox. The vaccine first became available in 1995, so anyone older than about 20-25 has not been vaccinated.

Facts, not rumor, please.

http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/shingles/shingles-topic-overview

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/shingles/DS00098

Please forgive. I did not complete my whole train of thought. You are correct...it is caused by residual chicken pox virus. However, it IS usually only onset in adults, and oversimplifying the matter (since it is still caused by the CP virus), it is a form of the chicken pox. Rumors not intended, if that's what it was.

As for the non-debate...the post wouldn't have been posted at all without knowing it would come to this. Its like bringing up politics at a family dinner, or religion in a biology class. We all are going to have differing opinions because of experiences and knowledge. You say tomato, I say tomato (okay, that doesn't work quite as well written, but you get it). I will vaccinate when I have kids b/c it is a personal opinion that it IS the safest route. I've studied particular vaccines and the diseases they prevent - I would 100% rather take the risk of vaccinating my child (and it's not proven that vaccines cause any sort of neurological disorders, even though Jenny McCarthy really promotes the idea) than have them suffer through something as painful as meningitis and possibly die.

Hypothetically, let's say your son, Bob, dies from measles. Do you vaccinate your other children then?

Or say your daughter, Anne, dies from meningitis. What about then?

OR let's say that your daughter, Anne, doesn't die from meningitis but has Type I juvenile diabetes (which requires insulin injections with each eating - your feeling on this???). Type I leaves a person somewhat immunosuppressed. If they get something serious enough they will most likely die. So do you vaccinate, or do you just hope enough that their body can fight off whatever on its own?

And what about Tetanus shots? Children, especially, don't always tell you when they've been poked with something, or cut themselves playing. Tetanus WILL absolutely kill, as the heart, which is a muscle, contracts and locks, and the person dies.

I'm honestly curious. I'm not trying to start a fight or sound witchy, though some people here seem to think that a difference of opinion makes the other an enemy. Not at all where I am aiming or what I am thinking.

After all, we're all entitled to our own wrong opinions, right? Lol

 

[redhen]

Hrmmmm, why are kids nowadays getting shingles??.... this used to be mostly an adult disease. (because they were exposed to pox as a child..)
Soo, if these kids are getting pox vaccines and STILL breaking out in shinges, this worries me.

 

[SourRoses]

Have no real opinion pro or against vaccines....

But I'm curious...

Theres a vaccine for chicken pox? I'm 23 and was blessed enough to go through it at age 3 and not remember, but be wonderfully reminded I wouldn't ever have to worry about getting it

What takes the dormant chicken pox and turns it into shingles?

Might be under-vaccinated as my mom spent a portion of my childhood PO'd at the schools ordering her around and waiting in all the lines and such... hehe

(thats the way I remember it anyway) but I don't mind.

I eat LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of garlic and have only been sick a couple times in my life (never with a cold or flu) despite washing my hands more than recommended by the immune system lobbyers.

 

[mom'sfolly]

On the graphs that your link show, there is no real number data. The death rate is listed, but not what that rate is...is it 1 death per 100, 1 death per 1000 cases or one death per 1,000,000. Rates are always expressed as a "something per something", like miles per hour. While the graph does show an overall decline in death rate, the greatest decline is after the advent of the vaccines, and most especially noted with the scarlet fever graph, the advent of antibiotics.

The whole graph for scarlet fever tells us nothing. Cases of scarlet fever in the developed world are rare. Most cases of strep are treated well before they have a chance to cause scarlet fever. And when caught, scarlet fever has a very effective treatment.

Viruses and epidemics come in cycles. Not all cycles have the same virulence. And certainly, as your site states, better nutrition, better sanitation, and better medical care have had a tremendous change in infections diseases. That certainly isn't the entire story.

 

[mom'sfolly]

I vaccinate...I've made informed choices and I truly believe that the risk of most of these infections is far higher than the risk of adverse reaction. I think the end of endemic disease in the developed world is one of the driving forces for increased life expectancy. I read a great deal of history, and I've talked to many older relatives. These relatives remember churches and other gathering places being closed in the summer because of polio outbreaks. I've heard my grandmother talk about relatives dying from diseases that no one I know has ever seen (tetanus for example).

I would argue that most of the people in this country who are violently anti-vaccination are under 40, and have never seen or heard of an outbreak of infectious disease more serious than chicken pox.

I really doubt any of us would want to live someplace where polio or the now irradicated small pox is rampant.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I'm a type 1 diabetic and some have said that it may be linked to a vaccine reaction. It would make sense since I developed it at the age of 4 1/2, right after getting vaccinated to go to preschool. However, right now there is no evidence proving this and so I'm still one who believes in vaccines, especially since I work in the health care field.

If I did ever find out a vaccine caused my this horrible life long disease, then yes, I would be very, very, very angry.

 

[gallopingfrog]

Quote:
My mother is Type I diabetic. It had nothing to do with a vaccine...she wasn't vaccinated anywhere near the time she was diagnosed. She had the chicken pox and when the chicken pox finally went away, she was still super sick and becoming emaciated. She was diagnosed on Christmas Eve, 37 years ago - she was only 4. Curious since, you were 4 1/2....

It is theorized that different illnesses for certain people activate diabetes for Type I. Like she had chicken pox, but for someone else it could have been the flu, or a cold, or strep throat, etc. All that stuff is really interesting to me because my mom does have it, you know? I've grown up knowing how diabetes works and how to recognize and what to do (from a very young age) if she has a low blood sugar. Terrifying as heck when she won't cooperate, but I always have to keep my calm - otherwise, she gets combative. And then there was the time that she wasn't responding at all and was seizing a little....*shudders*

My mom's outlook on it, is yes, she doesn't like living with diabetes. But the risk of going somewhere to have pancreatic transplants is SO great that, for her, and it not working, or having a bad reaction, it's not worth the risk. My dad? Well, he would pay just about anything so that she could be healthy.....the Mayo Clinic actually does transplants, even though it's still in the trial stages (it has been proven to "cure" Type I in Canada).

Okay, back on subject!!!

 

[ultasol]

Quote:
Actually a major problem with pertussis (whooping cough) right now is that until children are old enough to receive the vaccine, they are very susceptible to it being carried home by siblings and parents. In adults it often appears as a mild cold, but in infants and young children it can kill. There was a big story a few years back on a couple of families who lost their infants to pertussis in communities where there were a large number of vaccine exemptions. They had no idea pertussis was still around or that it could kill their infant.

Meningitis is a really fun and scary disease, and thanks to vaccinations (Hib and meningococcal) the rates are way down, and what used to be the most common cause is now rarely seen.