Measles

The Raw Importance of Vaccinations

Recently, a 26 year old man died from the Measles, despite receiving full doses of MMR vaccine as a child. According to Phillip Jent, MD, his death was due to a lack of herd immunity in European countries.

Measles is a disease characterized by a rash, fever, weepy eyes, cough, nasal discharge, and diarrhea. It is caused by the Rubeola virus, an enveloped single-stranded RNA paramyxovirus. This disease is spread through the air and direct-contact and thus, is highly contagious. Basically, the virus enters the blood stream and is carried throughout the body, even infecting skin cells and the brain. When skin cells become infected, cytotoxic T cells attack them, resulting in the rash. The virus replicating in the lungs can result in pneumonia and an infected brain can result in subacute sclerosing pan-encephalitis.

Measles is a very dangerous disease but because of the years of vaccinating and attempting to eradicate the disease from the places like the U.S and Europe, the seriousness of the disease has faded. When a population vaccinated and reaches a certain threshold, there are not enough susceptible hosts (unvaccinated individuals) for the disease to spread. This is called herd immunity. Basically, if an infected individual spreads the disease to someone vaccinated, it is taken care of and rendered not contagious before it can make its way into the body of someone at risk. Now with an increase in number of people refusing vaccination, serious diseases, like Measles, are making their way back into the population and leaving it devastated. According to the article, within the first half of 2018, 41,000 children and adults in Europe were infected with Measles. Thus, as a population, there are not enough people vaccinated to protect those that are not. Europe is far below the threshold and Measles is going around.

The Devastating Truth

In regard to the young man mentioned before, he took all the necessary precautions but it was society that let him down. This patient was receiving treatment for Leukemia at a Swiss Hospital when he was admitted with having a rash, mouth sores, and conjunctivitis. This patient tested positive for Measles but despite treatments such as Ribavirin (an antiviral), immunoglobulins, and vitamins, his body could not fight the disease and he died from a secondary infection of pneumonia.

Just to reiterate, this man was vaccinated and should have had immunity for the MMR vaccine rounds he did as a child. The development of cancer and the treatment he was undergoing for that is what lead to his infection AND the fact that society as a whole had not vaccinated enough to reach that threshold and protect him when he was compromised.

One would think that it would be common sense to protect yourself from a deadly disease, but unfortunately that is not the head-space that 2018-19 humans are in. As a human race, we strive to show compassion for everyone and to unite and include everyone, yet the movement to avoid vaccinations is indirectly causing others to fall ill. Why don’t we unite together to eradicate Measles and Mumps and Polio, while we are at it? If theres an understood responsibility to treat others the way one wants to be treated, shouldn’t there be an understood responsibility to protect your own health as well as those around you?