HIB makes a comback...kills unvaccinated child

[Cairber]

I just read another report that 2 of the 3 deaths in our area were in kids that were totally unvaccinated by choice. The same was true in the originally story from Minnesota and most of those infections.

So you have two factors working here I think: the shortage is creating more circulation of the bug (maybe? I am not totally educated on how this works) and the choice to not vaccinate is creating more symptomatic cases, which means more death and disease.

[Eldalote]

For some of the vaccines I can understand (somewhat) what the parents are thinking.
I got all my important shots as a kid (as is mandatory I think) But at age twelve or so some kind of new vaccine was launched, and at the time, almost 40% of the kids who got the shot got sick for about a week (school never was as empty). My parents were one of a few who refused, so I wasn't vaccinated. They did get a lot of shit from other parents (and from me, later), but then again, 40% is a lot.

** the article I found, mentioned that they also failed to follow the doctor's instructions and didn't give the kids some required vitamin supplements and feed them an improper (fully vegetarian) diet.

I hope you mean Vegan diet? I've been a vegetarian for about 17 years now, since age 4, and I'm perfectly healthy.

[Darth Yoshi]

Isn't getting sick from a vaccine good? I mean, the whole point is to stimulate the immune system. Unless the kids were coming down with symptoms that really had nothing to do with the disease being vaccinated against.

[Eldalote]

I'm not really sure, it was nine years ago, but IIRC they were coming down with flue-like symptoms and the vaccine was against some kind of brain disease.

[folti78]

** the article I found, mentioned that they also failed to follow the doctor's instructions and didn't give the kids some required vitamin supplements and feed them an improper (fully vegetarian) diet.

I hope you mean Vegan diet? I've been a vegetarian for about 17 years now, since age 4, and I'm perfectly healthy.

Yes, I mixed that up with another case where the parents was vegetarian, not vegan. Sorry.
Hungarian article at the local WebMD, for reference.

[The Big I]

For those parents that believe imunisation is evil these studies are just propaganda.

[Broomstick]

I'm not really sure, it was nine years ago, but IIRC they were coming down with flue-like symptoms and the vaccine was against some kind of brain disease.

Probably the meningitis vaccine - minor flu-like symptoms are not uncommon after many vaccinations: slight fever, soreness, fatigue.... But I find it hard to believe that there were so many reactions severe enough to empty out a school. More likely it was overreaction on the part of the parents.

Anyhow, given the severity of meningitis, and some of the possibile permanent effects, I'll take a week of "flu-like symptoms" over the alternative.

[Eldalote]

Probably the meningitis vaccine - minor flu-like symptoms are not uncommon after many vaccinations: slight fever, soreness, fatigue.... But I find it hard to believe that there were so many reactions severe enough to empty out a school. More likely it was overreaction on the part of the parents.

Given how fast my (and other) parents tend to overreact, very likely. If the parents didn't overreact, this whole fucking issue wouldn't exist.

Anyhow, given the severity of meningitis, and some of the possibile permanent effects, I'll take a week of "flu-like symptoms" over the alternative.

Yeah, so would I, a few years later, when I fully understood what they did I got extremely pissed at them too, the idiots risked my life!

[Broomstick]

You can get the meningitis vaccine at any point in life - if you're adult and want to be vaccinated you should be able to achieve that goal.

[Qwerty 42]

"There is something about autism that to me gave meaning to the phrase ‘death in life’. Autism is an impossible condition of being there and not being there; a person without a self; a life without a soul. […] She will not sit in the corner. She will not play with strings. She will not not look at me. She will not be mute. She may want it. I will not have it. She will be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the human condition."—Catherine Maurice, ABA parent, 1993

Jesus Christ.

[Knife]

You can get the meningitis vaccine at any point in life - if you're adult and want to be vaccinated you should be able to achieve that goal.

True, but I don't remember which bacteria it's protecting you from, the H. influenae bug I think, not the Staph pneumoniae or N. meningitdis bugs. But I might be wrong and it's for all. Also, I know you can get meningitis from a viral infection too, but it is not as serious as a baterial infection so I don't know if the vaccine covers that either.

[Broomstick]

"Meningitis" means "inflamation of the meninges", the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, it doesn't really specify what is causing the infection. The "meningitis vaccine" targets some of the most common culprits such as meningococci, Haemophilus influenzae type B, or pneumococci but those are not the sole causes. As you mentioned, viruses can also cause meingitis, as can other less typical bacteria, fungi, parasites, and even certain drugs. The mumps virus can also cause meningitis as a complication though, obviously, the mumps vaccine would protect against it. The chicken pox vaccine protects against meningitis caused by Herpes zoster, and a tuberculosis vaccine against tuberbular meningitis. Since most of us have either already had some of those vaccines (or, for those in my generation, actually had the diseases because at the time there weren't such vaccines available) we already have some protection against meningitis, what the "meningitis vaccine" does is provide more protection against additional causes.

So, if you desire, you can get the additional protection or, if you're unsure if you've had such a vaccine getting vaccinated again is unlikely to cause harm though, of course, that is something you'd want to discuss with a doctor. I know for some vaccines/diseases test can be run to see if you have sufficient antibodies to provide protection, but I am not familar with everything they can test for.