Great, now mumps too

[Mayabird]

Yeah, couldn't just stop with measles in the U.S. and polio in Nigeria. Gotta be everything else too.

B.C. health official says mumps outbreak began with unimmunized religious group

2 days ago

AGASSIZ, B.C. — A British Columbia health official says a spreading mumps outbreak began with a Fraser Valley religious group that shuns immunization.

"It's part of their belief system that this is not the right thing to do," said Dr. Elizabeth Brodkin, medical health officer for the Fraser Health Authority. Brodkin said Tuesday that people who aren't vaccinated are at highest risk to contract the viral disease that's passed from person to person through saliva.

"This outbreak at least got going because it took hold in an unimmunized community so they are the ones who are really sitting ducks for infection."

She said 200 people have so far contracted the virus that has travelled west as far as suburban Burnaby, prompting the B.C. Centre for Disease Control to convene a provincial task force that will meet in two weeks to come up with a strategy to deal with the outbreak.

Brodkin said the virus originally travelled to B.C. from Alberta, where 300 people had been infected.

"We've tried to do advertising to the general public about the importance of not sharing spit because that's how this thing has spread," she said.

"We're calling it the don't-share-spit campaign," she said.

Those at high risk include university students living in tight-knit communities that act as factories to spread the virus but everyone is being advised not to share water bottles, drinking cups, musical instruments and cigarettes.

Brodkin said people should cough and sneeze in their sleeve.

Target groups like health-care workers are receiving more than the required two doses of vaccine and doctors in the Fraser Health region have been sent letters advising them of mumps symptoms that could mimic a cold or flu, Brodkin said.

About one-third of people who've been infected with the virus don't have any symptoms but could still be spreading it while those who show signs could have swelling of the glands under the jaw and chin or even have meningitis, she said.

Some men may also have inflamed testicles.

Immunity to mumps isn't lifelong and even people who've had the disease 30 years ago could contract it again and need to be revaccinated, Brodkin said.

In B.C., children are immunized at 12 and 18 months but need to be revaccinated years later, she said.

In an average year, less than 100 cases are reported across Canada, but outbreaks in several provinces have caused numbers to jump considerably.

In Nova Scotia, an outbreak that began in February 2007 affected more than 700 people, mostly university-aged patients.

Link

[Broomstick]

That wouldn't happen to be that FLDS group in Canada, would it? You know - the polygamist wackos formerly under Jeffs?

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Well, at least I came back positive for full MMR immunity.

[Kodiak]

This stuff is really frightening to me as a father of a 1-year-old. One of my daughter's "friends" (so, the daughter of my wife's friend) just came down this week with the German Measles. Yes, you heard me, THE FUCKING GERMAN MEASLES!! Honestly, it's 2008, not 1808, and kids are catching RUBELLA in the Bay Area of California? It boggles my mind. This friend of my wife isn't anti-vaccine per-se, but she feels that rather than doing them all in the 1st year she should "space them out" about 1 every six months so that she'll be fully vaccinated when she's 4

Fortunately, her husband, I've learned, blew his mind when he heard the diagnosis and signed up his daughter to get all the rest of her vaccinations before the end of the year. Seriously, how many children need to die from preventable illnesses before we can stop worrying about rumors of an autism link?

[Broomstick]

Well, at least I came back positive for full MMR immunity.

I have concerns about some of my immunities having faded over the years (I supposedly had a mild case of mumps back in 1969, but I don't think I've been exposed since so there's high odds my immunity is gone now). However, given the total pile of stinking shit I had to go through just to get a tetanus booster I find getting properly tested and boostered rather daunting at the moment.

Which is another problem with our current "system" - it's only in the last few years that doctors have started to realize that a lot of adults are now vulnerable, too, even if in the past they weren't. Some of those life-long immunizations were life-long only because people kept getting exposed every once in awhile over time, to keep stimulating the immune system. No exposure for decades = body stops keeping watch for a threat no longer there.

So, we have adults needing boosters, kids who were never vaccinated in the first place, and now outbreaks.... :::shakes head:::

[Kodiak]

So, we have adults needing boosters, kids who were never vaccinated in the first place, and now outbreaks.... :::shakes head:::

And correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it vaccines are usually ~95% effective, which means herd immunity becomes even more of an issue.

[Broomstick]

True, vaccines are never perfect. Occasionally you get a sub-standard batch, improper storage can degrade its effectiveness (or render it inert), and people vary considerably in how well their systems respond to a vaccine.

If you vaccinate everyone then herd immunity will be sufficient to protect the bad "takes", if you don't vaccinate everyone then, well, it's a problem.

[Korvan]

That wouldn't happen to be that FLDS group in Canada, would it? You know - the polygamist wackos formerly under Jeffs?

I'm pretty sure that FLDS group isn't near Agassiz, so this isn't them, but BC has no shortage of religious wackos in our rural parts, which is about 98% of the province (by land area, not population).

[The Yosemite Bear]

yeah those anti-immunization waccos are frightening, so are the faith healing/holistic medicine types. and I live in yosemite where we have to warn people that that cute park rodent may have Rabies or Black Plague....

[The Dark]

That wouldn't happen to be that FLDS group in Canada, would it? You know - the polygamist wackos formerly under Jeffs?

I believe the FLDS in Canada is near Bountiful. This was in Chilliwack, so it's probably not them.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

What I can't believe is that apparently the MMR shot costs more than sixty bucks. I thought at the time that the government would surely hand it out for free to encourage disease immunity under its constitutional charter to operate the Surgeon General's office, but no, it apparently actually costs money.

[CaptainChewbacca]

What I can't believe is that apparently the MMR shot costs more than sixty bucks. I thought at the time that the government would surely hand it out for free to encourage disease immunity under its constitutional charter to operate the Surgeon General's office, but no, it apparently actually costs money.

Odd, I know its free in alot of places, or they'll do 'vaccination drives' with the 'shot mobile' in my hometown.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

What I can't believe is that apparently the MMR shot costs more than sixty bucks. I thought at the time that the government would surely hand it out for free to encourage disease immunity under its constitutional charter to operate the Surgeon General's office, but no, it apparently actually costs money.

Odd, I know its free in alot of places, or they'll do 'vaccination drives' with the 'shot mobile' in my hometown.

That's a fair point, I suppose if I'd gone to a poor clinic or something they might have been able to give it to me for free, but, it seems odd that all doctors can't just perform the shot and then bill the government for it to maximize accessibility.

[Kodiak]

What I can't believe is that apparently the MMR shot costs more than sixty bucks. I thought at the time that the government would surely hand it out for free to encourage disease immunity under its constitutional charter to operate the Surgeon General's office, but no, it apparently actually costs money.

Odd, I know its free in alot of places, or they'll do 'vaccination drives' with the 'shot mobile' in my hometown.

That's a fair point, I suppose if I'd gone to a poor clinic or something they might have been able to give it to me for free, but, it seems odd that all doctors can't just perform the shot and then bill the government for it to maximize accessibility.

In most large towns here in California you can go to a "free clinic" to get immunizations for fairly cheap. I remember in HighSchool that kids on the football team who couldn't afford doctors all got bussed to the free clinic for a physical, part of which included vaccinations. I think the whole thing cost $25.

[Broomstick]

What I can't believe is that apparently the MMR shot costs more than sixty bucks. I thought at the time that the government would surely hand it out for free to encourage disease immunity under its constitutional charter to operate the Surgeon General's office, but no, it apparently actually costs money.

Odd, I know its free in alot of places, or they'll do 'vaccination drives' with the 'shot mobile' in my hometown.

That's a fair point, I suppose if I'd gone to a poor clinic or something they might have been able to give it to me for free, but, it seems odd that all doctors can't just perform the shot and then bill the government for it to maximize accessibility.

But - but that's not encouraging personal responsibility and it's interfering with the free market!

[/sarcasm]

[Knife]

OT

Shouldn't be to surprised with mumps being part of the MMR. Nor, as I see further in the thread, Rubella.

I'm sorry to say but I think it's going to take actual deaths for some of this stupidity to be stamped out.

[Imperial Overlord]

The FLDS is in Bountiful, but there are a number of small religious wacko groups scattered throughout BC.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

In most large towns here in California you can go to a "free clinic" to get immunizations for fairly cheap. I remember in HighSchool that kids on the football team who couldn't afford doctors all got bussed to the free clinic for a physical, part of which included vaccinations. I think the whole thing cost $25.

It's still completely insane that immunizations cost money. The constitution even explicitly provides a government responsibility to deal with the prevention of plagues.

[The Dark]

The FLDS is in Bountiful, but there are a number of small religious wacko groups scattered throughout BC.

Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if it were Amish or some other Plain People sect.

[Broomstick]

I recently learned that the Amish are vaccinating now, too. Of course, each community is different so it may be an exception.

[Metatwaddle]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's widespread. The Amish are usually pretty pragmatic when it comes to modern health care.

[Sephirius]

On the upside, maybe it'll force these fundie whackjobs into an evolutionary dead end, what with none of them left and all.

[The Yosemite Bear]

On the upside, maybe it'll force these fundie whackjobs into an evolutionary dead end, what with none of them left and all.

Either that or they will continue to breed faster then natural selection can catch up to them, and become a disease resistant typhoid mary fundies...

[Broomstick]

Interesting tidbit: the CDC has a list of vaccinations adults should have right here

[Edi]

With links to PDF files, it would be nice to have a warning about that in the link. Worst case, loading the PDF can freeze your browser for a fair while, especially if it's a large one.