Silly Myths About Measles and Why They Are Wrong
You dear Lifehacker readers are smart enough to know that measles is bad and measles vaccine is good. But there is a lot of misinformation circulating around, especially when the disease breaks out in Washington, Texas and New York .
Many of these myths started with anti-vax people, people with aggressively misconceptions about what vaccines do. But many ordinary people also believe in myths – mostly parents who are faced with the first vaccination of their children, who are just trying to figure out how to keep their children safe. Misinformation campaigns against vaccine opponents are fueled by the usual fears of new parents, and their stories are getting more and more bizarre. Let’s take a look at some of them:
Myth: measles is a harmless childhood disease.
It is true that before the vaccine was available, measles was common: 90 percent of children had measles by the age of 15. But it was also a dangerous and fatal disease.
This article from the Journal of Infectious Diseases compiles some important numbers: in the late 1950s, there was one measles death for every 1000 reported cases. Earlier in this century, when nutrition and health care were not so good, the rate was roughly 26 deaths per 1000 cases.
So yes, children are dying of measles. They can also develop serious complications. The authors of the article write that in the 1950s, when the death rate was about 450 per year, “[] as a result of infection with the measles virus annually, an average of 150,000 patients suffered respiratory complications and 4,000 patients suffered from encephalitis; the latter was associated with a high risk of neurological complications and death. “
Myth: Measles Cures Cancer.
Well no. This is currently supported by Darla Shine, author, blogger, former Fox TV producer and wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Bill Shine.
She explained that she was talking about this story in which a woman’s cancer went into remission thanks to an experimental treatment using a huge dose of measles vaccine .
She cites a blog post that cites a CNN report that said, “Researchers gave [patient, Stacey Erholz] and five other patients with multiple myeloma a dose of a highly concentrated laboratory measles virus, similar to the measles vaccine. In fact, Erholtz’s dose contained enough virus to vaccinate about 10 million people. “
So, no, this is not proof that contracting measles or any other childhood illness “will keep you healthy and help fight cancer.”
Myth: the measles vaccine is useless.
The measles vaccine works very well, but there is no perfect vaccine. Because the measles vaccine is 93 percent effective (or 97 percent if you get both recommended doses) , a measles outbreak can infect some people who receive the vaccine.
Myth: anti-vax products only harm themselves.
A person who is not vaccinated is susceptible to the disease, but is also capable of transmitting it to others. Remember how we explained that the flu shot wasn’t for you, asshole? The measles vaccine is a more extreme version of this situation.
Measles is highly contagious. You can walk into an empty room where a person with measles was, inhale some of the virus they left in the air, and become infected. The average person with measles infected 20 people before vaccination. In a crowded place (remember Disneyland a few years ago?) The situation is even worse.
If 90 to 95 percent of the population is vaccinated, that should be enough to keep outbreaks from stopping. But if many unvaccinated people spend time together – for example, at a school where many parents have announced an exclusion from the vaccine – an outbreak could start there and spread more easily.
Okay, but who gets measles? Of course, unvaccinated children who have not chosen this fate for themselves. But also people with compromised immune systems who cannot receive vaccines safely. And – here’s what should really scare you as a new parent – babies don’t get measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines until they’re one year old. If your child is in an area with a measles outbreak or if you are traveling, you may receive an earlier vaccine . This is not recommended for everyone because the vaccine does not work well in babies. When everyone else gets the vaccine, that’s their protection.