The recent outbreak of measles in the United States can be blamed on the fact that many people are refusing to have their children vaccinated against the disease. The refusal of this vaccination seems to stem from fear of what the vaccine might cause. Whether the vaccine does or doesn’t cause Autism should not matter at this point because a world-wide Measles outbreak would be more detrimental than any case of Autism. Measles has not been across the board in the United States for approximately a decade, until 2014. There were 603 cases from January 1st to October 31st. In 2015, from January 1st to February 6th, there was 121 more cases reported (Pewresearch). “With all the vaccines we have today, there should not be as many measles outbreak in the United States as there has been in the past year…”, says Dr. Jamie Akins, a physician at Texoma Pediatrics in Durant, Oklahoma. This virus can almost be prevented by your child being vaccinated with the two doses of the MMR vaccine. These two vaccines prevent your child from getting the measles virus by 97%. The first of the MMR should be given at the age of 12-15 months of age, then the second dose should be administered at the age 4-6 years old (pewsearch). Measles is caused by a virus that replicates in the nose …show more content…
If you contract these symptoms please contact your doctor: fever, cough, runny nose, inflamed eyes, sore throat, and a red, blotchy rash. These symptoms normally appear 10-14 days after the patient is exposed in to the virus, but occurs in sections: for the first 10-14 days the patient attracts the virus, the measles virus incubates. Next, Measles typically begins with a mild to moderate fever, often it comes with a cough, runny nose, inflamed eyes, and a sore throat, which may last two to three days. Then, the rash (small red spots), some areas may be lifted, and will advance it’s was throughout the body the next couple of days (Mayo
It can transfer from person to person through coughing and sneezing since it lives in the throat and nasal cavity. The droplets of the disease can live up to 2 hours in the air. The victim can touch a contaminated surface then touch their eyes, mouth, nose, or breathe in the air and become infected. The infected person can be contagious four days prior or four days after the measles rash appears. (Measles)
What are Measles? According to Center of Disease Control, Measles start, “Three to five days after symptoms begin,” then, “a rash breaks out.” Measles are very contagious because if a person sneezes, coughs, or is even breathing next to you, you would most likely get it. Like Center of Disease Control says, “It usually begins as flat red spots that appear on the face at the hairline”. It starts from there and works its way down. To conclude,
(Center For Disease Control).Those at greatest risk for contracting the disease are individuals who do not vaccinate or children to young to receive the vaccine. Signs and symptoms of measles include high fevers up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, rash, cough, conjunctivitis and runny nose. Many other complications may evolve once a person is infected with measles some being otitis media and pneumonia. The infected person is contagious roughly about 4 days prior to the rash forming and for about 4-5 days after the rash disappears. Most people that have died from the disease did not die from measles but the complications of measles and secondary illnesses. (The History Of Vaccines).
According to the Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine Preventable Diseases textbook aka “The Pink Book” (2015) which was produced jointly by the Communication and Education Branch, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Measles is a paramyxovirus with the primary site of infection in the nasopharynx. It has an incubation period of 10-12 days. The first symptoms to occur are fevers (increasing stepwise 103-105 degrees), cough, runny nose and conjunctivitis approximately 2-3 days after exposure and last 2-4 days. The second part of the infection occurs approximately 14 days after exposure; which is evidence by Koplik spots on the oral mucosa. Then, 1-2 days later, a maculopapular rash develops along the hair line, face,
Today, parents are not vaccinating their children for a number of reasons, whether it is religious beliefs, it is not natural, and some parents are even trying to link vaccinations to the rise in autism. This however has been proven false and stated in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The increase in vaccinations and the increase in children with autism happened at the same time, which leads some parents to believe that is why their child was diagnosed with autism, but this is correlation not causation. There is no real scientific test to diagnose autism and it is based off of the child’s social and communication skills and their behavior. A retrospective study was done from 1980 to 1994 where scientist recorded the amount of children receiving the measles vaccination and the amount of children diagnosed with autism. Over this time span, there was only a 10% increase in the amount of children receiving the MMR vaccine and 572% increase in children with autism. If the MMR vaccine was the cause of autism, then they should have increased at the same rate and therefore concluding that autism is caused by other unknown factors.
Although the negative claims behind anti-immunization stances are deceptive and discredited, some parents find it difficult to accept that vaccines are necessary and safe. Many of these reasons are due to personal or religious beliefs that have persuaded parents to bypass immunizations for their children. Consequently, health officials are seeing disquieting rises of diseases that are easily preventable. The CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) has reported hundreds of measles cases in the United States in 2011, the largest number in 15 years (Ben-Joseph, Elana). Essentially, almost all of these cases were in individuals who had not received a vaccine shot. Also found in the article was that a great amount of the quarrel over the shots comes from a 1998 study that tried to connect autism to a type of vaccine that defends against measles. However, there has been no scientific evidence that a vaccine or a combination of any of the shots induces autism. Undoubtedly, the doctor that wrote the article, calling vaccines a “deliberate fraud” ,lost his license for not submitting any evidence of his claim and causing people to neglect shots for that year. Sadly, due to that article, 1 in 4 parents still believe that vaccines are
But the most serious risks, such as severe allergic reactions, are rarer than the diseases vaccines protect against. Other people argue that the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, in particular, might cause autism. The authors refute these ideas by saying that studies have shown that there is no link between the two. Their conclusion is “To counteract the fears and misperceptions associated with vaccine campaigns, the research community and governmental agencies need to be proactive with regard to continued vaccine education, guiding public perception with rigorous scientific research on vaccine safety and emphasizing the importance of vaccination in preventing unwanted and potentially lethal infectious
Do vaccines cause autism is a question that has been bouncing around for over twenty years. The increase in the number of diagnosed cases of Autism Spectrum Disorder has increased significantly and due to the impact this has in people’s lives several studies have been done in an effort to determine the cause. More specifically the MMR, Measles, Mumps, and Rubella, vaccination has been accused of being the cause of autism. This accusation then contributed to families not vaccinating their children. Even though science disproves the link between vaccines and autism in several studies done in the United Kingdom, California, and Canada, many people cling to the vaccination-autism connection (Gerber, 2009).
An outbreak of the measles in the United States has sparked controversy in the autism world today. Contrary to previous theories, the measles vaccination is not a leading component to the cause of this disease. One in sixty-eight children in the United States are entering this world with Autistic Spectrum Disorder today, a thirty percent increase from the one in eighty eight
autism were studied, it was suggested that measles was related to autism. Seven years later they did another study that involved 4000 children and found just the opposite, shots had no connection to causing a person to receive the diagnosis of autism”. (Offit 1) (Thinktwice 1) There are probably multiple causes for
Usually a person doesn’t start to get symptoms of measles until they have been infected with the virus for 7-11 days. The symptoms are:
Many believe the measles mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine triggers autism spectrum disorder in some children. Many Hollywood celebrities in the acting community that have birthed children that suffer from autism spectrum disorder have concluded that this is how their child developed autism. These celebrities being very vocal about this link between vaccinations and autism spectrum disorders and have in turn influenced the increase in many ordinary middle-class parents refraining from getting the medically recommended vaccinations for their children. The medical community has done extensive research on this theory. However, to this date no reliable study shows a link between autism spectrum disorder and the measles mumps-rubella vaccine. In fact, the medical community have continued to recommend childhood vaccinations and continue to emphasis the danger of a non vaccinated child catching and spreading serious diseases like whooping cough (pertussis), measles and mumps (Mayo Clinic, 2012).
One such factor helping to manifest these large-scale epidemics is a study from 1998 by Andrew Wakefield, which claimed that there was a direct link between autism and the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine (Smith 1). As a result, many parents refused to vaccinate their children out of fear, and vaccine-preventable diseases like measles began reappearing more in both America and Britain, the place where Wakefield conducted his study (Cohen 2). Although a later investigation by the British Medical Journal discovered that Wakefield had distorted or altered the medical records of all twelve of the study’s participants and that he had been paid $674,000 USD by lawyers attempting to sue vaccine manufacturers, the atmosphere of apprehension surrounding vaccines is still strong among many individuals, and especially parents (Cohen 1-2). But despite all the controversy and the scientifically unsupported arguments of anti-vaccine sympathizers,
In 1963 the Noble Peace Prize winning virologist John F. Enders finally licensed his vaccine for measles. Prior to this vaccine the United States alone reported 4 million cases of the measles each year. With more scientific discoveries the measles vaccine today has evolved to include immunity against rubella and mumps along with protecting millions against illness each year. However, vaccination is a word surrounded by controversy in today’s parenting world and the Measles Mumps and Rubella vaccine (MMR) can be distinguished as possibly the most controversial vaccine of our time. Controversial because of the fear that many have that it causes autism along with other hazards. This fear has clouded
Patients that are contracted by this disease don’t actually become ill until about 7-18 day after they are infected by the virus(Carson-DeWitt). The most contagious time period is the three to five days before symptoms begin through about four days after the characteristic measles rash has begun to appear(Carson-DeWitt). A few days after the first few symptoms, a rash appears in the mouth, mainly on the mucous membrane that lines the cheeks(Carson-DeWitt). The rash is made of tiny white dots on