Mumps epidemic up to 600 and eight states...
CNN reported the story this morning. The article is here.
According to CNN, this is the worst outbreak in twenty years. And the mumps vaccine was first produced in 1967.
No mention at all that the combined measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine was widely introduced roughly twenty-five years ago. People might assume that the vast majority of cases, being in people under 25, are perhaps connected to that little tidbit of information.
Comments
I don't get it - aren't vaccinations supposed to prevent the disease? Why should vaccines be associated with contracting the disease?
Posted by: Elayne Riggs | April 15, 2006 09:02 AM
I wonder if this has anything to do with parents' fear of Autism due to mercury in the MMR vaccine. There seem to be quite a few people who are afraid to have their children vaccinated.
Posted by: KyCole | April 15, 2006 09:13 AM
KyCole - MMR has never contained mercury. And the majority of the recently mumps infected were vaccinated with MMR - over half had the two doses.
Elaine - I suggested in an earlier post that there may in fact be an issue with the long-term efficacy of a combined MMR vaccine. The research on whether MMR causes autistic entercolitis is based on a reaction within the intestinal track between the mumps and measles virii. It wouldn't be the first time combining two substances had an impact on one or the other.
Posted by: MB | April 15, 2006 11:17 AM
Given the fact that non-vaccinated people are overrepresented among the infected, I wouldn't say that it's a good idea to stop using the vaccines just yet.
Posted by: Kristjan Wager | April 19, 2006 07:51 AM