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02-07-2010 at 6:58 AM
berry25
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Speaking of MMR: NY mumps outbreak

CBS:

More than 300 people have been diagnosed with the mumps in suburban New York as the nation's largest outbreak of the disease in years continues to spread.

A health official says a total of 303 people in the Rockland County towns of Monsey and New Square have been diagnosed with the highly infectious disease. Almost all the cases are among Orthodox or Hasidic Jews.

Investigators say the outbreak started in August 2009 at a Jewish summer camp in Sullivan County with an 11-year-old boy who brought the disease from England.

It has since spread to Jewish communities in Brooklyn, New Jersey and Orange county.

Mumps spreads through saliva, coughing and sneezing. Common symptoms are flu-like and include swelling of the salivary glands.

Details of vaccination:

http://topnews.us/content/29079-ny-jewish-community-hit-mumps-outbreak 

Reports state that only 13 per cent had been vaccinated with the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine in early childhood out of the 179 cases identified in October end.  

Discovery Mag blog: 

Brooklyn, New York is suffering a large outbreak of mumps right now. There have been 600 cases either confirmed or suspected in the past few months. Compare that to the fewer than 300 cases total on average in the entire United States over the course of a whole year and you’ll see that this is clearly a major outbreak.

Interestingly, the population affected is overwhelmingly comprised of orthodox Jews. That surprised me; I didn’t know of any prohibitions against vaccinations in Jewish culture, and after some research have determined that there is none — in fact, vaccinations appear to be taken very seriously in Jewish teachings, and there have been times that rabbis have allowed people to get vaccinated even on the Sabbath! However, the report linked above indicates vaccination rates in that area of NYC are lower than the national average, about 80%. It’s not clear why.

[UPDATE: I have been informed of an article online that indicates that many of the parents did not vaccinate their children...

...because of their religious beliefs. But local religious leaders said there is nothing in Jewish law that prohibits vaccination. "That's ridiculous," said Rabbi David Eidensohn, a frequent Orthodox Jewish commentator on family issues. "Any parent who doesn't get their child vaccinated is being foolish and endangering the entire community."

Swell.]

A similar outbreak occurred in a Jewish community in Antwerp, Belgium in 2007-2008. In that case, a large number of the parents of unvaccinated children all went to the same physician, who "was opposed to vaccination". Nice work, doc! A vaccination campaign was quickly set up to prevent the outbreak from spreading; together with a high overall rate of vaccination in Antwerp (94%!) this appears to have worked in stemming the tide of the outbreak there.

Most vaccination rates need to be at 90% or higher to provide herd immunity — where enough people are vaccinated that the potentially infectious disease in question basically doesn’t have a place to live. Lower rates mean more people can host the bug, and an outbreak can occur. Worse, the mumps vaccine (usually given together with a measles and rubella vaccination, the so-called MMR shot) has a somewhat lower immunization rate of 80% effectiveness after one dose (that is, 80% of people receiving the shot develop immunity after that one dose — which is why two doses are recommended). That means herd rates must be higher to prevent outbreaks.

The outbreak in NYC has been traced to an infected child who was visiting the area from the UK. Vaccination rates in the UK are lower, in large part due to the antivax scare started by Andrew Wakefield and his now-discredited study linking vaccines to other illnesses. There have been over 6000 cases of mumps in the UK this year so far (not even including the last quarter of 2009) — 6000, more than twenty times the cases we get in the US, and we have five times the population here.

All those thousands of kids suffering through mumps — and potential deafness, encephalitis, meningitis, orchitis in boys, and ovarian swelling in girls — because of the antivaxxers and their misinformation campaign.

The good news here is that enough people are vaccinated in the Brooklyn area to prevent this from becoming an epidemic. It’s clear there would be many more cases if that weren’t the case.

As always, don’t listen to the lies of the antivax movement. Go to your board-certified physician an ask them about vaccinations, and do the research yourself. Get the truth.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/12/20/mumps-outbreak-in-brooklyn/
 
02-07-2010 at 9:20 AM
3sthecharm
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New york new jersey has a higher than average rate of autism and also a higher rate of jewish communiities maybe the fear of autism prevente parent fromvacc with mmr?
 
02-07-2010 at 9:51 AM
Sue_sue
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I believe that failure to vaccinate an otherwise healthy child against these terrible diseases is tantamount to child abuse. There are some valid reasons why a very small percentage of children should not receive these vaccines; but the point of herd immunity through vaccination is to protect those children since they cannot protect themselves, by getting the healthy and vaccinatable children protected. Needless exposure to these terrible diseases is just appalling.
SO SINGS MY SOUL *WHAM!* MY SAVIOR GOD TO THEE *WHAM!* HOW GREAT THOU ART *WHAM!* HOW GREAT THOU ART *WHAM!*  
02-07-2010 at 9:53 AM
magnoliabl...
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Orthodox Jews don't normally deal a lot with those outside their communities except for conducting business.  So it isn't outside the realm of possibility that the high rate within their community could also be because they stay close to their own? 
Valerie ~Charlotte Adele 4.26.05~ ~Audrey Irene 12.19.2006~

 
02-07-2010 at 10:30 AM
Sue_sue
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There's absolutely no requirement in any Jewish sect to not vaccinate, nor any movement in Jewish schools etc to not vaccinate for any religious reason. I can't fathom why it'd be a higher rate in those particular areas in that state unless that's the general noncompliance rate among nonJewish people as well. I'd be interested in knowing what the bottom line is in this particular instance.
SO SINGS MY SOUL *WHAM!* MY SAVIOR GOD TO THEE *WHAM!* HOW GREAT THOU ART *WHAM!* HOW GREAT THOU ART *WHAM!*  
02-07-2010 at 10:49 AM
ScarlettBe...
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Sue_Sue, not just live children, but inborn children as well. I had all my vacs and boosters as a kid, but my prenatal bloodwork came back that immunity to MMR had worn off. So If I was in this community, my unborn child would be at serious risk. That makes me furious for other moms in my situation in NY. Its one thing not to know your immunity is weak; its quite another not to vac at all.
Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker 
02-07-2010 at 10:52 AM
bunnybean
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Sue_sue:
I believe that failure to vaccinate an otherwise healthy child against these terrible diseases is tantamount to child abuse. There are some valid reasons why a very small percentage of children should not receive these vaccines; but the point of herd immunity through vaccination is to protect those children since they cannot protect themselves, by getting the healthy and vaccinatable children protected. Needless exposure to these terrible diseases is just appalling.

Marry me? 
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Well, that would be telling 
02-07-2010 at 11:06 AM
Sibil
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ScarlettBegonia:
Sue_Sue, not just live children, but inborn children as well. I had all my vacs and boosters as a kid, but my prenatal bloodwork came back that immunity to MMR had worn off. So If I was in this community, my unborn child would be at serious risk. That makes me furious for other moms in my situation in NY. Its one thing not to know your immunity is weak; its quite another not to vac at all.

And this is exactly why if I were ever to be pregnant, I'd avoid Boulder, CO.  It ties with Ashland, OR for having the lowest vaccination rates (for a city, rather than pockets within towns or FLDS compounds and the like) in the country.  

I actually got into an argument with a guy who didn't want to vax his child b/c it would cost money.  Even $20 he thought was too much when there's herd immunity for his kid to freeload off.  He freely admitted he was mooching, too.  I argued that, hey, we're in Denver, right next to the lowest vaccinated city, can't rely on herd here.  Idiot. 
 
02-07-2010 at 11:19 AM
ScarlettBe...
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Sibil:

ScarlettBegonia:
Sue_Sue, not just live children, but inborn children as well. I had all my vacs and boosters as a kid, but my prenatal bloodwork came back that immunity to MMR had worn off. So If I was in this community, my unborn child would be at serious risk. That makes me furious for other moms in my situation in NY. Its one thing not to know your immunity is weak; its quite another not to vac at all.

And this is exactly why if I were ever to be pregnant, I'd avoid Boulder, CO.  It ties with Ashland, OR for having the lowest vaccination rates (for a city, rather than pockets within towns or FLDS compounds and the like) in the country.  

I actually got into an argument with a guy who didn't want to vax his child b/c it would cost money.  Even $20 he thought was too much when there's herd immunity for his kid to freeload off.  He freely admitted he was mooching, too.  I argued that, hey, we're in Denver, right next to the lowest vaccinated city, can't rely on herd here.  Idiot. 

UGH! Why would you risk your kid for $20?!?!?! Relying on everyone else to protect your kid makes me sick-that's YOUR job @sshole!

Typically, I'm pretty open minded about parenting choices, but protection from these illnesses is available for a reason-that guy should go watch videos of kids with polio. I have a coworker who refuses to vac against anything-incidentally, we live in OR.

Sybil, speaking of-you're pretty schooled in microbiology from what I can remember-I posted above that I found a CDC article that says my MMR immunity (or lack thereof) might have been a false negative. I had vacs, boosters, and C.Pox. Any thoughts on that?

Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker 
02-07-2010 at 11:27 AM
Sibil
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I'd have to read the study to answer you more intelligently.  And I'm too busy pestering people with psych questions :)  

But, in general, all tests have a different level of sensitivity.  It may be that the normal test is cheap, easy, but not 100% correct, but the alternative gold standard test (if one exists) isn't generally used b/c of costs or time involved or other factors like that.

Like, the quick AIDS test is easy, cheap, and quick, but it does generate false positives.  The gold standard test is much more sensitive, so if you do get a positive on the first test, they'll retest to make sure you didn't get a false positive.  I can't imagine what that would feel like, waiting between the 2 tests, knowing you've already come up positive once but aren't sure if it's for real! 
 
02-07-2010 at 2:56 PM
talltalltr...
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While I am also appalled at "$20 is too much to vaccinate my kid", I just want to point out that sst's first year of ped visits and vaccinations (no sick visits, just the regular vax visits) cost over $2,000. And that's with insurance.
"I’ve got magic. I’ve got poetry in my fingertips. Most of the time (and this includes naps) I’m an F-18, bro. And I will destroy you in the air. I will deploy my ordinance to the ground." - inspirational words from Charlie Sheen 
02-08-2010 at 10:43 AM
RoxyLynn
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talltalltrees:
While I am also appalled at "$20 is too much to vaccinate my kid", I just want to point out that sst's first year of ped visits and vaccinations (no sick visits, just the regular vax visits) cost over $2,000. And that's with insurance.
Most county health departments offer free or practically-free vaccinations.  It's part of their mission to provide the most basic public health services.

My grandfather, recently deceased, had polio as a toddler and it affected him his entire life.  I can only imagine that these anti-vax whackos have never met a polio survivor.
I think it can be done well, and I would have loved it, but taking all of the crappy parts of school away from a kid isn't good for them in the long run.

There are lessons like "Not everyone likes you" and "Some people are douche bags" that you don't learn without socializing in a large group of poorly supervised children.
Uncanny Canuck's thoughts on homeschooling 
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