So I'm here on vacation and not in my typical office but I wanted to talk a little about
an important subject that we are dealing with as we speak. That's the subject of Measles.
We've had a recent outbreak in the western United States that really needs to be addressed.
Vaccines are one of the most misunderstood and maligned parts of healthcare and today.
We're going talk about what measles is, why you should be worried about it, how we
got in this mess and what you can do about it.
Welcome to Family Med, your medical home for practical and accurate information to help
your family make healthy decisions. I'm Doctor Erik Richardson. My passion is helping
you cut through all the health information clutter on the internet. If that sounds like
the kind of information you or family needs make sure you follow along with us, hit that
subscribe button and share it with your friends. OK so today we are talking about the Measles,
what it is, and why its so important that we vaccinate for this. This is actually kind
of a frustrating thing to have to talk about as a physician. In the year 2000 it was actually
a disease that was declared eradicated in the US by the CDC but unfortunately due to
lack of immunizations we are seeing more and more outbreaks.
Measles is a highly infectious respiratory virus that is spread by cough and sneezing,
in fact it is so infectious that 9 out of 10 people who are exposed to the virus and
not immunized will get it. The virus can live on its own on surfaces for up to two hours.
You start spreading the infection up to 4 days before you even have symptoms.
Now the symptoms of measles are fairly similar to the flu with high fever, cough, runny nose,
and red, watery eyes. Two to three days after these symptoms you may get tiny white spots
inside the mouth called koplik spots. Then three to five days after the initial symptoms,
the red-spotted rash characteristic of measles breaks out, and the fever spikes. The rash
and fever usually subside within a few days. Now if those were the only problems that happened
with measles maybe it wouldn't be as big of a deal but unfortunately measles has a
high risk of complications. Out of 1000 patients who get Measles up to 3 of them will get a
severe pneumonia, swelling in the brain called encephalitis and even death. Unfortunately
the younger the patient is, the higher risk they are of complications. At the time of
filming this with the current outbreak according to news reports from the 35 active cases one
of them is in the hospital for it. Your kids can get really sick from this.
The worst part about measles is that there is no treatment. The only way we have of tackling
this is through vaccination. But the best news about measles is that by appropriate
vaccination, it is up to 99 percent effective in preventing it. That is why in the year
2000 the CDC was able to declare it eradicated from the United States.
Unfortunately right about that time is when a lot of the myths and misinformation started
regarding vaccines and their safety. You see it all started from a man named Andrew
Wakefield a researcher in England who was looking at the possible link between vaccines
and some intestinal issues. They wrote a paper looking at 12 different children where it
was felt that there may be a link between the vaccine and this condition and then subsequent
development of autism. In the paper they didn't actually claim a link between autism however
in subsequent discussions Dr. Wakefield made that claim. Well, once that was released
the media had a heyday with it and the doubt was firmly implanted in the public mind.
Since that time there have been multiple very good, highly scientific studies with thousands
and thousands of participants which not only have shown no link with the MMR vaccine and
autism but they've actually seen the opposite. Several have shown a trend to lower rates
of autism for those who have had the vaccine. Remember the original study had 12 participants,
so compare that to the many years and thousands of participants in the various studies and
hopefully that will help you feel a little more confident in the validity of the studies.
Now here's the most interesting things about all of this controversy. In the subsequent
years as more and more investigation into this has gone on, there have been some disturbing
findings in regards to the conduct of Dr. Wakefield.
The first of which, of course, was his claim that went above and beyond what the study
found. The original study of 12 people did not find that the vaccine caused autism.
The second issues was that he started advocating a single virus vaccine which he felt to be
safer. Well interestingly enough a couple years earlier he had taken out a patent on
just such a vaccine. Third, it was later discovered that at the
time of the study, he was being paid by a lawyer group who were getting ready to sue
vaccine manufacturers. Kind of convenient don't you think?
4th, it was found out even later, after somebody interviewed the families of the children that
were involved in the original study, that he had fabricated much of the data for the
study. So who should you believe? The multiple studies
covering thousands of lives showing no link to autism or a fraudulent doctor who due to
all of this had his medical license taken away in disgrace or other celebrity spokespeople
for this cause? I'm putting the safety of my children on the legitimate studies.
So let's talk about some practical issues regarding the immunization and talk through
some of the common concerns. First of all there is still concern about
some harmful chemicals in immunizations. Many feared that the preservative thimerosal could
be a source. This has been extensively studied and shown not to be the cause. Despite that
evidence, thimerosal is no longer used in childhood immunizations other than in some
brands of the flu vaccine that are in multi dose vials. But good news, even with that,
you can get ones that don't have it in there. 2nd thing to think about.
We get the immunization to protect ourselves but also those around us. You can't get
the immunization unless you are over the age of one, certain people with immunocompromised states
such as HIV or Cancer and pregnant women. Measles in these groups is especially dangerous.
Remember what I said earlier about how infectious measles is. 9 out of 10 people exposed will
get the measles. So please do what you can do to protect those who are unable to get
the vaccine and prevent the spread. 3rd thing we should address is the fear that
maybe I should just wait until my kids are older to get the vaccine. First of all there
is absolutely no evidence that getting immunizations early has any negative effect. Usually, it
it's just the opposite. Remember what we just discussed about how infectious measles or
other diseases are. The younger your child is the harder time they will have dealing
with the disease. It's much easier for a body to deal with an immunization than it
is the disease. 4th thing to think about. I think that vaccines
are somewhat the victim of their own success. There are certain diseases that we just don't
see as health care providers. In the 15 years that I've been practicing medicine I've
never had to see anybody with measles. I see that as a success, however, because of that
many of you also haven't seen it so the fear of these disease have put us in a false
sense of security. Hopefully understanding what this disease can do will help you be
more motivated to protect yourself. 5th thing to think about. I've seen more
and more doctors' offices refusing to see families who do not immunize their children.
This may seem somewhat cruel, but it's important you understand the risk that you put other
people in when you don't immunize . I have little babies and elderly in my clinic every
day and those who have a compromised immune system. I can't put them at risk because
somebody is irresponsible and does not want to immunize their children. Also, just practically
speaking. If I have somebody who comes into my clinic with measel type symptoms, and they
are not immunized, I have to seal off the exam room they were in for at least two hours
and likely most of the rest of the day before they can be used again. Then I have to clean
the whole lobby and any area that they were in all while wearing a special protective
mask. That's a room that I depend on to be able to care for my patients. Do you also
remember what the symptoms of measles are at first? Cough, congestion, fevers.. How
many patients do you think I have come in with those kind of symptoms? Let me tell you,
it's a lot.
There is a lot more that we could discuss regarding measles, immunizations and the importance
of them, but hopefully, this gives you just a taste of why you need to be immunizing yourself
and your children. Hopefully you've been able to gain a better appreciation of how
serious these diseases can be and how easy it is to prevent them. So please, go get your
children immunized. Share this video with your friends and family who may be on the
fence on deciding whether they should. You never know when you can be exposed and you
don't want to suffer the devastating complications that these diseases can bring.
I hope you have found this video to be informative and helpful. If so I urge you to subscribe
right now and hit that notification button so you don't miss our latest content that
we put out. This is key to me being able to be able to produce content like this for you.
So until next time, this is FamilyMed with Dr. Erik Richardson and remember, immunize
your kids and take care of your body because it's the only one you have.