Misguided Parents Put Kids at Risk in Mumps Outbreak

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Title: Misguided Parents Put Kids at Risk in Mumps Outbreak

Word Count: 681

Author: Mike Jr, MD

Email: mike@...

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Misguided Parents Put Kids at Risk in Mumps Outbreak

Copyright 2006 Mike Jr, MD

Mumps is sweeping the Midwest with the speed of a

California wildfire. Doctors have diagnosed a thousand

cases of the viral disease, and there's no end in sight.

Those most at risk for severe disease in the outbreak are

adults with waning immunity and unvaccinated children.

Adult cases are understandable. After all, immunity from

vaccination can decline over time. The involvement of

unvaccinated children, on the other hand, is inexcusable.

Free MMR vaccine is available to every American child at

local Health Departments, and moms and dads who fail to get

it for their children should spend an afternoon in the

public stocks with " bad parent of the year " signs hung

around their necks.

Vaccines are becoming victims of their own success. Today's

parent doesn't remember the day when measles and diphtheria

killed thousands of American children. They weren't around

when polio paralyzed a generation. They didn't witness the

miracle of Dr. Jonas Salk's polio vaccine. In those days

parents clamored to get their kids immunized, and thousands

of children were spared a lifetime of metal braces and

wheelchairs.

Today's parent doesn't exactly clamor for vaccines.

Instead, she approaches them with reluctance and fear

because of ranting quasi-scientists and militant moms who

blame childhood vaccines for little Bobby's autism.

The MMR-autism flap began in 1998 when Dr.

Wakefield, a British bowel specialist, conducted a chart

review of twelve patients. Really, I'm not making this up.

Twelve patients. Based on that chart review, Dr Wakefield

concluded that MMR causes intestinal inflammation, which

leads to " leaky bowel, " which allows harmful toxins to

enter the body. These toxins then travel to the brain and

cause autism. Since every autistic child in the developed

world had received an MMR vaccine and since autism is most

commonly diagnosed between the first and second birthdays,

around the time of the MMR, many parents of autistic

children clung to the report like a colony of mold on old

bread.

Never mind that the United Kingdom Medical Research Council

condemned Dr. Wakefield's report. Never mind that other

medical researchers from around the globe found fault with

his research methods. Never mind that subsequent

well-designed statistically significant studies failed to

show any link between MMR and autism. These stricken

parents had found what they wanted--a reason.

So now many parents fear the MMR vaccine, and some

downright refuse it. They'll put their children in a

speeding automobile a median's throw away from a twenty-ton

eighteen-wheeler rocketing in the opposite direction.

They'll let their children ride in an airplane traveling

500 miles-per-hour at an elevation of 35,000 feet. They'll

allow their children to swim unattended and ride bicycles

without helmets and get on slapped-together carnival rides

run by a guy sporting more tattoos than teeth, but they

won't get the MMR vaccine. It's too risky. After all, Dr.

Wakefield looked at twelve kids, and those militant

moms--the ones who don't want you vaccinating your

children--agree with him.

Perhaps the current mumps outbreak will begin to change

this misguided attitude. I guess mumps is as good a start

as any. It's an uncomfortable disease, but rarely fatal.

You get headache and fever and painfully swollen salivary

glands under the jaw. Ovaries and testicles can swell.

Every now and then deafness results, or the brain swells.

But for most, it's a walk in the park compared to other

vaccine-preventable diseases. The results of a widespread

measles outbreak would be worse, and if diphtheria or polio

ever raise their ugly heads, it will be tragic.

If you are one of those worried parents who haven't

vaccinated your children, please give it another thought.

Talk to your child's doctor. Sure, there may be some risk

with immunizations, the most common being allergic

reaction, but the benefit far exceeds the risk. If you

still disagree with me, that's fine. Don't get the MMR.

Don't get any vaccines. But maybe you should also keep your

children out of cars and airplanes. And please, oh please,

don't get them anywhere near those carnival rides.

About the Author:

Mike is an American pediatrician. Read more at

Pediascribe.com http://www.pediascribe.com