Mumps On The Rise Is Why You Immunize
Submitted by Dr. Gwenn Is In
Recent news that mumps is on the rise places new importance on infant immunizations, and gives new meaning to this week’s National Infant Immunization Week.
A 2006 outbreak has cast a large and dark curtain on the hope that mumps would be eradicated by 2010. In that outbreak, there were no deaths but there were over 6500 cases and 85 hospitalizations. College campuses and Midwest states were the hardest hit in this epidemic, according to Reuters.
Waning immunity and a likely change to the mumps virus are likely contributors to this 2006 US epidemic as well as the 2004-2006 UK outbreak, but, as Reuters aptly pointed out, we have to consider the misplaced fears of many parents over the combination MMR vaccine and the immunization program in general.
Here’s the map of where we were going with mumps outbreaks pre-2005.Do we really want it to go back up again?
Here’s what life was like pre-massive immunizations of all the shots we have today. And, this.
Do we really want to go back to that life again??
Some people think that once a vaccine-preventable illness is eradicated in our country, we can stop the vaccine program for that illness. Keep in mind that we live in a global community and other countries may still have outbreaks. We have no idea where our kids will end up as adults or where our grandkids will end up. As the CDC states on their website,
“We don’t vaccinate just to protect our children. We also vaccinate to protect our grandchildren and their grandchildren. With one disease, smallpox, we “stopped the leak” in the boat by eradicating the disease. Our children don’t have to get smallpox shots any more because the disease no longer exists. If we keep vaccinating now, parents in the future may be able to trust that diseases like polio and meningitis won’t infect, cripple, or kill children. Vaccinations are one of the best ways to put an end to the serious effects of certain diseases.”
So, be wise, immunize…for the sake of not just your children but all the children of the world. This really is a act locally, think globally issue.
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