Medical Discovery News
Science permeates everyday life. Yet the understanding of advances in biomedical science is limited at best. Few people make the connection that biomedical science is medicine and that biomedical scientists are working today for the medicine of tomorrow. Our weekly five-hundred-word newspaper column (http://www.illuminascicom.com/) and two-minute radio show provide insights into a broad range of biomedical science topics. Medical Discovery News is dedicated to explaining discoveries in biomedical research and their promise for the future of medicine. Each release is designed to stimulate listeners to think, question and appreciate how science affects their health as well as that of the rest of the world. We also delve into significant biomedical discoveries and portray how science (or the lack of it) has impacted health throughout history.
Medical Discovery News
Measles it Should Not Be Back
981 - Measles it Should Not Be Back
Welcome to Medical Discovery News. I’m Dr. David Niesel.
And I’m Dr Norbert Herzog.
The US set a milestone in the year two thousand: it had eliminated measles through the measles vaccine.
Now, a quarter century later, measles is making a comeback because fewer people are choosing to get vaccinated. Anti-vaccine groups, as well as Robert F Kennedy, the head of American’s top health agency, are falsely claiming the vaccine is unsafe.
Most people don’t know that before the vaccine, which became available over fifty years ago, three to four million measles cases caused about five hundred child deaths every year in the US.
Complications included pneumonia and encephalitis, which is swelling in the brain that caused seizures, which in turn caused deafness or intellectual disability.
Pregnant women with measles could have premature births and stillbirths. Measles also causes immune amnesia, which means the immune system loses memory of all previous pathogens, including ones it was vaccinated against.
So, the Texans caught up in the current measles outbreak are vulnerable to pathogens months and years into the future.
Compared to the dangers of measles, side effects of the MMR vaccine are mild. Studies show one in four thousand children will get febrile seizures one to two weeks after the vaccine. But NO measles vaccine or any other vaccine causes autism.
Talk to your doctor about getting vaccinated. And do it for people who can’t, such as unborn and newborn babies, and anyone with a weakened immune system.
We are Drs. David Niesel and Norbert Herzog, at UTMB and Quinnipiac University, where biomedical discoveries shape the future of medicine. For much more and our disclaimer go to medicaldiscoverynews.com or listen to our podcast on your favorite podcast service.
