Measles outbreak in Zimbabwe kills 22

[patchbunny]

Measles outbreak in Zimbabwe kills 22 children.

Harare, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Twenty-two people, mainly children below the age of 5, have died of measles in Zimbabwe, the country's state media reported.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said two weeks ago it was "deeply frustrated" by the measles outbreak, which came after it sponsored a vaccination program in the African nation.

WHO's head in Zimbabwe, Dr. Custodia Mandlhate, told journalists in Harare the outbreak has totaled more than 340 suspected cases this year, and "this is not acceptable." She said the outbreak came about "mainly because of people who have denied their children vaccination."

[snip]

That should make the anti-vaccers happy. At least the children didn't get those nasty shots and got measles instead!

 

[T.A.M.]

I had measles when I was young...I did not die. Therefore, using the anti-vaxxers grade A evidence (that being Anecdotal Evidence), Measles is an innocent disease of childhood, for which we do not need to be vaccinated.

TAM

 

[CapelDodger]

Measles outbreak in Zimbabwe kills 22 children.

Harare, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Twenty-two people, mainly children below the age of 5, have died of measles in Zimbabwe, the country's state media reported.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said two weeks ago it was "deeply frustrated" by the measles outbreak, which came after it sponsored a vaccination program in the African nation.

WHO's head in Zimbabwe, Dr. Custodia Mandlhate, told journalists in Harare the outbreak has totaled more than 340 suspected cases this year, and "this is not acceptable." She said the outbreak came about "mainly because of people who have denied their children vaccination."

[snip]

That should make the anti-vaccers happy. At least the children didn't get those nasty shots and got measles instead!

Dr Mandlhate can tell journalists what she likes, but the truth is that Zimbabwe is a complete mess, thousands died from cholera recently while the government denied the problem, NGO's and the WHO can't get around the country freely, Zimbabwe is Africa's Afghanistan with added starvation.

All in all, this is a bad example to choose when shafting anti-vaccers. Which is a highly laudable objective in itself.

 

[Eos of the Eons]

I had measles when I was young...I did not die. Therefore, using the anti-vaxxers grade A evidence (that being Anecdotal Evidence), Measles is an innocent disease of childhood, for which we do not need to be vaccinated.

TAM

I got measles at a week old and survived. I won't get into the druesen on my eyes, and some possible neurological effects though...

 

[rjh01]

Also how healthy were the children before they got measles? If they were not fed properly the body might not have the reserves required to fight the disease and so they die.

Also is there a treatment for a child that gets measles that is better than bed rest? If so doubt that too many children would get that treatment.

Conclusion - we cannot draw too many conclusions from what happened in Zimbabwe that would be valid in such countries as USA, England, Canada and Australia.

 

[T.A.M.]

I think the overall point is simply to remind people, such as the antivaxxers, that these childhood diseases are not simply "innocent" illnesses that we should be able to fight off. In most cases this may be correct, and yes the environmental factors and medical accessibility issues are there, but overall these illnesses should be taken VERY seriously, and not brushed off as antivaxxers often do.

TAM

 

[Deetee]

Another report on the outbreak.

Nzvimbe, Zimbabwe - CHILDREN are dying of measles in a remote part of eastern Zimbabwe, where a religious sect insists on using only holy water to treat the contagious disease.
Thirty people, many children, have already died, according to reports. Parents are locking sick children in huts or whisking them into the hills to avoid detection by health officials working in the Nzvimbe area, 70km from the border city of Mutare.
The families are members of the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church. The church's leaders do not allow vaccination or allow followers to seek medical treatment.
Officials fear the death toll from measles in Nzvimbe could be much higher because the Vapostori – as they're known locally – are "fast-tracking" burials, according to one report. Many are dying at home.

 

[Eos of the Eons]

Another report on the outbreak.

Their choice, their dead kids. I'm guessing there's lots of kids if they avoid modern stuff like birth control too. A few dead ones, well they were chosen and all. C'est la vie.

I'm just glad I don't have to bury any of my kids. I only have 3.

 

[dudalb]

Don't worry. If this becomes a major outbreak, the Mugube regime will handle it with it's usual brilliance.......

 

[Eos of the Eons]

Well, I'm sure they have a lot of that oh so effective holy water to go around. At least the dead kids won't have to suffer jabs and get "toxified". /sarcasm

 

[Deetee]

I trained and worked in Zimbabwe before coming to work in the UK.
I am just surprised that the current health infrastructure allows for any ongoing measles vaccination programme, and I am actually surprised at how small the number of cases/deaths are.

In my "intern" year, I did paediatrics. Three of us looked after a 30 bed ward. Each day we saw cases of diarrhoea, malnutrition and each week on average 3 cases of meningitis, about 10 cases of measles with complications, several malarias, about one TB, one neonatal tetanus.

Much of this experience was formative in my career directions in infectious diseases, and explains my loathing for antivaxers.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Their choice, their dead kids. I'm guessing there's lots of kids if they avoid modern stuff like birth control too. A few dead ones, well they were chosen and all. C'est la vie.

I'm just glad I don't have to bury any of my kids. I only have 3.

Are you really this heartless? Every one of those children was a living breathing human being. Who do you think you are? The Old Testament God?

 

[Eos of the Eons]

Are you really this heartless? Every one of those children was a living breathing human being. Who do you think you are? The Old Testament God?

Oh yeah, something like that. I also thank my lucky something that I don't live in a place like that, and that I'm not one of those hapless kids.

 

[Estellea]

Also how healthy were the children before they got measles? If they were not fed properly the body might not have the reserves required to fight the disease and so they die.

Also is there a treatment for a child that gets measles that is better than bed rest? If so doubt that too many children would get that treatment.

Conclusion - we cannot draw too many conclusions from what happened in Zimbabwe that would be valid in such countries as USA, England, Canada and Australia.

I don't see any comparisons to developed countries aside from the resulting brainwashing of religious conditioning. If the children had been vaccinated and administered their vitamin A along with it, something which the WHO has adopted as standard protocol when possible, then there would probably have been zero case fatalities or close to it. It is inappropriate to blame vaccine preventable deaths on the hosts' physiological status. Many of these children weren't even afforded rest, let alone treatment for secondary sequelae.

Este

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I had measles when I was young...I did not die. Therefore, using the anti-vaxxers grade A evidence (that being Anecdotal Evidence), Measles is an innocent disease of childhood, for which we do not need to be vaccinated.

TAM

I had measles as a kid also. I coughed for ~3 months afterward. I remember my parents taking me to the doctor for the cough that wouldn't go away. I don't think anyone asked my Dad to smoke outside though.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Today's Bellevue paper let us all know someone with active measles was wandering around the stores in Bellevue a couple weeks ago. The worst little jewel was the person went to one of the stores just after leaving the clinic they were seen at.

We don't know yet if there will be any secondary cases. There are a couple sizable anti-vax communities in neighboring towns. Hopefully their kids were no where near this person.

 

[Eos of the Eons]

It's the mindset that these disease are harmless that gets me.

http://wiki.medpedia.com/Measles_Rubeola

In the decade before the measles vaccination program began, an estimated 3–4 million people in the United States were infected each year, of whom 400–500 died, 48,000 were hospitalized, and another 1,000 developed chronic disability from measles encephalitis. Widespread use of measles vaccine has led to a greater than 99% reduction in measles cases in the United States compared with the pre-vaccine era.

And the vaccine hasn't had any effect worldwide either, has it? It's sooo totally useless:

Between 2000 and 2007, the number of measles-related deaths worldwide fell by 74%, from an estimated 750,000 to 197,000, according to the latest WHO data. In Africa, the death rate fell by 89%, and the Eastern Mediterranean region (including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Sudan) has cut measles deaths by a remarkable 90%, thereby achieving "the United Nations goal to reduce measles death by 90% by 2010 3 years early," the WHO reports.

http://www.infection-research.de/infectious_diseases/measles/

Yeah, it's totally useless in places like Africa.