Reply to Measles cluster in Philadelphia, thanks to people who won't follow public health advice

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What the measles eradicated historically, and then came back somehow?[/quote]

Because some anti-vexers stopped vaxing.  Measles vaccines work well but they work best when everyone is vaccinated---herd Immunity.  That way the under 1 yo who are not vaccinated are still protected.  Look at places like India---they had measles much longer than the USA did because it's difficult to irradicate a disease without 98/99% of population vaxed.

It started coming back in 1989---spring break timeframe and it spread on college campuses.  Then they realized that A) many college aged kids had been given vaccines that did not hold up and B) many had only gotten 1 shot and not the followups.

Now, medical staff are starting to realize that the vaccine wanes over time.  So if your last MMR was when you were 11/12 and you are over 40, you may not have immunity.

I know---I was in college spring 1989 at one of the first colleges to have a measles outbreak (patient 0 lived in my dorm and was in 2 of my classes)---we had mass vaccination campaign for everyone on campus, but especially those in my dorm and in classes with the cases.

I also know because my community had an outbreak (thanks to anti-vaxers in our state about 3 hours from us---case originated there) at our HS.  First case was an adult in their 50s, fully vaxed whose immunity had obviously waned.  Had 5 days off school while they cleaned the school and had every staff member in the entire school district have to get a new MMR shot or get their titers checked and prove they had protection.  We ended up with over 10 cases of the measles in the community that I know of.

My family got their titers checked to ensure we were protected.  Quite frankly, if I were over 40 I'd get an updated MMR or get the titers checked to make sure I had protection.  
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