Mumps across the midwest

[Honeykiss1974]

Why the heck is this disease making a resurgance? People, both kids and adults, are getting this crap even though they have had the vaccine.

Cripes, I will be PO'd if I get sick.

WTH?

The Mumps Outbreak across the Midwest

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/14374940.htm

[James]

I read this wrong Honeykiss, I thought you wrote Muppets across the Midwest . . which would have been funny.

[Honeykiss1974]

Originally posted by James
I read this wrong Honeykiss, I thought you wrote Muppets across the Midwest . . which would have been funny.

ROTFL!!! I'd be PO'd if they came too! Unless it was Beaker. I like skinny, brainy guys that don't say much.

[Kevin]

If the muppet show were still on TV, I'd watch it religiously.

[Optimist Prime]

The Muppets need a comeback. I like the bell hop rats and the cranky old guys in the balcony

[Honeykiss1974]

Originally posted by Optimist Prime
The Muppets need a comeback. I like the bell hop rats and the cranky old guys in the balcony

Statler and Waldorf were HILARIOUS!

[Honeykiss1974]

Originally posted by BetaRose
A lot of parents are choosing to not have their kids vaccinated. I wonder if that is part of the reason that mumps is making a comeback?

I'm not sure. I do know that the CDC tracked it down to two people that infected others on their flight. But as I stated earlier, both kids and adults that have been vaccinated are getting it. It is a virus though and they do mutate so who knows.

Those 2 people have resulted in over 800 cases so far! This is very interesting because it does show how quickly things can spread (thinking in terms of a biological terrorism).

[ISUKappa]

The vaccination is only good for so long; you need a booster every 10-15 years or so to make sure you stay immune.

Most children get the MMR vax before preschool which means they should get a booster before they go to college.

It's also affecting older adults (late 40s on up) who never had the vaccine.

[HBADPi]

Originally posted by ktsnake
If the muppet show were still on TV, I'd watch it religiously.

Ditto

[AKA_Monet]

Originally posted by ISUKappa
The vaccination is only good for so long; you need a booster every 10-15 years or so to make sure you stay immune.

Most children get the MMR vax before preschool which means they should get a booster before they go to college.

It's also affecting older adults (late 40s on up) who never had the vaccine.

I had to get another MMR recently when I moved to where I am now...

So it sounds like folks vaccines stopped working and mumps has been hanging out forever in that area, but folks just haven't been re-vaccinated...

Also, it is interesting that measles hasn't made a comeback recently either...

And since both mumps, measles, rubella, pertussis and diptheria are DNA viruses (I think?) and the vaccination is against a protein marker that doesn't change, then it would very strange that the virus "mutated" in the sense that vaccine protect because that's not how I was taught how it works...

Now, tuberculosis is different because it's caused by a bacteria that can become antibiotic resistant...

And HIV is different because the proteins on HIV actually do mutate which a vaccine wouldn't work effectively and because HIV is a diploid RNA virus.

And chickpox is an alpha simplex herpesvirus--another RNA virus but it's single stranded--so it's structure doesn't change--that's why a vaccine can be made against that.

Either way, it stresses the importance of getting vaccinated. Because having the actual disease is disabling. And there are always secondary infections that can occur. Think of it this way, if one virus gets in, it opens the door for other infections to get in that you cannot fight off naturally...

[bluefish81]

Originally posted by ISUKappa
The vaccination is only good for so long; you need a booster every 10-15 years or so to make sure you stay immune.

Most children get the MMR vax before preschool which means they should get a booster before they go to college.

It's also affecting older adults (late 40s on up) who never had the vaccine.

I didn't remember getting a booster before I went to college. When cases started popping up in Dubuque County, IA, my mom reminded both my sister and I that we got boosters before we headed off to school. It's crazy how many cases are out there right now and how much it's spreading.

[kddani]

Originally posted by James
I read this wrong Honeykiss, I thought you wrote Muppets across the Midwest . . which would have been funny.

While I did read it as "mumps across the midwest" it made me think of "hands across america"

[AGDee]

I'm thinking that some people just don't become immune, in spite of the vaccine. I had my MMRs when I was supposed to, had a booster in high school because they determined that some batch in the late 60's wasn't good. When I started my last job, they titred us to see if we had immunity to all 3 parts of the MMR. I didn't titre as immune to the Rubeola, so they made me get it again. I told my doc and she ran another test and I still wasn't testing as immune from it. <shrug> Apparently that part didn't work on me, and probably never will.

[ISUKappa]

Originally posted by AGDee
I'm thinking that some people just don't become immune, in spite of the vaccine. I had my MMRs when I was supposed to, had a booster in high school because they determined that some batch in the late 60's wasn't good. When I started my last job, they titred us to see if we had immunity to all 3 parts of the MMR. I didn't titre as immune to the Rubeola, so they made me get it again. I told my doc and she ran another test and I still wasn't testing as immune from it. <shrug> Apparently that part didn't work on me, and probably never will.

This is probably true. It could also mean that even though you're not totally immune, if you get sick, your reaction would be much less than someone who was never vaccinated. It would be more like a cold than a full-out case of Mumps or Rubella or whathaveyou.

[Lady of Pearl]

Wow I didn't know there is a resurgence of cases of mumps either - I have had a student miss a week of school because she has it!