Measles Outbreaks
Measles outbreaks in New Zealand and What That Means For You
Unless you've been living under a rock, you will be aware of measles cases across New Zealand, in Canterbury, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Auckland. Cases have been detected in Wellington, and Lakes, Northland as well. The rates are alarming, with a large number of the infected being unvaccinated, 86%, including children under the age of 15 months (the age at which the first MMR shot is given).
Let's talk about what Measles is, what these numbers mean, try to dispel some myths, and why you should get vaccinated.
What is Measles?
Measles is caused by the Measles virus. Symptoms, as described by the Ministry of Health, include a fever, cough, runny nose, sore/watery eyes and the characteristic red rash, with white (Koplik spots). Complications can be serious and 1 in 10 infected will need hospitalisation. The complications can include ear infections (which can lead to hearing loss), eye infections and blindness, diarrhea, pneumonia, or in 1 in 10,000 cases, SPPE (Subacute Sclerosing PanEncephalitis, the swelling of the brain, which can lead to permanent brain damage). A 2016 study found that the rate of SPPE in babies is closer to 1 in 609.
Other complications from Measles infection includes wiping-out of your immunity to other diseases you may have been immune to before (dubbed immune amnesia), leaving you open to other infections and increasing the risk of mortality. Measles is not a benign childhood illness that simply means a week off school and boredom etc, which is what some antivaxers would have you believe. The survivors' bias comes thick and fast, "I had Measles as a child and I'm fine! Now I'm immune!". It's easy to think this way, however, this is unfair to those people who have developed complications to the Measles or have lost children or other loved ones to this insidious illness. Also, wild immunity doesn't work the way you think it works. That's why Measles cases dropped dramatically with the advent of the vaccine.
Measles is considered to be the most contagious and infectious of the VPDs (Vaccine Preventable Diseases) and has an R0 number of 12-18. An R0 number is assigned to a disease or virus to estimate the basic reproductive number of the virus. An R0 number of 18 means that one infected person can go on to infect eighteen other people. In this way, one or two (or in New Zealand at the moment, 132 cases) can quickly become an epidemic.
What Do The Statistics Mean?
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| https://surv.esr.cri.nz/PDF_surveillance/MeaslesRpt/2019/WeeklyMeasles13052019.pdf |
As mentioned earlier, the ESR numbers show that 86% (114 of 132 cases) of the Measles cases are unvaccinated. Unvaccinated is considered either no vaccination or one dose of the vaccine. Partially vaccinated includes children over 4 and have only had one dose. Sadly, 23 of these cases include children under 15 months of age, some of which are too young to be vaccinated. They didn't make a choice to be exposed to deadly diseases. 15 of these 23 cases have had to be hospitalised.
The scheduled age of MMR vaccination in New Zealand is 12 months and 4 years respectively. In severe outbreaks, the vaccine can be given as young as 6 months. Teens and adults are also recommended to get a booster if required. Call your GP and check.
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| https://surv.esr.cri.nz/PDF_surveillance/MeaslesRpt/2019/WeeklyMeasles13052019.pdf |
The scheduled age of MMR vaccination in New Zealand is 12 months and 4 years respectively. In severe outbreaks, the vaccine can be given as young as 6 months. Teens and adults are also recommended to get a booster if required. Call your GP and check.
These numbers are hardly surprising, considering experts have been telling us for years that vaccination prevents the spread of disease. New Zealand's total coverage of MMR (Measles, Mumps & Rubella) is estimated at 90%, high, but not high enough. It's also much, much lower in other regions of the country, such as 84% in the West Coast and 88% in Northland. It needs to be sustained at 95% and higher to prevent outbreaks. This is for herd immunity. There are always going to be a small percentage of a population (estimated at around 0.1%) that cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. This includes allergies (egg or gelatin, however, there are other options, talk to your doctor), cancer patients or other individuals with suppressed or compromised immune systems.
But if the vaccine works, why are vaccinated people getting sick? What about the other 7.5%? (accounting for the partially vaccinated). No medication or vaccination is 100% effective. If that were the case, the diseases would be eradicated a lot easier. Ironically, the only people that claim they are 100% effective are the antivaxers. One dose of MMR is around 95% effective, with reports of some vaccine failure. Failure can be due to improper handling of the vaccine, or incorrectly administered. The second dose of MMR is a safety net and will protect 99% of people. Vaccine failures are extremely rare, but can still happen even with both doses. Vaccination is a statistics game, somewhat. If 99% of the population is fully vaccinated, then this means that 99% of the population is 99% protected. The vulnerable will be protected and the virus will have a very hard time getting a hold and spreading, which would lead to eradication.
Some Myths
This is a small list of some myths, mainly surrounding the Measles. Of course, whenever vaccines or measles are in the news, we have the educated antivaxers giving their 2 cents worth in the comments section. These myths are fairly consistent and easy to dispel and debunk if you know what you're doing. However, for concerned parents, who may be on the fence, this can be extremely worrying. So, let's go through some of them.
1. Measles is less harmful than the vaccine.
Well, this is demonstrably false. Again, statistics will show the truth here. With the millions of vaccinated people around the world, we would see a lot more deaths or "injuries" from vaccines than we do. Measles itself, on the other hand, was responsible for over 120,000 deaths worldwide in the year 2000 - 2015 and 75,000 deaths in the year 2015 alone.
2. Getting Measles means you have natural immunity
False. As mentioned earlier, this is just wrong and dangerous thinking. Measles not only carries a risk of complication, but it also wipes out your immunity to other diseases and leaves you open to other infections.
3. Vaccines are full of toxins and chemicals
Take a chemistry class. Everything is a chemical and everything is toxic at a certain level, even water, which is a vaccine component. Vaccines have been proven to be safe, time and time again. They continue to be the most regulated and tested medication on earth.
4. Natural prevention is better and natural
Wrong. There is no natural preventative measure for Measles, nor is there an effective treatment for it either. The only effective prevention is two doses of the MMR.
5. Measles is not a disease, it's an infection...
Courtesy of the antivaxer Dr Sherri Tenpenny, one of the antivaxers' favourite deities, also a germ theory denier (sounds like a great authority for health, right?). This myth, like others, is used to employ confusion about Measles. I mean, if it's not a disease, why should we care? Because a measles infection is caused by the measles virus, which, as discussed above, can lead to all sorts of hideous complications, including death, that's why. There is no scientific basis to the bullshit she's trying to push here.
https://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/measles-myth-vaccine-denier-sherri-tenpenny/
6. Autism
I'm sorry I have to mention this one. If you still claim that the measles causes autism, after the millions of children that have been studied, I don't know what to say other than provide the studies that show they do not cause autism. Wakefield is a liar, fraud and unscrupulous person with blood on his hands.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24814559 (meta-analysis of 1.5 million children, no link was found).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30831578 (650,000 children. Still no link).
7. My child was born perfect and doesn't need vaccines
As much as we like to believe, our children are not perfect. To put it bluntly, nature wants you dead. Pathogens evolved long before we did and they've continued evolving alongside us. Vaccines are our frontline protection against them.
8. Good hygiene can prevent measles and is what eradicated smallpox
Very sneaky of sanitation to curb different diseases at different times...
Measles is an airborne virus, so even though hand-washing is good protection against some other pathogens, not so for measles. An infected person can sneeze or cough in a room and the virus can stay there for hours afterwards and still infect people (remember that R0 number?). Measles is one nasty, contagious sonofabitch. Again, the MMR is the only proven way of preventing this.
9. My child, my choice
Wrong again. First of all, your child is not your property. Try to remember they are a little human being, with rights as well. Don't they have a right to the best protection (which is what vaccines are)? The biggest part of why this is so ugly is that it's not just your child that you're putting at risk with your choice. A small percentage of the population has compromised immune systems, for some reason or another, and they are relying on the rest of the community to do their part for herd immunity (this is a proven concept). If your child is exempt from vaccination and can't be vaccinated, I would expect you to be the loudest voice for vaccine advocacy. They are at risk if the coverage is too low. Measles has a 50% mortality rate for immune-compromised individuals.
This is not picking out what clothes you want your child to wear. This is a duty of care for your child, as a parent and for the rest of the community, as a human.
10. The vaccine causes the virus/It's the vaccinated spreading the illness
Nonsense. The vaccine is a weakened (attenuated) version of the measles virus. Even if the person that has been vaccinated presents with measles-like symptoms, it's a very mild form of the illness, merely an immune response. This is different for everyone, varying in mildness. The vaccine strain of the illness is not contagious. It does not shed, at least not like antivaxers say it does. Measles is airborne. Up to two weeks after receiving a vaccine, the individual may pass some of the vaccine strain of the virus through urine or feces. So, if you're not rubbing or drinking or snorting these substances (looking at you Urine Therapy crowd!), then you're safe. Doing this with someone's (even your own) bodily waste is absolutely not recommended. Seriously, don't drink piss.
11. A potato in the sock overnight can detox the toxins out of the body
Honestly, whatever gets you to vaccinate. It's harmless, as long as it's just the one night and you're not using the same potato for days in a row, go for it.
TL;DR
Measles is an extremely contagious and dangerous infection caused by the measles virus. There are serious complications, including deafness, blindness, brain damage and death. The only prevention is two doses of the MMR vaccine. The statistics show what studies have always shown, it's the unvaccinated (86% of cases) getting infected and spreading the virus.
So please, get your child vaccinated and do the right thing.
At the time of writing, the cases in New Zealand are 132, 114 of which are unvaccinated.
Get information here: https://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/conditions-and-treatments/diseases-and-illnesses/measles/2019-measles-outbreak-information
Love from Skeptical Kiwi.
EDIT: UPDATE 30/7/2019
The measles outbreaks have not slowed down. Fortunately, after a lot of hard work and a huge increase in vaccination, Canterbury District Health Board was able to curb the Measles cases and has basically ended the outbreak there. Unfortunately, Auckland is seeing a weekly increase of cases, especially in the Counties Manakau area. The ESR data for the week of 20-26 July 2019 is not looking good.
- 161 cases out of the 407 (39.5%) total have been hospitalised. 52 of those 161 (32%) cases are children younger than 15 months old.
- The rates of infection among the unvaccinated have been steady as well, with 253 cases out of 407 (62%) unvaccinated, but if we remove the "unknown" numbers, this number jumps to 253 out of 301, (84%).
- Individuals with known vaccination history (fully vaccinated with two doses of MMR) only make up 31 out of 407 cases (7.6%). This is what we expect, as we know that vaccines work!
- On June 12, the vaccination age for children has been brought forward to 12 months, instead of the normal 15 months. This is to provide better protection for those at the greatest risk, unvaccinated babies. 15 months is the normal time to get the vaccine, as it's most effective at that age. If children are vaccinated earlier, the immunity doesn't last as long and will still need to receive a booster at 15 months, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
- Antivaxers continue their brain-dead cry of "But has anyone died yet?" I for one am glad nobody has died, and I have been encouraged by the recent uptake in vaccination. But seriously, do you really need deaths to get it through your head that the measles virus is serious?! Maybe having your baby hospitalised with a PREVENTABLE DISEASE is scary enough without having them die?! Perhaps this will satiate their thirst for death; in the DRC, during an ebola outbreak, measles infections have killed over 1500 people. Measles is serious.
EDIT: UPDATE 27/08/2019
The outbreaks have not slowed down. There are more than a hundred each week now, mostly in the Auckland region. ESR Data here.
- As of today, there are 771 total cases, 631 of those in Auckland alone
- 91% of those cases are unvaccinated/unknown status
- 36% of cases have resulted in hospitalisations
- Middlemore hospital has turned the kids' ward into a Measles Ward and has been quarantined to deal with the outbreak
- 96 children under 15 months have been hospitalised
UPDATE: 6/9/2019
Cases are now above 1000. Most of these are still in Auckland. A handful of cases have been reported elsewhere.
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| Data from end of Week 35 from ESR |
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