Childhood illnesses, jabs and operations

[Jabberwocky 46]

Just seen a woman on tv explaining that she refuses any kind of injection for her kid, she gets them immune to disease by making them stay near other kids with the illness because she believes its safer than jabs.

 

Ill try to find out the name of the programme so you can look for it if its repeated if youre interested, but, would you do that to your kids? I always thought that the jabs were to stop the disease from killing or permanantly harming the baby, yet this woman, and according to her, many others go the same thing.

[cosywolf 10]

In my opinion, she and others are at best misguided, and at worst guilty of causing serious potential harm not just to their own children but to others as well.

 

Just get the jabs. They have eradicated or made very rare many killer diseases, and in my opinion if you care about your child and other children, you must behave responsibly to ensure that these diseases do not become prevalent again.

 

Just my tuppence worth....

[JoeP 11]

When I was a kid and contracted chickenpox, other children were sent to play with me.

 

And when other kids got mumps, I was sent to play with them.

 

Her kids won't get immunity - just contract the bugs, unless they have some sort of natural immunity anyway.

[mrseggy 10]

The thing is, its very easy for people that have not had first hand experiance with damage caused by vacines to say "just get em done".

 

My daughter has aspergers (she has had her jabs) but because of this i have spoken to lots of parents who believe that their children have been damaged by jabs.

 

Ok in many cases you could argue that it just a coinsindence, but there are also alot of cases whereby by the child has been 2-3 before they have had the offending jab, There has then been a regression, they were potty trained and had excellant speech ect ect. And have then gone on to loss all this!!

 

I personally think that we should have the right to choose weather or not to give or children combined vacines or single shots. I agonised for weeks before letting my daughter have her pre school booster.

[sauerkraut 10]

When I was a kid and contracted chickenpox, other children were sent to play with me.

 

And when other kids got mumps, I was sent to play with them.

 

Her kids won't get immunity - just contract the bugs, unless they have some sort of natural immunity anyway.

 

Yes, I've come across this with chickenpox. When my kids had chickenpox several other mums sent their kids to play with them. I seem to remember hearing that in America they have "chickenpox parties!" I think the idea is that the parents want their children to catch the disease when they're younger, as it can be much more unpleasant if you get it when you're older.

 

But that's the point. As Joe says, the kids catch the disease. They don't somehow magically become immune just by being in contact with it. With something like chickenpox that might be OK. I'm not sure I'd have sent my kids to play with someone on purpose to try and catch it, but I can understand why some mums do. What I really can't imagine, though, would be deliberately putting my child at risk of catching something like measles, mumps or whatever.

[pinklady 10]

When I was a kid and contracted chickenpox, other children were sent to play with me.

 

And when other kids got mumps, I was sent to play with them.

 

Her kids won't get immunity - just contract the bugs, unless they have some sort of natural immunity anyway.

 

me too joep

 

back then children recovered easier than adults with illness, therefore it was deemed better to get chicken pox and measles out of the way when we were kids (mumps obviously to stop infatility)

[cosywolf 10]

The thing is, its very easy for people that have not had first hand experiance with damage caused by vacines to say "just get em done".

 

My daughter has aspergers (she has had her jabs) but because of this i have spoken to lots of parents who believe that their children have been damaged by jabs.

 

Ok in many cases you could argue that it just a coinsindence, but there are also alot of cases whereby by the child has been 2-3 before they have had the offending jab, There has then been a regression, they were potty trained and had excellant speech ect ect. And have then gone on to loss all this!!

 

I personally think that we should have the right to choose weather or not to give or children combined vacines or single shots. I agonised for weeks before letting my daughter have her pre school booster.

 

The overwhelming body of research that has been done says that it is simply not the case that the MMR, which you are clearly referring to, has anything at all to do with either autism/aspergers or the bowel disease that appears to be related to these illnesses.

It is, however, very human to want to be able to a) protect your child from harm and b) find something to blame when something bad does happen to them.

 

This is where the constant touting of studies, regardless of how well researched they are or are not, can cause serious actual harm, both psychologically and physically.

 

Apparently there is a jab for chicken pox now, but mine is too old for it, I believe. Because of that, and because it is for the most part a fairly mild illness in childhood, and because it can be a very nasty disease in adulthood, yes, I would put my child in the way of getting it. Because as has been pointed out, he would GET it, not just become imunised through contact - wouldn't that be nice!

[Titian 10]

I don't think it's possible to say that these people are misguided. Some children tolerate vaccinations and other do not, it's down to their "make up" and who can account for that or predict it? There is as much research and evidence (as with most things) to say that vaccinations do more harm than good and that children thrive who are not vaccinated, or given antibiotics. My family have a history of reacting badly to vaccinations, so we avoid them and have not suffered for it. In fact we have the constitution of an ox (in plural )

 

Here's one for a quick start:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16387585

 

http://www.gnhealth.com/articles/whichArticle.php?article=129

[medusa 16]

If you knew someone who had a child who took 9 years to die after brain injury caused by measles then you wouldn't ever question the need for vaccinations.

 

I personally know of one child who died as direct consequence of measles (albeit 9 years later) and 2 adults who had their sight seriously damaged by measles as small children.

 

I also know of 2 people who had children affected by birth defects thought to be the effects of being exposed to rubella during the first trimester of their pregnancies, one whose first child had very severe complications of HiB menigitis which are likely to be lifelong and another whose little one was hospitalised with complications of whooping cough.

 

I recognise that there are questions about the safety of vaccines and that these need to be answered, but the answer to anyone who thinks that these are just simple childhood diseases that all children get over is that they are shortsighted and incorrect. There is no way that the millions of research money would be committed to developing and administering a vaccine if there wasn't a significant chance of complications which are life long or life limiting resulting from catching these infections.

[Titian 10]

But it does work both ways. My brothers life was risked by a vaccination which was terrifying for my mother (I was too young to remember full details).

[canuck 10]

There is as much research and evidence (as with most things) to say that vaccinations do more harm than good and that children thrive who are not vaccinated, or given antibiotics. My family have a history of reacting badly to vaccinations, so we avoid them and have not suffered for it. In fact we have the constitution of an ox (in plural )

 

This is simply untrue. There is an overwhelming amount of research demonstrating that the benefits associated with vaccines vastly outweigh the risks, and that vaccines are not related to autism, aspergers, etc. Andrew Wakefield, the doctor who originally proposed the link, is now facing charges for unprofessional conduct. His conclusions have never been demonstrated -- in fact every study ever done contradicts his results. It also turns out that his "research" was funded by lawyers who were searching for evidence that could be used to help take legal action against vaccine manufacturers.

 

As for you not suffering because of your lack of vaccination -- this is quite simply a function of the fact that most other people have been vaccinated so the diseases are rare.

 

However, since vaccination use has dropped around the world -- largely because of the publicity surrounding Wakefield's flawed research -- these diseases are coming back. And they are killing children.

 

Earlier this year in San Diego there was the first outbreak of measles in 17 years -- none of the affected children had been vaccinated.

 

In Iowa a recent out break of mumps -- same reason.

 

In London, the number of mumps went from 4.204 cases in 2003 to 16,436 in 2004 and 56,390 cases last year.

 

May people say, so what, measles and mumps aren't that bad. This is as wrong as wrong can be, and is simply because our generation hasn't seen first hand the real effects. Measles, in a significant number of cases, leads to blindness, encephalitis, brain damage and death.

 

There is no "natural" way to gain immunity. Intentionally exposing your children to other kids who have measles, mumps, etc., not only misunderstands disease transmission and immunity, but it is potentially life threatening. Calling this approach "misguided" is being charitable.

 

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2008/02/yet_another_really_bad_day_for_antivacci.php

[Titian 10]

This is simply untrue. There is an overwhelming amount of research demonstrating that the benefits associated with vaccines vastly outweigh the risks, and that vaccines are not related to autism, aspergers, etc. Andrew Wakefield, the doctor who originally proposed the link, is now facing charges for unprofessional conduct. His conclusions have never been demonstrated -- in fact every study ever done contradicts his results. It also turns out that his "research" was funded by lawyers who were searching for evidence that could be used to help take legal action against vaccine manufacturers.

 

As for you not suffering because of your lack of vaccination -- this is quite simply a function of the fact that most other people have been vaccinated so the diseases are rare.

 

However, since vaccination use has dropped around the world -- largely because of the publicity surrounding Wakefield's flawed research -- these diseases are coming back. And they are killing children.

 

Earlier this year in San Diego there was the first outbreak of measles in 17 years -- none of the affected children had been vaccinated.

 

In Iowa a recent out break of mumps -- same reason.

 

In London, the number of mumps went from 4.204 cases in 2003 to 16,436 in 2004 and 56,390 cases last year.

 

May people say, so what, measles and mumps aren't that bad. This is as wrong as wrong can be, and is simply because our generation hasn't seen first hand the real effects. Measles, in a significant number of cases, leads to blindness, encephalitis, brain damage and death.

 

There is no "natural" way to gain immunity. Intentionally exposing your children to other kids who have measles, mumps, etc., not only misunderstands disease transmission and immunity, but it is potentially life threatening. Calling this approach "misguided" is being charitable.

 

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2008/02/yet_another_really_bad_day_for_antivacci.php

 

My post didn't relate to Andrew Wakefield and his findings at all. I supplied a link to some of the research I was referring to, and as far as I'm aware it isn't flawed.

I still think it's luck of the draw for both arguments. Both my father and brother contracted mumps (brother as a child, father in his 40's) I've had measles too, and like I say we survived unscathed wheareas vaccinations have been a problem. Also it isn't always the vaccination that is the problem it's the carrier solution which can be just as harmful if not more so.