Measles - I Told You So

I know that it is petty, childish, and perhaps even a little bit mean - but lately, every little once in a while I get this urge to tell the parents of children who have measles that I hope they are feeling incredibly stupid. Of course, I feel sorry for the handful of kids who have contracted measles. It is no fun being sick. For the parents who perhaps now realize how misguided they were to ignore medical advice and are now dealing with sick children, I am sure that their lives have been turned upside down as they have to deal with all of the issues of kids needing to stay home for a week or two. Hopefully, none of those parents are dealing with any of the long term consequences of contracting measles.

But really - this should not be an issue. The science is clear (go to Google Scholar and look up numerous scientific research papers). Inoculations against childhood diseases do not cause autism.

I could be reasonably content if parents who decide not to follow medical advice isolated their children from the rest of us. I would not worry if they did not enrol their children in our public school system or take them to public places such as shopping centres or airports because then those children would pose no risk. But some parents keep on insisting that they have the right to share whatever diseases their children may have contracted with the rest of us. And they don't.

It boggles my mind that competent adults who are educated, bright and have all of the benefits of living in a country that has had good public health - have decided to follow the words of people with no background in medicine whose theories are so irresponsible that they should be charged with some crime. For individuals who are alive and well because of western medicine to say that that medicine's theories cannot be trusted is incomprehensible.

The individuals who can't receive inoculations due to other health concerns, or because they are too young need our protection. Those individuals have the right to know that we, as fellow citizens, will do whatever we can to ensure that they are safe. Making sure that our children cannot be contagious seems to be the least that we can do.

This most recent outbreak has also highlighted the fact that international travellers can become infected while travelling and bring the disease back to Canada. Within the last few days, it has been announced that someone who was contagious, passed through the Vancouver airport and then flew to Inuvik with a stop in Leduc, Alberta. Everywhere that individual stopped and breathed distributed the measles virus. Every store, every airport waiting area, every plane - everywhere - that one contagious individual put others at risk. We can all imagine the anxiety of the parents of an infant who has not received all of their inoculations and who was on one of the planes? Measles is a disease that should not exist. The only way to prevent such outbreaks is to ensure that all children are inoculated against measles. Perhaps international travellers who had not received their inoculations should be quarantined for a week or two after returning from certain countries.

I still want to say "I told you so"!