Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Measle mania

As certain groups seek to attack and avoid the critical need for vaccination, trouble brews around the world.

Dr. Plaitt:

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However, for the outbreak in Switzerland, it does look like antivaccination insanity is to blame:
Switzerland has been affected by measles outbreaks more than other European countries in recent years because of the relatively low level of vaccinations and the presence of educational and religious communities that decline vaccination.

The outbreak described here indicates that anthroposophic communities are an at-risk group, because many parents in these groups choose not to vaccinate their children with the MMR [measles, mumps, rubella] vaccine. Anthroposophy, based on the writings of the social philosopher Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), combines human development with an investigation of the divine spark found in all of nature. Anthroposophical doctors emphasize nature-based therapies that support the body’s innate healing wisdom.

Antivaxxers. For whatever reasons they believe what they do, they’re wrong. A previously healthy 12-year-old girl died of measles-induced encephalitis in a Geneva hospital last week. In 2008, a child in Minnesota died due to a disease that was preventable through a vaccine. Measles is on the rise in the UK. And some people are all too happy to spread the lie that the vaccines are causing all sorts of health problems, when it’s been shown pretty conclusively that they aren’t.

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