My Measles Experience

Left, child with measles (not me).

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RougeoleDP.jpg

This is going to be a controversial post, since I know there are folks with strong opinions on this topic, and I also know there are other blogs similar to this one that take a different view than mine.

In general, I support vaccination.

In particular, I had no hesitation in having my daughter get her MMR vaccinations, which are looked upon with suspicion by some.

I had the measles myself.  My parents did their due diligence and had me vaccinated, but that was in the old days when two fundamental errors were made.  First, the vaccine (to measles alone at that time) was an inactivated vaccine (unlike the live MMR) and was weakly immunogenic. Second, at that time, this inferior vaccine was given to children under the age of one, when there could still be maternal antibodies in the child that would suppress the child’s own immune response to the vaccine. Essentially, it was the equivalent of vaccinating me with saline - no immune response.  

At the age of 12, I was exposed to a group of younger children some of whom I suspect were not vaccinated (another story). I note that the MMR was available at that time, but my family doctor didn't think older children like me needed it, since I was "already vaccinated".

So I got the measles.  That was not fun - that was by far the most sick I have been, including several days with a fever reaching 105 degrees F.  I missed several weeks of school, much of that time spent in bed, took a long time to recover, and remember having some faded marks on my arms from the rash for long time afterward.  At one point, my parents were worried whether I would recover at all.  

Sparing children that ordeal is a good thing.  I also had the mumps as a child, not as bad as the measles, I was moderately sick, and I remember that at least one of my neck glands was swollen so I looked like a hamster with a stuffed cheek pouch.  For adult men however, mumps can be more of a problem.  I also had the chicken pox, annoying and no fun, but less intense than the measles (and mumps).  

I've had a more recent MMR vaccination myself - college admission required it, and they didn't care that I had doctor's records of the disease. Recently I decided, for fun, to have my MMR antibody titer checked. Considering that I had the measles and the mumps, and was subsequently vaccinated as well, it was no surprise that my antibody levels for these diseases were sky-high.

In any case, we seem to forget about these illnesses because of the effectiveness of current vaccines, but at one time they were a scourge.  To me, the vaccination is better than the disease.   That's my "two cents."