BUCKNACKT'S SORDID TAWDRY BLOG We should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive & well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate, bier or wein in hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WHOO-HOO, WHAT A RIDE!!!!!!"
Showing posts with label children's health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children's health. Show all posts
22 July 2025
07 April 2025
UPDATE: Trump's order would mean more lead in drinking water 31MAR25 & Congress Wants to Gut Protections Against Lead. We’ll Fight Back. 23JAN25
IT is actions like this one, blind, careless, corporate greed based cuts to programs and projects that make me furious. Everyone knows lead water pipes creates major health issues for all, and can destroy children's lives, their futures, but NOT MY pres musk, NOT MY pres drumpf / trump, NOT MY vp vance, and the whole magat cabal in the cabinet, congress and the gop / greed over people-republican party do not care. Their concerns are protecting and increasing their profit margins. For the sake of all children please e mail your senators and representatives and tell then to restore and protect the funding for lead water pipe replacement. From EarthJustice.....
MY E MAILS to Sen Warner D VA and Sen Kaine D VA and Rep Subramanyam D VA:
Funding for lead pipe replacement has been slashed by doge and drumpf / trump. IT is actions like this one, blind, careless, corporate greed based cuts to programs and projects that make me furious. Everyone knows lead water pipes creates major health issues for all, and can destroy children's lives, their futures, but NOT MY pres musk, NOT MY pres drumpf / trump, NOT MY vp vance, and the whole magat cabal in the cabinet, congress and the gop / greed over people-republican party do not care. Their concerns are protecting and increasing their profit margins. I expect you to make sure this funding is restored in full and the work resumes on this project. There is no room for compromise here and this funding cut can not be maintained to continue the musk-drumpf / trump tax cuts for the wealthy. Thank you.
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28 February 2025
Who needs another measles vaccine dose? Answering your questions. & Child in West Texas is first US measles death in a decade 27FEB25
I love Dr Wen, she provides information and advise without being preachy, hysterical or condescending. Here is some good information concerning measles, from the Washington Post.....
Who needs another measles vaccine dose? Answering your questions.
Addressing reader concerns about measles outbreaks in Texas and New Mexico.
You’re reading The Checkup With Dr. Wen, a newsletter on how to navigate medical and public health challenges. Click here to get the full newsletter in your inbox, including answers to reader questions and a summary of new scientific research.
Angela from Wisconsin contracted the virus when she was 5. She recalls becoming so ill that she spent months in the hospital. She is living with permanent disabilities from it, including hearing loss and blindness. “I cannot express to you the rage I have when I hear people say that measles is a harmless disease,” she wrote.
Before widespread vaccination, measles caused 5 to 10 percent of profound hearing-loss cases in the United States. Worldwide, measles used to be a leading cause of blindness among children; as many as 60,000 a year lost sight because of the disease.
“In your column, you mentioned that measles can ‘wipe out the immune system’s memory of past illness,’” wrote Darryl from Virginia. “I heard it was the opposite. Did you mean that the vaccine wipes out your immune system?”
What Darryl had heard is, in fact, reversed. Contracting measles can impair the immune system through a phenomenon called immune amnesia. The measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine prevents infection and therefore stops individuals from losing their immune memory.
In 2019, an international group of researchers published a landmark study in the journal Science. They took blood samples from children before and after contracting measles. After measles infection, unvaccinated children lost 11 to 73 percent of the antibodies against other viral and bacterial diseases. Vaccinated children did not lose these antibodies.
The researchers later documented that children with immune amnesia can regain lost immunity, but this takes months or years. During that period, these kids are at elevated risk for contracting diseases, including ones they previously suffered or were vaccinated against. The possibility of immune amnesia is more reason to avoid measles infection through vaccination.
Bill from North Carolina, a pediatrician, says he is treating numerous children who fell behind in their immunization schedule. He asks: “Can you please remind your readers that it’s possible [for kids] to make up their shots?”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publishes a recommended immunization schedule that describes which vaccines children should receive and by what age. Kids should get the first dose of the MMR vaccine between 12 and 15 months of age and the second when they are 4 to 6 years old. Those who missed one or both shots can and should make them up. The second dose can be given as soon as 28 days following the first dose.
Many readers wanted to know if they, as adults, need additional MMR shots. Anne from Massachusetts inquired how long immunity lasts; she had measles as a young child, but that was more than 80 years ago. Stephanie lives in Texas and is concerned about the outbreak in her state. “Should I try to get a booster dose for myself and my family?” she asked.
Both prior infection as well as MMR vaccination are thought to convey lifelong protection against measles. Anne should still have protection because of her childhood measles bout.
The answer is less straightforward for Stephanie. Whether she and her family should receive additional doses depends on their age and number of past vaccines.
Measles was so prevalent before 1957 that everyone born before then is presumed to have had the virus. Those who received two doses of the live attenuated measles vaccine, which became the norm in 1968, do not need a third.
But those who were born after 1957 and were vaccinated before 1968 should get revaccinated to receive the more effective vaccine. And people who received only one dose of the MMR vaccine should consider a second. One shot is 93 percent effective against measles; the second increases protection to 97 percent.
John from Maryland wonders why a measles outbreak should concern those who are vaccinated. “Everyone in my family is vaccinated. My grandchildren are grown. Is it really a big deal if other people choose to not jab their kids?”
Essentially, John is asking why we should care about the return of measles. Two reasons: Though 97 percent effectiveness against infection is high, it’s not perfect. Breakthrough infections are possible. The more virus there is in a community, the more likely someone who is fully vaccinated could contract it, too. This has already happened in Texas, where five of the people who were infected are vaccinated.
Second, many people cannot be vaccinated and would be at high risk if measles were circulating in their area. This includes newborns and individuals with severe immunocompromise. These people are most likely to become severely ill from measles. In other words, those who are capable of getting vaccinated have an obligation to do so to protect the vulnerable.
There are already many respiratory viruses that can cause significant illness in the United States. Measles used to be one of them. What a shame it would be if it returned as a threat and infected Americans — not just those who chose to be unvaccinated but also others who want to protect themselves but cannot.
By Leana S. Wen
Leana S. Wen, a Washington Post contributing columnist who writes the newsletter The Checkup with Dr. Wen, is an emergency physician, clinical associate professor at George Washington University and author of “Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health.” Previously, she served as Baltimore’s health commissioner.
Child in West Texas is first US measles death in a decade
The first measles death in the growing outbreak in West Texas was a school-aged child.
The child was unvaccinated and had been hospitalized in Lubbock, Texas, said Lauren Adams, Lubbock city spokesperson. Officials did not answer questions regarding the patient’s specific age, any other health issues, or details about the patient’s schooling in a press conference jointly hosted by Covenant Health and the City of Lubbock Public Health on Wednesday.
This is the first US measles death since 2015, when a woman in Washington state died.
The number of confirmed measles cases reported in an outbreak in West Texas is now at 124, the Texas Department of Health Services said in an update Tuesday, an increase of 34 since late last week. Most of the cases are in children ages 5 to 17.
At President Donald Trump’s first cabinet meeting on Wednesday, he deferred a question about the measles outbreak in Texas to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, who said, “We are following the measles epidemic every day.”
Kennedy said during the cabinet meeting that there had been two measles deaths but Texas officials confirmed Wednesday afternoon there has been only one death. New Mexico officials said no measles deaths have been reported in the state.
Eighteen people have been hospitalized so far in the outbreak. All have been unvaccinated.
Kennedy said that hospitalizations were “mainly for quarantine” but local health officials told CNN most patients were admitted for respiratory issues.
“We don’t hospitalize patients for quarantine purposes,” said Dr. Lara Johnson, the chief medical officer of Covenant Health Lubbock Service Area. “Quarantine is not something that would happen in a healthcare facility. We admit patients who need acute supportive treatment in our hospital.”
Patients have been needing supplemental oxygen and respiratory support to help them get over viral pneumonia linked to the measles,” Johnson told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta last week.
It’s not clear why Kennedy said there were two deaths. In a response to questions from CNN about Kennedy’s comments, HHS Director of Communications Andrew G. Nixon said the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “is aware of the death of one child in Texas from measles, and our thoughts are with the family. CDC continues to provide technical assistance, laboratory support, and vaccines as needed to the Texas Department of State Health Services and New Mexico Department of Health, which are leading the response to this outbreak.”
Kennedy also referenced past measles outbreaks saying, “So it’s not unusual. You have measles outbreaks every year.”
In the press conference Johnson commented, “The United States had really gotten to a point where we just didn’t see these kinds of outbreaks happening. Obviously, that has changed over the last 20 something years, and so we do see outbreaks more frequently, but that that is related to how much we’re vaccinating our population.”
“When we think of about vaccine preventable illnesses, they’re only preventable if we have adequate vaccination rates,” said Johnson.
The bulk of the cases, 80, remain in Gaines County, where the outbreak began, but there has also been spread to eight additional counties. Most of the cases are in people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown. Five cases were reported in people who said they have been vaccinated.
A health worker administers a measles test to a car passenger at a mobile testing site outside Seminole Hospital District on February 21 in Seminole, Texas. Julio Cortez/AP
Measles is an airborne illness that can cause rash, fever, red eyes and cough. Severe cases can result in blindness, pneumonia or encephalitis, swelling of the brain. In some cases, the illness can be fatal.
While details on the specific death in Lubbock are still unknown, experts have long warned that measles complications that can result in death in children.
Up to 3 out of 1,000 children with measles will die from respiratory or neurological complications, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Specifically, 1 in 20 children with measles will develop pneumonia, the most common cause of death from the disease, according to Dr. Catherine Troisi, an infectious disease epidemiologist with UTHealth Houston who was not directly involved with the Lubbock patient.
“These outbreaks last between two to six months. That’s a long time. That’s a lot of kids infected … death is rare, but tragic when it happens, but there are a lot of other sequelae, encephalitis, for example, and deafness. There’s a rare neurological disease that can happen. So, as you have more people infected, these sequelae become more common.”
The best way to stay protected against measles is to get vaccinated with the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, according to experts.
The Lubbock department of health has opened free vaccination clinics which have given about 70 vaccinations since the start of the outbreak, according to city officials.
Coverage of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is particularly low in Gaines County, where nearly 1 in 5 incoming kindergartners in the 2023-24 school year did not get the vaccine. Other affected Texas counties also fall below a goal of 95%, set by HHS, that’s necessary to help prevent outbreaks of the highly contagious disease.
“I very rarely say I’m 100% sure of something, but I am 100% sure we will see an increase in cases … Texas as a state is under vaccinated, so there are susceptible people,” Troisi said. She also worries because of the contagious nature of the disease: People don’t show symptoms before they become infectious, and the virus can stay in the air for up to two hours, even after a person with the virus leaves the area.
“Measles is the most infectious virus we know. However, it’s a harbinger of low vaccination rates, and it is quite likely we will start seeing outbreaks of other diseases that are vaccine preventable as well as these vaccine rates decrease,” Troisi said.
Even the 124 cases identified in Texas are likely an undercount, according to Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. He says some children may not be seeking medical care or could still be waiting for laboratory confirmation. Texas health officials have listed several public spaces, including a university campus, a museum and convenience stores, where measles exposures may have occurred in recent weeks.
Hotez worries specifically about an upcoming rodeo in Houston that draws families from West Texas.
“It will continue as long as the virus continues to find unvaccinated kids. And unfortunately, the vaccination rates in many counties in West Texas are still unacceptably low. So that’s why I think it could go on for a while,” Hotez said.
CNN’s Jamie Gumbrecht and Amanda Sealy contributed to this report.
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