Vaccinations

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THIS STICKY IS FOR SHARING INFORMATION ON VACCINATIONS.

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This article is about a breakout of Mumps which affected people who had already had the vaccine.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=af1tps1NedPs&refer=home

Mumps Vaccine Failed to Stop U.S. College Outbreak, Study Says

By Tom Randall

April 9 (Bloomberg) -- The mumps vaccine failed to protect some college students during the biggest outbreak in two decades, suggesting a better shot is needed to stop the disease, a U.S. study found.

The 2006 outbreak swept through college campuses, with 6,584 cases resulting in 85 hospitalizations, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. That was more than 18 times the annual average from 2000 to 2005.

The virus, which causes fever and inflamed salivary glands under the jaw and in the cheeks, primarily infected college students in the Midwest who had received the vaccine as children. It was the first time the virus spread among people who followed the recommended two-shot vaccination regimen, showing protection may decline with time, the CDC said.

``The 2006 outbreaks on college campuses resemble those among schoolchildren who received one dose of vaccine during the 1980s,'' the researchers said. The age of those infected and the time that elapsed from their second vaccination ``support the hypothesis of waning immunity after a second dose,'' according to the report.

Mumps was once a common childhood disease in the U.S. and remains a threat in poorer countries. In rare cases, it causes the testicles to swell and reduces male fertility. The virus, spread by coughing and sneezing, was nearly eradicated in the U.S. after Merck & Co. released its MumpsVax vaccine in 1967.

Eliminating the Virus

The single-dose version of the vaccine wiped out 98 percent of cases from 1968 to 1985. Merck added a second dose to the shot regimen after outbreaks in the late-1980s infected previously vaccinated children, according to the study.

The U.S. goal of eliminating the virus nationally by 2010 may not be possible with the current vaccine, researchers said. Mumps outbreaks often occur on three-year cycles, and the 2006 outbreak may recur. People in about 40 percent of countries aren't vaccinated against mumps, so the virus may continue to be imported into the U.S., they said.

The vaccine remains the most effective defense against widespread outbreaks of the virus, which infects about 2.2 people of every 100,000 in the U.S., researchers said. The outbreak in 2006 would probably have spread to ``tens or hundreds of thousands'' without the vaccine, they said.

Most of those infected in 2006 were from eight states in the Midwest: Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. About 83 percent of the patients were in college, and 63 percent had received two doses of vaccine. No one died.

An outbreak also affected Canada, where 1,284 cases were reported in 2007, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

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http://www.vaccine.org/

This site links to information on vaccines from many different sources. Their "Who We Are" statement is:
The Allied Vaccine Group is comprised of websites dedicated to presenting valid scientific information about the sometimes confusing subject of vaccines. Think of this page as your portal to the real world of vaccines, a world based on scientific research, followed by honest disclosure of the research results -- pro and con

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Every state in the United States of America has an exemption law in place for children who are not vaccinated to still be allowed to attend public school. This law may nor may not also allow them to attend private school, it is up to the private school.

Here is a map that shows what kinds of exemptions each state has:



And here is a great website that details the law for each state, and this is also where the above map is from.

http://www.909shot.com/state-site/state-exemptions.htm