Recently, the US authorities are concerned about the periodic outbreaks of measles and whooping cough, which here and there arise in different states of a prosperous country with almost standard medicine, according to the Internet edition for girls and women from 14 to 35 years old Pannochka. net A new study published in JAMA blames parents for these outbreaks, which sometimes for quite absurd reasons refuse to vaccinate their children, exposing themselves and others.

Vaccination against measles has a minimum of side effects.

Meanwhile, measles is one of the most dangerous childhood infections, which can lead to otitis, pneumonia, severe brain damage, and even death of the child.

In general, vaccination in the US is very high. In 2013, 91.9% of American children received at least one dose of a combination vaccine PDA (measles, mumps, rubella). Four or more doses of the vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis vaccine received 83.1% of children.

Opponents of vaccination, which intimidate us with rare complications after vaccinations, forget to say that routine immunization of children during the twentieth century led to a multiple reduction in mortality. In the same States, measles was declared a disappeared illness on 1 January 2000, and the incidence of whooping cough was kept at its historic low since the end of 1976.

The more wildly the fact that the refusal of vaccinations is gaining popularity, and not only in America. Experts of the CDC are worried that in recent years the reasons for refusing to vaccinate are increasingly various non-medical exclusions, moral or religious.

Perhaps, however cruelly it may sound, only another epidemic will be able to refresh the memory of "advanced" parents, reminding them that vaccines were not created from idle curiosity of scientists and not for profit.

No sooner had the American authorities announced the victory over measles, as in 2014, simultaneously in seven US states, as well as in neighboring Canada and Mexico, an outbreak of a forgotten disease. The source was a sick child in Disneyland (Anaheim, California). And this is just one example.

Then, in total, 111 children were ill with measles, half of whom were those whose parents had signed a waiver of vaccinations. And the second half - those who had the happiness to communicate closely with patients.

Denial of vaccination is a growing threat.

How much does the refusal of vaccination affect the incidence? To study this controversial and very important issue for the public, the staff of Emory University in Atlanta, under the leadership of Dr. Saad Omer (Saad Omer) conducted a large-scale study.

This meta-analysis included 18 scientific papers examining the connection of measles and pertussis outbreaks with the refusal of vaccinations or their postponement. The analysis included data on the United States from January 1977 to January 2000 - 1416 cases of measles and 10609 cases of whooping cough in people of different ages, from 10 days to 87 years.

57% of those who fell ill with measles of Americans were not vaccinated, and 42% of the total number of cases refused vaccinations for religious and philosophical reasons, and not for medical contraindications.

As for pertussis, in the five largest epidemics, 24-45% of the cases were either not vaccinated at all, or were not vaccinated on schedule. Of these, 59-93% also refused to vaccinate for non-medical reasons.

"Parents who refuse to vaccinate because of possible risks associated with the vaccine should understand that the danger of the disease for an unvaccinated child is much higher. Those who refuse vaccines for this reason usually do not understand the magnitude and nature of these risks, "say the authors..

To combat the lack of awareness of parents, scientists advise to discuss with them the risks and benefits of each specific vaccination. However, they recognize that it will be much harder to cope with religious and philosophical motives, in which rational arguments prove to be useless.

medbe. en.

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