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The MMR Vaccine & Its Alleged Risks

Has it been mentioned on here how there appears to be links between the swine flu vaccine Pandemrix and narcolepsy? In Sweden a number of people who claim to have gotten narcolepsy from this, have recently reached a settlement with something similar to the Swedish national board of health.
 
Xanatic_ said:
Has it been mentioned on here how there appears to be links between the swine flu vaccine Pandemrix and narcolepsy? In Sweden a number of people who claim to have gotten narcolepsy from this, have recently reached a settlement with something similar to the Swedish national board of health.

Heres a story:

Swine Flu Vaccine Linked To Guillain-Barré Syndrome Risk
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/247669.php

The 2009 influenza A(H1N1) "swine flu" vaccine, which was administered to millions of people around the world, is associated with a "small but significant risk" of Guillain-Barré Syndrome, an uncommon paralyzing nerve disorder, scientists from Quebec, Canada, reported in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association). The authors added that they believe the benefits of immunization outweighed the risks. ...
 
High Court orders two sisters must receive MMR vaccine
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24493422

A now discredited report about the safety of the MMR vaccine caused a huge drop off in uptake

A judge has ruled that sisters aged 15 and 11 must have the MMR vaccine even though they and their mother do not want it, BBC Newsnight has learned.

The High Court decision, made last month, came after the girls' father brought a case seeking vaccination.

The parents, now divorced, had agreed when married not to vaccinate the girls in the wake of the MMR controversy.

But the discrediting of concerns about an MMR autism link and recent measles outbreaks changed the father's view.

This is the third time this issue has come before the court.

In 2003 a mother was ordered to have her child immunised against measles, mumps and rubella after the court ruled the benefits of vaccination outweighed the risks. In 2011, children in care were ordered to have the MMR jab against the wishes of their parents.

'End of MMR debate'
When outlining her decision in the latest case, Mrs Justice Theis emphasised it was a specific case "only concerned with the welfare needs of these children", but lawyers say as one of a series it confirms there is no longer any debate about the benefits of the vaccine.

Measles is a highly contagious disease characterised by a high fever and a rash.


In one in 15 cases it can lead to severe complications, such as pneumonia, and in a very small number of cases it can cause encephalitis - inflammation of the brain - which can cause brain damage or even death.

MMR is a combined vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella, three common infectious diseases of childhood. It was introduced in the UK in 1988 to replace single vaccines for each disease.

The first MMR vaccine is given as a single injection to babies as part of their routine vaccination schedule, usually within a month of their first birthday, then a second injection of the vaccine, known as the MMR booster, is given before starting school.

The first gives about 95% protection against measles, while two doses give 99-100% protection.

Vegan concerns
In 1998, a study by Dr Andrew Wakefield was published in the respected medical journal The Lancet raising the possibility that the MMR jab was linked to autism and bowel disease.

The report and the media furore that followed prompted many parents to decide against having their children vaccinated with the three-in-one injection, including the parents of the two girls at the heart of this case.

The elder daughter was given the first injection, but not the booster vaccine; the younger daughter did not receive any vaccinations at all - decisions made jointly by both parents at the time.

However, in 2010 Dr Wakefield's research was found by the General Medical Council to have been "dishonest" and has since been entirely dismissed.

The father of the two girls says that this change, combined with an outbreak of measles in Swansea late last year, changed his mind in January 2013 about whether his daughters should be given the MMR jab. He says he was worried these diseases could have serious consequences.

According to the text of the court decision, seen by BBC Newsnight, the father's solicitor wrote to the girls' mother in January seeking her agreement that they should now be vaccinated, and saying that if she did not agree he would take the matter to court.

The mother did not agree and the matter eventually came before the Family Division of the High Court.

'Children's understanding'
A court-appointed welfare officer who spoke extensively to the girls said that neither of them wanted the vaccination.

The children were particularly concerned about the ingredients in the vaccine, which include animal-based materials; one of the girls is a vegan.

However, the officer said that when she asked them what would happen if they became ill with measles, mumps or rubella and needed medicine, they clearly had not thought about what the ingredients in that medicine might be.

The welfare officer said both children had been strongly influenced by their mother, who was very anxious about the jab.

Mrs Justice Theis decided that it was in the best interests of the children that they were vaccinated.

"I am aware that this is against the girls' wishes but that that it is not the only factor," she wrote. "The court also has to consider their level of understanding of the issues involved and what factors have influenced their views. I do not consider there is a balanced level of understanding by them of the issues involved."

The mother's lawyer Philippa Dolan told Newsnight that the girls had not yet been vaccinated despite the deadline to do so having passed on Thursday.

She said: "There are practical difficulties in enforcing the order and that is at the moment an ongoing issue. There's not a legal deadline that's a serious issue the parents are in discussion and everyone hopes it will be resolved without any more litigation."

Measles: Timeline

1988: Combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is introduced to the UK
1998: Dr Andrew Wakefield's now discredited research is published linking the MMR jab to autism
2003: MMR uptake for two-year-olds falls from a peak of 94% in 1995 to 78% by 2003.
November 2012: Swansea outbreak starts when a small number of children return with measles from a holiday camp in south-west England
Early 2013: Around 10 to 20 suspected measles cases are reported per week
18 April: Gareth Colfer-Williams, 25, is found dead at home in Port Tennant, Swansea. An inquest later found he died from pneumonia after contracting measles
22 April: There is a rapid increase in cases. The outbreak reaches its peak, with nearly 200 notifications in a single week
22 May: Last laboratory-confirmed case
3 July: Outbreak declared over
 
However, the officer said that when she asked them what would happen if they became ill with measles, mumps or rubella and needed medicine, they clearly had not thought about what the ingredients in that medicine might be.

That really is the sort of argument that no-one who disagrees with it could possibly disagree with.

They were actually being asked to choose between definitely using an animal based product now and maybe having to use one later.
 
Unfounded vaccine myths harm measles herd immunity

Measles is exploding because parents are afraid to have their children vaccinated. That's the message emerging from the US and Germany this week. Anti-vaccination scaremongering is believed to be driving the outbreaks.

By Monday, 486 cases had been reported so far this year to the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, which monitors the spread of infectious disease in Germany – up from 446 cases for the whole of 2014. In the US, the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, had reported 121 cases in the same time frame.

In both countries, health professionals are blaming parents who reject the triple MMR vaccine for their children, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella.

According to Mobeen Rathore, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on infectious diseases, the upsurge is a sign that myths about vaccines need to be dispelled globally, including any link with autism. "We need to increase rates by educating people and having stronger laws that require childhood immunisations, and removing loopholes allowing parents to seek exemptions," says Rathore. ...

http://www.newscientist.com/article...-harm-measles-herd-immunity.html#.VNtyq_msWug
 
Well, there's stupid in your view of vaccines and autism ...

... And then there is completely batshit, f'n insane.
Like giving your kid a bleach enema
via The Raw Story
Parents seeking help with children with autism are turning to a “miracle” cure that involves giving the children enemas, using a dangerous industrial solution used for bleaching wood pulp.

According to If You Only News, parents have turned to Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS), containing sodium chlorite which is mixed with citric acid (i.e. orange juice) to make chlorine dioxide. According to the promoters, the solution, which can be taken orally or administered via an enema, can cure HIV, malaria, hepatitis, autism, acne, and cancer.
(emphasis mine, schwa)
/snip
One parent wrote: “I just wanted to tell you great news we have received yesterday from bioresonance diagnostic treatment. We went there actually for the first time, just to check how we have improved with CD, which my 6 years old son has been using it for a year and a half now, and she said: I don’t know what’re doing but just keep doing what you’re doing, because you’re doing GREAT! She couldn’t find viruses, bacteria, parasites, yeast; his body has been cleaned a lot, also from heavy metals, she did saw a virus of measles inside in the intestine, that’s because of the vaccines he got we will try to treat that now and of course not stopping CD and parasite protocol. We are starting also with GcMAF in October and can’t wait! We are really happy.”
Bioresonance diagnostic treatment is described HERE by quackwatch
 
Given all that, I for one continue to withhold judgement on Dr. Wakefield. I think this is the only appropriate attitude for a Fortean to take. His conclusions may be entirely wrong, and I hope that they are, but it is not at all inconceivable that he is on to something.

BUT if he is wrong then the consequences are enormous. Also, one has to weigh up the risks of not vaccinating against the risks of vaccinating. No doubt there is a very small risk associated with MMR vaccination ( as there is with any medicine or even having an injection - but I very much doubt it is autism ), but weighed up against the damage that could be caused by getting measles and by exposing vulnerable people to the measles pathogen, the logical and reasoned conclusion is to vaccinate.
 
I haven't read enough of the science to judge whether there is a risk and whether any risk is significant, but I do feel intuitively uncomfortable when I read of judges ordering vaccinations to be given to children against the wishes of their parents (the children's own objections aren't so valid given their minority). Of course, I grasp that in refusing to allow inoculation, an individual is placing the health of others at risk, but I think that option ought to remain open nonetheless. If, for instance, certified inoculation were to be made a requirement of enrolment in social programs (such as schooling, public-sector employment or hospitalisation) - the refusal would become difficult to sustain but not actually impossible, and the consequences of the parents decision would be starkly displayed.

The solution should be better education, more research and nudges in the right direction, not court orders.
 
With respect, few people on this board require skittles or gummy bears to point out the pretty damned obvious.
 
With respect, few people on this board require skittles or gummy bears to point out the pretty damned obvious.
Deleted

Sorry, but the the freedom of choice argument rather falls to pieces when considering the freedom of others to be kept clear of disease spreading fantasists who refuse to vaccinate.

As for judging the science ...
I am old enough to remember the ward in Lymington Hospital with iron lungs;
I remember the kids with braces on their legs because their muscles were too wasted and lacking control;
I recall the family friend who nearly died from adult onset mumps;
I knew children whose sight (and hearing) was affected by childhood measles;
- and let me give thanks that the shingles from the chickenpox virus hiding in my nerves only causes (extreme) pain rather than taking my sight or hearing.

You might also recall Mr Alan Barnes, the pensioner mugged in Newcastle, and wonder why he looks the way he does; it was not the mugging that gave him his disabilities, it was his mother catching German measles during pregnancy.
 
I didn't catch the deleted part, but my 'with respect' was genuine enough - in case you doubted it.

Of course, I understand the numerous reasons why vaccinations are so important - and I agree and have done the whole gamut of shots with my own daughter - but I still feel uncomfortable compelling others to do so against their will. The numbers of abstainers seem, at present, triflingly low, but I'll repeat that the solution to keeping them that way is more education and ongoing studies.
 
In the UK the abstainers numbers are low but in the USA there are enough (10%) so it is effecting herd immunity indeed in certain communities I believe it is as low as 80%. The effect on herd immunity is pretty clear when you look at the Disneyland measles group -and there have been other, less publicised, outbreaks of mumps and whooping cough in the USA.

There is more research needed; there have to be better vaccines, better adjuvants and better preservatives all needing appropriate clinical trials. However research into current side effects would be redundant because the only major side effect proposed has been the fraudulent (that is the correct word) link between vaccines and autism.

On the freedom side, yes, there are implications but these concerns trumpet the individual freedom of a very few persons at the expense of the freedom of every other individual.
 
'Herd immunity'...'cos we're sheeple.
 
I for one was very very ill at 9 months old - from whooping cough caught in the doctor's surgery where a child with said disease was waiting to be seen. My mum did say to the receptionist that she thought the child might have whooping cough and maybe this wasn't the place for him to be, but it was too late to stop me from getting infected.
This was in the days before a vaccine was available, but even if it had been, I would not have had the full compliment of imunisations by then, thus putting me at risk from children who had not been vaccinated.
 
No surprise that Waldorf schools have a low vaccination rate. There is a weird cult behind them, its not always obvious at a surface level.

"If we attract people who choose not to immunize, it's not because we recruit them," says McCarthy, dean of education at Maple Village Waldorf, a private elementary school in Long Beach.

Only 3 of Maple Village's 20 kindergartners, according to current data from the California Department of Public Health, are up to date on their measles, mumps, rubella shot—of which two doses are required. Just 21 kindergarten classes in the state have a lower vaccination rate for MMR. And those numbers are actually an improvement over 2013-2014, when Maple Village's kindergartners had the state's fourth-lowest rate. (See chart below.)

Stats like these put McCarthy and other educators who subscribe to the Waldorf teaching philosophy in a delicate position. Her policy mirrors the official Waldorf policy, which is that there is no policy. The schools neither encourage nor discourage immunization.

Maple Valley "truly and absolutely does not take a stand" on whether parents should vaccinate their kids, McCarthy says. For safety, and her own record-keeping, she solicits details on her students' medical histories and informs their families what health authorities say they should do if there's a measles outbreak. But she doesn't want to alienate families by pressuring them. "I feel like it's a really personal topic, and I'd almost put it in the category of religion or politics," she says. "I'm just giving them info. I'm not guiding them one way or the other."


The median rate of Waldorf kindergartners with personal belief exemptions—which allow the kids to forego state-required shots simply because their parents would prefer not to vaccinate them—is around 44 percent in California, according to Duke sociology professor Kieran Healy. That's a far higher opt-out rate than for any other category of school, public or private. ...

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/california-least-vaccinated-schools-waldorf
 
Vermont Says No to the Anti-Vaccine Movement
  • On Thursday, Vermont became the first state to remove philosophical exemptions from its vaccination law.CREDITPHOTOGRAPH BY ANN CUTTING / ALAMY
    Just a year after Vermont became the first state to require labels for products made with genetically modified organisms, Governor Peter Shumlin on Thursday signed an equally controversial but very different kind of legislation: the state has now become the first to remove philosophical exemptions from its vaccination law.

    The two issues are both emotional and highly contested. But Vermont’s decisions could hardly be less alike: the G.M.O. bill, which has enormous popular support, has been widely criticized by scientists—largely because no credible evidence exists suggesting that G.M.O.s are dangerous. The vaccine law, however, opposed by many people, is the strongest possible endorsement of the data that shows that vaccines are the world’s most effective public-health tool. ...
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-...the-anti-vaccine-movement?mbid=social_twitter
 
Most experts today agree that the belief that childhood vaccines cause autism is based on bunk science. Even still, some advocacy groups claim immunizations are responsible for raising the risk for this neurodevelopmental condition, despite a growing body of research that shows there isn’t a link. (The study that most anti-vaccination groups point to was retracted after it was found to be based on falsified data.)

Despite the science, organizations involved in the anti-vaccine movement still hope to find some evidence that vaccines threaten children’s health. For example, the autism advocacy organization SafeMinds recently funded research it hoped would prove vaccines cause autism in children. But this effort appears to have backfired for the organization—whose mission is to raise awareness about how certain environmental exposures may be linked to autism—since the study SafeMinds supported showed a link between autism and vaccines does not exist.

Between 2003 and 2013, SafeMinds provided scientists from the University of Texas Southwestern School of Medicine, the University of Washington, the Johnson Center for Child Health & Development and other research institutions with approximately $250,000 to conduct a long-term investigation evaluating behavioral and brain changes of baby rhesus macaques that were administered a standard course of childhood vaccines. (The National Autism Association, another organization that has questioned vaccine safety, also provided financial support for this research.) The latest paper in the multiyear project was published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). In it, the researchers concluded that vaccines did not cause any brain or behavioral changes in the primates.
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/10/ant...tudy-showing-that-vaccines-dont-cause-autism/
 
Many anti-vaccination websites use a "considerable amount" of misinformation, as well as pseudoscience and anecdotes to reinforce the perception that vaccines are dangerous, according to research presented this week at the American Public Health Association's Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL.

Researchers are looking for ways to counter skepticism about vaccination.
Childhood vaccines are key to preventing diseases and epidemics, but growing numbers of parents choose to delay or refuse vaccination, for a variety of reasons. The Internet is often cited as a source of vaccine information - and also controversy.

In previous comparisons of pro-vaccine and anti-vaccine websites, pro-vaccination sites were found to focus on evidence-based scientific research about vaccines and government-endorsed vaccination-related practices.

In contrast, anti-vaccine websites focus on creating communities of people affected by vaccines and vaccine-related practices, creating a personal framework that is used to challenge the information presented in the scientific literature and government documents.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/301904.php
 
I don't belong to any anti vaccination forums, sites or communities. I do wonder why we never hear about the clusters of autistic spectrum children associated with certain batches of vaccine. My son developedl form of autism atypical autism after the MMR vaccine, and it later transpired that half a dozen other children vaccinated from this specific batch, were also affected. I saw the data, years ago and I no longer have it, that associated over 20 odd kids with other batches.

Maybe it was something to do with poor storage/protocols either from the manufacturers (more than one manufacturer was involved) or the clinics where batches were stored? This info came to light when there was going to be a huge class action involving MMR damaged kids - Blair overturned the Legal Aid awards which meant things never went ahead. But at the time, as the lawyers compiled their info, they realised that clusters of damaged kids were indeed emerging. (As they collected the batch numbers from medical records). All I know is I had a non autistic kid one day and autistic one the next.

I no longer want to think about it much, TBH. I was studying for a higher degree in child development, conecentrating on psycholinguistics, just before my don was vaccinated and by a coincidence we had run a massive battery of tests on his cognitive and other aspects of his development. He was utterly 'normal'. Late onset autism used to be very rare - but after the vaccination came along it became common. People cite drs got better at diagnosis - which may or may not be true.

My son has an unusual form of autism - atypical. He is now at university - an amazing achievement for a little boy who couldn't speak for years and couldn't read til he was 17.

I was told we were one of the test cases they would have taken forward as we had the hard evidence of his developmental normality, prior to vaccine. I had lived in the US, which slightly threw the vaccine schedule - he had his MMR slightly later than most UK kids did, then. The doctor who vaccinated my son was later struck off (unrelated issues but the bad storage of drugs might well fit the picture).

I used to edit a magazine in a related field and I can say we were actively blocked from publishing info uncovered and I know there was unfinished/unpublished research re the etiology.

One thing I have observed over the years when I see this discussion on forums is that the pro vaccine folk actually seem as emotionally invested as the anti. I had measles at 6 months old, so have no reason to be anti, particularly but currently see no reason to be pro, either.
 
I think with anything you need to weigh up the risks/benefits. While I am against unnecessarily blasting our kids (and us adults too) with anti-biotics, flu jabs and the like I think there are many benefits to modern medicine that need to be recognized.

The danger, as with anything, is that while you may trust the science behind something and believe in it's benefits. You may not necessarily trust the company making the vaccines/medicine who may decide to cut some corners to save costs which ultimately ends in tragedy.
Or, you may not trust the doctor who is known for improper storage of medicine or may push some unnecessary drugs onto you as they get kickbacks from big parma, which in turn either get you addicted, or give you some horrible side effects that means you need some other drug to resolve.

On either side of the debate you have "extremists" and neither are 100% right.

I do however dislike it when someone takes an extreme view and then holds themselves up to be some sort of Martyr.
Take this lady for instance.
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2...ering-caused-by-treating-pertussis-naturally/

Her children suffered for longer than they would have if the illness had run it's course naturally. And enema's.... who the f**k gives their children enemas!?!


I do think that by an large, I have noticed it in the UK though not sure how widespread it is, that the local GP is not the "all knowing guru" that we were taught they would be as children. Heck, I have had a GP consult their medical book once while I was in the room.
Or my wife, who has back problems, was told to just take painkillers for it, with no further investigation into why she was having pain or trying to sort it out.
But, to their credit, I have seen how some people in the health industry do go above and beyond to help and make you comfortable (usually the nurses).
And, if you can afford to go private, you will find a resolution usually.

But unfortunately, with the culture we have breed, it means that the health system here is overworked, underpaid and yet the government wants more for them. So in a way, it is no wonder that they are straining under the weight. Which means that if you go to the doctor in pain, they will probably tell you to take a painkiller and come back to them in a month.

The science behind the medicine though, I don't have a problem with it. I do think though, that some natural remedies are overlooked in lieu of the pill, and that is a mistake.
However, when you child wakes up puking, not able to breath and in tears. I would say take advantage of the anti-biotics!
 
A new report says anti-vaxxers are responsible for the rise in two infectious diseases we'd nearly eliminated from the United States.

Researchers at Emory and Johns Hopkins Universities have determined, through a National Institute of Health review, that the rise in measles is directly attributable to vaccine refusal, and that it is helping whooping cough to spread, too.

From the NIH study's abstract:

Findings We identified 18 published measles studies (9 annual summaries and 9 outbreak reports), which described 1416 measles cases (individual age range, 2 weeks-84 years; 178 cases younger than 12 months) and more than half (56.8%) had no history of measles vaccination. Of the 970 measles cases with detailed vaccination data, 574 cases were unvaccinated despite being vaccine eligible and 405 (70.6%) of these had nonmedical exemptions (eg, exemptions for religious or philosophical reasons, as opposed to medical contraindications; 41.8% of total)...

http://boingboing.net/2016/03/23/anti-vaxxers-successfully-brin.html
 
I really cannot begin to understand the level of paranoia people have about this. Sorry. I don't mean to be offensive, but I find it ridiculous.
 
New York's Tribeca film festival will not show Vaxxed, a controversial film about the MMR vaccine, its founder Robert De Niro says.

As recently as Friday, Mr De Niro stood by his decision to include the film by anti-vaccination activist Andrew Wakefield in next month's festival.

The link the film makes between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and autism has been widely discredited.

"We have concerns with certain things in this film," said Mr De Niro.

Robert De Niro, who has a child with autism, said he had hoped the film would provide the opportunity for discussion of the issue.

But after reviewing the film with festival organisers and scientists, he said: "We do not believe it contributes to or furthers the discussion I had hoped for."


http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-35906470
 
Can a new history of vaccination silence doubters?
Controversies and scandals cannot obscure the self-evident success story of vaccines told by Meredith Wadman in The Vaccination Race

EVERY year, millions of children and adults are vaccinated against diseases that only a few decades ago were terrifying and deadly, including rubella, polio and measles. Meredith Wadman’s meticulously researched book begins with the heart-rending account of a baby girl born in 1964 who survived just 16 months before succumbing to the effects of maternally transmitted rubella. She spent only nine days of her life outside hospital.

The fear and horror these diseases cause is a fading memory, and despite the fact that vaccines work, the sceptics are gaining ground, their claims given credence by a handful of Hollywood stars and now by US president Donald Trump.

Vaccination is based on the principle, developed by Edward Jenner in 1796, whereby the body’s immune system, inoculated with a killed or weakened pathogen, naturally creates a protective response to the disease.

As well as describing the science, Wadman explores the motives of those involved in the vaccination story, particularly Leonard Hayflick, whose vision of a safer route to vaccination led to a long-running dispute.

Though many early vaccines worked well, side effects were always a concern, sometimes because the virus was still infectious, sometimes because proteins were present that triggered severe immune reactions. Many vaccines were tested, without consent, on prisoners, orphans and even newborn babies.

Early vaccines also used cells from other animals. Often the dead or weakened viruses were grown in monkey cells as these, it was wrongly assumed, contained no transmissible infections. Cell lines from human tumours did exist, but were considered unsafe: what if cancerous cells were transferred along with the vaccine? ...

The Vaccine Race: How scientists used human cells to combat killer viruses

Meredith Wadman

Doubleday

This article appeared in print under the headline “In place of disease, unease”
https://www.newscientist.com/articl...hobox&utm_source=Twitter#link_time=1490558756
 
More anti-vaxxers.

A group of German-speaking parents in northern Italy are so angry about a new requirement to get their children vaccinated that they plan to seek asylum in nearby Austria.

The 130 families live in Alto Adige - also known as South Tyrol - a region that was part of Austria before 1919.

Last month the Italian government ruled that children must be vaccinated against 12 common illnesses before they can enrol for state-run schools.

Cases of measles have risen in Italy.

The highly-contagious sickness is fatal in some cases. Some other European countries, including France and Romania, have also seen more measles cases this year.

In some parts of Europe, including Italy, vaccination rates have dropped below those recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). ...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40221569#
 
Well it is causing deaths apparently. 35 across Europe doesn't sound like very many but it should be none really.

BBC link.

Thirty-five people have died in the past year from measles outbreaks across Europe, the World Health Organization has warned.

It described the deaths - which can be prevented with vaccination - as an "unacceptable tragedy".

A six-year-old boy in Italy was the latest to die from the infection. More than 3,300 measles cases have been recorded in the country.

The most fatalities - 31 - have been in Romania.

But there have also been deaths in Germany and Portugal since June 2016.

Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, the WHO regional director for Europe, said: "Every death or disability caused by this vaccine-preventable disease is an unacceptable tragedy.

"We are very concerned that although a safe, effective and affordable vaccine is available, measles remains a leading cause of death among children worldwide, and unfortunately Europe is not spared.

"I urge all endemic countries to take urgent measures to stop transmission of measles within their borders, and all countries that have already achieved this to keep up their guard and sustain high immunisation coverage."

Measles is highly contagious, but vaccinating 95% of the population should prevent it spreading.

Germany is looking at tightening the law on immunisations.

And the government in Italy is pushing for children to be vaccinated against 12 common illnesses before they can enrol for state-run schools.

Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni blamed a decrease in vaccinations in part on a "spread of anti-scientific theories".

A lingering false belief that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab causes autism is largely to blame, despite the claims being disproven and the doctor who made them being struck off.
 
A mother in the US state of Michigan has been sentenced to seven days in jail after she refused a judge's order to have her son vaccinated.

Rebecca Bredow would not let her nine-year-old be immunised after initially agreeing with the father to do so.

Her ex-husband has now been awarded temporary primary custody in order to get the boy the jab.

Michigan parents are legally allowed to skip or delay their children's vaccinations due to personal beliefs.

But Bredow fell foul of the law because she reneged on agreements with her former spouse dating back to November 2016 to have the boy immunised. ...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41504796#
 
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