Years ago a neighbor of mine was an ER doc at the local hospital. A baby came in with a confounding set of symptoms; it was a relatively light day so everyone who got paged to come see the baby was able to. Everyone was mystified.
A veteran doctor (long retired from his practice, but he did rounds twice a week because he loved to teach) was heading home and was his custom, took a short cut through the ER because he had “parking privileges” and there was a small lot for senior staff just past the ambulance bay. He heard the chatter and yelled “the baby has measles” and walked out to his car.
The young and young-ish doctors immediately went online and sure enough- the mystery rash, the upper respiratory stuff, even the lethargy- measles.
Not a single one of them had ever seen a case of measles. Not in training, not in practice, even my neighbor who had been in the Peace corps overseas. It turned out to be a very contained episode- maybe 10 cases total, only the baby needed to be hospitalized.
If measles becomes endemic in the US one of the more worrisome effects is that it can wipe out previous immunities.
the measles virus wipes out 11 percent to 73 percent of the different antibodies that protect against viral and bacterial strains a person was previously immune to — anything from influenza to herpesvirus to bacteria that cause pneumonia and skin infections. Study suggests how measles depletes body’s immune memory — Harvard Gazette
I don’t know how ill you need to get with measles for this to happen but since the 2-dose vaccine is said to be 97% effective that still leaves millions of adults in the under-protected 3% that potentially could lose the safety from the vaccines they’ve had
The measles vaccine doesn’t “take” for me. I get it and it just goes away. I discovered this with the birth of my oldest. So the ignorance of others could jeopardize my life. Got it.
I just checked the elementary school less than a mile from the pediatric clinic visited by the recently diagnosed Washington State child. 97.3 percent measles vaccination rate among kindergarteners for 2023-24. Encouraging news.
We may need to get my dh’s titer taken again. There was an outbreak within the last 10 year and we asked our PCP if we need a booster he wanted us to get titer’s first.
I had good immunity however my husband had zero immunity despite the shots (we had his childhood shot record from his mother).
He got the MMR shots but it will be interesting to see if he still has any immunity.
Adult in Kentucky who had returned from international travel.
Two persons in New Jersey who appear to have gotten it from a previously known infected person who had returned from international travel. All three of these persons were not vaccinated.
I just got a MMR and pneumonia shots today.
D1 got a booster a year before GD2 was born. gD2 is 5 months old. I am hoping she got some of her mom’s antibodies. We are traveling to Europe this summer. I will have D1 check with her pediatrician to see if GD2 could get a MMR before the trip.
If she is over 6 months old, she might be able to get it.
Our kids traveled with a 5 month old infant to South America and stayed there for 4 months. I was on pins and needles but they made sure to have well baby checks there and get the scheduled shots.
H and I just got measles titers today. We had to get orders from our respective MDs but the lab was patient and waited for the orders, even after the lab had closed. I hope our titers are OK so we don’t have to decide what to do next.
My doctor didn’t mention getting titers - just told me to come in for the vaccine since I fall into the recommended age group. Assuming, there isn’t any major risk in getting it even if I still have some immunity - hope not!
Blood test which tells you if you have antibodies. I had one done for my youngest to show the pediatrician that she really did have chickenpox at 8 months (pediatrician had given her the medication to make chickenpox milder - same stuff people take with shingles - but didn’t believe that a non-health professional could diagnose chickenpox),
Many women get Rubella titers when of child bearing age to make sure they have immunity before they become pregnant. There was a bunch of years where the Rubella vaccine had proven ineffective (I think during the 60s, so maybe all those women are no longer having kids and this is no longer being done?)
I actually got a chicken pox titer a few years ago. Wanted to make sure I had it as a child, before getting the shingles shots. (You don’t need a shingles shot if you never got chicken pox or never had the vaccine).
Getting an additional MMR vaccination does not have any particular risk if you already may have immunity from previous vaccination or infection, unless you have acquired a medical condition since then that is on the contraindication list (including some prescription drugs that advise not getting live vaccines).
However, getting chicken pox as an adult can be dangerous, so the absence of either infection or vaccination during childhood may not be a great thing either.
Chicken pox was on the list of required adult immunizations for our immigration visa, but we (adults) were exempted as we had had it as kids. Is there any reason not to get the vax as an adult given the potential complications?
(Actually fun fact, I was in boarding school at the time I got it, probably 5th or 6th grade, and infected a whole bunch of other kids before the school realized I had chicken pox and sent me home to quarantine - we were in easy driving distance. Those who weren’t had a special area created for them in the dorm as the sick bays weren’t big enough for all of the infected kids.)
I believe the recommendation is that you don’t need the shingles shot if you never had chicken pox BUT you should get the chicken pox shot so you don’t get chicken pox - and then shingles in later life.