There Is Danger in Stamping Out Disease

Ocean County Observer

February 6, 1984

The headline proclaimed “National Measles Epidemic Feared”. The article, published March 9, 1983 wouldn’t have had any meaning 30 years ago. Measles then was endemic throughout the country, and because every year small epidemics hit every community and individual cases occurred intermittently, no national epidemic could occur or even be envisioned.

Measles was part of our life. All kids caught them (or it) and almost all. In children it was generally not too severe. Yes there were deaths, blindness, encephalitic complications, but in general most survived, and they, as well as large numbers of kids who never got clinical measles developed lifelong immunity. As diseases go it was a “safe” illness.

However, if a measles epidemic was feared in 1983, years after we had embarked on an apparently unsuccessful attempt to immunize the entire population artificially with a vaccine, it is because the vaccine could not take the place o f nature. Measles spread indiscriminately.

The vaccine immunized discriminately – that is only certain people were immunized. Sure the injection was safe but apparently schools couldn’t immunize every child and large pockets of un-immunized youngsters must exist, or else why the worry?

In either case if indeed a measles epidemic can occur it means we weren’t able to do as well with the vaccine as nature did with the live unadulterated communicable measles virus that would run rampant through a community, immunizing all who crossed its path.

Measles in children can be severe, but it is usually mild. In un-immunized young adults it is considered more dangerous than it is in children, killing more adults than children, and leaving a greater number or serious after-effects than it does in children.

In short we had no right to try to stamp out measles unless we could be certain that we were stamping it out. In this case half a loaf is worse than none.

Natural measles leaves enough immunized people in its path to block a severe epidemic in that population in later years. Not so apparently the inoculation. The number of cases tat the University of Indiana during a 1982 outbreak was 174 confirmed and 150 suspected. It was feared that the students dispersed throughout the country during the spring vacation would create small epidemic pockets.

When considering immunization there are four requirements: first of course is that the effort is worth the dividend; second that it works; the duration of effectiveness; and fourth assurance that everyone or almost everyone can be made immune. Failing this a relatively harmless childhood disease can be turned into a dangerous adult disease.

While on the subject of immunization it appears as though small pox has been stamped out and eliminated from the earth. That magnificent accomplishment has been proclaimed a great victory for the forces of good, in this case the
World Health Organization (WHO) and epidemiologists. I would join the celebration except for the fact that the eradication of small pox from the earth was accompanied by the discontinuation of vaccination as a routine procedure. Thus in 20 years everybody on earth will probably be susceptible to small pox.

What matter would that make if there were no smallpox around? Well there’s the catch. The small pox virus has not been eliminated from earth but is carefully preserved in a number of laboratories world wide. What a wonderful weapon to release on a susceptible population. Epidemic small pox has a mortality rate of 25% in “good” epidemics. As a weapon in bacterial warfare it would be superb. It costs pennies to manufacture, can be loosed unobtrusively a

Between a flawed measles vaccine program and the discontinuation of mandatory vaccination we may be setting our children up for plagues similar to those that ravaged Europe in the middle ages.