Mumps?!?

1952 just called. It wants its weird diseases back.

It looks like my sister has the mumps. I just spent half of last night in the ER with her. She had what she thought was a very swollen lymph node, size of a walnut. Went to the urgent care in the am and they gave her antibiotics. By dinnertime the swelling had about quadrupled. Since you don't want to mess around with lymph nodes, infections, and swelling about the head and neck, we went on a little field trip.

Folks at the ER said that she was the 4th person in there with that yesterday! Apparently, the MMR vaccine doesn't always keep working.

Luckily, mumps is swollen salivary glands, and what I've been reading about it sounds less dangerous than a lymph node infection. The later could indicate all kinds of horrible problems, so I'll (well she will) take the mumps over that. This is very painful, and the poor girl looks like a chipmunk, but it also looks like something that will just run its course and not cause long-term issues.

I'm a little worried about catching it, since my bf and I drove her to the hospital, and then I hung out in the room with her. It takes a couple of weeks to get it. Yikes.

I've never even heard of anyone getting the mumps. Have you?

My last tetanus shot also had a vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella included in it. Maybe they started doing that because they are making a comeback.

Veronica

Are you sure Veronica? I thought it was just DPT (Diptheria,Pertussis and Tetanus) in one shot. tokie

You know I really thought she said it was MMR. But my research makes me think I was wrong.

Maybe it was the pertussis that convinced me to get a tetanus booster last year. Even though I had one in 2007 after my bike accident.

You know, teaching ten year olds you want to make sure you don't get any of those childhood diseases. :rolleyes:

Veronica

If you are of (possible) childbearing age, I think a negative pregnancy test might be required to receive the MMR, as the rubella component could affect the fetus. (as rubella infection itself can cause birth defects) tokie

If I was exposed and got another shot today, it wouldn't help. However, next time I'm at my doctor's, I'm definitely going to ask about this business of vaccines wearing off and see if I need to get new shots. Yeesh.

a lot of these diseases crop up. but yes,my sister got it when she was about 6, and I was 8, exposed and never got it. Of course this was in the early 1960's :)
What i noticed is that they seem NASTIER now than they did back when i was a kid. everyone i knew had chickenpox,but when my sons got it, it was a much more serious ailment, laying them both flat for a week.
i hope your sister is ok...

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Originally Posted by tangentgirl

I'm a little worried about catching it, since my bf and I drove her to the hospital, and then I hung out in the room with her. It takes a couple of weeks to get it. Yikes.

I've never even heard of anyone getting the mumps. Have you?

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I was a kid before there was a mumps vaccine so I had it as a child. I also gave it to a number of relatives, including my uncle. Then end result is that my uncle was sterile afterwards. Rare complication though and I can't be absolutely sure that the mumps was the cause. However, I do understand that about half of men who get mumps have testicle swelling that can be very painful.

My other recollection is that some cases of mumps can develop into meningitis. And some can result in hearing loss. I that going deaf from mumps is rare but it was one of the scary things from back in my childhood.

Lots of diseases that we think of as gone are making a come back because of people who are unwilling to vaccinate their children.... It's not taken very long to forget how devastating some of those childhood illnesses really could be.

The mumps vaccine only protects about 80% of people given it, so "herd immunity" is important too - it is important to protect those who are not immune, either because it didn't work in them or they for some reason really cannot be vaccinated (immune compromise, serious egg allergy, etc.) by being immune yourself.

It could be worse though mumps isn't the nastiest of the things we vaccinate against...

I've worked in hospitals almost my entire adult life... I have gotten lots of vaccinations... When I was at the VA they were seeing outbreaks of pertussis (whooping cough) in adults and signs that people around my age who were vaccinated as children becoming susceptible again. I'm pretty sure I got a DPT there. I think I might have had it again at my newest job - I work with kids now and it's pretty important to know that employees are not going to be passing this stuff on to babies - especially ones that are already sick.. They didn't think when I was at the VA DPT was available, but I'd swear I remember it... The government may get these things sooner? I don't think I had to re-do the MMR again. They just did a titer to make sure I had immunity. I'm good and do my flu vaccine every year too. I've never had the flu, but I'd feel terrible if I got it and passed it along - not to mention that some people don't get sick... they just carry it around and give it to people... no way I want that worry.

This.
I got very upset last spring, when my neuropsych professor, a woman a little younger than me, went on a rampage about vaccines, how she didn't let her kids get vaccinated (they are now 16, 18) and the "crap" she had to go through because of this. There were younger, impressionable grad students in the class, who were just eating up her words.
My oldest son had pertussis when he was turning 14. He came home from overnight camp with what we thought was allergies, or bronchitis, until finally, around Oct. 1st, we determined it was pertussis. This was because when he was an infant, he actually did have one of the "unusual" reactions to his first DPT shot (high pitched screaming), so he only got the DT part of the shot for the rest. My other son didn't get the pertussis vaccine, either. I would have rather had him get a shot, than seeing him as sick as he was. I thought he was going to die when he was coughing so badly and couldn't catch his breath.

It bugs me when people refuse to vaccinate their kids...I'm not saying there aren't risks (unusual reactions etc.) but the risks associated with getting some of these diseases are much worse. That said, I do wonder if the currently recommended vaccine schedule might be overloading immature immune systems with too many things at once. I'm not knowledgeable enough about pediatrics to say for sure, but I would be interested to know if any research has been done on this and if it might be better to spread the vaccines out more. The discussion about pertussis reminds me, I should ask about getting a booster when I go for my physical this year since I haven't had one as an adult and it sounds like I probably should (especially since I work in a hospital!).

There was an annoying article in a local weekly whining about a hospital requiring flu shots for all staff--even clerical. The hospital clerk wanted an exemption from the vaccine, to allow her immune system to work "as nature intended."

If I had more time right now I'd write a letter to the editor pointing out that apparently "nature intends" for lots of people to die of the flu.

I always want to throw out that thing about people forgetting history being doomed to repeat it. Polio is one that people take so lightly. I knew a couple of folks who had polio as children. These were vibrant adults who were condemned to walkers and wheelchairs.

My sister has an autistic son. She doesn't believe the debunked theories connecting vaccines and autism. She's said that even if she did, she'd still not have kept her son from his vaccines...better he be autistic than dead.

I wonder whether acceptance of vaccines might be higher if they weren't pushing the flu vaccine (and vaccines for other minor illnesses) so hard.

Diseases like polio and smallpox are one thing. But we've all had the flu. It feels awful for a couple of weeks, maybe a whole month occasionally, but is it really so bad that we want to monkey with our immune systems to prevent it? Yes, a very small percentage of people die of it ... people die. We are not immortal. Each and every one of us has to die of something.

I got the flu every year for years. Every time I'd be in bed for two weeks. When they came out with the flu vaccine I got that every year ... until I started having an inflammatory reaction to it (four to six months each time). So it was interesting to me that this year when I got an intense but short-lived flu, I had a milder and briefer version of the same reaction I get to the shots - it is the virus, not the adjuvants, that sets off an inflammatory arthritis. The possibility that that might progress really scares me. Would I be getting that reaction if I hadn't had so many shots? Would I rather have the flu once in a while than inflammatory arthritis (you bet I would)?


PS to the OP - try 1972, not 1952. Way to make the majority of us on this board who've had the mumps and chicken pox - two more diseases that make kids feel pretty sick for a while and that's all - feel old. :rolleyes: :p

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

I wonder whether acceptance of vaccines might be higher if they weren't pushing the flu vaccine (and vaccines for other minor illnesses) so hard.

Diseases like polio and smallpox are one thing. But we've all had the flu. It feels awful for a couple of weeks, maybe a whole month occasionally, but is it really so bad that we want to monkey with our immune systems to prevent it? Yes, a very small percentage of people die of it ... people die. We are not immortal. Each and every one of us has to die of something.

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As many as 49k people have died from the flu and flu-related complications in a single year in the US. I don't consider that a few people. That's over 24x the # of people who live in my town. And the greatest risks are to those who cannot receive the vaccine, like infants. Is it OK to tell a parent that their kid died from the flu, but they had to die from something, so it's NBD?

I have asthma...every time I get the flu I end up in the ER for a breathing treatment. I always get the vaccination, but herd immunity doesn't work if relatively few people do so. And sometimes the vaccine doesn't work as well as other times, but it generally provides some protection...and more protection the more people who get it.

Is it not possible to honestly acknowledge the sad realities of life without being called callous?

What if the profits Big Pharma derives from vaccinations against common, normally minor, diseases, were directed instead to improving air quality. How many respiratory illnesses would be prevented and how many deaths would be postponed (deaths cannot be prevented)?

1% of the population or more has inflammatory arthritis. The link with vaccines is well established. This too can be a truly horrible disease.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

Is it not possible to honestly acknowledge the sad realities of life without being called callous?

What if the profits Big Pharma derives from vaccinations against common, normally minor, diseases, were directed instead to improving air quality. How many respiratory illnesses would be prevented and how many deaths would be postponed (deaths cannot be prevented)?

1% of the population or more has inflammatory arthritis. The link with vaccines is well established. This too can be a truly horrible disease.

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Correlation ≠ causation. Vaccines sure are a convenient scapegoat for a lot of things and lately seem like the cause de jour for every ill.

And arthritis ≠ death. One is a treatable condition.

The thing with flu shots is that they're always a guess. I don't think they should be mandatory unless you're living/working in close proximity to someone who is in one of those "high risk" groups. Otherwise, if you want it, get it, and if you don't, don't

And it aggravates me to no end, the people who refuse to vaccinate their kids. I think a vaccine for chicken pox is pretty silly, but MMR...

Oak, my mom had a similar inflammatory reaction to the hepatitis (A? B? I don't remember.) vaccine. That's the only one (apart from chicken pox, but I got that the normal way!) I didn't have. Presents a bit of a problem if I want to work with human tissue samples, though.

I've been vaccinated 3 times for MMR. Once as a kid, in my 20's when I worked for a hospital and if you were in a certain age group/vaccinated during certain years there was a possibility that the vaccine was ineffective. And again in my 30's when I was going to work for a hospital, again, and they titered me, only to discover that I didn't have an immunity. Got another round of shots. Wound up not staying with the hospital, or they would have titered me again. There'a a possibility that I still don't have an immunity. But considering I no longer work in emergency medicine, I'm not that worried.

Keep your feverish, rashy children to yourselves please. :(

I have had the flu 3 times that I know of, maybe 4. I was too weak to walk from one end of the house to the other and had a fever of 104, along with the respiratory symptoms, headaches, etc. I don't want to experience that again, personally. It's much worse than a cold. And since I work with kids (teacher), I get a flu vaccine every year.

The 1918 flu pandemic killed between 50-100 million people worldwide in just a few short months. This was about 3% of the world population at the time, and apparently 500 million people, or 27% of the world's population were infected. (stats from wikipedia).

Because of the success of many vaccines, I think that the average person does not have any idea of the devastation caused by the diseases that they prevent. If they had lived through a serious epidemic, they would be much more willing to accept the risks. They also don't realize how quickly some of these disease may spread if the percentage of non-vaccinated individuals rises above a certain point. I suspect it will take a tragic epidemic to get some people to rethink this.

Unlike some disorders, reactive arthritis and other forms of arthritis triggered by infectious agents including vaccines, is a well known phenomenon and the link is well established.

There are a few people on this board with serious inflammatory arthritis. Ask them how "treatable" it is.

IMVHO, from a medical ethics standpoint, indiscriminate vaccination is no different from indiscriminate use of antibiotics. Some lives will be prolonged and others will be shortened. Some lives will be improved and others will be impaired. Public health will be improved in some respects and harmed in others. The line that needs to be drawn is very fuzzy indeed, but I can't agree that no line needs to be drawn.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

Is it not possible to honestly acknowledge the sad realities of life without being called callous?

What if the profits Big Pharma derives from vaccinations against common, normally minor, diseases, were directed instead to improving air quality. How many respiratory illnesses would be prevented and how many deaths would be postponed (deaths cannot be prevented)?

1% of the population or more has inflammatory arthritis. The link with vaccines is well established. This too can be a truly horrible disease.

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Flu vaccines are a major life saver. The flu is not a minor disease. Part of the problem is people call various bugs the flu whether or not they know they have the flu.

If you want to redirect resources, how about redirecting the billions people spend on homeopathy, which has been researched to death, has no active ingredients, and does not work.

As far as the connection with arthritis, a link with vaccines is far from well established. From the CDC:

After decades of vaccine use in the U.S., current research shows no definitive evidence proving vaccines cause chronic illness.
According to the Arthritis Foundation, there is no known link between vaccines and fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, or lupus. . .


In a comprehensive 1994 study of adverse events associated with vaccination, the Institute of Medicine reviewed the possibility of a link between diphtheria and tetanus vaccines--these vaccines are generally given in combination--and arthritis. The Institute found that it is biologically possible for these immunizations to be associated with arthritis, primarily because the tetanus toxoid has the potential to induce serum sickness, which is a source of a temporary form of arthritis. However, the Institute also found that the evidence available in scientific studies up to 1994 was inadequate to determine whether this biologically possible link actually occurs. Since those findings were reported, one group of researchers found a link between rubella vaccine and temporary, acute arthritis, arthralgia (joint pain) or myalgia (muscle pain) when the vaccine was administered within 12 months of giving birth.(2) Another group found no evidence of any increased risk of developing chronic arthritis, arthralgia, or myalgia within the 12 months following vaccination; the women in this study were of childbearing age.(3)

Similarly, the Institute found that a link between hepatitis B vaccine and acute or chronic arthropathy (inflamed, painful joints) also is biologically plausible, but the studies available are inadequate to accept or reject a causal link to vaccination. A link between the disease, hepatitis B, and arthropathy has been proven.

http://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/qa.htm#Do%20vaccines%20cause

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PS to the OP - try 1972, not 1952. Way to make the majority of us on this board who've had the mumps and chicken pox - two more diseases that make kids feel pretty sick for a while and that's all - feel old.

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Wasn't trying to make anyone feel old. Seriously, thought that was one that was all but eradicated in the 50s. Never ever heard of anyone actually getting the mumps until this weekend. Almost jumped out of my chair when the doc said it.

Born in '73 here, so not quite the chicken of the springtime, but it's all relative. And I had my chicken pox, oh did I ever. (Very distinct memory of being about 8, sitting in a Brownie meeting, thinking, why am I so itchy? and then thinking Ohhhhhdang. Or whatever kid-like curse I used at the time.) Anyways, sorry for any offense.

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In general, I'm like, vaccinate the &*$& outta me, please. If I don't catch this crap from the kid, I'm going to go redo the MMR next time I hit the doctor, and maybe ask about anything else I should get.

However, I'm on the fence on the flu stuff. Gotten the flu shot a couple of times, gotten really sick. Plus, my mom has Guillane-Barre, which has a relationship with the flu vaccine, and it's got me pretty skeeved. Seriously, you do not want that.

On the other hand, I got the flu at new year's this year, and was laid out for weeks. Sickest I've been in ages. Pretty sure if I had been in some sort of high risk category that would have had serious ramifications. I think that if I end up in one of those high risk categories, I'll roll the dice and get the flu shot.

In other news, my sister is on the mend. :)

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Originally Posted by tangentgirl

In other news, my sister is on the mend. :)

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Yay!! :D

Whoever said that some people call their illness the "flu" very casually, is very correct. Just because you have a cold and a few aches, it's not the flu. I have had the flu once. It had to have been the worst thing I've ever had; worse than pneumonia. It came on suddenly, at work, and by the time I got home, I had a 104 degree fever that lasted for 5 days. DH was out of town and I was depending on a 10 and 8 year old to take care of me! Then, I developed a secondary respiratory infection, bronchitis, possibly pneumonia, and I had to be on antibiotics for 2 weeks. I was sick in March and I didn't stop coughing until May. I couldn't go back to teaching at the gym for 8 weeks.
I got the flu shot in 2009, with all of the hoopla for the swine flu. The only reason I hadn't taken it before, is that I really am allergic to Thimerisol, the preservative that is in the vaccine; it used to be in contact lens solution and I developed a nice allergy to it. My doctor refuses to get the preservative free vaccine, so I usually can find it at CVS Minute Clinic. It's very hard to find.
I guess I should go and get my shot.

I get a flu shot every year. I sometimes still get a very mild case of the flu in late February or early March. Before I started getting the vaccine, I had the flu 3 years in a row and the respiratory symptoms lasted for 3 months each time. Regarding pertussis, my son also had a bad reaction to the first DPT when he was a baby, and in subsequent vaccines received DT only. Freshman year of high school he came down with whooping cough. It took three visits to the doctor before he was diagnosed and received proper medical treatment.