Outbreak reignites anti-vaxxer debate

THE number of measles cases in the United States has been dramatically rising recently, leading some states to consider enforced vaccinations.

A doctor prepares to administer a measles vaccination to a four-year-old girl. Picture: Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP Source: AFP

IT IS the outbreak that started at the happiest place on Earth, but has led to an eruption of anger around the world.

An outbreak of measles, traced back to the Disneyland theme park in California, has sparked a storm of controversy over the anti-vaccination movement, which continues to hold sway in the US and Australia.

The latest figures from the US show that 121 people have contracted measles since December 28, all but 18 of whom have been linked to Disneyland.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the outbreak likely started from a traveller who became infected overseas and then visited the amusement park.

But the flare-up has caused a firestorm of controversy in the States, with politicians, doctors and media outlets combining to demonise the anti-vaccination movement.

RELATED: 'This is my son Griffin, and he may have measles. And I'm angry. Angry as hell.'

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tracked the spread of measles in the US. Source: Supplied

The angry reaction reached its peak this week when a Canadian mother Jennifer Hibben-White published a scathing attack of anti-vaxxers on her Facebook page.

She explained how her son Griffin, a newborn who is too young to receive vaccines, may have contracted measles from another patient in a doctor's office.

"I'm angry. Angry as hell," she wrote on the post, which has now been shared more than 240,000 times.

"If you have chosen to not vaccinate yourself or your child, I blame you. I blame you.

"You have stood on the shoulders of our collective protection for too long. From that high height, we have given you the PRIVILEGE of our protection, for free. And in return, you gave me this week. A week from hell. Wherein I don't know if my BABY will develop something that has DEATH as a potential outcome. DEATH.

"Look at Griffin. Tell me why he gets to bear the brunt of your stupidity and reckless abuse of our protection. Tell me."

The US outbreak of measles started at Disneyland, California. Source: Supplied

WHAT DOES THE ANTI-VAXXER MOVEMENT BELIEVE?

Despite strong evidence of its overwhelming benefits, many parents elect not to immunise their children because they feel it is unnatural. There are also prevalent fears about a link between vaccination and autism. A story on news.com.au yesterday on the issue attracted hundreds of comments, with many sharing unfounded concerns that vaccines can kill and cause cancer.

The Australian Vaccination Skeptics Network argues that "vaccines, like all medical procedures, can carry with them the possibility of serious injury or death".

It argues that vaccinations have been linked to causing autism, and that vaccinated people still contract diseases designed to protect them.

The organisation has been widely discredited (more on this later) and, in 2012, the NSW Government ordered the organisation change its name from the "Australian Vaccination Network" because it was deemed "misleading and deceptive".

A passionate Facebook post by a Toronto mother has galvanised anger against parents who choose not to vaccinate their children. Picture: AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes Source: AP

Australians successfully campaigned to stop American anti-vaccination campaigner Sherri Tenpenny from entering the country last month.

The controversial doctor, who argues that vaccines have a negative impact on health, cancelled her speaking tour of Australia citing security concerns.

She said that "pro-vaccine extremists had made continual, anonymous threats of vandalism and violence".

Driven out of the country … Anti-vaccination campaigner Dr Sherri Tenpenny. Source: Supplied

SO, DOES VACCINATION CAUSE AUTISM?

A study led by the University of Sydney last year definitively settled the argument.

The review of 1.25 million children — the available data from around the world — found that there was no link between vaccination and the development of autism or autism spectrum disorders.

The study examined seven sets of data and concluded that there was no evidence to support a relationship between common vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough and the development of autism.

"The data consistently shows the lack of evidence for an association between autism, autism spectrum disorders and childhood vaccinations … providing no reason to avoid immunisation on these grounds," Associate Professor Guy Eslick of the Sydney Medical School, told news.com.au at the time.

Vials of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. Picture: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP Source: AFP

The idea that vaccines were linked to autism took hold in 1998 when British gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield published a paper that hypothesised that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine could lead to the condition.

The paper has since been discredited and his research was found to be fraudulent.

In 2011, pharmaceutical scientist Dr Dennis Flaherty called Wakefield's findings "the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years".

AND A WORD FROM A DOCTOR

Dr Tass James is a Sydney GP and has been vaccinating kids for 38 years. He says in all of this time he has never seen one serious complication from a vaccine.

"Vaccines have almost eradicated so many diseases — diseases which were childhood killers 40 years ago are almost non existent now.

"If a significant number of people stop vaccinating children, these conditions will reappear in our society.

"It's unfortunate some anti-vaxxers say that vaccines cause autism and cancer. There is absolutely no evidence this is true, and those claims may frighten some nervous parents about vaccinating their kids.

ANTI-VAXXER FIRESTORM THROWS UP THE GOOD AND THE BAD

The US discussion around the anti-vaccination movement has thrown up the good and the bad on either side of the persistent argument.

The discussion has put renewed focus on a book by Queensland author Stephanie Messenger entitled Melanie's Marvellous Measles.

The book has a strong anti-vaccination message, with a mother telling her child at one point that "for most children it is a good thing to get measles" and telling her it would be a "great idea" to deliberately catch it.

This book actually exists. Source: Supplied

People have taken to the comments section of online retailer Amazon to mock the book.

One tongue-in-cheek commenter, Seabisquick, asked why there wasn't a braille version of the title: "My infant daughter went blind after contracting measles from an unvaccinated child, and yet there's no braille version of this wonderful book for me to give her some day to explain to her how awesome the disease that took her sight away is."

And there was this from Sandra Bradley: "As a carpenter who specialises in itty bitty coffins I can't say enough good things about this book, my customer base has been growing at an epidemic rate!"

The discussion has also resurfaced a touching open letter by the late children's author Roald Dahl, whose daughter Oliva died after contracting measles.

The letter, which was written in 1988, reads in part:

Olivia, my eldest daughter, caught measles when she was seven years old. As the illness took its usual course I can remember reading to her often in bed and not feeling particularly alarmed about it. Then one morning, when she was well on the road to recovery, I was sitting on her bed showing her how to fashion little animals out of coloured pipe-cleaners, and when it came to her turn to make one herself, I noticed that her fingers and her mind were not working together and she couldn't do anything.

"Are you feeling all right?" I asked her.

"I feel all sleepy," she said.

In an hour, she was unconscious. In twelve hours she was dead.

I was unable to do that for Olivia in 1962 because in those days a reliable measles vaccine had not been discovered. Today a good and safe vaccine is available to every family and all you have to do is to ask your doctor to administer it. It is not yet generally accepted that measles can be a dangerous illness. Believe me, it is. In my opinion parents who now refuse to have their children immunised are putting the lives of those children at risk.

Beloved children's author Roald Dahl. Source: News Corp Australia

Meanwhile, a report that people in California were holding "measles parties" so children could naturally build up their immunity to the disease has since been found to be false.

SHOULD CHILDREN BE FORCED TO VACCINATE?

As the US struggles with the measles epidemic, doctors, politicians and media outlets have argued that vaccinations should be forced on all children before they attend school.

Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, a former primary school principal, last week announced her intention to introduce legislation to mandate that made vaccinations mandatory.

Senator Barbara Boxer, meanwhile, wants to close a loophole in Californian regulations that allows parents to "opt out" of vaccine requirements for their child's school and daycare.

"While a small number of children cannot be vaccinated due to an underlying medical condition, we believe there should be no such thing as a philosophical or personal belief exemption, since everyone uses public spaces," she said.

"As we have learned in the past month, parents who refuse to vaccinate their children not only put their own family at risk, but they also endanger other families who choose to vaccinate."

The discussion is an interesting one because forcing children to vaccinate is at odds with the concept of individual choice and freedom, which US politicians hold highly.

It's for your own benefit, kid. Picture: Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP Source: AFP

Measles is a highly contagious, potentially fatal disease that affects mostly children.

Symptoms include fever, runny nose, bloodshot eyes, and tiny white spots on the inside of the mouth. A rash later develops, starting on the face and spreading downwards.

In extreme cases, the disease can cause lead to blindness, encephalitis, severe diarrhoea, ear infection and pneumonia and death.

Do you think vaccination should be compulsory? Comment below or join the conversation online @newscomauHQ.

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