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The most recent measles outbreak in the U.S. began at the Disneyland theme park in Southern California in late December 2014 and has since spread to 17 states and infected more than 100 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

ANTI-VAXXERS: Traverse City, Detroit Metro Areas Hotbeds of Shots Avoidance

Ingersoll's Grand Traverse Academy Linked to 151 Cases of Whooping Cough

February 12, 2015       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

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Herd immunity or mob hysteria?

Al Pilong, president of Munson Medical Center, Traverse City, is trying desperately to tamp down an outbreak of fear over vaccinations in Grand Traverse County.

For Traverse City is the headquarters of the anti-vaxxers of northern Michigan, those folks whose fears have driven the vaccination rate in Grand Traverse County down to 80.6 percent of the children.

Health authorities report that 151 cases of whooping cough have been linked to Grand Traverse Academy, also in the news because it was founded and formerly operated until recently by Dr. Steven Ingersoll, an optometrist charged with fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion in a case now in Federal Court in Bay City. In 2013-14, 17 percent of Grand Traverse Academy kindergärtners had parents who signed a waiver exempting their children from the required childhood immunizations.

Combining several vaccines in one, called MMR, is at the root of the controversy. A group of British doctors wrote a scholarly paper alleging dangers of autism from the MMR vaccine.

The paper was published by British physician Dr. Andrew Wakefield and a dozen co-authors in The Lancet, a major medical journal in England, in February 1998. It provided case histories for 12 children, exploring incidences of chronic enterocolitis, inflammatory bowel disease and regressive developmental disorder -- as well as immunization with the MMR vaccine. "In eight children, the onset of behavioral problems had been linked, either by the parents or by the child's physician, with measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination," the authors wrote.

Vaccination rates in the U.K. plummeted after publication of that paper, and the study helped launch the anti-vaccine movement in the U.S., according to Newsweek. In a National Consumers League survey conducted in the U.S. last year, one-third of parents with children under the age of 18 and 29 percent of adults overall believe that vaccinations can cause autism.

The paper has since been retracted and Dr. Wakefield's license was revoked in 2010 by the U.K.'s General Medical Council for ethical violations and failure to disclose potentially competing financial interests. But the publication derailed public confidence in vaccination programs that were safely eradicating serious and highly contagious diseases.

The most recent measles outbreak in the U.S. began at the Disneyland theme park in Southern California in late December 2014 and has since spread to 17 states and infected more than 100 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Michigan school immunization reports show that 11 percent of the parents of kindergarten, sixth grade and other-aged students waived their vaccinations in Grand Traverse County last year. The state average is 6.3 percent, which is among the worst in the nation. The national average is less than 2 percent. Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties are among the worst in the state in terms of the number of children in school who had their vaccinations waived.

The metro Detroit counties of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb also have immunization rates of school-aged children below 90 percent. Ninety percent is the threshold sited by experts as achieving herd immunity, which best protects the small percentage of the population too vulnerable to vaccinate.

In most of the rest of the state the vaccination rate averages about 92 percent.

In the U.S., the Center for Disease Control reports a record number of measles cases in 2014 even though the virus was declared "eradicated" in 2000. From Jan. 1 to Oct. 31, the CDC reports that 603 people contracted the measles. The majority of them were unvaccinated.

The Centers for Disease Control estimate that one out of every 1,000 children who contract measles will die from it. Numerous complications may affect the child for the rest of his or her life, including hearing loss and brain damage.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says vaccinating children on schedule is important to maintaining public and individual health: "Whether it's a childhood MMR vaccine or an adolescent pertussis booster, these simple procedures can save lives."

MLive took a comprehensive look at vaccination through its series "Spreading Danger". In the series, experts say vaccination waivers in Michigan are putting the state at risk. The state average for immunization waivers for school-aged children is about six percent.

Medical professionals say fear is a driving force for many parents who don't vaccinate their children.

Pilong, a former doctor, writes in the Traverse City Record-Eagle:

"Vaccination fears often are linked to a British physician who published an article in a medical journal that purportedly linked MMR vaccination to autism. The article was later yanked from the journal and his conclusions were debunked by several scientific studies. Yet this myth still causes many otherwise well-meaning parents to sign vaccination waivers."

Tammy Worth on health.com reported "a small 1998 study by Andrew Wakefield claimed to find a link between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism, setting off a panic that led to dropping immunization rates, and subsequent outbreaks.

"Since then, the study's been deemed flawed, and it's been retracted by the journal that published it. In 2004, the Institute of Medicine released a report that found no scientific evidence of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. In September 2010, the CDC published similar results."

"It's more risky for your child to not be vaccinated," said Dr. Carrie Nelson, chair of the Commission on Health of the Public and Science for the American Academy of Family Physicians.

At the Michigan.gov website, one can find that as of Dec. 31, 2014, Grand Traverse County's immunization rate for children ages 19 to 35 months for the DTP vaccination (which includes protection from pertussis) was 80.6 percent. The U.S. average is 92.7 percent. The county's number is alarming.

Dr. (Christopher) Ledtke (infectious disease specialist) told our hospital board that the goal of immunization is "community immunity." This usually requires at least 90 percent, or in the case of measles, much more than 90 percent, of students to be vaccinated in order to ensure children such as the youngster with leukemia also are protected from disease outbreaks.

Fear based on a myth can lead to bad outcomes.

"The truth is that vaccinations are nothing to be feared," says Pilong. "They do not hurt the human race, they help it. A new state law mandates that parents talk with a health care provider to understand the facts about immunization -- and the dangers of not allowing their child to be vaccinated."



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Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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