Spot the problem

Susan ErasmusBy Monday 1034 cases of measles have been confirmed in Gauteng and there has been one death. In total, four deaths have been confirmed countrywide.

Before I get pelted with rotten tomatoes for blaming parents, again, just bear with me while I ask two short questions: why here, and why now?

A reality of life
Measles is one of those grim facts of life from which we cannot escape. It falls into the same category as getting a call from your bank manager or having to go for a colonoscopy or a mammogram. There have always been measles epidemics, but the severity and the enthusiastic spread of this one have made me wonder what has changed. Because something has.

When I was six measles swept through the primary school. I remember the darkened room, the doctor doing a house call (can anyone under 25 remember this?), and feeling feverish and nauseous as I lavishly wet my bed and then threw up all over the floor. But enough about me. The point is, while just about everyone got sick, no one died and within a few days the measles was just a grim memory and another childhood disease ticked off the must-have list.

What has changed?
So what was the difference then? I have a suspicion it's called vaccination. Kids are supposed to have a measles vaccine at 9 months, again at 18 months and then some booster and catch-up shots later in life. I remember the long queue of spindly legs ahead of me in underwear as we awaited torture from the school nurse. School nurses, like school doctors, were actually not human, but from some sub-species still to be discovered in underground caves. But, boy, did they do their job properly.

I read on News24 that more than 1.4 million people in Gauteng have been given measles injections in the past two weeks and that health workers have been visiting schools and creches targeting children from the ages of six months up to both primary and high schools learners. But why only now? And when last was this done?

Isn't the very point of vaccination that it is a preventative measure and not something to be given only when the epidemic is upon us?

I have a nasty suspicion that there have been many parents out there who have either been neglecting giving their children the necessary vaccinations, or who have consciously decided not to.

Autism scare
Let me stop there for a moment. This is important: the original study that said there was a link between autism and the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella) has been REFUTED several times. It was nonsense, according to several follow-up studies published in reputable medical journals. Of far greater danger to your child is being the only one in the class who has not been inoculated. If a measles epidemic were to sweep through the school, who is going to be in the most danger? And what virulent strain of the virus is she going to pass on?

Government schools and many day care centres ask for inoculation certificates before they will admit a child. Is this rigorously done? Are there schools out there which don't do this? I do know the townships clinics do a fabulous job in this regard: for years I worked next to the hall where inoculations were done by the hundreds every Tuesday. It was earplug day.

Young kids are no longer the only high risk group for measles: immune-compromised individuals are too. And that was, at last conservative count, one in every 10 South Africans.

So, to end this on a stern note: vaccinations are one of the miracles of the last 100 years. If you haven't vaccinated your children, make it snappy and get it done. It's not just about you, or even them. It's about everyone who lives in this country.

(Susan Erasmus, Health24, October 2009)

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