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Texas Lawmaker not Worried about Measles because of ‘Antibiotics'

posted by mrpg on Thursday February 28 2019, @04:11AM   Printer-friendly
from the Brawndo-Has-What-Plants-Crave dept.

DannyB writes:

Texas lawmaker says he's not worried about measles outbreak because of ‘antibiotics'

Texas state representative Bill Zedler says a resurgence of measles across the U.S. isn't worrying him.

Zedler, R-Arlington, is promoting legislation that would allow Texans to opt out of childhood vaccinations.

“They want to say people are dying of measles. Yeah, in Third World countries they’re dying of measles,” Zedler said, the Texas Observer reports. “Today, with antibiotics and that kind of stuff, they’re not dying in America.”

There is no treatment for measles, a highly contagious virus that can be fatal. Antibiotics treat bacterial infections and can't kill viruses.

It could be funny if it weren't so tragic.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 01 2019, @03:23AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 01 2019, @03:23AM (#808541)

    some vaccine, like the triple flu shot, have a 1 in 10 million risk of Guillain–Barré syndrome.
    other make you feel like you have a cold for a few days.

    but it's nothing compared to the disease they protect from

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 01 2019, @03:48AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 01 2019, @03:48AM (#808552)

    Actually the measles vaccine gives ~18% of children a 100 F fever, and 5% a measles-like rash. About 1.5% get "measles-like illness" which is a combination of those symptoms plus some other minor ones:

    We vaccinated 1736 children with MMR-RIT (N = 1164) or MMR II (N = 572), both administered as first doses with varicella, hepatitis A, and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines at 12–15 months of age. The incidence of fever 5–12 days post-vaccination was comparable following MMR-RIT and MMR II vaccination: 4.2% vs 3.1% (difference: 1.1%) for fever > 39.0°C and 18.2% vs 17.1% (difference: 1.1%) for fever ≥ 38.0°C, which met the primary objective. Two cases of febrile convulsions (one considered vaccination-related) were reported within 43 days post-MMR-RIT. During Days 0–42, rashes were reported for 24.4% (MMR-RIT) and 27.4% (MMR II) of children; measles/rubella-like rashes for 5.8% and 4.7%, respectively. Measles-like illnesses were reported for 1.5% (MMR-RIT) and 0.9% (MMR II) of children 5–12 days post-vaccination. One serious adverse event, immune thrombocytopenic purpura following MMR II vaccination, was considered vaccination-related.

    [...]

    Measles-like illness was defined as the occurrence of the following signs or symptoms in the absence of another confirmed diagnosis: temperature ≥ 38.0°C and maculopapular rash (including measles/rubella-like rash) during Days 5–12 post-vaccination, and at least one of the following signs or symptoms: cough, runny nose, conjunctivitis, or diarrhea.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6343620/ [nih.gov]