Measles

[ChrisB 150]

Did you have them?

I had them as a lad they never did me any harm, it was considered part of childhood, all kids had them.

In fact, when one of my two older brothers got it, my mum pushed the other one in with him and said 'let em both have it now and get it over and done with'

But just now, a lot is being made of the Swansea measles outbreak as if it's a very dangerous disease.

Some 'expert' was saying on TV the other day that vaccination should be mandatory for all children.

I never had a single vaccination for anything when I was a kid - and I'm still here!

Are these things any worse today than when we were kids?

Or is it that working parents today simply can't afford the time off work to look after sick children?

[DAVIDW 1,681]

Can't remember having measles , though I'm sure I had chicken pox .

I also wrote in my school diary that I had a typhoid jab when I was 14 , though whether this was because of a school trip to France and Germany , a month or so later , not sure . It certainly numbed my arm for a week !

[carni 10,094]

Measles,Chicken Pox,Mumps,Whooping Cough i had the lot and so did all off my friends,I,don't know if the strains are more dangerous now but back then it was get ill get better and back to school.

[StephenFord 866]

I had mumps, chicken pox, measles and scarlet fever (in that order I think) by the time I was 9. There were no vaccinations for any of them in those days.

There's quite a groundswell of anti-vaccination feeling - especially the MMR, and some folk suggest that they might be linked to the increase in ADHD, autism and other things - in other words, that the results of vaccination can in some cases be worse than the disease. The trouble with the "everyone-must-be-vaccinated" brigade is that it works on statistics - statistically there will be a health advantage for the population at large. But that is not much consolation if there are individual kids whose life is blighted "for the greater good".

I did have a diphtheria jab at school, aged 5, and then at 13 the famous Heaf test (the circle of punctures made with an instrument like a pickle-fork) followed a few days later by the BCG shot against TB, (which was a running mess on our arms for weeks afterwards), also three-series polio vaccination - before it was drops on a lump of sugar.

[DAVIDW 1,681]

" and then at 13 the famous Heaf test (the circle of punctures made with an instrument like a pickle-fork) followed a few days later by the BCG shot against TB"

I was trying to remember what that one was for . I had the test but didn't get the jab so must have had an immunity to TB . Not sure how , as I don't remember anyone having it in our family .

[Trevor S 2,003]

Chicken pox, measles, mumps, whooping cough - had the lot and the only treatment was staying at home and getting nursed by my mum - Calomine lotion on the pox to stop them itching (Ha!) and Gees Linctus for coughs.

As for innoculations, only one was the polio jab. Managed to escape the diptheria and TB shots.

These days, there is a vaccination for everything from the day one is born.

How come we survived our childhoods, with all the associated traumas and self inflicted injuries, without the need to visit the doctor or hospital every time we had a sniffle or a temperature.

Remember once falling over when at the kennels at RoT and gashing my knee on a half buried steel post. It cut a groove across the top of my knee but very little blood. More sore than anything. Went in the house and showed my parents. My father was about to go to the Veterinarian and he took me with him.

To this day, I remember sitting on the vets examination table while he looked at my cut, which he swabbed with iodine, bandaged it and then said "You know you are likely to die after this?" It was the first time I had heard this joke phrase and must have shown some alarm because he quickly followed on with - "Well, you're not likely to die before it, are you?"

Great upbringing, no injections like today, together with medical treatment by a vet with a sick bedside manner.

[LizzieM 9,507]

I got all the 'childhood illnesses' when I started school, including whooping cough, it was what was expected in those days. My kids had various jabs but not the whooping cough one because at that time, in the late 70's, there was a big scare that the whooping cough vaccine could cause brain damage. One of my boys did get whooping cough when he started school. I have two scars on my arm from the TB jab and really quite obvious ones. That I think is because I went swimming every day and the scab fell off in the water, nice huh! It took weeks to heal, haha!

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

I don't recall getting any of the childhood diseases, I did get chicken pox when I was 22, never been so cold and so hot in my life...

I had the polio shots, mandated in the 50's also tested for TB and I carry immunity, so never had to have the jabs.

In some respects I think we kids of the 40's and 50's were healthier than modern kids, probably all that junk and manufactured foods they get from dot one onwards..

And we were out playing in all weathers in dirt and everything else..

[StephenFord 866]

A bit of good clean muck never harmed anybody !

[Trevor S 2,003]

Fully agree SF and Ayeupmeducks.....................When was the last time that you were down on a farm and saw a sick and sorry looking pig.

As happy as a pig in sh*t comes to mind when you watch them wallow in mud, snuffle pig swill or chomp on garbage covered in flies and mud.

[loppylugs 8,427]

Like most here I had most of the childhood diseases. Had the polio vac, but very little else until having to have the smallpox vac to emigrate to Canada. I think there are far too many vaccinations for kids today. It is hard to prove what ill effects may come from this in the future, but I get very angry at these "experts"that try to mandate vaccination for every one. Them's fighting words. Nobody is gonna stick a needle in me every time somebody sneezes.

[Stan 386]

Friends do not be offended by this reply,but you are so wrong!

UK was a model country in the world due to our testing and vaccination for TB. Virtually wiped out in our animals,especially cows,and humans. What do we have in UK today? Armies of immigrants from South Asia and elsewhere bringing in the disease which is incurable with all known treatments,and spreading in UK

Take loppylugs smallpox jab what a terrible disfiguring disease that was . Name me one place on earth where you can catch it.

Measles likewise is a killer (not talking about Rubella or German Measles) and leaves terrible consequences in some. If you read your local rag you will also discover that whooping cough is killing new babies.

The subject of immunisation is vast there are occasional side effects but none compared to the side effect of death!

Thank goodness its free and so available in UK.

I await with interest the figures for the 2 totally new flu strains which will hit us soon, How soon we forget the numbers killed by flu after the 1st world war (made the millions killed in the war very small beer!)

The message disregard those telling you not to vaccinate.

[darkazana 1,736]

Stan I so totally agree.

I had measles as a child with no ill effects, but my sister in law was left blind in one eye after catching it, and a friends lad, who caught it when he was a baby was taken ill in his teens and slowly loss use of all his body, and towards the end didn't recognise anyone, and had no reponse. This degeneration was caused by the measles. So yes while lots of people have no reaction, there are those that do, and it can be a killer. It's possible that "back then" when we all seemed to survive anything and everything, people may have been suffering from after effects that simply weren't recognised as the result of a childhood illness.

[Trevor S 2,003]

or, as I believe the majority of the posts on this subject allude to; kids of the 40s and 50s were a lot hardier and more tolerant to everyday aches and pains.

IMHO, the children of recent decades seem more prone to sickness and whether this is due to the sheltered environment that is forced upon them is open for debate.

And yes, we raised three children without incident the old fashioned way.

[colly0410 1,181]

I've been told I almost died of whooping cough when I was a baby, they said steam from the kettle saved me, how I don't know. I can't remember having any childhood illnesses, but remember a few jabs. I had jabs in both arms when the army sent me to Germany, I did some moaning & whinging that day.

[loppylugs 8,427]

Please don't misunderstand me. I'm sure we could all spend all day quoting incidents that we think support our particular stand. I am not totally opposed to vaccination. I have also had numerous Tetanus shots during my years in construction. What I do oppose is the large number of jabs our kids are expected to receive today often with mixed results. The drug companies are not much interested in you, me or my kids. They are interested in the bottom line. I don't know how many folks I have heard of and known who dutifully go and get a'flu shot each year every time the whore media tells them to be afraid. A week or so later they are as sick as dogs. I think we also fail to take into account the vast improvements in nutrition, water quality etc. which all contribute to a healthier environment. So when you hear that Loppy croaked you know it won't have been a flu shot that caused it. );

[Compo 10,328]

\Snip|

Take loppylugs smallpox jab what a terrible disfiguring disease that was . Name me one place on earth where you can catch it.

\Snip\

Birmingham, UK. They have a stock of Smallpox "just in case"

[Compo 10,328]

I had Measles, Pneumonia and Flu at different times but was resistant to TB so no jab required. ISTR having Polio, Smallpox and Diphtheria potions as a child.

[Compo 10,328]

They say that we must all eat a pinch of dirt before we die but what one really needs to know is the time between eating the dirt and dying!

[StephenFord 866]

Possibly also the toxicity of the particular dirt concerned !

[katyjay 5,090]

I don't remember having chickenpox, but I do remember bringing it back from a friend's house and giving it to my little brother! I had measles and German measles though. I only know I had the latter, cos when I was carrying my 3rd child, my daughter got them and it was panic stations, as my mum couldn't remember if I'd had them or not. Had a test and found I was immune, thank goodness. My 3 kids had chickenpox one after the other, the youngest looked a bit funny with his. Took him to the docs and he said he'd got mumps as well, so he got a 2-for-1 deal!

[mick2me 3,033]

Modern disorders in Kids include 'Eating Disorders'

We never had those because we were poor and lucky to get a good meal every day.

[Merthyr Imp 729]

They say that we must all eat a pinch of dirt before we die but what one really needs to know is the time between eating the dirt and dying!

In my grandma's day it was 'a peck of dirt before you die' - and she lived to be over 90. (I must admit I'd forgotten how much a peck was and had to look it up - about 2 gallons, I understand)

[Compo 10,328]

In Scotland, the peck was used as a dry measure until the introduction of imperial units as a result of the Weights and Measures Act of 1824. The peck was equal to about 9 litres (1.98 Imp gal) (in the case of certain crops, such as wheat, peas, beans and meal) and about 13 litres (2.86 Imp gal) (in the case of barley, oats and malt). A firlot was equal to 4 pecks and the peck was equal to 4 lippies or forpets.

[source Wikipedia]

[Stan 386]

Back to measles.

Two million children at risk of measles Up to two million schoolchildren could be at risk of measles due to the MMR vaccine scare, doctors have warned

Experts are calling for an immediate national “catch-up” campaign to prevent the disease spreading from Wales to the rest of Britain.

London is particularly vulnerable because nearly half of children were not vaccinated a decade ago

Public health doctors in Wales have said that it is a “a matter of time” before a child dies, or is left with eye disorders, deafness or brain damage.