As the #measles outbreak continues, and has now unfortunately resulted in the death of a child, I see a lot of posts along the lines of: "I had measles as a child and I'm fine". Let me tell you a different version of that story: 🧵1/11 🧪 #medsky - ThreadSky

rosyf.bsky.social • 22 hours ago

As the #measles outbreak continues, and has now unfortunately resulted in the death of a child, I see a lot of posts along the lines of: "I had measles as a child and I'm fine". Let me tell you a different version of that story:
🧵1/11 🧪 #medsky

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walsheva.bsky.social•19 hours ago

📌

ernstbe.bsky.social•5 hours ago

Survivor Bias - the dead can't tell their stories

vancitymark.bsky.social•19 hours ago

Everyone saying that as if it means something should take two seconds to think about who that excludes.

virginialady16.bsky.social•15 hours ago

Thank you for sharing your story. I “took sick” on Christmas Eve, 1956. I was six; there was no vaccine. I missed 6 weeks of school and was basically no good until the following summer.

Based on your description (extreme sensitivity to light, loss of balance)

virginialady16.bsky.social•15 hours ago

I think the same thing may have happened to me. Extreme sensitivity to light, very high fever, convulsions. I apparently fell off the sofa and knocked out two baby teeth.

At that I was lucky, I lived through it mentally unimpaired.

One of my classmates, Trena, wasn’t so lucky. The encephalitis

virginialady16.bsky.social•15 hours ago

Left her alive, but essentially a walking vegetable. We never saw her again.

These god damned anti-vaxxers—and keep in mind every damned one of them is OK BECAUSE they were vaccinated—are returning us to 1957.

virginialady16.bsky.social•15 hours ago

It’s no surprise that it will start out in Tex-ass, and probably Florida—they’re big on “personal freedom” unencumbered by personal responsibility. TBH I’m surprised the TX DOH even reported it. Goes against the current right-wing propaganda spiel. I suppose they’re looking around for a way to

virginialady16.bsky.social•15 hours ago

Blame this on “filthy brown immigrants.”

We need to start a body count with RFK Jr’s and Donald Trump’s names on it as the fathers of this disaster.

gordenpope.bsky.social•17 hours ago

Roald Dahl's open letter re the death of his daughter from measles;

docanni.bsky.social•16 hours ago

As a doctor who qualified in 1978 l never saw measles at all until about 2000 when we had an unvaccinated 17 year old present with florid measles proven on swab. Her mother did not believe in vaccination but asked for a vaccination the next day. My local population had a MMR vac rate93%

rosyf.bsky.social•22 hours ago

2/11: I grew up in a small town in Southern Italy in the 80s. Even though the measles vaccine was available at the time (measles vaccine was recommended in Italy for children >15 months in 1979), this didn't trickle down to our local healthcare provider. I was not vaccinated.

rosyf.bsky.social•22 hours ago

3/11: Having avoided measles parties, I contracted measles at the age of 15, during an outbreak. I had very high fever (40C+) for 2 weeks. My dad was also unwell and our GP came home to check up on him (as he didn't know if he'd had measles as a child). Before leaving, our GP came to check on me:

rosyf.bsky.social•22 hours ago

4/11: She found me unable to keep my balance and unable to tolerate light, I was obviously very weak. She recognized these symptoms as encephalitis, a complication of measles. They tried to get me to the hospital: I was unable to get into the car by myself because I had lost coordination. #medsky

rosyf.bsky.social•22 hours ago

5/11: The stats are 1-3 in 1000 children who contract measles will develop encephalitis. Mortality in those children is 10-15% and 25% have permanent neurological damage. 1 in 25,000 children with measles develop sclerosis panencephalitis, which is deadly. #medsky 🧪

kesalisbury.bsky.social•20 hours ago

It was this that killed Roald Dahl's daughter, I believe. You were lucky 😐

rosyf.bsky.social•20 hours ago

in a "less unfortunate" way 😅

rosyf.bsky.social•22 hours ago

6/11: I was taken to the local A&E and, after a quick blood test, put into an ambulance to the specialized infectious diseases hospital (Ospedale Cotugno in Naples) where I stayed for 2 weeks. I was put on corticosteroids and have no recollection of the first 48 hours in hospital.

rosyf.bsky.social•22 hours ago

7/11: I could have only one visitor per day and only during visiting hours (1.5 hours), when I looked forward to seeing my mum. The rest of the time, I was scared: scared of dying or of having permanent neurological damage. I remember being scared of not being able to walk again.

helenbell.bsky.social•20 hours ago

Thank you for sharing this.

listerthrawn.bsky.social•18 hours ago

When I was a child the vaccine was fairly new so my parents weren't sure. They asked the GP if it was worth bothering with. He said if you'd ever seen a kid with full blown measles you'd never ask that. I had the vaccine.

drthea.bsky.social•19 hours ago

I also had measles as a child (refused vaccine by GP due to family history of fits!) I was not fine. Eye sight damaged.

sarahmortonadam.bsky.social•22 hours ago

How awful for you and your family. I too had measles as a young child, I remember feeling so ill and kept in a dark room for 2 weeks. It was horrible, but I was lucky. People also confuse the milder Rubella ( German measles) which is not nearly as dangerous.

rosyf.bsky.social•22 hours ago

Yes, I remember the dark room at home, and how surprised I was at my aunts bursting into tears when they finally saw me again. I hadn't clocked how my illness had affected my greater family.

sarahmortonadam.bsky.social•22 hours ago

So true

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