Anti-Vaxxers Are Officially To Blame For The Rise In 2 Preventable Diseases

The recent rise in the U.S. of vaccine-preventable diseases has been largely blamed on those who refuse to vaccinate their children. Previous analyses have linked anti-vaxxers to certain outbreaks -- like last year's Disneyland measles outbreak -- but there was still some controversy over the connection.  Now a new review funded by the National Institutes of Health has found a correlation between vaccine refusal and the rise of measles and whooping cough (also known as pertussis), two common vaccine-preventable conditions.  Researchers at Emory University and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health reviewed reported case data in conjunction with previously published studies to better understand the relationship between vaccine refusal, delay or exemption and the flare-up of vaccine-preventable diseases.  "A substantial proportion of the U.S. measles cases in the era after elimination were intentionally unvaccinated," the researchers concluded. "The phenomenon of vaccine refusal was associated with an increased risk for measles among people who refuse vaccines and among fully vaccinated individuals. Although pertussis resurgence has been attributed to waning immunity and other factors, vaccine refusal was still associated with an increased risk for pertussis in some populations." Both measles and whooping cough can be serious. Children under the age of five and adults older than 20 are at higher risk for complications surrounding measles, the U.S...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news