Childhood diseases

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Spent a lot of my childhood in Malaya as it was then, managed to avoid malaria despite the only precautions being a mossie net at night, my sister was not so fortunate she succumbed to Dengue Fever also spread by mosquitoes, which made her very poorly at the time. Later in life I happened to find myself in the midst of one of the last major outbreaks of smallpox, was in the Air Force at the time and we were all revaccinated, regardless of when our last one had been given, that was in the sixties.

Dave W

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Samsaranda on 23/05/2019 19:17:33:

I see that according to Silly Old Dufffer the state should have stamped on me many years ago for my stand on my children’s well-being, sorry to disappoint still alive and well, well I was the last time I checked and my three children made it through life successfully. 😇.

Dave W

Which is why you have to beware of individuals with quick easy answers to difficult questions. They could be idiots! I was never in your position and of course you did the right thing.

Time to change my policy slightly. Parents shall only be stamped on in the absence of contra-indications.

As the greatest leader Britain has never had, it's possible I was poorly advised. Not a problem though, the orphans of any parents I'd already had executed would have been sent a bunch of flowers…

Dave

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Silly Old Duffer, I acknowledge your policy change, it takes a person of courage to change their policy so publicly as on this forum, I wasn’t having a go at you just poking fun, life’s too short to get too serious, I look forward to your contributions on this forum, you speak a lot of common sense and you come across to me as a person who doesn’t tolerate fools gladly, keep up your contributions.

Dave W

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

My friend's grandmother smoked like a chimney and lived till she was 89. Died of a non smoking related disease as far as I know. Doesn't mean smoking doesn't kill lots of people, it killed two of my uncles . As long as the vast majority of children are vaccinated then those who aren't will probably get away with it, but the potential consequences of catching measles mean it's not worth the risk. Yes lots of us had measles, chickenpox etc as children and had no ill effects, but significant numbers died or had life long issues. No point arguing with the statistics unless you have genuine data to the contrary.

I had chickenpox and mumps as an adult, not funny let me assure you, fortunately no long term effects, but very unpleasant while it lasted.

 

Edited By duncan webster on 23/05/2019 22:41:36

[Alan Waddington 2Participant @alanwaddington2]

Had measles, mumps and scarlet fever as a kid………managed to swerve chickenpox until my 40’s, really not a good experience as an adult

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by colin wilkinson on 23/05/2019 18:01:59:

Sorry Neil, I had all the usual diseases as a child including Scarlet Fever so no aversion to dirt etc, but I was diagnosed Coeliac at the age of 71. it appears to be no respecter of age. When I was at school in the 50s there was at least one lad with leg braces due to Polio, not something you hear of now in the UK. Colin

Coeliac and most other auto-immune conditions are vastly commoner now than they were. Eating dirt won't stop them all the time, but may make them less likely.

Polio has been almost beaten for decades but apparently hangs on in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. Waiting to return to countries who get lax on vaccination…

Neil

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

Here in my part of Australia, failure to vaccinate/immunise children may lead to exclusion from schools and child care centres Vic, Australia

I was discussing the recent measles outbreak here (Vic) with my neighbour and she remarked that current vaccination of all children and staff were mandatory for attendees at the child care centre where she works.

Apparently, the ease of international travel nowadays is contributing to the problem. It is cheaper to take a holiday in Indonesia or Thailand than for me to travel to Western Australia.

* Danny M *

[JohnFParticipant @johnf59703]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 23/05/2019 16:58:17:

It's the aversion to dirt and obsessive cleaning that leave immune systems with nothing to do and is possibly behind the increase in auto-immune conditions like asthma, eczema, coeliac disease, nut and many other allergies.

Neil

Neil is spot on here, I like most members had the usual measles, whooping cough, mumps, but there was also tuberculosis & Polio in the 50's & before leaving many with damage to their bodies so immunisation is I think preferable and pretty much eradicated these diseases.

However my nephew is a paediatrician and while staying with us we asked why are children having so many "allergies" his reply was we are too clean so the immune system looks for something to attack.

There's much to be said for the old adage "you have to eat your peck of muck a day" — keeps the immune system on its toes !

John

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

I don't think a little dirt and fresh air will do any body any great harm.

Kids these days spend most of their time indoors, when is the last time you saw kids playing outside ,apart from football ect ? They don't play street games any more, dont even play with their dogs anymore ! We played with everyones kids and their dogs [difficult to tell the difference sometimes ],got everything that was going ,and are still around. My GP agrees that kids spend too much time in overheated homes ,schools ,and cars.

We never had to worry about such things ,our school was freezing, house not much better, and we never had a car.

I think they were what they called "The Good Old DAYS". I ,d say this rings a bell with many of you !

[Tim StevensParticipant @timstevens64731]

As my grandma used to say – you will surely eat a peck of dirt before you die, but NOT ALL AT ONCE!

Tim

[Guy LambParticipant @guylamb68056]

Think I'm on my second peck.

Guy

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

It's not quite so bad today, but a good number of you will have had Shingles, and you were infected probably as a kid with Chicken Pox.

Mum and her sister had both Diptheria, and Rheumatic fever, the latter causing heart valve problems in later life, sister died, in her 40s, mum had surgery, ended up with an artificial Mitral valve, and towards the end a pacemaker, she made it to 84 so not too bad I suppose.

I got a Shingles vaccination last year.

When I was nursing, I looked after a young lad who's mother had rubella during pregnancy, he had been in hospital for most of his life and had a mental age of about a two year old, he died age 18yrs.

Ian S C

[mark costello 1Participant @markcostello1]

Maybe the second peck of dirt is where the weight is coming from.

[Cyril BonnettParticipant @cyrilbonnett24790]

I had measles along with my brorthers and sisters when I was about 6. Years later when I was in my late twenties and in the army I set off to see my mother one Friday lunch time, feeling a bit rough I stopped in Southwaite motorway services and ordered a meal I sat down and work up nearly two hours later with a young lady tapping my shoulder asking if I was okay, feeling a lot better I said she went and got me a coffee.

Arriving home in the late afternoon I was still feeling rough so went off to my bed and was left sleeping till the following evening, nothing unusual for my frantic army lifestyle.

Monday arrived still feeling rough and now with a rash so I rang my bararcks to tell them I was ill and off to see a doc. Visit to my doctor and a quick examination and he smiled. ever had measles? yes, well you have measles again.

Rang the Barracks, told them I had measles and got the curt reply, don't come near us for a fortnight.

Later when we had our first boy and were invited to take him for his MMR jab my wife asked the doctor is he would sign a letter saying he would accept all responsibility for any after effects. Certainly not madam.

None of our children, four in all, had the 'jab' and all are now adults and flown the nest, they never have colds or flu and live very healthy lives.

Should we vaccinate away our future immunity? Questionable. the overuse of antibiotics has shown that we human don't always get it right.

[Former MemberParticipant @formermember53456]

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[Former MemberParticipant @formermember53456]

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[HopperParticipant @hopper]

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Edited By Hopper on 27/05/2019 05:29:03

Edited By Hopper on 27/05/2019 05:29:30

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Posted by Haggerleases on 26/05/2019 22:54:43:

And as for dogs, when they learn to use toilet paper, then they can come in the house.

Is dragging the rusty sheriffs badge along the grass ok?

Mike

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Posted by Cyril Bonnett on 26/05/2019 22:43:32:

…

Should we vaccinate away our future immunity? Questionable. the overuse of antibiotics has shown that we human don't always get it right.

You misunderstand vaccination, it isn't like antibiotics. A vaccine generates a "natural immunity" to a disease just like having the disease does. As your experience shows, having the disease "naturally" doesn't confer lifelong immunity, nor does vaccination, but if a high enough proportion of a population are vaccinated it stops epidemic spread of the disease and saves lives, usually of young children. Would we want to risk hundreds of children having to be kept alive on ventilators because we stopped vaccinating against polio? Or slowly dying of TB because we stopped the BCG jab and the antibiotics don't work any more? Those were scourges that were still around when I was born in 1950.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Surely the point of vaccination is not that it is perfect, but that it reduces the chances of your child being one of the thousands who die from measles etc to being one of the half dozen who die from reaction to the vaccine?

[Colin WhittakerParticipant @colinwhittaker20544]

Hopper,

Very succinctly put. I wish I'd said that.

Colin.

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Hopper my sentiments entirely particularly having one daughter vaccine damaged.

Dave W

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

Remember, not so many years ago, the MMR controversy? A number of children had suffered very bad side affects, and mothers were refusing to allow their children to have it. It turned out that the risks from the vaccine were insignificant compared to the dangers to the children who did not have it. But the damage was done.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

I think it was shown (by proper statisticians/epidemiologists) that this was a case of post hoc, propter hoc **LINK** , shortly after they had been give the triple vaccine a small number of children were found to have problems, it doesn't mean the vaccine caused it. There was another famous case of some academic finding leukemia clusters in Seascale, so it must be radiation from Sellafield. Turned out to be due to influx of construction workers from other parts of the country

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by Samsaranda on 27/05/2019 15:54:50:

Hopper my sentiments entirely particularly having one daughter vaccine damaged.

Dave W

Sorry to hear that Dave. Must be awful for those so affected. The numbers of course don't take into account the human tragedy involved, just that there is less of it. Which could be small consolation when you are "it".

Edited By Hopper on 28/05/2019 00:28:43

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