Stories of the pre-vaccine days

[dinah77]

I decided to start a new thread to show evidence or stories of just how serious these illnesses can be

And to anyone who disputes the severity of just how serious these well documented illnesses and complications of them are, I would seriously suggest reviewing some of your science courses

From another board I was reading.....

Obviously you are not of the generation of those of us who suffered through these illnesses. We ALL had measles, mumps, chicken pox. Oh, and let's not forget polio. Even an ear infection could result in complications. With the mumps you think you are choking to death. Oh yeah, testicular mumps can cause sterilization. The chicken pox left scars. But with the measles the scariest part was the high fever. I remember that illness in a dreamlike state. I remember the doctor making the house calls, my parents bathing me in alcohol to try and get the fever down. My mom told me I was delirious. Now picture that times the eight kids that were in our family.

Of course, the problem with the high fever is that it can lead to convulsions and other serious complications. I had an older cousin who got the measles at age 16. Her complications led to such severe brain damage that she was left with the mind of a two year old. She spent the rest of her life in an institution.

Because I was curious, I pulled out my Kindergarten and first grade report cards. I was absent 22 days in Kindergarten and 30 days in first grade. I remember as these illnesses would go like wildfire through the classrooms there would be 8 - 10 kids gone at a time. Pretty hard for a teacher to teach when kids are out for long periods at a time.

You can bet that when these vaccines became available our parents got us vaccinated. The Polio vaccine didn't become available until 1963. They did mass community vaccines for that. I remember going to **** School in ***** and standing in long, long lines of people waiting to get it. It was an oral vaccine and I remember they put it in sugar cubes.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

remember we do not vaccinate against smallpox any longer

Yes, this has already been discussed in posts after mine. I realize that, we were just talking about pre-vaccine stories.

There are still samples of smallpox around....you know that the "bad guys" are going to get their hands on them and use them in biological warfare?

[dizzygatorrn]

Pediatric patients I have cared for:

Varicella encephalitis - Yes, chicken pox of the brain. Obviously, the toddler was left with brain damage. One of those cases where you wonder if you did them any favor in saving their life.

Varicella with massive amount of skin lesions - I don't remember if the child was immune suppressed. I do remember we had to treat him like a burn victim.

Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) - A progressive degenerative neurological disease that rears its ugly head 6-15 years after a child has an apparently unremarkable case of measles. The child grows and develops normally while the virus hides in neurons, then begins to lose their developmental milestones. When the measles vaccine came out, I thought, "Thank God. I will never again have to see a case of SSPE." Only to learn that some parents can't be bothered to have their child immunized.

H. flu meningitis - We used to have "meningitis season" every year with many, many admissions. Some died, some were left with brain damage or deafness, some we sent home completely well. It was the leading cause of bacterial meningitis in children under 5 years of age. The year after the HiB vaccine came out - zero cases.

Congenital rubella syndrome - Multiple babies with PDAs and pulmonary artery stenosis because their mothers contracted rubella during pregnancy. Also eye abnormalities and deafness.

Meningococcal meningitis and septicemia - Death, brain damage, amputations. I still cringe when I read about a case.

Pertussis - Once had 6 babies in an isolation room. That "whoop" is unmistakable. I got very good at mimicking it for new RNs and nursing students.

I know some parents have been misled about the importance, but I cannot understand any nurse or physician that is not pro-vaccine (with medical and possibly religious exemptions). Even polio is still wild in some countries that people are flying to and from North America every day.

[dizzygatorrn]

Many years ago, I had to go down to the hospital basement looking for some equipment. There, way back in the farthest corner, was an iron lung. It made a shudder run down my spine just looking at it.

Polio was still around when I was young. It terrified our parents. You could be sitting next to someone in class or church who had a "cold" and the next thing you heard, they were paralyzed from polio. You didn't really understand what they were talking about, but you could tell your parents were very upset.

So when the 1954 clinical trial for the polio vaccine came along, my parents signed me up. I became one of the 1.8 million 6-year-olds to participate - the largest medical experiment in history. 650,000 got injections of vaccine or placebo, the remainder were controls. I never knew if I got the vaccine or the placebo, but the vaccine was determined to be successful.

The next year, the vaccine was made available to children. The line at the health department stretched out the door, down the street, and around the corner. It's not an easy task to keep young children in a lengthy line, especially when they know that is the building where you get "shots". I think it could have poured down raining and those parents would have stayed in line.

The anti-vaccine crowd in the US has the luxury of not having seen the devastation these preventable diseases can cause. I only wish there was some way to get through to them, but logic and science do not convince them. Appeals for public health fall on deaf ears. (I was on a website where pro- and anti-vaccine people were commenting. A father commented that his son who had cancer could not be immunized and the anti- mother replied, "I don't care. I'm not putting that vaccine in my child.") Some people want to blame "illegal aliens". (The immunization rate in Mexico is 99%. The US average is around 93%.) I think allowing "philosophical" exemptions is counter-productive. States with the highest rates of immunizations do not allow them. I dread politicians will pander to the "choice" crowd. I don't know what the solution is.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

I had a patient that at just before 12 months (age for MMR & varicella) contracted a mild case of chicken pox. Subsequently developed varicella meningitis & encephalitis. The encephalitis left the child with a massive left sided deficit (as if she had a stroke because of the brain damage from varicella encephalitis ) intractable seizures requiring the constant wearing of a safety helmet and other permanent sequelae. Parents were distraught as she had only a few blisters and a fever but the antivirals were started too late.

Not chicken pox is "fever & a little itchy rash". Sadly the vaccine was available and the child was almost old enough

[No Stars In My Eyes]

I remember the polio fears of the early 1950's, and it wasn't just a rumor started by Big Pharma to sell their products. Scroll back to the photo at the start of this thread, of the Polio Ward with all the iron lungs. That was REAL.

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

My Mom and both her sisters lived through the measles and mumps before the vaccines were available. My Dad got lucky, or was naturally immune and never got any of the normal childhood diseases. My sister and myself were both vaccinated against everything available. I think my sis missed out on the dreaded shotgun smallpox shot as I think I was at the tail end of that one, they had stopped giving it by the time she would have received it. My sister and myself both got chicken pox, there was no vaccine for that yet. My sis is only 45 now and has been suffering from shingles for going on 10 years. It started young for her.

[Red Kryptonite]

remember we do not vaccinate against smallpox any longer

In the military, when deployed to certain places, they do. My husband was vaccinated against smallpox in 2010 just before deploying to Afghanistan. He's the only member of our generation I know who has that telltale circular scar on his shoulder, that I remember so well from seeing on my dad growing up.

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

In the military, when deployed to certain places, they do. My husband was vaccinated against smallpox in 2010 just before deploying to Afghanistan. He's the only member of our generation I know who has that telltale circular scar on his shoulder, that I remember so well from seeing on my dad growing up.

Good to know. I always wondered if the military vaccinated against diseases we don't see anymore. Maybe the fear of smallpox becoming weaponized drives that?

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Good to know. I always wondered if the military vaccinated against diseases we don't see anymore. Maybe the fear of smallpox becoming weaponized drives that?

That's very interesting to me as well.

[Red Kryptonite]

Good to know. I always wondered if the military vaccinated against diseases we don't see anymore. Maybe the fear of smallpox becoming weaponized drives that?

I'm sure smallpox is due to weaponization concerns. He also got anthrax vaccine for the same reasons. When they sent him to Korea, he was vaccinated against yellow fever because of geographical distribution of that particular disease.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

I've been to Vietnam twice with a medical mission and we got yellow fever vaccine plus many others. Had to take prophylactic antibiotics against malaria as well.

I'm healthy and haven't developed autism. . . yet. I just thought of something because I was being silly - if vaccines did cause autism, wouldn't it cause it in adults as well?

The mechanism would be at play, right?

I haven't gotten weaker after each flu vaccine. I'm 57 and still run (albeit slowly) and have completed my first half-marathon. No health issues.

Anecdotal . . .I know.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

The placebo effect works both ways. People who are receiving a placebo often report improvement of their symptoms. And in pretty much every med trial/study, they also report adverse effects.

If you believe something is going to make you sick, it can certainly make you feel sick.

Just sayin'