Measles: Aren't you scared of SSPE?

[swissmom]

I think that measles is a benign childhood disease that a child with a strong immune system can easily overcome. But then there is SSPE (subacute sclerosing panencephalitis), which will not emerge until several years after a natural infection. There is no cure so far and it is almost always deadly. I just read a study that finds that the measles vaccine

has the potential to eliminate SSPE through the elimination of measles.

I have zero intention of giving DS the MMR, but the possibility of a deadly neurological complication after a natural infection unsettles me. The more so since there is a higher incidence among boys than girls (3:1).

How do you deal with this?

[fruitfulmomma]

I am probably in the minority here but I do not at all feel comfortable purposely exposing my little ones to diseases, even the chicken pox. I also believe people who are sick with communicable diseases need to quarantine themselves.

As to the second point, in Neil Z. Miller's book Vaccines: Are They Really Safe and Effective? (I believe it was this one), he does have information on studies done where people are quarantined and how it reduced the overall spread of the disease as well or better than vaccinated populations.

I think both the disease and the vaccination carry risks and vaccines do not always work. We live in a population of relatively healthy people (as far as these diseases go) where it is *very* unlikely that my children are ever going to be exposed to them, where they have access to good nutrition and clean water, where good hygiene is usually practiced, and where we have access to good medical care.

I have breastfed all of my children a minimum of two years and we do not go to places where disease outbreaks routinely occur, such as daycares and schools.

So I feel I am doing the best I can do to reduce their risk of exposure and keep them healthy. I can't protect them from every single risk in life and there is nothing about vaccinations that don't bother me, so they are absolutely not an option for us.

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by swissmom

I think that measles is a benign childhood disease that a child with a strong immune system can easily overcome. But then there is SSPE (subacute sclerosing panencephalitis), which will not emerge until several years after a natural infection. There is no cure so far and it is almost always deadly. I just read a study that finds that the measles vaccine

has the potential to eliminate SSPE through the elimination of measles.

I have zero intention of giving DS the MMR, but the possibility of a deadly neurological complication after a natural infection unsettles me. The more so since there is a higher incidence among boys than girls (3:1).

How do you deal with this?

The study also says:

Evidence points to wild virus causing SSPE in cases which have been immunized and have had no known natural measles infection.

So you can vaccinate, your child contract wild measles without clinical symptoms and still develop SSPE.

The gender difference is found in some reports and not in others (i.e. gender equality).

A higher incidence has mainly been reported in boys (Table 1); the reason for this is not clear. However, data from South Africa (1984–90),12 Japan (1999)13 and Papua New Guinea (1997–2000)14 indicated more equal distribution between the sexes.

Also, there is a higher incidence in children who have the wild virus before 2years and even higher before 1 year.

A high proportion of SSPE patients have a history of primary measles infection at an early age; many under 2 years.

There are also differences is susceptibility among races.

The risk of this rare complication in my black/white school aged children, should they contract measles, does not seem significant.

[ammiga]

If MMR is a live vaccine, how would the vaccine eliminate possible long term side effects of being exposed to the live virus? How can SSPE only be a side effect of the wild virus? Is there only one particular strain of measles where SSPE is a side effect and that is not the one in the vaccine?

Sorry, I'm not clear on the science behind this.

[Marnica]

Any illness can have rare, often fatal consequences. As for SSPE, it can be vaccine induced as well, so how I suppose one could worry about this possibility as well.

Risk of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis from measles vaccination. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 1990 Nov;9(11):857-8.

"Polymerase chain reaction detection of the hemagglutinin gene from an attenuated measles vaccine strain in the peripheral mononuclear cells of children with autoimmune hepatitis," Archives of Virology volume 141, 1996, pages 877-884: "The measles virus is known to be persistent in patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) and measles inclusion body encephalitis (MIBE). Since the introduction of measles vaccines, vaccine-associated SSPE has increased in the USA. Therefore, we should pay attention to SSPE after inoculation with measles vaccine, despite the decrease in the incidence of [wild] measles

Belgamwar RB, et al (1997). Measles, mumps, rubella vaccine induced subacute sclerosing panencephalitis. J Indian Med Assoc. 1997 Nov;95(11):594.

[swissmom]

Thank you all for your thoughts! Yes, I cannot protect DS from every risk - will make this my mantra :-)

Emmeline II: you sure did your homework on this study :-) Thanks for pointing out all those other findings that put the bold statement "the vaccine has the potential to eliminate SSPE" back into perspective. It's so easy to read selectively when you're scared...

Marnica: Thanks for the other studies!