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Ped wants me to get DS the mumps vax.  

post #1 of 17
10/14/08 at 6:31pm
Thread Starter 
My son had his 1 year check-up today. She expressed her opinion about the Mumps vaccine because of the risk of sterility. I told her "I was under the impression that it's extremely rare." She told me that it's rare, but not so much to take the risk. I've already made up my mind. But I am still doing research on sterility.

I wanted to hear from you mamas, Isn't it rare? And how rare is it?

TIA!
post #2 of 17
10/14/08 at 6:39pm
I have no real info for you, but my dad had the mumps in high school
post #3 of 17
10/14/08 at 6:41pm
From what I understand it isn't a concern until puberty anyway. Not sure why your ped is pushing it at 1 yr
post #4 of 17
10/14/08 at 6:58pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by AutumnMama View Post
From what I understand it isn't a concern until puberty anyway. Not sure why your ped is pushing it at 1 yr
Good point, didn't think about that...
post #5 of 17
10/14/08 at 7:03pm
The Health Protection Agency of the U.K. says this on their mumps website:

“Despite common belief there is no firm evidence that orchitis causes sterility.”
post #6 of 17
10/14/08 at 7:08pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mrs-Mama View Post
I have no real info for you, but my dad had the mumps in high school
My Dad too. lol We shouldn't exist!

I hate that the doc has me second guessing myself...
post #7 of 17
10/14/08 at 7:21pm
I don't have any statistics or anything for you just wanted to give my opinion...
getting the mumps at all is pretty rare, and orchitis is a rare complication. So I would think that the odds of him coming down with the mumps, then getting orchitis, then becoming sterile, are so incredibly low that it's not something to worry about.
post #8 of 17
10/14/08 at 7:21pm
My understanding is that even if orchitis does occur, it only happens to one testicle, so sterility would be extremely rare...

First he would have to actually contract the mumps...rare
then he would have to have it effect his testicle - rare
then he would have to have it effect BOTH testlcles - exceedingly rare
then it would have to end in sterility - rare and there is actually no proof that it would cause sterility anyway.

ITA with the other posters...before the vaccine, almost everyone got mumps, if sterility was a common side effect, the human race would have died out a long long time ago.

I wouldn't worry about mumps for a single second
post #9 of 17
10/14/08 at 7:25pm
I thought i read somewhere that the occurance of serility because of mumps is so low there has never been an actual study on it. One way to get a man to get a shot is include his testicles in the statement

I would ask your ped to give you the stats IN WRITING on how often it happens.
post #10 of 17
10/14/08 at 10:16pm
Ds, age almost 10 years, had the mumps this past Spring.

He felt yucky for a few days with swelling in, first, one side of his face, then the other side and then both sides at the same time! He had no testicle involvement. But, I wasn't worried one bit about any of this.

I had mumps when I was 3, in 1964. I got them from my older brother (5 years older). He caught them from his best friend, also 8-9 years old. Most of his class (along with most of the school) had the mumps that Spring.

I know for a fact that, of the 15 male friends of his that had the mumps that year, ALL of them became fathers (except my brother, but that is because he and his wife don't want any children).

Skip the vax and hope for the real thing. It truly isn't a bad thing!
post #11 of 17
10/14/08 at 11:28pm
It's so rare that there are NO stats on the likelihood of it happening.

-Angela
post #12 of 17
10/14/08 at 11:34pm
The nifty thing about the vaccine is that it will actually increase the likelihood of sterility, particularly if it is given to a one-year old.

How?

Well, the best time for a boy to get mumps is before puberty. The vaccine will probably prevent mumps during childhood. If it provided lifelong immunity all would be well, but as the recent mumps epidemics in the U.K. and the U.S. demonstrated, it doesn't. A very large proportion of the kids who came down with mumps in their late teens and 20s had received two doses of the MMR. At that age mumps is very unpleasant and very painful, although it is usually not life-threatening or fertility-threatening. But the faint chance of sterility is definitely raised by having mumps later rather than sooner.

So it is an idiotic vaccine to offer to a one year old. Doctors just don't think this stuff through.
post #13 of 17
10/15/08 at 12:20am
Just want to say, my brother's kids are fully vaxxed, and yet my nephew (6) had mumps this past summer while the family was in Japan. (Too bad they weren't at home so we could've exposed DS...) They were alarmed and took him to the ER--because they never in a million years thought it was something he'd already been vaxxed against!
post #14 of 17
10/15/08 at 12:45am
lucky boy! six is perfect for mumps and now he has lifelong immunity.
post #15 of 17
10/15/08 at 10:26am
Thread Starter 
Thanks everyone for your input. He doesn't have another check up until I believe he's 18 mo. I'll bring it up with her then, if she asks. She's not too pushy and she knows I am an informed mom, so she shouldn't give me too much trouble.

Although when I was there yesterday, there was a Pharmacist from Merck telling her to be firm with parents that refuse vaccines. My Ped told her she understood why parents are concerned, because she has a son that's Autistic. She's not going to push parents. She'll express her opinion, but ultimately it's up to the parents.
post #16 of 17
10/15/08 at 5:23pm
every doc has their little pet vaccine where they're willing to "let" you refuse the rest but THIS one is special because xyz. Usually it's hib or pertussis, never heard someone so freaked out about mumps before!

furthermore, there are procedures today for infertility that do incredible things, like ICSI. not to minimize male factor infertility, but it's wrong for a physician to imply that a child would definitely never have biological children even if this incredibly rare phenomenon did happen.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/j...TRY=1&SRETRY=0
post #17 of 17
10/15/08 at 6:08pm
I have not read all the replies so if I am only repeating sorry.

-I have heard that it is only a concern after puberty. So consider it one way or the other closer to puberty.
-I have heard it is really rare at all.
-I have heard when it does happen having it effect both testicles is almost unheard of.
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