Public Health Wars: Measles Strikes Back

Unbiased Science

@unbiasedscipod

Education, Science, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 644 Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2024

⏱️ 46 minutes

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Summary

On this week's episode of the pod, we are revisiting a topic that we had hoped we could leave in the past: MEASLES. We set the stage by discussing the recent outbreaks of measles cropping up across the US, the UK, and Europe. We talk about the epidemiology of measles, its contagiousness, and the implications of outbreaks for public health. We discuss the highly effective MMR vaccine and the population thresholds needed (aka herd immunity) to prevent outbreaks. We explain that measles is far more than a rash and detail potentially serious long-term effects of the virus. We answer commonly asked questions about the MMR vaccine and debunk myths and misconceptions. For the sake of public health, you don't want to miss this! All our sources from this episode are available at: https://www.unbiasedscipod.com/episodes/measles-strikes-back (00:00) Music and Intros (01:21) The seriousness of measles (02:18) Recent outbreaks (06:03) Misunderstanding the impact of measles (08:47) Measles outbreaks in the UK and Europe (13:52) The contagiousness of measles (17:40) Debunking the vaccine-autism link (24:04) Presumptive evidence of immunity (28:43) The effectiveness of the MMR vaccine (35:47) The importance of herd immunity (39:42) Vaccination for adults (45:45) The need for measles protection (46:19) Conclusion and call to action Interested in advertising with us? Please reach out to advertising@airwavemedia.com, with “Unbiased Science” in the subject line. PLEASE NOTE: The discussion and information provided in this podcast are for general educational, scientific, and informational purposes only and are not intended as, and should not be treated as, medical or other professional advice for any particular individual or individuals. Every person and medical issue is different, and diagnosis and treatment requires consideration of specific facts often unique to the individual. As such, the information contained in this podcast should not be used as a substitute for consultation with and/or treatment by a doctor or other medical professional. If you are experiencing any medical issue or have any medical concern, you should consult with a doctor or other medical professional. Further, due to the inherent limitations of a podcast such as this as well as ongoing scientific developments, we do not guarantee the completeness or accuracy of the information or analysis provided in this podcast, although, of course we always endeavor to provide comprehensive information and analysis. In no event may Unbiased Science or any of the participants in this podcast be held liable to the listener or anyone else for any decision allegedly made or action allegedly taken or not taken allegedly in reliance on the discussion or information in this podcast or for any damages allegedly resulting from such reliance. The information provided herein do not represent the views of our employers.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.
0:19.7	Welcome to Unbiased Science, where we bring scientific method to the madness.
0:25.4	We're your host, Dr. Jessica Steyer.
0:27.8	And Dr. Andrea Love.
0:29.3	And this week, we are tackling a topic that we really hoped we wouldn't have to tackle again.
0:34.8	But alas, here we are.
0:36.8	The topic of measles. And Andrea, I like I see in our
0:41.4	little outline here, you said, happy Valentine's Day. Here's some measles. Because this episode
0:47.9	is airing on Valentine's Day. How lovely. Yeah, yeah. All right. So let's just set the stage and then, Andrea, I know you're going to walk us through some of the recent outbreaks, which has really prompted this episode. So as a reminder, measles is one of the most highly contagious diseases, merely entering a room up to two hours after it was vacated by
1:14.5	an infected person can lead to infection in those not immune. Although the majority of people
1:20.5	who contract measles will recover, the potential consequences can be extremely serious.
1:27.0	And I always, we always like to say,
1:28.8	we're victims of our own success, right? Because we don't encounter measles, thanks to vaccines,
1:36.0	right? We really haven't seen a whole lot of measles because up until pretty recently,
1:41.2	people have done a pretty good job of getting the vaccine.
1:45.0	You know, this is all changing.
1:46.8	People are refusing vaccines, delaying vaccines, altering the vaccine schedules,
1:52.3	and we're seeing measles crop up everywhere.
1:54.5	So again, even though most people who contract it will recover, about one in five cases leads to hospitalization,
2:03.5	one in 1,000 leads to brain swelling and potential brain damage, and one to two, excuse me,
2:11.2	one to three per thousand people will die. There are also complications. We'll get into the details in a little bit, but these include
2:19.2	things like ear infections, hearing loss, pneumonia, and more. So, Andrea, do you want to jump in maybe
	...

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