Measles at the Super Bowl

Are you freaking kidding me???

Super Bowl Village visitors on Friday may have been exposed to measles

Tuesday night, the state Department of Health confirmed they have requested information from county health departments as part of an investigation into a report that a person who has been diagnosed with measles attended the festivities Friday.

According to the Super Bowl Host Committee, 200,000 people were at Super Bowl Village on Friday. At the free concerts late Friday night, 35,000 people were gathered to see LMFAO's performance. It is still unclear what time the ill person visited downtown Indianapolis.

Possible measles cases upped to four

Health department officials had originally alerted doctors to two possible cases of the highly-contagious virus on Monday. On Wednesday, the department said there are two confirmed cases of measles in Hamilton County and two probable cases in Boone County.

Thousands Exposed To Measles In Super Bowl Village

Two teenage children exposed thousands of people to a highly contagious disease.

State Health Commissioner Dr. Gregory Larkin says the teens developed measles and visited Super Bowl Village in Indianapolis last week. He says they were not vaccinated against the disease.

Party rock is in the HOUUUUUUSE toniiiiiight! Everybodys gonna go home with measles!!!!!

...

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU... !!!!!!!!

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This just in... people with shingles regularly hired as Wal-Mart greeters; film at eleven.

By sasqwatch (not verified) on 08 Feb 2012 #permalink

I sure hope that anyone that gets sick (and was vaccinated) sues the hell out of those kids' idiot parents.

By Poodle Stomper (not verified) on 08 Feb 2012 #permalink

Oh, the measles. It can't be. We're all gonna die!

You need more traffic, girlie. I'm just tryin to help.

By augustine (not verified) on 08 Feb 2012 #permalink

I sure hope that anyone that gets sick (and was vaccinated) sues the hell out of those kids' idiot parents.

Mr. Poodlestomper, friend of animals and children, why wouldn't they sue the hell out of the pharmaceutical company, the doctor, nurse, etc., that sold them the defective product that failed to work as advertised?

By augustine (not verified) on 08 Feb 2012 #permalink

Does anyone else remember the good old days, back in 2011 when attending pox parties was voluntary? They just don't make idiots hellbent on spreading diseases to the helpless like they used to - kids today, sheesh!

Sad. We beat The Onion.

By Michael S (not verified) on 08 Feb 2012 #permalink

This just in... people with shingles regularly hired as Wal-Mart greeters; film at eleven.

Sarcasm? Herpes zoster, aka "shingles", is usually very painful and debilitating.

I sure hope that anyone that gets sick (and was vaccinated) sues the hell out of those kids' idiot parents.

The good news here is that people who were vaccinated, and have sufficiently intact immune systems, are highly protected.

The bad news is that anyone who was not vaccinated and/or is immunosuppressed has been put at risk.

Oh, the measles. It can't be. We're all gonna die!

You need more traffic, girlie. I'm just tryin to help.

The only thing that looks stupider than an ignorant troll comment, is an ignorant troll comment inappropriately made in an arrogant, sarcastic, superior tone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measles#Complications

Yep, Justicar, those were the good old days indeed. Back when people's stupidity (mostly) affected just them =(

By Poodle Stomper (not verified) on 09 Feb 2012 #permalink

The Indianapolis [i]Star[/i]had to print a list of symptoms in this morning edition, since most parents have never seen the disease.

Vaccines work, when people use them.

OBTW, the paper also had to print a list of possible outcomes, like deafness, encepalitis, ....

fusilier

James 2:24

I see the ugh troll spreads his slimy turds here as well as over at Respectul Insolence - with a predictable dollop of misogyny on top. Why am I not surprised?

fusilier-- Its not just the parents who dont know what these diseases look like anymore. Its the physicians, PAs, and nurses too.

Oh that's just augustine. Trolling Orac and SBM is evidently not enough for him anymore. He's like a turd in the yard. Make sure you know where it is so you don't step in it, but don't worry overmuch about him.

I don't want to wish that anyone get sick, especially with the measles (I've had them; they suck), but this could turn out for the better good because of the pubicity (i.e., by educating people about why you should vaccinate your children). Stories about how unvaccinated people get the disease and vaccinated people don't. Could prevent a large number of future cases.

@ERV

fusilier-- Its not just the parents who dont know what these diseases look like anymore. Its the physicians, PAs, and nurses too.

Quite correct. I teach RN/RT/SurgT hopefuls their first ANP course. Very few of them have any idea about infectious diseases.

Me? I was in the first Salk vaccine cohort in '56/'57 and I remember kids in school wearing leg braces - or maybe not even IN class anymore.

fusilier

James 2:24

My husband got measles when we were living in London. He was vaccinated, actually at least 5 times on account of deciding to go to medical school and not being able to find the paperwork in time. The doctor said it was the first case she'd seen in 12 years.

On the other hand, the lab report came back negative for measles, so either it was some hideously mutated recombinaltioned strain (which could also explain why it got past the vaccine?), or it was misdiagnosis (although I don't know what else has textbook symptoms for measles).

On the other hand, the lab report came back negative for measles, so either it was some hideously mutated recombinaltioned strain (which could also explain why it got past the vaccine?), or it was misdiagnosis (although I don't know what else has textbook symptoms for measles).

There's something strange here.

I didn't have my vaccine paperwork when I entered medical school, due to having had a very chaotic childhood. I also hadn't had a vaccine for chicken pox or mumps, but I had, however, had those diseases.

Even in those days, lab tests easily showed positive antibody titers for all relevant diseases. My lack of records necessitated some redundant blood draws and lab tests, but that was it.

1) If your husband was correctly vaccinated in the first place he should have had detectable immunity, absent an immune deficiency condition. If he wasn't immune, either he wasn't vaccinated or something odd was going on.

2) I suppose it's possible that they just vaccinated him, rather than checking antibody titers or anything. That should have made him immune to measles after a short period of time.

3) What lab test came back negative for measles after he became sick?

I can see three logical possibilities -

A) He was never previously vaccinated, they vaccinated him, he was very unlucky and got measles during the window between vaccine and immunity, which is fairly short but not instantaneous, and the lab test was either an error or an antibody test done before he had developed a detectable antibody response. All of this is possible but unlikely.

B) He is immune to measles but got something else that was clinically misdiagnosed as measles. Although there are classic presentations, it is also the case that the rash/fever diseases can overlap in presentation and most can present atypically from time to time, so a wrong clinical guess does not necessarily reflect poorly on anyone. Furthermore, the vaccine situation could have been biasing. If he's better it may not be a big deal, although he might want to be checked for rash-associated diseases that can have secondary or tertiary syndromes associated.

C) If he's been vaccinated for measles but isn't immune, and actually got measles, he may want to have that looked into. For that to be the case, either the lab test for measles was a false negative, or it was a test based on detection of immune status, such as an antibody test. If it was a DNA based test and it was negative, and he has an adequate titer of antibodies to measles, and he had this disease a reasonable time after the vaccine, it was probably something else. If he's been vaccinated, had a measles like disease, and still doesn't have protective antibody titers, that may be worth looking into.

I think it was easier or cheaper just to get the extra jabs rather than the titers.

The point is that the vaccine isn't 100% effective - meaning you can be the responsible one / have responsible parents, and still be fucked if enough other people decide to be dumb and not get vaccinated.

@ harold, there are some unlucky (or lucky depending) who lack receptors specific for measles virus entry so while they can remain non-immune after even several measles jabs, they also won't get measles. My guess would be simple misdiagnosis.