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Rash of measles outbreaks |
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EdwinSm,
Moderator Joined: April 03 2013 Status: Offline Points: 24065 |
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Posted: April 21 2018 at 10:24pm |
I hope this is the right place to thank Technophobe for spotting and reporting the rash of measles cases around the world.
Looking back at the UK mortality figures for measles (1940-2016), I found it interesting that although the mortality rate has never been very high, it was significantly higher during World War II that even the years after. I suppose that with many of these disease the mortality rate is mostly based on the conditions in the surrounding society. Eg in 1940 when the UK was at war there were 17 deaths per million population, but when I went to university in the 1970s the figure had dropped to 0.5 deaths per million population (which is probably why I don't emotionally feel that measles is dangerous). So looking at current mortality rates might not give an idea of what would happen medically in a collapse situation. |
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Technophobe
Assistant Admin Joined: January 16 2014 Location: Scotland Status: Offline Points: 88450 |
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You are (to preserve your very apt metarphor) 'spot' on there.
Measles has always been a lurking infection, which appears sporadically, sickens a few and dissapears again. My reports are hardly Earth-shaking news but may be usefull locally. Although not a killer in any numbers, measles can also maim. Blindness, deafness and brain damage lurk in it's horrid repertoire. No one seems to bother to collate the figures for those. I suspect they are higher than the tiny death rate, and any death is a tragedy. Measles becomes a big risk when the host is already ill. Malnutrition (WWII and, in modern times, vitamin D - from sunlight avoidance and low-fat diets), chemotherapy, transplant recipients, HIV sufferers, surgical patients and those who take steroids for auto-immune conditions are all at increased risk. Hence the reporting; those people then have a chance to self-isolate for a while. |
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