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Posted On: 02/26/2024 9:28:20 PM
Post# of 148878
I read an interesting article today (see link at bottom) written by a UCLA infectious disease professor about why it is so important for children to be vaccinated against measles. Here are some excerpts:
So, now that WHO experts are predicting that more than half the world could face serious measles outbreaks by the end of this year, I've begun to wonder: just how many modern-day doctors, much less vaccine-hesitant parents, know the virus's most calamitous blows?
Mind you, I'm not just talking about classic complications -- pneumonia in one in 20 infected children, acute encephalitis in one in 1,000, death in as many as three in 1,000 children -- but stealthy assaults that are sometimes far deadlier.
In the case of Manju, who was adopted by a single mom in Chicago when she was not yet 2 years old, 20 years had passed before the girl from Calcutta with big, brown eyes showed early, non-specific signs of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), a rare but fatal condition in which measles lies dormant, then goes rogue in a person's brain. Soon Manju was losing her vision and started to stutter, stumble, and twitch. Her diagnosis was confirmed by an EEG and measles-specific antibodies in her spinal fluid. Finally, 10 months after her doctor started administering twice-per-week, intrathecal injections of alpha-interferon in a last-ditch effort to prolong Manju's life, her patient was dead.
Finally, what exactly causes SSPE? A wild-type measles virus in the brain develops one or more point mutations in its genome that initially halt the virus's replication and spread, but later cause chronic encephalitis, inflammation, and demyelination. In a typical SSPE patient, the latent period preceding symptoms is 7 to 10 years, but sometimes exceeds two decades. Final clinical findings include a poignant constellation of visual abnormalities, convulsions, myoclonic jerks, and cognitive decline eventually culminating in mutism, spasticity, coma, and death.
Ohm, I saw that SSPE is not on your disease list. Does this look like a possibility for Leronlimab? So many adults have become vaccine-hesitant that LL could be a lifesaver for many if this indication proves to be a good target for LL.
https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/parasite...definition
So, now that WHO experts are predicting that more than half the world could face serious measles outbreaks by the end of this year, I've begun to wonder: just how many modern-day doctors, much less vaccine-hesitant parents, know the virus's most calamitous blows?
Mind you, I'm not just talking about classic complications -- pneumonia in one in 20 infected children, acute encephalitis in one in 1,000, death in as many as three in 1,000 children -- but stealthy assaults that are sometimes far deadlier.
In the case of Manju, who was adopted by a single mom in Chicago when she was not yet 2 years old, 20 years had passed before the girl from Calcutta with big, brown eyes showed early, non-specific signs of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), a rare but fatal condition in which measles lies dormant, then goes rogue in a person's brain. Soon Manju was losing her vision and started to stutter, stumble, and twitch. Her diagnosis was confirmed by an EEG and measles-specific antibodies in her spinal fluid. Finally, 10 months after her doctor started administering twice-per-week, intrathecal injections of alpha-interferon in a last-ditch effort to prolong Manju's life, her patient was dead.
Finally, what exactly causes SSPE? A wild-type measles virus in the brain develops one or more point mutations in its genome that initially halt the virus's replication and spread, but later cause chronic encephalitis, inflammation, and demyelination. In a typical SSPE patient, the latent period preceding symptoms is 7 to 10 years, but sometimes exceeds two decades. Final clinical findings include a poignant constellation of visual abnormalities, convulsions, myoclonic jerks, and cognitive decline eventually culminating in mutism, spasticity, coma, and death.
Ohm, I saw that SSPE is not on your disease list. Does this look like a possibility for Leronlimab? So many adults have become vaccine-hesitant that LL could be a lifesaver for many if this indication proves to be a good target for LL.
https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/parasite...definition
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