For my work I'm going to have to deal with the dangers of not vaccinating. But I'm not 100% sure of just how many diseases have vaccines. Here's my list of known ones: -Measles -Mumps -Rubella -Meningitis -Polio -smallpox What am I missing?
If you google 'Vaccine preventable illnesses' you'll come accross CDC website that lists them all, including some upcoming ones link. For practical purposes, you have vaccines to immunise children against childhood illnesses (the ones you mentioned and a few others such as TB, diptheria, tetanus, pertussis, HiB), then you have occupational vaccines (such as Hep B or seasonal flu vaccine for healthcare workers), then you have travel vaccines (yellow fever, typhoid etc) and then you have seasonal vaccines that are given to susceptible individuals such as patients with chronic illness (such as flu vaccines, pneumococcal vaccine in people with asthma etc).
Then just google 'childhood vaccines' to find out what vaccines we have available today. Is that all you wanted to know or do you have some other, more specific questions?
Well I would like to figure out which of these childhood diseases have the "Worst" symptoms. Meaning most dramatic and shocking apparent symptoms. I'm writing this bit as a Pro-vaccine person and want to utilize the shock factor.
Ok, out of your list, smallpox is obviously the worst, causing massive epidemics with high mortality rates (especially the haemorrhagic variant). It's all but extinct now, but before vaccination it was a real problem. Tetanus could kill you, as can meningitis, which is rare but can kill a child very quickly, or cause lasting neurological damage. Polio used to be responsible for a lot of paralysis. Whooping cough (pertussis) causes months long violent coughing spasms. The vaccine is only about 70% effective, but it does reduce the severity and duration of symptoms. Mumps can cause infertility in teenage boys, but also encephalitis, which would manifest as prolonged febrile illness with delirium and possible result in neurological damage, and even pneumonia. TB used to kill lots of people and children in the past, through chronic pneumonia and the pathogen travelling to other parts of the body such as the brain (disseminated tuberculosis). So it depends which disease fits your story best.
You are missing a slew of vaccines, however you clarified you wanted to know the usual pediatric vaccines: Smallpox vaccine is no longer used in the general population of any country. If this is in the US, you left out: Varicella (chicken pox) HIB (Haemophilus influenzae type B, a bacteria, not a flu virus) DPT: Tetanus Diphtheria PertussisHepatitis A Hepatitis B Influenza Pneumococcal Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) is recommended for all children younger than 5 years old and for adults with certain risk factors. Children 2 years or older who are at high risk of pneumococcal disease should also receive the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23).Rotovirus vaccine for infants http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/default.htm In Australia, the UK and Canada, or wherever, check each countries' NHS website. The recommendations to vaccinate all kids for varicella and influenza, for example, differs. And some countries have specific risks that may also be routinely vaccinated against.
Measles and mumps have resurfaced in Western countries due to the anti-vaxxer crowd. The viruses are highly infectious and the population needs a high level of vaccine coverage, >90%, or spread can be sustained. Most cases we see today are in religious groups where high levels of unvaccinated kids congregate. And there have been sustained outbreaks in the UK where the infamous Andrew Wakefield published fraudulent research convincing parents the MMR vaccine caused autism. Measles has a high fatality rate. Before the vaccination 1/1,000 died and another 1/1,000 suffered brain damage and deafness. Since the virus infected nearly everyone on the planet eventually before the vaccine was developed, the potential for a lot of death and disability is a very real thing. Measles and mumps have been resurfacing on college campuses where a lot of people are exposed to a lot of other people. There is a concern that a variant of the mumps virus might be infecting vaccinated adults. But it is still rare in students that had the 2 MMRs. Pertussis is a unique situation, until 2005 there was no vaccine booster for anyone over the age of 7. Epidemics have been occurring every spring because so many people had immunity that has worn off. There is a campaign to give anyone over age 11 a Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis) who has not yet had one. The disease is rarely complicated in adults except for the "100 day cough", but in infants fatalities are high and in kids under 5, hospitalization is common. In order to protect the young who are not yet immune, we have to vaccinate the people around them. Infants get a dose at 2, 4, and 6 months. Since they are most vulnerable then you can see where even without a high vaccine failure rate there is a problem with unvaccinated infants. Which reminds me, rotovirus vaccine was recently reintroduced, a disease dangerous to very young infants. I will edit that into my list. Polio has been resurgent in many countries both due to false information the vaccine was dangerous and because of a shortage in war ravaged countries. Most people with polio have an unremarkable low grade infection. But for about 5% the disease attacks the nervous system causing pain, paralysis and death.
If you want shock value go with whooping cough. It lasts for months and you cough so hard you will at one point throw up piss yourself shit yourself crack a fucking rib By the way, @GingerCoffee I hang out with an idiot friend who didn't vaccinate his daughter. What boosters should I get to keep her from infecting me? Like which ones wear off into adulthood?
Good description of pertussis. Vaccines for you depend on your age. You can PM me the year you were born, it'll save me a lot of typing for the different ages.
