Outbreak Continues

As the father of a 12-week-old, I have to say this is getting pretty disturbing:

We learned late Tuesday afternoon there are three new probable cases of measles in southeast Wisconsin. That's in addition to the four cases already confirmed.

There's also now a case of rubella in Waukesha County. Rubella is also known as "German measles,” and it's something we haven't seen here since the 1990s.

The measles outbreak now covers Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine and Walworth counties.

In Racine, a local doctor tested a 5th grade boy for measles and it came back positive. Officially, this is considered a probable case. Racine officials rushed a sample to the state health lab where they're working on confirming the measles.

I'm soon moving to Waukesha and we were going to enroll Lucia in the daycare in which these outbreaks started. Let's just say this is hitting a little too close to home.

One wonders, could it have anything to do with this? I'm not aware of a significant, direct illegal immigration problem in Southeastern Wisconsin but it seems very likely that unvaccinated individuals are responsible as the measles/rubella vaccine is incredibly effective unless some untreated jackoff brings it back:

Of the 66 cases of measles reported in the U.S. in 2005, slightly over half were attributable to one unvaccinated individual who acquired measles during a visit to Romania. This individual returned to a community with many unvaccinated children. The resulting outbreak infected 34 people, mostly children and virtually all unvaccinated; 9% were hospitalized, and the cost of containing the outbreak was estimated at $167,685. A major epidemic was averted due to high rates of vaccination in the surrounding communities.

As you all know, I'm not one for the government mandating behavior in citizens but the topic of vaccination is a strong exception. If you have a religious or other strong objection to vaccinations, then you should not be allowed to live among us. We have done the responsible thing and protected our children from needless, terrible diseases that should be a thing of past. If you want your kids to be retarded because of measles, that's fine. Just keep them the fuck away from my daughter.