Quote:
Originally Posted by jinx
Cool, how about these?
Pertussis decline 1900-1949(year vaccine introduced) 12.2 per 100,000 to 0.5.
Diptheria decline 1900-1949(year vaccine introduced) 40.3 per 100,000 to 0.4.
Typhoid decline 1900-1949 32 per 100,000 to <1.
Scarlet fever decline 1900-1949 10 per 100,000 to <1.
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These numbers are completely irrelevant because Scarlet Fever and Typhoid are both caused by
BACTERIUM, not viruses. You cannot vaccinate against bacteria. Bacterial diseases are prevented through better hygiene (on a mass, not individual level) and treated with antibiotics.
Clod, the weakened immunization among adults was not previously considered a large problem because these diseases are largely spread among children, and the idea was that if each successive wave of children were vaccinated, there would be no source from which the adults could contract them. Like we were successful at doing with smallpox, the trajectory for many of these diseases was total eradication, at which point vaccination could be ceased.
Unfortunately, the decline in immunity for adults vaccinated as children compounds the severity of these diseases when there is an outbreak.