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What is in Those Vaccines? Part IV

© Neal Rolfe Chamberlain

Last week I said I would discuss what is in the MMR vaccine. This vaccine is very different from the DTaP vaccine in that it is a live vaccine and it protects people from three different viral diseases: Measles, Mumps, Rubella. A live vaccine contains live microorganisms. These microorganisms do not cause disease because they have been grown up in such a way that they lose their ability to cause disease but not their ability to make a person produce antibodies to the microorganisms. Live vaccines should never be given to women that are pregnant or are anticipating being pregnant. The MMR vaccine is also given at a much later age to children (12-15 months, 4-6 yr, and 11-12 yr). This is because the protective antibodies the infant gets from its mother protect the child from the measles for a much longer time (to see how this works click here).

How many of you have had the measles? Other names for this disease include Rubeola, Hard measles, or 14 day measles. When I was growing up in the 1960's and 1970's nearly everyone I knew got the measles by the time they were 12 years old. Normally, the person starts out with a runny nose, fever, itchy feeling eyes, and a hoarse cough. Then in a day or two they develop a rash that starts at the head and rapidly spreads to the rest of the body. Some patients are very ill and it may take up to 10 days for them to recover. This disease is very easily spread and if you get the measles you should stay home. Now with the use of the MMR vaccine very few people get the measles anymore and that is good. Most people have no problems other that being really ill for a few days, however, some people develop very severe complications from this disease. Sometimes the virus will cause pneumonia, ear aches, heart infections and infections of the brain. These complications can be life threatening and as a result this vaccine has saved many lives.

Mumps is also a disease of the past. Once again everyone in my generation would eventually get the Mumps. The Mumps virus infects the parotid glands (the glands around your lower jaw that make saliva). This would result in fever, swelling, and pain just under the lower jaw (example 2). While the virus is infecting the parotid glands it can also infect other organs of the body causing some severe complications in some people. The most common and severe complication of this disease is when the virus infects the membranes around the brain (meningitis). Ten percent

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