Children's Book On Measles Causes Controversy
Photo: Trafford
The measles, according to one author, are just marvelous. That’s what the title of a children’s book, Melanie’s Marvelous Measles, would have you believe. In the book, author Stephanie Messenger tells the story of Melanie, a young vaccinated girl who catches the disease. Other kids in her class – the ones who don’t get the vaccine – go measles-free.
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The anti-vaccine/pro-measles paperback – published in 2012 by the Australian mother-of-threefor kids age four to 10 – recently made the Internet rounds this week amid public debate over vaccination. It was written to “educate children on the benefits ofhaving measles and how you can heal from them naturally and successfully,” Messenger writes. “Often today, we are being bombarded with messages from vested interests to fear all diseases in order for someone to sell some potion or vaccine, when, in fact, history shows that in industrialized countries, these diseases are quite benign and, according to natural health sources, beneficial to the body.”
The 40-page book is currently pulling in harsh reviews on Amazon (where the story rates 1.9 stars out of 5), with commenters calling its message “ignorant and dangerous.” One pediatric nurse wrote that the book was “appalling;” another said it was “new-age propaganda.” One (sarcastic) reviewer even rated the book five stars and wrote, “It made me realize things like Ebola should be embraced.”
Messenger writes that some of the best ways to fight measles are to drink melon-and-carrot juice. And the good news is, per the book, that getting measles will ultimately make people stronger.
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The biggest falsity in this book though, according to pediatrician Jim Sears, M.D., co-host of the TV show, The Doctors, is that it’s hard to catch measles. In the story, Tina and Melanie love to hug each other, but still Tina doesn’t contract the disease.
“Measles is really contagious,” Sears tells Yahoo Parenting. “That’s why we’re taking notice of these outbreaks. It’s even possible to catch it just by walking past a room with an infected person inside.”
Before the vaccine that eradicated the disease from this country by 2000, “hundreds of thousands of kids got measles every year,” he says. “The fact that this book leads people to believe it’s hard to catch is dead wrong.”
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), in fact, estimate that 90 percent of people who are not vaccinated will be infected if exposed.
And for 1 out of every 1,000 children who contract it, the disease is fatal, reports the CDC. Complications of the disease include pneumonia and encephalitis, swelling of the brain, that can result in deafness or mental retardation.
“I’ve seen a case of measles encephalitis and it’s not pretty,” says Sears. “There’s nothing awesome about it at all.”
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