Newsgroup: it.salute
Titolo: GLI AMISH RICONSIDERANO IL LORO RIFIUTO ALLA VACCINAZIONE A CAUSA DEL MORBILLO

Measles Outbreak In Ohio Leads Amish To Reconsider Vaccines
 
http://tinyurl.com/jxjwbbf
 
 
The Amish countryside in central Ohio looks as it has for a hundred 
years. There are picturesque pastures with cows and sheep, and big red 
barns dot the landscape.
 
But something changed here, when, on an April afternoon, an Amish woman 
walked to a communal call box. She picked up the phone to call the Knox 
County Health Department. She told a county worker she and a family 
next door had the measles.
 
That call spurred nurse Jacqueline Fletcher into action.
 
"The very next morning we were out to collect samples, collect nasal 
swabs and also draw blood. And it was just textbook measles," says 
Fletcher.
 
A nurse in Knox County for nearly three decades, Fletcher had never 
seen the illness, but she knew the symptoms.
Jacqueline Fletcher readies a measles vaccine to give at a makeshift 
clinic in central Ohio. About 8,000 Amish people in the area have 
received measles vaccinations since April.
i
 
Jacqueline Fletcher readies a measles vaccine to give at a makeshift 
clinic in central Ohio. About 8,000 Amish people in the area have 
received measles vaccinations since April.
Sarah Jane Tribble
 
"The rash. They had the conjunctivitis in the eyes, their eyes were 
red," she says. "They don't want the light, they sit in the darkened 
room, wear dark glasses. I mean they were just miserable. High 
temperatures, 103, 104 temps. So this was the measles."
 
The largest outbreak of measles in recent U.S. history is underway. 
Ohio has the majority of these cases — 341 confirmed and eight 
hospitalizations. The virus has spread quickly among the largely 
unvaccinated Amish communities in the center of the state.
 
Fletcher collected samples the afternoon she arrived. A county worker 
drove them immediately to the state health department and quickly 
confirmed the measles. The next day, Fletcher says she was on a call 
with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
 
"I remember the first conversation we had with the CDC," she says. "The 
fellow said, 'You have to get ahead of this.' "
 
Fletcher started organizing door-to-door vaccinations, and set up 
vaccination clinics at various locations.
 
On a Wednesday in mid-June, her clinic takes place in a store that 
usually sells construction supplies. A steady stream of people come 
throughout the day. After the workday ends, Amish families form a line 
out the door while buggies continue to roll into a nearby parking lot.
 
Most of the children are barefoot, not needing to wear shoes until they 
work out of the home. The girls wear dark-colored, homemade dresses and 
bonnets. The boys, pressed trousers and button-up shirts. Inside the 
clinic, most people are calm, but the younger ones are scared.
 
Ervin Kauffman reassures his six children as they squeeze into a small 
back office for their second shot for mumps, measles and rubella since 
the outbreak began. While many Amish are not against vaccines in 
principle, many, including Kauffman's children, have never had shots.
 
"I guess there was no scare to us before," Kaufman says. "I guess we 
were too relaxed."
Measles was brought to Ohio's Amish communities by people returning 
from mission trips to the Philippines.
Shots - Health News
Measles Hits Amish Communities, And U.S. Cases Reach 20-Year High
 
Kauffman says the outbreak has changed other customs, too. "We're just 
now starting with weddings," he says. Spring is the Amish wedding 
season, a time when hundreds come together, often traveling from other 
states and sometimes Canada. Those weddings were postponed. Church 
services, typically held in family homes, were also curtailed. "We 
didn't have church for almost two months because of the measles, so we 
wouldn't spread them, so we kind of tried to put the clamp on them," he 
says.
 
Knox County Health Commissioner Julie Miller came out to visit 
Fletcher's clinic to lend support to the vaccination effort. She has no 
idea how many are still at risk of contracting the illness.
 
"It's hard to answer that because we still don't know what the number 
is of who has the potential to be sick," she explains.
 
That's because there's simply no official count of how many Amish live 
in Ohio. Researchers at Ohio State University estimate that there are 
about 33,000 Amish living in the six-county area where the outbreak 
began.
 
At last count, 8,000 people in those counties had been vaccinated.
 
But Miller fears the measles will continue to spread because there is 
still resistance to vaccinations.
 
Paul Raber, 35, is one of those who are skeptical. He decided to get 
the measles vaccine for himself and his family. But the father of 11 
isn't sure if he or his family will get other shots. "We might, we 
might," he says, sounding doubtful.
 
Meanwhile, the virus is spreading, with more cases being reported in 
nearby Holmes and Stark counties.
 
This story is part of a reporting partnership between NPR, WCPN and 
Kaiser Health News.
 
-- 
Tra il rosso ed il nero,
vince sempre lo zero.

Sembra che Catrame abbia detto :

se non sbaglio harrison ford era amish LOL
A