Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 20, 1993                   TAG: 9306280267
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: D2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: HUGH CRAFT
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DON'T INVITE BACK DISEASES OF THE PAST

Before the advent of vaccines, thousands of people in the United States suffered or died each year from diseases that now can be easily prevented. Diseases such as measles, mumps, pertussis, polio, rubella, diphtheria and tetanus have not been eradicated, but have been overwhelmingly reduced due to the use of preventive vaccines. These diseases continue to occur in populations around the world and in the United States, where high percentages of children are not immunized.

Rash and fever that come with many of these vaccines are not a major concern. Children, in general, will handle these symptoms well. Yet it is complications and death caused by these preventable diseases that make vaccines so valuable, as well as reduction in illness with associated disruption of school, work and home routines, and loss of productivity.

Measles can cause pneumonia and brain infection called encephalitis. Complications of mumps include orchitis, sterility and deafness. Rubella can cause deafness, cataracts, congenital heart disease and mental retardation to children born to mothers who had rubella during pregnancy. Pertussis, once a major cause of death in children, continues to cause serious illness in underimmunized children. Infection with diphtheria can cause airway obstruction and heart failure, and tetanus can lead to seizures, coma and death. Polio can be a devastating disease, leading not only to long-term crippling, but death due to the paralysis of the respiratory muscles.

We have become complacent about the value of vaccines because we rarely see these diseases and their complications.

The reasons to vaccinate against these childhood diseases are more than substantial. They are proved to be safe and effective, and the benefits far outweigh even the smallest theoretical risk. Tremendous reduction in disease and deaths since introducing vaccines cannot be ignored.

Children who received inadequate or no vaccines are easy prey for these diseases. If we, as a nation, fail to vaccinate, we place our children in jeopardy. These diseases will return and bring with them all the suffering experienced in the past. Ask someone who is more than 60 years old what it was like when polio was in town. The importance of timely and appropriate vaccinations cannot be underestimated. It is the most cost-effective preventive-health measure we can take as parents and as a community to protect our children.

\ AUTHOR Hugh Craft, M.D., is chief of pediatrics at Community Hospital of Roanoke Valley.