|
When I was at school in the 40's if anybody caught any of the infectious diseases (measles, mumps, whooping cough. chicken pox, German measles and scarlet fever) the whole class had to go into quarantine. I missed more school this way than I ever did by being ill myself!
Diphtheria vaccine arrived when my sister was a baby in 1941 and I was taken to be done at the same time. I think it must have produced a blister of some sort, because I can remember being told by the doctor that it was a fairy asleep under a blanket and she mustn't be disturbed!!
Smallpox vaccinations had been around for years but weren't given routinely to babies. I was done aged 10 when there was an outbreak in the town where I went to school, but it was voluntary.
I think one reason why many children weren't done was the cost, as this was all pre- NHS.
|
|
The situation is serious and quite sad.
What horrible memories have been stirred for Ann and Joan.
I can remember my younger sister catching scarlet fever when she was about 3 in the 1950s and I watched from my parents' bedroom widow, as she was carried out to the ambulance to take her to the IDH, - Infectious Diseases Hospital in Portsmouth.
I wondered whether I would ever see her again.
We shared a bedroom, so I don't know how she contracted the fever but I didn't.
I recall going to the hospital so that my parents could go somewhere there to wave to her, but I had to stay in the waiting room. They took comics and simple jigsaws for her to play with, and as she was so young, the nurses asked if she had a favourite cuddly toy. She had a handmade velvet dog. Although Mum knew that nothing would come come with her, she felt the need for familiar comfort was more important, so Dog was duly taken into hospital.
It must have been a terrifying time, as related by other members here, but the nurses were kind and when my sister recovered and came out of hospital, she was allowed to bring Dog, which the nurses could see that she was so fond of. They had fumigated him, not sure how, but great heat must have been involved, because forever afterwards Dog had a very scorched ear.
One lasting effect of this fever was that my mother refused to let me join the local library, as she was fearful that infections could be carried on the books.
|
|
Yes and there is no vaccination for Scarlet Fever and you can rarely catch it more than once. NHS says 80% of cases are in age 2-8 and outbreaks are usually in schools and nurseries where there is close contact between children. Only children susceptible to the bacteria's toxins will get symptoms, others will carry and spread it without being ill. Most will have been exposed by the age of 10.
I had it as a small child in the early 50s when children didn't usually start school till the age of 5 and I didn't mix with any children before school age so what that did to the immunity of me and other children of that time I don't know. What I do know is the effect on my mental health at being sent on my own in an ambulance to an isolation hospital 30 miles away and being kept there for two weeks with no visitors allowed. I was distraught and thought I'd never go home again, wondered what I'd done to deserve being sent there and was terrified to lay in the middle of the hospital bed in case someone had died in the same bed and that I might too. My parents visited once to wave to me through the window from outside the building, but couldn't talk to me or come inside. I stopped eating altogether as there was a permanent lump of brimming tears in my throat the whole time and I refused to choose and play with any of the toys. My parents sent me a doll just before I went home, but I wouldn't accept it, as I didn't recognise it and thought it wasn't mine so shouldn't take it. I remember them taking it to be fumigated and having to strip off every item of clothing to be fumigated too before I went home. I didn't even know what fumigating was but thought I must have got dirty. For months and months after I went home I was frightened I might suddenly be sent away again, but never said, and was very scared if my parents told me off for something.
I reserve judgement a bit, probably wrongly, about lockdowns and very small children and think maybe a few years of building immunity by a good diet, fresh air, exercise, the dirt at home or in the garden, makes them stronger and better able to cope with the many infections shared with other children when they are a bit older. I wonder what the immunity is like in home schooled children who don't mix as much?
|
|
But we can't blame "Those who insisted on the lockdowns".
Without Covid restrictions, many more people would have died of Covid.
The children's lack of immunity is a very unfortunate by-product of the pandemic situation - but it's nobody's fault.
|
|
There is no injection for Scarlet Fever.
Whe I was a small child somewhere between the age of 18 mths -2 yrs I caught Scarlet fever & was sent to the local fever hospital in York.
I was in a cot for 6 weeks with no-one being allowed to visit me in all that time, 6 weeks !!!
Our house had to be fumigated & mam wasn't allowed outside the house for the first week, & during that time she had to pass a basket through the window to her neighbour who would get mams grocery shopping for her.
I can still see my mam & 2 aunties standing at a window waving to me, I can also vividly remember my mother sending me a doll but when Iwas released from the hospital I wasn't allowed to take it home with me.
Not a nice time for a small child.
I was born in 1946 & Scarlet Fever is the only childhood illness I have ever had, my mum didn't have me vaccinated either.
These latest Strep A illnesses are a big worry.
Joan.
|
|
Diphtheria had more or less disappeared from countries that inoculate against it Scarlett fever has always been around, some years better than others. This year is going down the bad route.
With these deaths it is going to make it a VERY bad outbreak.
|
|
When my father was a small child, his parents denied him the inoculations. he had Diphtheria, Scarlet Fever and Scarlatina. All dreadful things.
I thought these diseases had been wiped out but obviously not. How awful that children have now died in 2022 not 1922!!
You are right Ann, children need to be exposed in order to strengthen their immunity. Living in that bubble for so long hasn't helped.
Here's hoping there are no more deaths
Florence in the Hebrides
|
|
what a horrible frightening thing that is. After all we have been through and now we have the worry over this spreading among the children. Those who insisted on the lockdowns have a lot to answer for. Poor little children left with little immunity.
|
