GET IN LINE

The photo you see is from 1959 and those people with their children are waiting to get a polio shot. Polio, measles, mumps and chicken pox were all the rage of the day when it came to childhood diseases. Slowly the medical world found ways to either defeat or contain the diseases and so life progressed.

I was a victim of mumps, terrible inflation of the cheeks that causes pain and in my case illusions and a great loss of hearing. I remember laying in bed at the age of 5-years and seeing my father on a ball of some kind, standing on it in a space with no identity. He was shouting out the word ‘NO!” constantly. It made a huge impact on my life for the next 68 years.

A student entered Franz Hall at The University of California, Los Angeles, on Thursday, April 25, 2019, in Los Angeles. Hundreds of students and staff at two LA universities, one of which is UCLA, are under quarantine since they may have been exposed to measles. It is unknown if people either have not been vaccinated or cannot verify that they are immune.

It is seemingly spreading across the country and I wonder if it is heading west or east? I also read that many of the serums and vaccinations that have been developed through the years are now being resisted to the very vaccines that were developed to combat the diseases. That is pretty scary stuff to contemplate, especially since I have such young grandchildren.

We as a society have traveled a long way since the 60-years ago photo posted above. We have done battle with the AIDS virus and many other types that affected both children and adults around the World.

Will modern medicine cope with the new threats or are we in for some tough times ahead?