I am no longer immune to measles

Although an annual exam is probably not necessary if you are young and healthy, it is a good idea to visit your doctor from time to time. As he talks about it, he might find something quite unexpected.

Originally, I suffered from moderately severe back pain with pain radiating from the left arm. My doctor thought the cause was a bulging disc in the cervical area (neck) of my spine. He stung me with a couple of sharp things (known as a two-point discrimination test) and discovered that I had lost sensation in my little finger. It so happens that the radiating pain descended on the side of my arm adjacent to my little finger. All this indicated a problem with my eighth cervical nerve (C8).

About 80% of the time, the bulging discs resolve themselves. Then he told me to wait (maybe up to a few months) and take Tylenol or other over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications as needed. Well!

But I had not finished yet. I asked the doc to do some blood tests. My cholesterol is high in my family and my cholesterol is very high. What he found m? Surprise me.

I am no longer immune to measles

Yes, I still have high cholesterol levels at the limit, so this was not a surprise. (This was a bit disappointing because I increased my fiber intake and started doing some exercise.) Unbeknownst to me, he asked the clinic to do an antibody test. (To my knowledge, antibody screenings are not part of routine blood tests.) He knows that I have a new little girl and probably wanted to see if I needed to. ;a reminder. This is a good doctor.

I'm glad he ordered the test. I found out that, despite the fact that I received the MMR vaccine during my childhood, I am no longer immune to measles.

As indicated, I am immune to rubella and mumps. For rubella, a positive test (which means that the appropriate antibody level was detected in my blood) is greater than 0.99 IU / mL (my blood was 2.16 IU / mL). For mumps, a positive test is greater than 10.9 units of antibody / mL (mine was 71.1 AU / mL). That's true. Mumps shrinks in fear when he meets my blood.

But not measles (a.k.a., rubeola). I lost immunity, almost as if I had never been immunized. A negative test (which means that an appropriate level of antibodies has do not detected) is less than 13.5 AU / mL. That's what I got.

This is not unusual. One of the reasons measles is making a comeback is the decline in immunity. Indeed, a 43 – year – old flight attendant who had just died of measles had received the vaccine as a child.

So, I go to the pharmacy to get a MMR vaccine. And a flu, too. This is what loving parents and responsible citizens do.