
Scientists Crack a 50-Year-Old Mystery About the Measles Vaccine - CarolineW
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/05/07/404963436/scientists-crack-a-50-year-old-mystery-about-the-measles-vaccine
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saurik
I could have sworn this was "old news", and then it occurred to me to look for
a date on the article: 2015. (By the time some people read this comment, maybe
a moderator will have tagged the article title, but it is not currently.)

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CarolineW
Sorry, I came back to edit the title to do that, but I was outside the edit
window - the mods will have to do it.

Even so, I think it's still interesting, even though it's two years old. Your
memory might be better than mine, but I don't remember seeing it.

Thanks for the comment.

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adrianN
So could we use this mechanism to treat auto-immune disorders, or prevent
organ rejection?

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krallja
edit: ignore me

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adrianN
I'm pretty sure that the mechanism the virus uses to suppress the immune
system for several years is different from "don't get measles".

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krallja
I'm sorry, I read your question backwards.

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theprop
More evidence that betting against vaccines is not a good idea...

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mjmina
Some more work is in the pipeline. Looking at actual effects in samples from
recently infected kids - but takes time because measles infected children are
(thankfully) not too common these days. The idea about autoimmune disease is
quite interesting and some I hope to explore in the near future. Of note,
measles-related viruses are being looked at as potential therapeutics for
cancer. There's a growing body of work on that front. - Michael Mina

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retrogradeorbit
So the measles vaccine (like MMR) is a live virus vaccine. Does this mean that
MMR wipes the memory of previous vaccinations? Does giving MMR in a child's
second year erase, say, the accellular pertussis immunity attained via DTaP in
the first year?

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maxerickson
It's the other way around. The vaccine is attenuated live virus, it doesn't
(normally) have the consequences of a measles infection. The immune system is
not suppressed by the vaccine and because the vaccine prevents the disease,
the immune system is not suppressed by measles either.

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pc2g4d
As someone who had measles as a kid, this is good to know! It might explain a
series of infections I had in the following years, too. I wish I could
remember when I had chicken pox relative to measles, since (the article
suggests) I may not actually have the immunity to chicken pox if that
infection preceded measles.

Btw, I _was_ vaccinated, but back then you only got one dose and the rate of
immunity was insufficient to prevent outbreaks. Thus the second dose that's
now standard.

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jeffdavis
Could it be used to erase autoimmune diseases?

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amelius
What is that guy in the picture doing with his finger on the needle?

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DanBC
In theory he has a sterile swab under his finger tip, placed where the needle
is puncturing the skin.

As the needle is withdrawn some pressure will be placed here, to prevent
bleeding.

