[John Whitworth]

Oh yes you are. I told a nice fat lady on Thursday that you are. And I repeat, the Rimbaud verse is pure poetry. Now, as to the PCness of measles...

[Brian Allgar]

I dunno about measles, John, but if you had chickenpox as a child, avoid any kids who have it. It's a dormant virus that is reactivated in adults in the form of shingles. Believe me, having that is even more debilitating than being politically correct.

[John Whitworth]

Good Heavens. I had chicken pox as a kid. Everybody did. And my daughter had chicken pox. But God was obviously watching over me.

The measles thing won't have reached Paris. A load of Welsh people have got measles. You'd think it was smallpox the way they've gone on about it.
I don't know what percentage of people who get measles actually die of it, but in my childhood it was not considered a serious matter.

I expect some Spherian knows.

[Brian Allgar]

Originally Posted by John Whitworth

A load of Welsh people have got measles. You'd think it was smallpox the way they've gone on about it.

Are you sure it's measles they've got, and not some STD caught from sheep?

[Chris O'Carroll]

As far as I know, anyone who had chickenpox as a child is at risk for shingles in adulthood even without coming into contact with a child who currently has chickenpox. I had all of the standard childhood diseases, and I got an anti-shingles vaccine not long ago. I had to pay about $250 for it, but my insurance company later reimbursed me for the full amount. Presumably, the same vaccine is available in the UK, although I have no idea what it might cost there; I don't believe the NHS offers it for free.

As for measles, it's mostly non-fatal -- maybe 3 deaths per thousand cases in relatively healthy, affluent populations, 3 deaths per 10 cases where factors such as poverty, malnutrition, and AIDS make people more vulnerable. I don't know a great deal about the extent of the Wales outbreak; perhaps a fatality rate of zero is not too much to hope for.

[John Whitworth]

If the NHS offers it for free then I've had it. If I have to pay, then I'll trust in God.

Naw, it's measles. So far it hasn't been blamed on Lady T, but on a wicked Doctor called Wakefield, now practising in the United States, which just shows how wicked he is.

[Chris O'Carroll]

If Andrew Wakefield is practicing medicine in the U.S., he's doing so without a license. (And, really, would anybody put that past him?) According to the latest information I could find with a fairly cursory web search, he's living near Austin, Texas, where he is or has been an administrator at a clinic dealing with autism. His fraudulent, discredited claims about a link between vaccination and autism do have a cult following over here, his most famous disciple being Playboy Playmate Jenny McCarthy. Of course, the fact that somebody looks good naked is not by itself reason to reject her medical advice. The fact that someone has been stripped of his medical license, on the other hand . . . .

[Carolyn Thomas-Coxhead]

Originally Posted by Brian Allgar

Are you sure it's measles they've got, and not some STD caught from sheep?

Wales, sheep, STDs... not much fear of political rectitude there, then.

[Brian Allgar]

Carolyn, I think that political correctness obliges us to refer to sheep as "age-challenged lambs".

[Adrian Fry]

In politically correct terms, 'mutton dressed as lamb' becomes 'valued members of the ovine community dressed as equally valued members of the ovine community.'