Dear all:

Having lived in countries where most children are breastfed for a long duration (even though exclusivity is not what it should be) and had two grandmothers, two grandfathers and a mother and a father who were breastfed, I would say that Michelle's posting of Diane Wiessinger's comments on normal feeding is particularly pertinent to the issue of childhood illnesses and breastfeeding.

Childhood diseases have always been deadly -- long before we started increasing the risk of death from these diseases by feeding our infants with artificial substitutes.  Measles, mumps, whooping cough, and polio can kill.   Measles can contribute to blindness, mumps can lead to deafness, polio can lead to paralysis.  I've seen all of these diseases during outbreaks in developing countries and seen the worst of their consequences up close and personal.  Because death is not as common in developed areas of the world, I think we sometimes become a little cavalier about those rare deaths that we don't often see and sometimes make comments that marginalize those who are experiencing more cases of less common diseases. 

In my own family, one of my breastfed grandmothers suffered from chicken pox as a child.  Even I am too old to have been vaccinated for chicken pox, so she certainly wasn't.  She suffered her whole life from debilitatingly painful shingles.  My other breastfed grandmother swore her Parkinson's disease was was due to her having contracted and barely survived the 1918 virus.  

And as for more recent influenza outbreaks, I'm sure the family of the school teacher who was told to go to work and then contracted H1N1 and died would not be terribly reassured by the fact that H1N1 is not considered a "real" outbreak or by the fact that there are more deaths per year from seasonal influenza.  While we can look at the statistics on a population level, it is always disheartening to the individual that has experienced the terrible consequences of that "lower risk" situation.

Mumps have become more prevalent in Great Britain as their immunization rates dropped, so it does not surprise me that some of the cases of mumps in New York City may have traveled here from England.  Even if this is the case, I always find it inappropriate when a virus is attributed to one particular population or location.  Viruses can travel very rapidly and mumps have existed far back into history. 

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene actually HAS been investigated mumps at least SINCE AUGUST 21, 2009 (and I'd be happy to provide the link for this).  As of February 8, 2010 they had confirmed 909 cases and were investigating an additional 344.  3% of the cases had severe complications, which was LOWER than the rates seen during pre-vaccination era outbreaks.  Like measles, mumps is spread by respiratory droplets.  Consequently, both diseases spread much more rapidly than smallpox.  The effectiveness of the vaccine is estimated to be between 76% and 95% for 2 doses of the live vaccine.  Which means that for every 100 people vaccinated, it is estimated that between 5 and 25 people would still get mumps.

I and all my siblings experienced mumps as children and I would not wish that experience on any child or adult for that matter.  

Best regards, 

Susan E. Burger, MHS, PhD, IBCLC

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