We’ve already heard about measles outbreaks, both domestic and abroad, due to reduced to vaccination rates.  Now we have new case reports of another vaccine-preventable disease cropping back up: Haemophilus influenza type b (aka. Hib) infection.

Hib is one of those bugs from the bad old days.  Thanks to a vaccination program begun in the 90′s, I’ve never personally seen a case, and this is a very, very good thing.  Basically every pediatrician from the pre-Hib vaccine era has a horror story of some terribly sick kid with Hib meningitis or epigottitis*.

But now, it seems, thanks to well-intentioned but misinformed parents refusing vaccination for their children, Hib infection is making a comeback.  In 2008, five kids in Minnesota – aged 5 months to 3 years – contracted invasive Hib disease.  Three of these kids were unvaccinated due to parental refusal.  One of these – a 7 month old – died.  Of the other two to contract the disease, one was too young to have completed the intial 3 vaccine series, and the other one had an immunodeficiency.

I’ve said before, and I’ll say it again.  As this trend of refusing vaccines continues, herd immunity will continue to drop to dangerous levels, and we will continue to see increasing numbers of “breakthrough” cases of vaccine-preventable illnesses.  And the tragedy is, there’s really no reason for this happen.

The antivaccine crowd justifies some of their vaccine avoidance like this: why should we provide protection against simple childhood illnesses like measles and chicken pox?  Let kids get immunity the old fashioned way, by contracting the disease.  If I have the choice between autism and a self-limited viral illness, I’ll take the viral illness any day.

Of course, this choice is a false dichotomy.  And there are very good reasons for preventing measles and chicken pox (which I won’t get into here for the sake of brevity).  This argument for avoiding vaccines sucks.  But in this case, the antivaccine case sucks even more.  Measles or chicken pox might not be a huge deal for most kids, but get this: about 1 in 20 kids who get invasive Hib die.  Of those who survive, many are afflicted with deafness, developmental delay, seizure, or other neurocognitive ailments.  In this day and age, with a safe, effective vaccine, there is no reason for any child in this country to suffer from invasive Hib disease.  And it is for this reason that every case like this is a tragedy.  Unfortunately, it looks like we will have many more tragedies like this to deal with before the tide of irresponsible antivaccination is (hopefully) turned.

* The epiglottis is the cover to your windpipe that swings down into place whenever you swallow.  It keeps food and drink from going down the wrong tube.  Epiglottitis is inflammation/infection of the epiglottis, which can lead to swelling severe enough to cause complete airway obstruction.  Yeah – bad.