I began to write this after finding out, just a few days ago, that Shelley Stocken passed away. I don’t know what to do; so, I’m doing this.
This is taking me some days to write. We are just…we are gutted.
The days are brimming with vacillations between the hideous grievance of unfairness and its concomitant floods of internal rage, and the purest gratitude of having had Shelley’s presence in our lives; I’m compelled to choose the latter — and deliberately so, I will hold to this — as that’s the example Shelley set.
I reflect upon the impersonal nature of our often-turbulent online world and that, sometimes — just sometimes — we get to meet our sublime online friends in real life.
Meeting Shelley Stocken in the real world, along with Shelley’s then-very-young children, and Ken McLeod — along with my then-Nintendo DS-obsessed kids who were not paying much attention to their company on that gifted day — in a Batemans Bay café, is a memory that I have always, and will always, cherish: my god, I’m glad I gave her the biggest hug on that day.
I would not dare to lay down in words to Shelley’s family how much of a good human they had in their life, every day: they already know this.
I’ve been able to meet some of the best people I could ever dream to meet throughout my involvement in the life of Stop the AVN. But, without fear of falling foul of any of my comrades, I think I can safely say that Shelley is number one. She was there from its inception, and she will always be there.
For me, personally, Shelley is a touchstone of goodness to which I repeatedly turn to ground my excesses in mood and abandon.
Put simply, Shelley was what I wanted to be when I finally grew up: scorchingly funny; staunchly ethical; fiercely intelligent; dedicated to evidence and reason; unwaveringly supportive; graceful in all that she did; poetic in every careful word; a black-belt in martial arts; and — oozing an infectious kindness lathered in the purest joy — oh so, so kind.
I have stated in a private forum that I feel like I have lost a limb: my funnier, smarter, kinder, and more decent right hand. We all have.
This image is from one of my recent Facebook posts — on May 11 2021 — featuring one of Shelley’s recent appearances on Mastermind, of which she was extremely excited and proud – as were we all (spoiler: Shelley did extremely well and, typically, turned to applaud her co-contestants individually).
Shelley: smart and full of joy:
I hope I’ve done you justice, dearest Shelley. How many of us can leave this world so blessed to have been so easy to love, simply by being oneself? What a grand life. Every darling coffee is for you.
Because funerals are terrible. Bury me in my back garden,
Bum up or bum down, I don’t care.
Don’t fret for my soul,
Simply dig me a hole,
Roughly one-and-a-half metres square.
Bury me in my back garden,
No casket, no coffin, no frills.
For next to no cost
I will slowly compost
Circumventing funereal bills.
Bury me in my back garden,
As if I was one of your pets.
I take up more room
Than a terrier’s tomb
But I’ll save you a trip to the vet’s.
Bury me in my back garden,
no need for a vicar or priest.
Just make sure I’m dead,
Chuck some dirt on my head,
And then drink to the newly deceased.
On Monday May 24 2021, a pair of area shitbags posted to Instagram that they were allergic to bullshit, by using a bullshit medical exemption to avoid airline mask requirements:
We trust airlines and government departments will be investigating this latest act of freedom, ensuring that the anti-vaccination activists have registered and self-isolated after their trip to Melbourne.
The anti-vaccination movement around the globe has taken to this latest public relations campaign, with companies forced to remove billboards in Perth and New Zealand.
APN is currently investigating how this public health travesty came to pass.
_______________________________
Update
As usual, the AVN lays out its strategy for us.
The AVN admits that the advertisement is a bait-and-switch. This is illegal:
Christopher William Savage is a former serving sergeant in the Queensland Police Service. We have been following his exploits since 2012 and he has recently come to prominence once again as the darling of the No Jab No Pay anti-vaccine protest movement, for a speech he gave at the Brisbane protest. It is long past time to publish a collection of the innermost, outside-voice thoughts of former Sergeant Savage. It is my opinion that he poses a risk to public health and safety.
On September 9 2018, at 2334 hours, the Australian Vaccination-risks Network (formerly Australian Vaccination Network, and Australian Vaccination-skeptics Network) – a registered incorporated association in NSW – that has a public health warning issued against it and its president Meryl Dorey – promoted Christopher William Savage on its official Facebook page:
“In summary, our baby died from whooping cough and therefore you claim that all parents must have a chiropractor on speed-dial. It’s almost as if you are using our child’s death to promote your own chiropractic business. Wait, not almost as if. That’s literally what you are doing.
This is the single-most shameful sales pitch for chiropractors I’ve ever seen, using the death of our child to promote your services. Shame on you.”
– Greg Hughes
Back in 2015 I first wrote about the Drs Wolfson – The Drs. Wolfson – Incomprehensibly Cruel – after they attacked a mother whose child died from chicken pox. Who are they?
I’ll let this husband and wife team of anti-vaccinationists introduce themselves. From their Facebook page:
My name is Dr. Jack Wolfson and I am a board certified cardiologist…I received my D.O. degree from Midwestern University in Chicago, and completed a 3 year residency in Internal Medicine and a 3 year fellowship in Cardiology.
My name is Dr. Heather Wolfson D.C. and I am a healer, a mom, a wife, and a friend.
This is what they wrote about that grieving mother, in 2015 [my bold]:
MOTHER ON A PRO-VACCINE CRUSADE
Jack Wolfson:
Recently, a child died from complications of the chicken pox and now her mother wants to make sure everyone gets injected. While the death of any child is a travesty, this one could have been prevented,not with injecting more chemicals into this young girl, but with good nutrition and chemical avoidance. She was likely fed GMO, sugar, gluten, soy, corn, and other items that led to her demise. Her mother sadly blames the doctor (who advised her against the vaccine) and the rest of us who demand the freedom to choose whether or not to inject chemicals into our children.
Heather Wolfson:
First of all, the little girl was born without a spleen therefore she was immunocompromised since birth. The lack of this vital organ was probably caused by some drug the mother took while pregnant! Immunocompromised individuals are not supposed to receive vaccines. Kudos to the pediatrician who steered the mom and child away from the chicken pox shot. I’d like to shake his hand. He probably saved the girls life given she may have died due to complications of vaccines based on her poor immune status. i Maybe the mother got an extra five years of life from her daughter by not participating in vaccine schedule folly. She should be thankful to the doctor.
Secondly, the mother probably gave fever reducers such as Tylenol. This depletes glutathione and is a sure fire way to allow your child to succumb to such a benign childhood illness. In this country, one in 30,000 of those with chicken pox died every year, for a grand total of 100 per annum. Those were usually adults. Please don’t pass a law forcing us to vaccinate and inject chemicals into our children because 100 people died per year. What was the health status of those 100 prior to chicken pox? Probably not good. Your healthy, breast fed, organic child will not suffer the same fate. If this mother would have sought out chiropractic care, gave just two simple vitamins A and C, she would have never developed pneumonia. Also, mom fed her garbage food and exposed her to thousands of chemicals. This little girl is dead, not from chicken pox, but from chemicals and poor nutrition. Additionally, she probably had at least one vaccine, hepatitis B, when she was first born in the hospital which would have destroyed her immune and nervous system from the start. The mother is ignorant, uneducated, and a danger to all other parents and children. She should spend her time learning how the human body works instead of spreading her deadly advice to the rest of the world.
The Wolfsons deleted that hideous attack from their website; but, not before we kept the evidence.
Jack Wolfson is a staple of the US anti-vaccination chiropractic and wellness movement, appearing at several crackpot conferences, such as Billy DeMoss’ annual California Jam:
Like any narcissistic wellness evangelical, the Wolfsons are hyperactive in proselytising their anti-vaccination message, even if it means harassing fellow motorists unfortunate enough to have been caught in a traffic jam with them, due to a “severe accident.”
They really did this. In 2016, at the scene of a tragedy, Heather Wolfson grabbed the opportunity to, “give an impromptu vaccine lecture” to another motorist:
Yesterday, the Wolfsons went after Australia’s Light for Riley – baby Riley died from whooping cough, in 2015 – with another offensively incorrect post vilifying Riley’s parents Catherine and Greg Hughes. The Wolfsons did this out of their pathological obsession with the religion of anti-vaccination chiropractic. These are true believers. And true believers do not care whom they hurt in their pursuit of ideology:
Our heart goes out to this family after their baby dies.
But why does anyone think the answer is to vaccinate the masses?
Here are some questions:
Who treated the baby? Did they use dangerous fever reducers like ibuprofen and acetamenophen? The sickness system with IV antibiotics and radiation procedures like a chest x-ray?
Or did the baby see a chiropractor and get adjusted or see another holistic doctor? Did the baby get vitamin C IV therapy and Argentyn Silver? What about vitamin A? Vitamin D? Sunshine?
What vaccines did this baby get at birth that further weakened and compromised it’s immune system from the get go? Vitamin K shot? Antibiotic eye ointment?
What was the mom’s health like in utero? Did she receive the Tdap and Flu shot during her pregnancy? Mom health equals baby health.
Was baby breast fed?
Was the baby born at home or in a building designed to house the sickest of the sick (hospital)?
What chemicals was baby exposed to? Toxic laundry, dryer sheets/fabric softener, personal care, mattress, household chemicals?
New paint in the “baby room”
This baby and all others like them do not die of a vaccine deficiency.
They die because of a toxic, polluted world.
Whooping cough vaccine is not very effective.
It is not the answer.
The answer is to make the population stronger with healthy living, not tear it down with chemicals in the name of artificial immunity.
Everyone who has a baby needs to have a chiropractor on speed dial and one who is experienced in functional medicine and all the life saving supplements parents should have stocked in their pantries for what should be little bumps in the road for a newborn.
When confronted with their shameful behaviour, the Wolfsons publicly reinforced their innate nature:
To set the record straight, again, Greg Hughes has provided a response to the Wolfsons’ callous post:
[Wolfsons] Who treated the baby? The sickness system with IV antibiotics and radiation procedures like a chest x-ray? Or did the baby see a chiropractor and get adjusted or see another holistic doctor? Did the baby get vitamin C IV therapy and Argentyn Silver? What about vitamin A? Vitamin D? Sunshine?
[Greg Hughes] Of course Riley was sent to hospital, as is the normal thing for any worried parent to do when their baby is seriously ill. We weren’t going to waste our time taking him to a chiropractor or naturopath, as we don’t like experimenting on our children with medical advice that has not got a plethora of published medical research to support it. Any ethical “holistic doctor” would opt against treating a 4-week old with pertussis and would send them to hospital anyway.
There is no published research that demonstrates Vit C Therapy and all your other ideas are effective at minimising the damage that the Bordatella pertussis bacteria cause (well, none published in the last 75 years at least, and none that have been able to be replicated). As for Vitamin D and sunshine, we live in Perth and it was summer – you do the maths.
What vaccines did this baby get at birth that further weakened and compromised it’s immune system from the get go? Vitamin K shot? Antibiotic eye ointment?
The recommended ones, but we know that they don’t compromise their immune systems like you claim. We don’t do the antibiotic eye treatment in Australia, but nice try.
What was the mom’s health like in utero? Did she receive the Tdap and Flu shot during her pregnancy? Mom health equals baby health.
Standard healthy pregnancy with no complications. Tdap wasn’t offered, you’d know this if you bothered to do any research. If it was offered, Riley would probably still be with us today.
Was baby breast fed?
Yes, Riley was exclusively breastfed. When Riley was sick we thought it wouldn’t be too serious, because people always rabbit on about the benefits of breastmilk (and it is pretty great stuff). But it’s not particularly good at fighting off Bordetella pertussis bacteria, although we desperately kept expressing milk as he lay dying in hospital, hoping that it would somehow help him.
Was the baby born at home or in a building designed to house the sickest of the sick (hospital)?
We thought about delivering at home, but then became concerned that a homebirth c-section may stain the floor, and we had no idea how deep to cut.
Seriously though – death rates of homebirths are far higher than hospital births. What is wrong with you? Why are you advocating for the deaths of newborns? Why do you want babies to die?
What chemicals was baby exposed to? Toxic laundry, dryer sheets/fabric softener, personal care, mattress, household chemicals?
Gee, let me count every single chemical. You know everything in the world is made of chemicals, right? How many chemicals have you been exposed to in just the last hour? What a ridiculous question, I’d be embarrassed to write this let alone respond to it. You want to know about our dead baby’s mattress? Come and check it for yourself #Creepy.
New paint in the “baby room”
Gotcha! Our house at the time was a rental, and there was no new paint in any room. Nice try though.
This baby and all others like them do not die of a vaccine deficiency.
They die because of a toxic, polluted world.
Actually, Riley died because he didn’t have enough antibodies to fight off a Bordetella pertussis infection. He was too young for his own vaccines, but had Catherine been offered a vaccine during pregnancy, he would have been born with enough antibodies to prevent infection from the disease, and would be with us today.
Whooping cough vaccine is not very effective.
It is not the answer.
The answer is to make the population stronger with healthy living, not tear it down with chemicals in the name of artificial immunity.
Again with the chemicals. Water is a chemical. Your precious vitamins are made of chemicals. Stop promoting chemical-phobia.
Everyone who has a baby needs to have a chiropractor on speed dial and one who is experienced in functional medicine and all the life saving supplements parents should have stocked in their pantries for what should be little bumps in the road for a newborn.
Ahhhh, and here it is. In summary, our baby died from whooping cough and therefore you claim that all parents must have a chiropractor on speed-dial. It’s almost as if you are using our child’s death to promote your own chiropractic business. Wait, not almost as if. That’s literally what you are doing.
This is the single-most shameful sales pitch for chiropractors I’ve ever seen, using the death of our child to promote your services. Shame on you.
It may have come a few decades too late, but, the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission has acted decisively in banning jailed naturopath Marilyn Bodnar from practising, permanently.
Taking effect from July 23 2018, the HCCC has issued a prohibition order against the still-imprisoned Bodnar, partly based on a complaint from Stop the Australian (Anti) Vaccination Network:
8.4 Accordingly, the Commission makes the following Prohibition Order under section 41A(2)(a) of the Act:
Ms Bodnar is permanently prohibited from providing any health service in any capacity, either paid or voluntary. For the purpose of this order, ‘health service’ is given the meaning as defined under section 4 of the Health Care Complaints Act 1993.
A Sydney naturopath has been sentenced to seven months in prison for her role in starving an infant in 2015, after a judge slammed her extreme diet advice that almost killed the eight-month-old.
Marilyn Pauline Bodnar was sentenced to a maximum of 14 months’ jail but will be eligible for parole on November 4.
The 62-year-old pleaded guilty to an accessory charge of causing danger of death to a child, when she advised the boy’s mother to adhere to a strict diet of raw vegetables, fruit, and seeds.
The mother, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had sought advice from Bodnar on how to treat the boy’s eczema.
Assuredly, the HCCC prohibition order is most welcome. But, Bodnar had already started her body-count three decades earlier. Bodnar killed a woman in 1986. Her 2017 trial couldn’t include her previous penchant for death, due to sub judice.
From the Sydney Morning Herald, in 1987, coverage of Bodnar’s first kill:
As reported in August 2017, by news.com.au, Bodnar was acquitted of her first customer-death due to, basically, victim-blaming:
Her guilty plea means The Saturday Telegraph can now reveal the former nurse was acquitted in 1987 of the manslaughter of mother-of-two Narelle Niemann, 42, who died on day 63 of a water-only diet to rid her body of toxins before having another child.
Ms Niemann lost 35 per cent of her body weight, dropping from 60kg to 39kg while staying at Bodnar’s home at Heckenberg in Sydney’s southwest.
She was so weak in the last few days she had to crawl on her hands and knees to use the toilet. Bodnar was ultimately acquitted, with her lawyers arguing that she helped Ms Niemann as a friend not as a patient.
The pink hoodie of death.
Here’s a huge thank you to the NSW HCCC, for ridding a practised monster from an unsuspecting and trusting public. This is regulation done right.
Judy Wilyman – the anti-vaccination activist inexplicably granted a PhD by the University of Wollongong – has a long history of vilifying bereaved parents: several times, Wilyman has claimed that the whooping cough deaths of babies Dana McCaffery and Riley Hughes are ‘anecdotes’ on which immunisation policy should not rely, whilst also falsely asserting that the McCaffery and Hughes families receive financial benefit for their advocacy of the whooping cough vaccine. Here’s what the Hughes family had to say to the University of Wollongong, in 2015, after one of Wilyman’s grotesque episodes; UoW later awarded Wilyman a PhD:
Recently, Wilyman has been on an anti-vaccination roadshow with the greedy crackpots from the Australian Vaccination-skeptics Network, holding a series of events in which anti-vaccination liars and their enablers claim that they are being censored. Notice that the University of Wollongong’s name is proudly featured in all paraphernalia promoting these events.
In April 2018, they had an event:
In June 2018, they are having another three-ring event. Well, granted, there are more than three rings presenting at this one:
Why can’t we talk about vaccines?
Joining Wilyman on this honking, clown-car convoy is University of Wollongong Emeritus Professor Brian Martin – Wilyman’s former PhD supervisor, go figure – who has most recently found himself somewhat perplexed at the lack of esteem he is being granted for further enabling a movement that proudly and repeatedly vilifies bereaved parents, health advocates, and anyone else who says anything nice about vaccines. Martin wrote a self-published book about his concerns at this lack of esteem:
Really, Brian, it’s just that no one likes you. I was
hoping I wouldn’t need to say that in public.
If you do not remove all comments about me and my research from your blog further action will be taken to make you accountable for fabricating and misinforming the public about academic research and the vaccination issue in general.
Yours Sincerely,
Judy Wilyman PhD
Wilyman has a bit of history with US anti-vaccination conspiracy theorist, Brandy Vaughan. Vaughan and Wilyman featured together in this 2015 blog post that showed Vaughan and Wilyman arguing against the provision of Vitamin K to neonates: University of Wollongong antivax PhD student champions neonatal haemorrhaging.
Recently, professional antivaxer Vaughan’s organisation paid for billboard to be put up in Perth: Wilyman’s hometown. Antivaxers exalted at this development:
Light for Riley – the memorial Facebook page set up following the death of baby Riley Hughes, from whooping cough – is also Perth-based. They posted accurate, evidence-based information to counter the scary lies promoted by Vaughan and Wilyman:
On Monday, anti-vaccination activist Judy Wilyman took the opportunity to troll the Light for Riley page; the comment was deleted, with Light for Riley correctly refusing to platform anti-vaccination activists:
This is Wilyman’s original comment, before she edited it to result in the above:
The University of Wollongong should take a well-deserved bow. Congratulations, University of Wollongong.
Wonderful news came this week regarding the success of maternal whooping cough boosters in saving the lives of babies too young to be immunised. From NSW Government Facebook:
Not a single child has died from whooping cough since the free whooping cough vaccination was introduced in 2015. The vaccine for pregnant women has reduced the chance of newborns with the illness being hospitalised by 94%. If you’re expecting, chat to your doctor about getting the free vaccine 👶http://ow.ly/r4VS30iSUAd
Last week, Queensland media outlets succumbed to lobbying from Queensland anti-vaccination activist Allona Lahn. Incredibly, one of them was ABC Sunshine Coast. It’s like no one at the station had learned anything from the past decade of embarrassing Meryl Dorey ABC interviews, and the series of upheld complaints emanating from them.
Allona Lahn (R) with homophobic, racist antivaxer. Source Facebook.
Allona Lahn with anti-vaccination activists at a screening of Vaxxed in Queensland
Rule Number 1: vet your crackpots. Ask yourself: are they lying to me? Are they an honest broker of information? Is the bedrock of their whole campaign factual?
Here is a really good litmus test: remember when Meryl Dorey complained of microchips? That should have ended her existence on the airwaves. She should never have made it into any parliamentarian’s office.
Why not stand up now rather than later?? A question I ask everyone.
If you think the mass drugging issue is going away… it isn’t… think EVERYONE is NOT in the firing line… your in dreamland. It is only a matter of time before we are micro chipped, have facial recognition and the Government have access to your whole life, the streamlining of ALL your records, it is happening as we speak.
The mass drugging of the people from womb to tomb is on the agenda… not just vaccines but ANY drug –one third of Australians are on anti depressants, very few woman while birthing escape drugs, most elderly love their labelled little pill containers full of all sorts of colored pills, whenever you go to a Doctor you are lucky to escape without a prescription –
Think you can fly under the radar? ….. maybe for now you can but for how long? Your whole life is being linked, credit cards,drivers license, pension card, welfare card, health records, tax records, business records, insurance – all in the name of advancement and your welfare….. to keep you safe…… for convenience…… the Government know who you are….
What if YOU decide YOU don’t want the drugs prescribed? Is it YOUR choice? Or does the “expert” Doctor have the right to tell you what to do?… or the state? Is your child yours or the states? Who makes the rules to decide, you or another? Do these people REALLY have YOUR best interests at heart? Or are they on a payroll linked to the very corporations dictating to the politicians who then dictate to the Government departments and lawmakers and then you. – you have nothing to do with anything, as guess what your at the bottom of the pile…..
How many drugs are you prepared to pop and inject before you say NO? By saying NO to just one drug, how is that going to affect you in the future? – Placed in jail for not following the corporations rules? Forcibly jabbed? Fined? Where does this mass drugging stop? Who decides how many more drugs are necessary? Which drugs, how often, what dose….
I am daily contacted by people that are scared, alone, isolated, children have been removed or threats of removal, Doctors in hiding, scientists that won’t speak up, nurses that will loose their job if they don’t get jabbed, Nurses that want to speak up that can’t, mothers that are unable to get help with daycare/kindy thanks to draconian laws, pregnant women that are being coerced and manipulated, elderly that are pressured to take drugs, school drugging …. SO many people are pissed off and NOT happy with the system but in particular the coerced drugging of our children…..
So why not let’s ALL come together NOW…
before EVERYONE has to be drugged in one way or another, before ALL your rights are eroded in most areas of your life… Simple really…
IF EVERYONE that agrees with me STOOD UP, IT WOULD BE GAME OVER…… it is called PEOPLE POWER…….
Imagine the POWER that we will have when A MILLION PEOPLE hit the streets. The day is coming, hopefully sooner rather than later.
Be the change you want to see and be….
Blessings and strength to you
XXxx
“While I wait for most to find their inner strength and truth I am breathing deeping, calling on my inner patience and trusting that I am in the right place at the right time. Frustratingly I can see things have to get much worse before they get better, I don’t think it has to be this way but if people don’t stand up and make a move soon all I can see is a slippery slope…….. in the meantime I will keep doing what I do knowing that at least I am giving it my best shot and my conscious in clear….”
This time in history injecting new born babies with disease and toxins will go down in history as criminal and barbaric….. “Cola – guaranteed happiness and higher chance of fitting in and gaining acceptance”
Are you a “Cola Mum?” jabbing your kids to “fit in and gain acceptance?” or have you done your research and read a vaccine insert?
And, still, the ABC thought it appropriate to interview her as an honest broker.
There has been one confirmed case of measles in Melbourne. The infection was acquired in Victoria and it is possible that the infection was acquired at Centrelink in Dandenong between Monday 22 January and Friday 2 February 2018. The case attended a number of locations in Melbourne whilst infectious including:
Fairhills High School basketball stadium, Knoxfield, 9.30 – 10.30 am
Rowville Secondary College basketball stadium, Rowville, 2.30 – 3.30 pm
Sunday 11 February 2018
Belgrave Cricket Ground, 11.30 am 6.30 pm
Monday 12 February 2018
ABC Costume Hire, Wantirna South 3.00 – 4.00 pm
Who is at risk?
Children or adults born during or since 1966 who do not have documented evidence of receiving two doses of a measles-containing vaccine or do not have documented evidence of immunity are considered to be susceptible to measles. People who are immunocompromised are also at risk.
If anyone’s kids has measles or chicken pox now or in the near future, please PM me as I’d love to come visit:) definitely time my 3 & 6yo gets some lifelong natural immunity
DeBuriatte can be seen responding in the screenshot:
My guess is you will struggle to find a sick unvaccinated child! Maybe try posting in a max-vax cult group like SAVN 😜
Public image courtesy Facebook
Also on Wednesday February 20 2018, in direct response to the news of the Melbourne measles alert – in another antivax group administered by the AVN’s Trent Wiseman, Australia: Childcare for Unvaccinated Children, also administered by AVN president, Melbourne’s Tasha David – anti-vaccination activist and registered chiropractorSara Brookes of Melbourne made the same request to infect her two unimmunised children with measles:
With the recent measles outbreak near Dandanong , please contact/message me if your children get measles and you are happy to share.
Rochelle Senn, a Geelong teacher, issued the same request for her two unimmunised children:
Measles is a highly infectious, acute viral illness spread by respiratory secretions, including aerosol transmission.1 It is infectious from the beginning of the prodromal period and for up to 4 days after the appearance of the rash. The incubation period is usually 10 to 14 days. The prodrome, lasting 2 to 4 days, is characterised by fever and malaise, followed by a cough, coryza and conjunctivitis. The maculopapular rash typically begins on the face and upper neck, and then becomes generalised.
Measles is often a severe disease, frequently complicated by otitis media (in approximately 9%), pneumonia (in approximately 6%) and diarrhoea (in approximately 8%).1,2 Acute encephalitis occurs in 1 per 1000 cases, and has a mortality rate of 10 to 15%, with a high proportion of survivors suffering permanent brain damage.3 Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a late complication of measles, occurring on average 7 years after infection in approximately 0.5 to 1 per 100 000 measles cases.1 SSPE causes progressive brain damage and is always fatal. Complications from measles are more common and more severe in the chronically ill, in children <5 years of age, and in adults.2 Approximately 60% of deaths from measles are attributed to pneumonia, especially in the young, while complications from encephalitis are more frequently refer ton in adults.1,2 Measles infection during pregnancy can result in miscarriage and premature delivery, but has not been associated with congenital malformation.2 There is no specific therapy for acute measles infection.
