5 OLD-TIME DISEASES THAT ARE MAKING A COME BACK

Dear Readers:

I remember when I was a kid that all of your friends missed time from school because they came down with chicken pox, measles, or mumps.  Also, the big scare was polio.  I remember my mom telling me "don't get in crowds, don't drink out of someone else's cup", don't do this, don't do that.  The concern at that time was very real.  Pictures of children in "iron lungs".  News of a neighbor's kid dying from the disease.  Scary times.

Then the polio vaccine came out and the doctors and nurses descended on the schools with long lines of students lined up to get the shot.  Everyone hoping that this vaccine would work...and it did. 

Today we have more vaccines to help prevent those childhood diseases.  However, vaccines don't work unless you take them.  As a result in this lapse of getting vaccines, plus the surge of immigrants into our country from counties where these diseases still exist, some of these childhood diseases are making a comeback.  

This article talks about 5 of those diseases.  Here is an excerpt from the article:

Measles, tuberculosis… bubonic plague?! If headlines about old-time diseases on the comeback have you worried, you’re not alone. Here’s what you need to know to stay safe (and sane) amid recent outbreaks.

Plague

Think this notorious killer died with the Middle Ages? The disease actually persists in parts of Africa, Asia, and South America. And there have been 16 reported cases of plague, with four deaths, in the United States this past year. Most recently, a 16-year-old girl from Oregon was sickened and hospitalized after apparently being bitten by a flea on a hunting trip.

You can get plague from fleas that have carried the Yersinia pestis bacteria from an infected rodent, or by handling an infected animal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Bubonic plague is the most common form in the U.S., while pneumonic plague (affecting the lungs) and septicemic plague (affecting the blood) are less prevalent but more serious. Symptoms of bubonic plague include fever, chills, headache, and swollen lymph glands.

To read complete the article - click on this link - http://news.health.com/2015/12/31/5-old-diseases-that-are-making-a-comeback/