Re: 鈥淛ust vaccinate the children,鈥� editorial, Feb. 20.
One is very na茂ve or ill-informed if they do not understand the possible complications of the measles virus. While growing up, we watched our mother deal with the decline of her only sister due to subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.
It was sad and painful for our family. My aunt was not born in a Third World country in squalid circumstances. She was a lovely, talented young woman born and raised in this country, healthy, well-nourished and cared for. The infection that was to damage her brain was the result of contracting measles as a young adult, before vaccines.
The damage took years to manifest itself, resulting over time in seizures, loss of motor control, mood swings and dementia. Her last six years of life were spent in institutionalized care, the last weeks in a coma.
There is no cure for SSPE, there is only prevention 鈥� a vaccination for the measles virus.
Janice Davis
Oak Bay
