Measles.
You had it and survived. How bad can it be?
One in five pre-schoolers who get it are hospitalized.
Fifty years ago people smoked nearly everywhere, even in confined spaces. Now they don't. Norms change. Fifty years ago car seats for children were new for Americans. Now they are nearly universal. People care about their kids' safety, so they do what is normal and expected of parents: They put their kids into car seats.
Fifty years ago the polio vaccine got near-universal adoption by people who could get it. Vaccinations were good; polio was bad. Everybody knew that. When the measles vaccine became available in the mid-1960s, it was rapidly adopted. By 1980 vaccination was mandatory for school children in all 50 states. It was normal to vaccinate one's children before they became into contact with other kids. Prior to vaccinations, an infected child in school was calculated to infect 12 to 18 others. A person is infectious for four days before the tell-tale rash.
Universal school vaccinations almost eliminated measles in the U.S. There were years without a single case. Americans forgot. |
| Prior success |
Covid primarily affected the old and people already sick. Children and young, healthy adults had little to fear personally. Mandates for getting the Covid vaccine became a flash point of opposition, led by Republicans who saw Covid shutdowns and vaccination mandates as primarily a Democratic initiative. The don't-tread-on-me spirit arose. Republicans boomeranged the our-bodies-our-choice abortion slogan back at Democrats. Covid wasn't that bad for most people. So why get a Covid shot?
That template has drifted into thinking about measles. It is still rare. And it isn't that bad. As long as nearly everybody else is vaccinated, one's children need not be. But now there are clusters of unvaccinated people.
Measles is dangerous. Sources I consider reliable and authoritative all tell the same story: 1. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, 2. Harvard's T. H. Chan School of Public Health, 3. National Institute of Health and others.
Here are the facts: In 2025 there have been 14 measles hotspots in the U.S. So far they have been contained and only 1088 people have been infected. Of the 1088, 12 percent across all ages needed hospitalization. People most likely to be hospitalized are children in preschool, age five and below; 22 percent of that group required it. Fully a third of the 1088 cases are among that group of young children. Even here in the USA, with all the tools of modern medicine, three people in this small sample died.
Unvaccinated people are rolling the dice with their children's lives.
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| It is back |
Do they want a one-in-five risk that their young child will be hospitalized from measles if they catch it from a classmate?
Social norms change because of the attitudes and behaviors of others. We need to remember -- or learn again -- that measles is dangerous. Better to learn from history and data than from experience.
Experience is a cruel teacher.
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9 comments:
Also even if the child recovers, his immune system is diminished by half for the entirety of his life. That reduced immune system is responsible for a significant percentage of death for other diseases.
Speaking as someone who had measles as a child, in a time before there was a vaccine for it, I was curious about whether my immune system had been permanently diminished. So I asked Grok AI, and this is what it said:
Measles can have long-term effects on the immune system, but it doesn’t permanently diminish your immune response for the rest of your life in a general sense. Measles infection can cause “immune amnesia,” where the virus wipes out a significant portion of immune memory cells, particularly those responsible for remembering past infections. This can leave you more vulnerable to other infections for a period after recovery, typically months to a few years, as the immune system rebuilds its memory.
Studies, like one published in Science (2019), show measles can reduce up to 50% of pre-existing antibodies against other pathogens, with effects lasting up to 3-5 years in some cases. The immune system can recover over time, especially with re-exposure to pathogens or through vaccinations, which help restore immune memory. However, severe cases or complications could lead to longer-lasting impacts in rare instances, particularly if secondary infections occur during the vulnerable period.
Vaccination (MMR) is critical to prevent measles and its immune-suppressing effects. If you’re concerned about specific long-term impacts, consult a healthcare provider for personalized advice.
And this is what ChatGPT said:
Yes, measles can have a long-term impact on your immune system, a phenomenon known as “immune amnesia.”
What is immune amnesia?
After a measles infection, the virus can erase part of the immune system’s memory. This means:
• The body forgets how to fight off pathogens it had previously encountered.
• This effect can last for months to years, and in some cases, it may leave people more vulnerable to diseases they were previously immune to or vaccinated against.
How does it work?
Measles targets and destroys memory B and T cells — the immune cells responsible for remembering and fighting off previous infections. While the immune system eventually rebuilds, the repertoire of immune memory is permanently altered.
Long-term consequences
• Increased susceptibility to other infections (like pneumonia or ear infections) for years after recovery.
• Higher overall childhood mortality in populations where measles is common — not just from measles itself, but from infections that follow it.
The role of vaccination
The MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine prevents both measles and the associated immune amnesia. Studies show that vaccinated individuals retain their immune memory and are better protected overall.
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In summary, yes — having measles can diminish your immune response long-term by erasing immune memory, which is why vaccination is so critical.
As a very young child, I had measles. I was probably 12-16 months old. My mother was pregnant, and I had to be kept away from her to protect the new baby. That was successful, but as can be understood, traumatizing for all who were involved, except for my new baby brother, who was born "normal", whatever that means.
Now I am 76, and recently had a cancer called Multiple Myeloma. The advanced treatment I underwent at Oregon Health Sciences University, is called Autologous Stem Cell Transplant. Skipping the total description, the germane part is that my immune system was killed off, because that is where the myeloma resides, in the blood platelets, which is the home of the immune system.
As of today, 06/07/2025, I have the immune system of a 113 day old infant. I cannot get the MMR vaccine or any of the other vaccines until September, when my new immune system is six months of age, and can tolerate the risk.
I live in Ashland, which many of you know, is a hot spot for anti-vaxxers. So much so that a congressional committee held an investigative hearing here a few years back. I am worried about attending any large gathering, such as the No Kings Demonstration planned for Saturday June 14th. Masks won't protect me. My family can't participate either, lest they become the vector that infects me.
I am on anti-viral medications that protect me from Hepatitis B and Herpes Zoster, and an anti-biotic that protects me from pneumonias, I still have to be hyper-vigilant. I worry every time I leave my house.
I have to worry about molds, mildews, fungi in addition to viruses and bacterias.
When you lose your immune system your world shrinks. Anti-vaxxers reject the best science available, and in my humble opinion are selfish.
I remember a professor saying that when someone says “in my experience” - that this is a sample of just one, which is statistically insignificant of course. Yet that is how many assess risk, including some very well-paid executives with whom I’ve worked. My grown daughter and her husband ride street motorcycles. They also have small children.
In our state, the empirical data show that motorcycle accident mortality is 33 times higher than car accidents per passenger mile driven. That does not dissuade them because they don’t personally know anyone who has died in a motorcycle accident. I rode tens of thousands of miles on road bikes when I was young and single and was oblivious to the statistical risk. The odds get worse the longer you ride, (especially when your reflexes and situational awareness diminish with age). So I don’t ride anymore. I trust the numbers as I do with vaccinations. But like many, I’m concerned that with the NIH and CDC being dismantled, I wonder what numbers I’ll be able to trust?
I wonder if the anti-intellectual sentiment and general distrust of expertise is shaping people’s views of studies made by those “elites”?
Vaccine requirements were put in place for good reason. A few people need medical exemptions, but not enough to affect herd immunity. Unfortunately, Oregon also indiscriminately issues non-medical exemptions. Instead of giving those to anti-vaxxers, they should just issue them tinfoil hats.
Miketuba, your story is exactly why everyone should get vaccinated. The principle of doing something for the good of others seems to have gotten lost somewhere, sadly.
Mike, please email or call me. Peterwsage.gmail.com. 541-261-3506
For those of you who don't know, Multiple Myeloma is rare blood cancer of the platelets. It used to be so deadly, that victims did not last more than a year or two. During my career with the Veteran's Administration, I had one or two patients who died from it. The Obama-Biden "Cancer Moonshot" brought about great advances in the treatment of Myeloma, and now it is considered treatable, but not yet curable. Some medical scientists are confident of a cure by 2030. My treatment began August 2024 at the Heiman Cancer Center at Rogue Regional Hospital in Medford. My Hematological-Oncologist, Radhika Gali, is a real warrior. She is not afraid to deliver a punch to the gut when necessary. My course of chemotherapy (a four drug cocktail) was four months, and ended in December with a report of minimal residual disease.
In January 2025, I began the work-up for the Autologous Stem Cell Transplant. On February 11, 2025, my stem cells were filtered out of my blood, and after verification of their viability and the quantity, I was given powerful chemotherapeutic agents that killed off my platelets and my immune system. I entered the isolation unit at OHSU, and on February 14th my stem cells were transplanted back into me. My response to this treatment was very strong, I was released early from isolation at the 14th day. I spent another three weeks in outpatient isolation (with frequent medical monitoring) in the adult floors of the Ronald McDonald House adjacent to OHSU, under the watchful eyes of my wife. We then returned home to Ashland for further recovery.
On my last day at OHSU, I received a report of "Very deep remission", and I got to ring the bell.
The drugs developed to treat Myeloma are now being spun off to successfully treat different forms of cancer. The cessation of this research as a consequence of the changes made and proposed by the Trump Administration, will have a devastating effect for future cancer patients.
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