“Kids infected with measles face long-term health consequences. Vaccines can prevent all of them.”
By Stephanie Pappas
“In about 1 in 1,000 cases, measles causes brain swelling, or encephalitis, which can cause seizures. When it’s not fatal, the swelling itself can subside, but it can cause permanent brain damage and other lasting side effects, such as blindness or deafness.
“Immune amnesia” Even patients with milder cases of measles can suffer long-term knock-on effects.”
To recover from this so-called immune amnesia, a person would have to catch all those diseases again, said Stephen Elledge, a geneticist at Harvard Medical School and the senior author of that 2019 research. In the meantime, that means they’re vulnerable to a whole host of infections after contracting measles.”
to read the full article go to
https://www.livescience.com/health/viruses-infections-disease/kids-infected-with-measles-face-long-term-health-consequences-vaccines-can-prevent-all-of-them
“How Measles Attacks an Unvaccinated Child”
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/04/05/health/measles-children-symptoms.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
“Tracking U.S. Measles Outbreaks”
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/health/measles-outbreak-map.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
“Measles vaccination rate may be even lower than estimated, leaving kids vulnerable amid outbreak”
By Deidre McPhillips and Neha Mukherjee
“In 2024, just 68.5% of children in the US had received their first dose by 15 months of age, according to a new report from Truveta, a health-care data and analytics company. This is a marked decline from 2020, when more than 77% of children had received their first shot by this age.”
“But leaving more than 30% of a particularly vulnerable population of young children without any protection from one dose creates unnecessary risk, experts say.”
“The new Truveta report also highlights the divide between vaccination rates for children in urban areas, where 75% of children had gotten a dose of MMR by 15 months of age, and rural areas, where only 65.5% of kids had gotten the shot.”
to read the full article go to
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/03/health/measles-vaccine-first-dose-decline/index.html
to get new Posts automatically subscribe at the bottom right of the Home Page at
https://trackingemergingviruses.com/
or join the Tracking Emerging Viruses Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1198985638488806
or LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-metsch-526290199/
“Why Measles Outbreaks May Be the New Normal”
By Teddy Rosenbluth
“If federal health officials do not change course, large multistate outbreaks like the one that has torn through West Texas, jumping to neighboring states and killing two people, may become the norm.
“We have really opened the door for this virus to come back,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In order for an outbreak to occur in the United States, the virus must first be imported into the country, and it must reach a large, unvaccinated population.
Recent events have made both conditions seem increasingly likely, said Dr. William Moss, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.”
to read the full article go to
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/05/health/measles-outbreaks-texas-kennedy.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
“How not to stop a measles outbreak”
By Leana S. Wen
“There is well-known playbook for stopping measles outbreaks. It takes hard work, because measles is so contagious that 9 of out of 10 unvaccinated people exposed to the virus will contract it. Thankfully, the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is 97 percent effective against infection. Containing the disease hinges on identifying unvaccinated populations, providing education on the importance of vaccination, and coordinating mass vaccination campaigns.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has thrown that playbook out the window. As a measles outbreak in Texas has grown to 422 people there and dozens more in neighboring New Mexico and in Kansas, Kennedy is using his platform to amplify his long-standing opposition to the MMR vaccine and to promote alternative remedies that are harming unvaccinated children.”
to read the full article go to
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/04/03/measles-outbreak-texas-kennedy-vaccine/
“DOGE Cuts Shutter 50 Measles Clinics Amid Texas Outbreak”
By Leigh Kimmins
“On Monday, the Trump Administration directed federal agencies to pause the disbursement of $11.4 billion in loans and grants, according to The Hill. In Texas, where the recent outbreak has hit hardest, 50 vaccination clinics have been closed as a result, and more than 20 public health workers have been laid off…”
to read the full article go to
https://www.thedailybeast.com/doge-cuts-shutter-50-measles-clinics-amid-texas-outbreak/
“Trump cuts KC vaccine funding as measles spreads in Kansas. ‘No rational reason’”
By Jonathan Shorman and Kacen Bayless
“President Donald Trump’s administration in late March abruptly canceled a $250,000 grant awarded to Nurture KC. The decision was part of a wave of nationwide public health grant terminations that came as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has sought to undercut confidence in vaccines, asserts control as the new secretary of Health and Human Services, or HHS. The cancellations represent a blow to vaccination and public health efforts in the Kansas City area – and come as Kansas grapples with a measles outbreak that’s infected at least 23 people. No cases have been reported in the Kansas City metro, but doctors and health providers are preparing for how to respond if the highly contagious virus begins spreading locally.”
to read the full article go to
https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article303511086.html
“As measles cases rage, Kansas lawmakers quietly make it easier to opt out of vaccines”
By Tracy Russell
“Against this backdrop, the Kansas House adopted a child care bill containing a committee amendment that allows for more people to opt out of vaccines for their children in child care facilities through a de facto philosophical objection. It is the very definition of irony that legislation intended to improve child care now increases our children’s risk of disease when they walk through the door.”
to read the full article go to
https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/readers-opinion/guest-commentary/article303384486.html
“NY Department of Health issues travel advisory for New Yorkers due to measles outbreaks
By Eyewitness News
“The New York State Department of Health has issued a travel advisory ahead of Passover and Easter about measles outbreaks.
The travel advisory is urging everyone to make sure they are fully vaccinated against measles before traveling abroad or even domestically.”
to read the full article go to
https://abc7ny.com/post/nys-department-health-issues-travel-advisory-new-yorkers-due-measles-outbreaks-us-abroad/16120908/
“Possible measles exposure reported at Newark Airport and in Bergen County”
https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/health/2025/04/03/measles-newark-airport-bergen-county-nj/82789940007/
“Kennedy Attends Funeral of the Second Child to Die of Measles in Texas”
By Teddy Rosenbluth
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, on Sunday attended the funeral of an 8-year-old girl who died of measles amid an outbreak that has burned through the region and called into question his ability to handle the crisis.
“My intention was to come down here quietly to console the families and to be with the community in their moment of grief,” Mr. Kennedy said in a message posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the M.M.R. vaccine,” he added.”
to read the full article go to
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/06/health/measles-death-texas.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
“Ousted FDA vaccine chief makes plea to families to vaccinate children”
by Ashleigh Fields
“Peter Marks, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) vaccine official who resigned last week amid pressure from the Trump administration, urged families to continue vaccinating their children.
Marks, who previously led the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, pointed to concerns around Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his anti-vaccine rhetoric in his decision to ultimately leave the post.”
““No one at the FDA would ever let a vaccine out that they would not give to their own children,” he told Burnett. “And it is just breathtaking that anyone would try to dissuade parents from giving them their children vaccines, such as the measles vaccine, which is among the safest and most effective vaccines that we have.”
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5233896-peter-marks-fda-resignation-measles-vaccine/
“A catastrophe is unfolding at the top US health agency — and it will put American lives at risk “
https://www.vox.com/health/406967/rfk-jr-hhs-cuts-vaccine-measles-outbreak
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s cure for measles is making infected kids even sicker”
By Dr. Omer Awan
“More than 50 children have been hospitalized in Texas, and the vast majority of cases and hospitalizations are occurring in unvaccinated kids. One unvaccinated school-age child has died. In addition to measles itself, another thing is showing up in the routine lab work for unvaccinated children with measles: liver damage. According to the physicians treating such children at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, vitamin A toxicity from high doses of cod liver oil is the most likely culprit.
Cod liver oil, which Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has touted in several Fox News interviews as a cure and prophylaxis for measles, contains a rich amount of vitamin A. Symptoms of vitamin A toxicity include dry skin, fatigue, blurred vision, bone pain and the above-mentioned liver damage. In some cases, too much vitamin A can cause a person to fall into a coma or even die.”
to read the full article go to
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/measles-children-texas-cod-liver-oil-rcna199761