CELL LINE DEBRIS != ABORTED FETUSES
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In a hard-to-watch video, a healthy-looking 4-year-old boy lies on a bed as doctors lift his eyelids to watch his big brown eyes erratically swirl and roll backward. His head jerks, and his little limbs weakly twitch and spasm. A small bit of foam pushes past his lips.
The video, captured by neurologists in India and published today in JAMA Neurology, shows what it looks like when the measles virus is allowed to ravage a child’s brain. (The video can be viewed here.)
I am going to suggest not clicking through to the video if you have a heart. Suffice it to say it is horrendous. No treatment, no hope, just slow-motion melting of a child’s brain. God help us all.
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Interesting look behind the scenes of what it’s like to be in public health in an outbreak when the feds are actively sabotaging efforts to keep people alive.
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Unvaccinated students at Missouri Ridge Elementary, Williston Middle School and Williston High School were told they need to isolate for 21 days to ensure they were not infected, said Paula Lankford, spokesperson for Williston Basin School District 7. The precaution is to prevent students from unknowingly spreading the virus to others.
At least ND is trying. More than TX has done, honestly. Not that that says much.
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Thursdays data. Measles Cases and Outbreaks | Measles (Rubeola) | CDC
U.S. Cases in 2025
Total cases
935
Age
Under 5 years: 285 (30%)
5-19 years: 353 (38%)
20+ years: 284 (30%)
Age unknown: 13 (1%)
Vaccination Status
Unvaccinated or Unknown: 96%
One MMR dose: 2%
Two MMR doses: 2%U.S. Hospitalizations in 2025
13%
13% of cases hospitalized (121 of 935).
Percent of Age Group HospitalizedUnder 5 years: 23% (66 of 285)
5-19 years: 8% (30 of 353)
20+ years: 8% (23 of 284)
Age unknown: 15% (2 of 13)U.S. Deaths in 2025
3
There have been 3 confirmed deaths from measles.
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Most urban areas actually have pretty decent vaccination rates, but all it takes is for it to find one of the enclaves of vaccine resistance and we are gonna see things get very ugly. Believe it or not, we’ve been pretty lucky so far as that goes. It won’t hold, though.
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Sorry, Doc, but I have to push back on this. Both local health departments and state (DSHS) are doing everything they can. I know a couple of people involved on the DSHS side and they are burning at both ends trying to keep a lid on the outbreak with the extremely limited resources available to them and against some really heavy political winds and a complete lack of cooperation from the community where the outbreak is heaviest. DSHS is under the direct control of Abbott.
The Texas politicians and the feds are absolutely fucking it up and children will die or be permanently harmed because of them. But the local health districts, most of the schools, and the state agency are doing everything they can.
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Not griping at the HD docs and all. It’s those “extremely limited resources” that make me furious. The rage is directed far upstream of the boots on the ground folks, who are doung all they can with what they have.
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It’s not just in rural America that this thing is spreading. We are in deep shit and apparently on our own, as the US government seems to have decided that this is not their problem. Would you believe i actually kinda miss covid? At least we acknowledged it was a problem!
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This will end well, surely…
This will be spun as “it’s all over.” And, it might be, it may have burned through the available fuel in that area and burn out. But it has thrown sparks into lots of other vulnerable areas. The Kansas outbreak is picking up steam, Houston and Dallas-Ft Worth are dealing with new cases. I guess this is the best we can hope for, just let it infect all that it can and burn itself out.
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As the outbreak spread, cases swelling from dozens to hundreds to now more than 1,600 provincewide, a new group of measles patients has emerged — one that few doctors in Canada have treated before.
Pregnant people were getting sick with measles. And Barton, working at the outbreak’s epicentre, raced to figure out how to care for them and their babies.
Pregnancy is a relatively immunocompromised state by definition. There is no way around that. So none of this should be a surprise:
Studies from other countries show unvaccinated pregnant women are more likely to be hospitalized, develop pneumonia and die from measles than those who are not pregnant. Measles also threatens the fetus or unborn baby. An infection during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage, premature birth and cause low birth weight.
(Aside, I had no idea just how big that outbreak is! 1600 people, damn…)
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Yay! A nice, big superspreader event! We have gotten away with a few of these just due to overall high vaccine uptake in the local area, but it only takes one…
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Measles cases rise to 76 in New Mexico
A majority of the cases in New Mexico this year have been confirmed in Lea County; however, in addition to the Sandoval County cases, there have also been infections in Curry, Eddy, Doña Ana, and Chaves counties.
Measles cases in Texas rise by six to 728, state health department says | Reuters
May 23 (Reuters) - The Texas health department on Friday reported 728 cases of measles in the state, up by six cases from its last update on Tuesday.
In Gaines County, the epicenter of the outbreak in the state, the number of infections rose by two cases to 408 since the last update, the Texas Department of State Health Services said.
I guess that counts as the good news? The amount of dry tinder is running out, the fire is dying down. But has found fertile ground elsewhere.
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Gaines County
Lea County
the reporting by state sometimes obscures geography.
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I understand they are contiguous. Hence the “fertile ground” statement. The bugs do not respect geographic boundaries.
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https://www.wric.com/news/virginia-news/charlottesville/teen-measles-second-case-in-virginia/
The VDH provided locations, dates and times of five potential exposure sites in Charlottesville, listed below:
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Charlottesville Albemarle Airport
- Tuesday, May 20, between 2:15 and 5:30 p.m.
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Play It Again Sports, 1885 Seminole Trail
- Tuesday, May 20, between 2:40 to 5 p.m.
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Goodwill Store and Donation Center, 440 Gander Drive
- Tuesday, May 20 from 3:10 to 5:30 p.m.
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UVA Health Primary Care Riverside, 2335 Seminole Lane, Suite 200
- Thursday, May 22 from 2 to 7:10 p.m.
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UVA Health University Medical Center Emergency Department, 1215 Lee St.
- Friday, May 23 from 12 to 6 a.m.
The case was confirmed in an unvaccinated adult in central Iowa, according to HHS. This is the first confirmed case in Iowa this year.
Lovely news everywhere. Getting really close to home. Friendly reminder that these may amount to nothing, as it has to find unvaxxed hosts to spread. Here in VA we’ve been lucky, but that cannot hold.
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