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Measles Outbreak Tied To Texas Megachurch

New submitter the eric conspiracy sends this quote from NBC: "An outbreak of measles tied to a Texas megachurch where ministers have questioned vaccination has sickened at least 21 people, including a 4-month-old infant — and it's expected to spread further, state and federal health officials said. 'There's likely a lot more susceptible people,' said Dr. Jane Seward, the deputy director for the viral diseases division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ... All of the cases are linked to the Eagle Mountain International Church in Newark, Texas, where a visitor who'd traveled to Indonesia became infected with measles – and then returned to the U.S., spreading it to the largely unvaccinated church community, said Russell Jones, the Texas state epidemiologist. ... Terri Pearsons, a senior pastor of Eagle Mountain International said she has had concerns about possible ties between early childhood vaccines and autism. In the wake of the measles outbreak, however, Pearsons has urged followers to get vaccinated and the church has held several vaccination clinics. ... 'In this community, these cases so far are all in people who refused vaccination for themselves and their children,' [Steward] added. The disease that once killed 500 people a year in the U.S. and hospitalized 48,000 had been considered virtually eradicated after a vaccine introduced in 1963. Cases now show up typically when an unvaccinated person contracts the disease abroad and spreads it upon return to the U.S."

28 of 622 comments (clear)

  1. As usual. by nospam007 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Think of it as evolution in action.

    1. Re:As usual. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Please check which option you'd like:
      [ ] vaccinations
      [x] Darwin Award registration

    2. Re:As usual. by Cwix · · Score: 5, Informative

      I assume you are trying to imply that the measles outbreak came from Mexico. Too bad you are full of shit. One of the members of the church visited Indonesia and brought it back.

      --
      You are entitled to your own opinions, not your own facts.
    3. Re:As usual. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      One of the members of the church visited Indonesia and brought it back.

      Seems like a fair trade. One of them got a virulent disease that's been plaguing mankind for thousands of years, and the other one got measles.

    4. Re:As usual. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      One of the oldest rules of survival - STUPID ANIMALS DIE!!!!

      Only up to a point. Natural selection works both ways. Stupid animals may die because they make stupid mistakes. But smart animals may also be under a disadvantage because their more active brain consumes more energy, and the curiosity that comes with intelligence may get them in trouble. If wild animals, such as rats, are captured, selectively bred to improve their intelligence, and then released, they will regress to their original level. So you want to be smart, but not too smart.

    5. Re:As usual. by Derec01 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "Correlation does not imply.. etc. etc."

      To be perfectly frank, I think a lot of skeptics are too ready to stop there and just infer the rest.

      That forgets that childhood poverty and subsequent poor educational environment are highly negatively correlated with IQ, while the distressing situation is highly correlated with forming a religious community and the comfort that can provide.

      It's way too complicated at present to ascribe that to genetics. It stinks of the same easy answers religion is blamed for providing.

    6. Re:As usual. by Xtifr · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I prefer to think of it as child abuse. And before you say it, no, there is no correlation between low intelligence and believing stupid things. Intelligent people are, in fact, quite adept at coming up with elaborate justifications for believing the most incredibly stupid things. So this is not just killing stupid kids.

      Furthermore, it's not just the children of these deluded fools who are at risk. There are a lot of children who cannot get standard vaccines because of various allergies. Normally, these children are protected by herd immunity, but when enough people begin to refuse vaccinations based on stupid, insane, and utterly discredited theories, the herd immunity protection goes away.

      Frankly, I think the anti-vaxxers are shouting fire in a crowded theatre, and should be treated accordingly.

    7. Re:As usual. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Interesting

      That forgets that childhood poverty and subsequent poor educational environment are highly negatively correlated with IQ

      The standard deviation for IQ is about 15 points. Fraternal twins, even when raised apart, have a SD of about about six. Identical twins, even when raised apart, have a SD of about three. So your IQ is about 80% inherited. Of course it can be affected by other things, but overall, IQ is more strongly inherited than height. Height can certainly be affected by environmental factors like nutrition, but the overwhelming factor is the height of your parents.

    8. Re:As usual. by CohibaVancouver · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I took him to mean that US customs or border enforcement or some such should have been keeping an eye out

      No, they should be keeping an eye out for ebola - Not for diseases that citizens of no 'western' nation should ever get in the first place.

    9. Re:As usual. by mjwx · · Score: 5, Funny

      One of the oldest rules of survival - STUPID ANIMALS DIE!!!!

      Only up to a point. Natural selection works both ways. Stupid animals may die because they make stupid mistakes. But smart animals may also be under a disadvantage because their more active brain consumes more energy, and the curiosity that comes with intelligence may get them in trouble. If wild animals, such as rats, are captured, selectively bred to improve their intelligence, and then released, they will regress to their original level. So you want to be smart, but not too smart.

      Not really, smarter animals are more often in trouble when stupid animals die because they used the stupid animal as a staple food source.

      Not that I propose eating anti-vaxxers... Who knows what diseases they might have.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    10. Re:As usual. by pla · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Americans are renounced for not knowing their geography, but thinking that Indonesia is within US borders is still astonishing.

      You understand how Customs works, right? By the time they allow you on "US soil", you've already spent ten hours with 100+ people packed into a flying sardine, landed somewhere inside the US, made your way from Terminal F to terminal D, spent 15 minutes mixing with a different group of 50 people on a rolling sardine can, spend another half hour packed in line with hundreds of people so some minor official can wave a blacklight over your passport with no clue why... And only then do they allow you to mingle with the far less densely-packed US public.

      Somehow, I question the efficacy of bothering to send the one symptomatic visitor back, at that last point in a whole chain of weakest links.

    11. Re: As usual. by unapersson · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm also content in my beliefs of a deistic reality, as it does not contradict available data and satisfies the psychological need for purpose in life and the possibility of an afterlife. Blind faith is absurd, but on the other hand so is atheism; the premise being that if life is purposeless, why would one subject themselves to the trials and tribulations of life? As life is a death sentence right from the start, logic implies that one should end their life once they belief atheism as fact, however society correctly asserts that this is a mental defect because one can not know with absolute certainty that life is pointless. Belief in abrahamic religions is equally delusional, harm others, and should also be assumed to be a mental defect.

      Atheism is just a lack of faith. Life is worth experiencing for it's own sake. Why would the enjoyment or purpose of life depend on the promise of an afterlife? And a promise dependant largely on which culture you were born into.

  2. cases are in people who refused vaccination ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Interesting!

    It's almost as if these "vaccines" actually work!

    Maybe these "vaccines" were intelligently designed or something!

    1. Re:cases are in people who refused vaccination ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't think these people are doubting that vaccines work. Rather they are more afraid of their kids having autism than measles. And they don't understand that vaccines don't cause autism.

    2. Re:cases are in people who refused vaccination ... by MarcoAtWork · · Score: 5, Insightful

      and probably do not understand how nasty measles can be and what kind of lifelong disabilities it can leave you (deafness, meniere's, ...)

      --
      -- the cake is a lie
    3. Re:cases are in people who refused vaccination ... by Jason+Levine · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Sadly, over on Phil Plait's blog, an anti-vax commenter said "If by chance a death occurs... I personally would rather bear the dead than sustain the epidemic trend of life long chronic illnesses such as autism, asthma, diabetes, cancer." Yes, this person would rather see a child dead than have autism, diabetes, cancer, or ASTHMA!

      Personally, my son is autistic (Asperger's Syndrome) and I know plenty of other parents of autistic kids (many with needs much greater than my own son). I know of NO parents who wish their kid was dead. I know a parent whose child has cancer (second or third time back - going to need a bone marrow transplant and even then it's not a guarantee) - I'm sure that they have NEVER wished their child was dead. I can't imagine ANY parent wishing their kid was dead (perhaps short some terminal illness where the kid has zero chance of recovery and is suffering greatly... and even then it's a "choosing between two evils" scenario). But this anti-vaxxer would rather see kids dead than risk the "horrors" of asthma.

      One last point: I have Asperger's Syndrome as well so I was also personally offended by the implication that both my son and I were better off dead than autistic. I've done pretty well for myself and my son's future is quite bright. (The kid's a natural at math and computers. Scary good.) Even if vaccines DID cause autism (WHICH THEY DON'T), I'd rather have a hundred autistic kids than one child die of a vaccine preventable illness.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  3. The media is also responsible by Mindragon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ever since they gave a lot of "talking time" to folks that may not have any idea at all what they are talking about, our "fair and balanced" media also shares a hand in the killing of these people.

    --
    Just add {In Space!} to anything.
  4. If they're skipping MMR by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 5, Informative

    then they're putting everyone at risk for mumps and rubella, both with reproductive implications.

  5. Re: Just goes to show... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well his disciples preferred Honda. "They were all with one accord - Acts 2:1"

  6. Prominent figure reversing her incorrect opinion?? by bdwebb · · Score: 5, Interesting
    This is the part that is shocking about this to me:

    Terri Pearsons, a senior pastor of Eagle Mountain International said she has had concerns about possible ties between early childhood vaccines and autism. In the wake of the measles outbreak, however, Pearsons has urged followers to get vaccinated and the church has held several vaccination clinics.

    I respect the hell out of the fact that she actually went against her own original beliefs and recommendations and, in the wake of the outbreak she reversed her opinion no matter the fact that it may have made her look 'stupid'. High five to Terri Pearsons for doing the right thing.

  7. Re:Please Explain by bmo · · Score: 5, Informative

    The autism caused by vax was reported by a doctor doing research.

    No, it was reported by a doctor perpetrating a fraud. "Doctor" Wakefield's paper was subsequently retracted by The Lancet and he was thrown out of medicine permanently.

    Phil Jones has admitted to falsifying data

    Sorry, no. He did no such thing. What you just said is the Fox "News" version of the story, in which the truth is far more complicated than you make it. There wasn't any kind of fraud going on, and to talk about this in the same manner as if Jones is equal to Wakefield is pure, unadulterated, bullshit.

    There was an investigation spurred by a *republican* and the result was that Jones was vindicated. Which was a fact that you conveniently left out of your "just so" story.

    I just can't figure that part out.

    Because you are a moron. Full stop.

    --
    BMO

  8. Re:Please Explain by drachenfyre · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You don't need to even bother with any reputable source. The simple fact is this. If you want to beat an anti-vaxxer in an argument, simply give in to them. Admit every single thing they said is true.

    Now, with that said. We are going to assume that measles causes 10 autism cases per 1000 kids. A 1% rate.

    Measles alone, and JUST Measles, in a first world country, has a 0.3% mortality rate - http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/189/Supplement_1/S4.full

    Now we have 3 dead kids, against 10 autistic ones. This doesn't factor in the kids maimed and permanently blinded by complications of just measles.

    Now throw in rubella, diphtheria, polio, smallpox, pertussis, hep b, influenza, mumps and chicken pox.

    How are those 10 autistic kids looking against the pile of dead, blind and scarred kids.

    Exactly. I can concede every single point to an anti-vaxxer and still show the outcome is better with vaccines.

  9. Re:Just goes to show... by tolkienfan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You could start by refusing medical advice from a pastor...

  10. Re:No they're not... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    They're only putting those who are not vaccinated at risk.

    1) Vaccination is not 100% effective in all subjects. It works almost always, but sometimes doesn't stick.
    2) Some people are allergic to some vaccines so can't be vaccinated and have to rely on herd immunity to not come in contact with the disease.
    3) Some people, eg. those being treated for cancer, have damaged immune systems and can't tolerate the vaccine; even if they were given it, it would not work due to their immune system being broken.
    4) Infants can't be vaccinated immediately at birth; allowing diseases to become common may not affect vaccinated adults much but will still increase infant mortality.
    5) More hosts around immune people means the disease has the chance to throw itself at the vaccine over and over until adapted strains that aren't prevented by the vaccine proliferate.

  11. Re:No they're not... by PCM2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If not, then . . . who cares?

    People who can't get vaccinated for medical reasons, for instance because they're babies and too young to get the vaccine yet, or they have compromised immune systems (for one reason or another). People in these groups have to rely on otherwise healthy people to do the right thing and get vaccinated.

    --
    Breakfast served all day!
  12. vaccination should be mandatory, legally by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Insightful

    of course the morons will then WHARGARBBBL about fascism and tyranny, as if the only threat to life and liberty comes from the government, and not from the morons living around you

    no one should have the "freedom" to kill children, whether theirs or their neighbor's. they might not realize that their beliefs are doing that. and you're certainly entitled to your beliefs, but you're not entitled to your own facts

    when the issue is life and death, it's time to force the morons to stop killing children. if they can't be reasoned with, they need to be forced

    scientific fact is not tyranny

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  13. Re:No they're not... by CTachyon · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yeah, I must be missing something here. Are those who do not get vaccinated putting those of us who are at serious risk?

    Yes. The measles herd immunity threshold for the MMR vaccine is 92-94%. If more than 6% of the idiots around you go unvaccinated, measles becomes likely to spread among people who have already taken the vaccine or otherwise acquired immunity.

    The reason is simple: the immune system is random. The B cells in each vaccinated individual produce different antibodies in response to the same antigen. Since an antibody's response to antigen X1 doesn't correlate much with its response to antigen X2, and different lines of a disease have different antigens, no vaccine can be 100% effective. Any one person might have total immunity to some given line of the disease (called a "quasispecies"), yet be totally vulnerable to some other quasispecies whose antigens are invisible to the existing antibodies. Different people are vulnerable to different quasispecies, and there are thousands of quasispecies (grouped into 21 strains in the case of measles), so we usually just throw our hands up in the air and pretend that infection vulnerability is a wholly non-deterministic thing.

    Herd immunity is the threshold where each infection produces, on average, one new infection. If the vaccination rate is above herd immunity, each infection produces less than one new infection (exponential decay). The outbreak reaches its peak quickly, then vanishes as the existing victims fight off the disease (or die). If the vaccination rate is below herd immunity, then each infection leads to more than one new infection (exponential growth). The outbreak then grows rapidly until so many people are already carrying the disease that the disease runs out of new hosts, reaching a new steady-state of one new infection per infection... at which point we say it has transformed from epidemic (an outbreak) to endemic (never going away on its own).

    If vaccines were 100% effective, falling below the herd immunity threshold wouldn't be so worrisome for people who are vaccinated. True, among vaccine-refusing populations (and those who can't benefit from vaccines, e.g. babies, the very elderly, AIDS patients, and organ transplant recipients) the disease would perpetually rage, as there would be enough contact between vulnerable islands that the disease never quite burns out. But in reality (a) each person who is immunized has a small-but-nonzero chance of catching the infection (and passing it on), so everyone is potential virus-habitat regardless of vaccination status, and (b) more victims means larger viral population means more viral reproduction means creation of more quasispecies. More quasispecies means that, if there is some way that the antigens can change that will give the disease access to new victims without compromising the disease's ability to spread, evolution will find and exploit it sooner rather than later, so the virus can get its grubby little capsid proteins on fresh meat that other strains can't touch (i.e. you).

    What we're seeing in Texas is an outbreak in an overall US population where vaccination rates are falling, but still above the herd immunity threshold... for now. If rates continue to fall, we can expect these outbreaks to become larger and more frequent, until they eventually reach criticality and the end of one outbreak always overlaps the beginning of the next, i.e. the disease becomes endemic again.

    (Pertussis is also stupid contagious and thus has a high threshold for herd immunity, but pertussis is about 10 times more likely to kill a baby than measles is. Like measles, pertussis is also seeing big ugly outbreaks these days: the Denver metro area, Northern California around Marin, Washington state, i.e. basically the places where the cultish and vaccine-refusing Waldorf School has a notable presence

    --
    Range Voting: preference intensity matters
  14. Re:Just goes to show... by bitt3n · · Score: 5, Funny

    You could start by refusing medical advice from a pastor...

    What a silly statement. Was it not a pastor who discovered the very principle of vaccination? Louis Pastor, I believe.