The Last Time Measles Killed
As a young man, I was one of 55,000 Americans to catch measles. I had a fever so high, my family was told to feed me overlapping doses of NSAIDS and bathe me in ice if it didn’t come down. For a week, I felt like me head was going to explode, like death would have been a relief — but 123 others did die and 29 developed encephalitis, likely leading to life-long disability. I caught it because the single dose vaccine I had received as a child had not conferred adequate immunity to protect me when unvaccinated children in Los Angeles started an outbreak that jumped in a few hours to Shrevepoint Louisiana in the blood of a student returning from vacation to my mother’s school — in which I visited, walking through the library after hours.
The parish health unit sent a nurse to my home and placed me in quarantine. The vaccine was updated to be more effective and even safer.
There was absolutely no reason for there ever again to be another major outbreak in the United States, the greatest and richest nation in the world, product of the Age of Reason, that beckon of prosperity and science who had taken humanity to the moon.
Yet, here we are::
| Year/location | Outbreak size | Deaths | Root cause / introduction | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989–91 U.S. resurgence | ~55,000 | 123 | Primarily failure to vaccinate preschool children on schedule; also outbreaks among older children/college students inadequately protected by the then-common 1-dose strategy. (CDC) | |
| 2008, multiple U.S. outbreaks | 140 total cases; 7 outbreaks accounted for 106 of first 131 cases | 0 reported | Imported measles, especially from Europe, entering clusters of deliberately unvaccinated children. 91% of U.S.-resident cases were unvaccinated/unknown. (CDC) | |
| 2011, nationwide | 222 cases; 17 outbreaks, 112 outbreak cases; largest 21 | 0 | 90% import-associated; most patients unvaccinated/unknown. Nearly half of eligible unvaccinated 16-month–19-year-olds cited philosophical/religious/personal objection. (CDC) | |
| 2013, Brooklyn, NY | 58 | 0 | An intentionally unvaccinated 17-year-old returned from London infectious; spread through Orthodox Jewish families with low vaccination. (CDC) | |
| 2013, North Carolina | 23 | 0 | Unvaccinated traveler returned after 3 months in India; spread primarily through a largely unvaccinated religious community. (CDC) | |
| 2013, Texas church | 21 | 0 | Adult index patient returned from Indonesia; 81% of vaccine-eligible cases were unvaccinated. (CDC) | |
| 2014, Ohio Amish | 383 | 0 | Travelers returned from the Philippines outbreak; virus spread through an undervaccinated Amish community. The outbreak was already at 138 cases by CDC’s May report and eventually reached 383. (CDC) | |
| 2014–15, Disneyland, CA/multistate | 147 | 0 | Exact index patient never identified; CDC considers an infected international traveler the likely introduction. B3 virus matched a genotype circulating widely, including in the Philippines. Spread facilitated by unvaccinated people; many vaccine-eligible unvaccinated California patients were intentionally unvaccinated. (CDC) | |
| 2017, Minnesota | 79 | 0 | Source unknown, but explosive spread occurred in the Somali-American community after MMR coverage had fallen dramatically because of misinformation linking MMR to autism. 65/79 cases were Somali children. (CDC) | |
| 2018–19, Clark County, WA | 71 | 0 | Introduction source not firmly identified; genotype D8 consistent with international circulation. 86% unvaccinated; household and church transmission dominated. (CDC) | |
| 2018–19, NYC | 654 | 0 | Imported measles followed by prolonged transmission primarily in undervaccinated Orthodox Jewish communities. It became the largest U.S. outbreak since 1992. (CDC) | |
| 2018–19, Rockland County/NY State | hundreds | 0 | Closely related pattern: imported measles followed by sustained transmission in undervaccinated Orthodox Jewish communities. Together the NY outbreaks produced most U.S. cases in 2019. (CDC) | |
| 2022, central Ohio | 85 | 0 | Exact chain of introduction not proved. Four earlier imported cases involved unvaccinated travelers returning from East Africa, but CDC couldn’t establish a definitive link. 94% of outbreak patients were unvaccinated. (CDC) | |
| 2024, Chicago migrant shelter | 57 | 0 | Introduction into a crowded shelter containing many people without documented vaccination; 72% of cases unvaccinated/unknown. Rapid mass vaccination probably prevented a much larger outbreak. (CDC) | |
| 2025, U.S. outbreaks collectively | 2,066 outbreak-associated cases; 48 outbreaks | 3 confirmed U.S. measles deaths | Dominated by large outbreaks in undervaccinated communities, particularly the West Texas/New Mexico region; international introduction ultimately required because endemic U.S. transmission had previously been eliminated. | |
| 2026 through Oct. 1 | 3,887 total cases; 3,700 outbreak-associated; 42 new outbreaks | Current totals still evolving | Multiple introductions/outbreak chains amplified by geographically concentrated low vaccination; 2025 chains account for 1,384 of 2026’s outbreak-associated cases. (CDC) |
Folks, this has to stop. We have to stop electing morons and populist criminals to high office, and we have to stop listening to idiot influencers or politically inspired propaganda.
Your neighbors are not your enemy, even if they don’t look like you or agree with you. The enemy are the oligarchs, working to make you hate your neighbor in order to make you more pliable, so as to lead you by the nose into slavery.
123 Americans died. It should have been the last time. We have to make this the last time.
