One of the very frustrating aspects of the vaccines-cause-autism myth is that my community–autism parents–are largely responsible for spreading the misinformation and the fear. One need only look at Jenny McCarthy, Generation Rescue, the National Autism Association, TACA (Talk about Curing Autism), Polly Tommey, and almost any online discussion about vaccines to see the misinformation being spread by autism parents.
Listen to someone spreading the fear about the MMR vaccine and you will almost always hear, “measles doesn’t kill”. I’ve heard it a number of times from Andrew Wakefield. Remember him? He’s the guy whose unethical research 20 years ago fueled the fear we have today. His current effort is a fake documentary called “Vaxxed”. His team includes Del Bigtree (a former actor and low level producer for daytime TV) and Polly Tommey (an autism parent and Wakefield ally). As part of their PR tour for their film, they’ve given a number of personal appearances and posted video to Facebook. Watch them a few times and you will see Wakefield’s team–especially Del Bigtree–that measles is not a fatal disease. That no one has died of measles in California, they say. Del Bigtree focuses on California a great deal. He’s from California. California had a sizable outbreak recently and, partially as a result of that, changed their laws on vaccines for students.
Del Bigtree is wrong, as he usually is. Measles does kill. The death rate in France over the past decade has been about 1 in 2000, And that’s the number for people killed during the infection. The recent outbreaks in California have not resulted in immediate deaths, but we haven’t had outbreaks as large as those in France. However, measles is killing people in California right now. It’s killing them with the long-term infection called SSPE. People in California have died in recent years, and one is currently dying of SSPE. SSPE is incurable. It’s a slow, agonizing death.
Want more facts about SSPE?
What is Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis?
Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a progressive neurological disorder of children and young adults that affects the central nervous system (CNS). It is a slow, but persistent, viral infection caused by defective measles virus.
and read more from that same site:
What is the prognosis?
Most individuals with SSPE will die within 1 to 3 years of diagnosis. In a small percentage of people, the disease will progress rapidly, leading to death over a short course within three months of diagnosis. Another small group will have a chronic, slowly progressive form, some with relapses and remissions. A very small number (approximately 5 percent) may experience spontaneous long term improvement and regain lost function. Prevention, in the form of measles vaccination, is the only real “cure” for SSPE.
You can read more but here’s what we are talking about: in addition to the people who die from measles infections, measles infects the brain in some people and they die. They die over years, slowly losing function. Spending years knowing death is coming.
And a recent study shows that SSPE has been happening in California. People have died in recent years. Someone is dying right now of SSPE.
There are a number of news stories about this. Below is the abstract from the conference.
Background: Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a fatal complication of measles. Thought to be rare, SSPE incidence decreased with routine measles vaccination, but infants with measles remain at highest risk of this complication. We reviewed SSPE cases in California from 1998-2016 to understand current risk factors for SPPE.
Methods: SSPE cases had a clinically compatible illness and either 1) measles IgG antibody detection in the cerebrospinal fluid; 2) characteristic pattern on electroencephalography; 3) typical histologic findings in brain biopsy; or 4) medical record documentation of SSPE-related complications. Cases were identified though a state death certificate search, reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or through investigations for undiagnosed neurologic disease. Measles IgG detection was performed using indirect enzyme immunoassay at the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) or by immunofluorescence assay at clinical laboratories.
Results: Seventeen SSPE cases were identified. Males outnumbered females 2.4:1. Twelve (71%) cases had a clinical history of a febrile rash illness compatible with measles; all 12 had illness prior to 15 months of age and measles vaccination. Eight (67%) children were living in the United States when they had measles. SSPE was diagnosed at a median age of 12 years (range 3-35 years), with a latency period of 9.5 years (range 2.5-34 years). Many cases had long-standing cognitive or motor problems prior to diagnosis. Among measles cases reported to CDPH during 1988-1991, incidence of SSPE was 1:1367 for children < 5 years, and 1:609 for children < 12 months at time of measles disease.
Conclusion: SSPE cases in California occurred at much higher rate than previously published among unvaccinated children who were infected with measles in infancy. Protection of infants younger than 12-15 months of age, when measles vaccine is routinely administered, requires avoidance of travel to endemic areas, or early vaccination prior to travel. Clinicians should be aware of the possibility of SSPE in patients with compatible symptoms, even in older patients with no specific history of measles infection. SSPE demonstrates the high human cost of “natural” measles immunity.
Let’s pull that last sentence out for emphasis:
SSPE demonstrates the high human cost of “natural” measles immunity.
The study above is based on something called data. Del Bigtree bases his arguments on a Brady Bunch episode.
No, I’m not making that up, Del Bigtree claims that since there was a Brady Bunch episode about measles, it must not have been a big deal in the 1960’s. That’s about as logical as saying, “well, there was this TV show about being in the Marines called ‘Gomer Pyle’. So, obviously, the Vietnam War was no big deal.”
I have zero belief that Del Bigtree (or Jenny McCarthy, Generation Rescue, the Age of Autism blog, Andrew Wakefield, or any of the rest) will change their claims that “measles is no big deal”. Why? Because Del (and the rest) are cowards. It takes guts, serious courage, to stand up and say, “I was wrong”. It takes guts to break from your community and say, “people, this position is dangerous”.
It takes the sort of courage that Del Bigtree and the rest just do not have.
—
by Matt Carey
Left Brain Right Brain 
During the SB277 hearings we were told of a four year old dying from SSPE in a hospice now. So sad.
So Bigtree has no reason to not know that he’s lying? This isn’t new information.
Can’t be sure he noticed or remembered.
I was paying close attention, don’t know how close he was.
Bigtree has taken on the role of spokesperson for his community. As such it is his responsibility to be educated on the subject. He’s not. He’s ignorant, not only on this specific topic, but multiple topics involving autism, vaccines and more.
He speaks out irresponsibly from ignorance and clear bias.
While some will be cowardly liars, others will be brave prostitutes. Prostituting the respect in their little tribe in order to acquire more power, more profit and increased standing, victims health and lives of others be damned.
wzrd1–
I was doing a search for Del Bigtree recently. One of the top suggested searches was “del bigtree married”. Make of that what you will.
Is there a link to the actual study?
https://idsa.confex.com/idsa/2016/webprogram/Paper56915.html
Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis: the Devastating Measles Complication is More Common than We Think
Background: Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a fatal complication of measles. Thought to be rare, SSPE incidence decreased with routine measles vaccination, but infants with measles remain at highest risk of this complication. We reviewed SSPE cases in California from 1998-2016 to understand current risk factors for SPPE.
Methods: SSPE cases had a clinically compatible illness and either 1) measles IgG antibody detection in the cerebrospinal fluid; 2) characteristic pattern on electroencephalography; 3) typical histologic findings in brain biopsy; or 4) medical record documentation of SSPE-related complications. Cases were identified though a state death certificate search, reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or through investigations for undiagnosed neurologic disease. Measles IgG detection was performed using indirect enzyme immunoassay at the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) or by immunofluorescence assay at clinical laboratories.
Results: Seventeen SSPE cases were identified. Males outnumbered females 2.4:1. Twelve (71%) cases had a clinical history of a febrile rash illness compatible with measles; all 12 had illness prior to 15 months of age and measles vaccination. Eight (67%) children were living in the United States when they had measles. SSPE was diagnosed at a median age of 12 years (range 3-35 years), with a latency period of 9.5 years (range 2.5-34 years). Many cases had long-standing cognitive or motor problems prior to diagnosis. Among measles cases reported to CDPH during 1988-1991, incidence of SSPE was 1:1367 for children < 5 years, and 1:609 for children < 12 months at time of measles disease.
Conclusion: SSPE cases in California occurred at much higher rate than previously published among unvaccinated children who were infected with measles in infancy. Protection of infants younger than 12-15 months of age, when measles vaccine is routinely administered, requires avoidance of travel to endemic areas, or early vaccination prior to travel. Clinicians should be aware of the possibility of SSPE in patients with compatible symptoms, even in older patients with no specific history of measles infection. SSPE demonstrates the high human cost of “natural” measles immunity.
Kristen Wendorf, MD, MS1, Kathleen Winter, MPH, PhD1, Kathleen Harriman, PhD, MPH, RN1, Jennifer Zipprich, MS, PhD1, Robert Schechter, MD1, Jill Hacker, PhD, MPH2, Chris Preas, BA2, James D. Cherry, MD, MSc, FIDSA3 and Carol Glaser, DVM, MPVM, MD4, (1)Immunization Branch, California Department of Public Health, Richmond, CA, (2)Viral and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory, California Department of Public Health, Richmond, CA, (3)Pediatric Infectious Diseases, University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, (4)Kaiser Permantente, Oakland, CA
The horror is this:
Among measles cases reported to CDPH during 1988-1991, incidence of SSPE was 1:1367 for children < 5 years, and 1:609 for children < 12 months at time of measles disease.
Examine that last number!
There is a phenomenal latency present as well, up to 35 years in some cases.
Orac covered this very topic yesterday.
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2016/11/01/measles-is-more-dangerous-than-we-thought-and-vaccines-are-as-safe-as-we-thought/
Del Bigtree likes to take the number who died directly from infections in a given year in the past and divide by the total population. It gives him a low number, which apparently is what he wants. In a recent public appearance he called this fraction the number who died out of those infected.
Read that through a couple of times–he’s doing a bait-and-switch. He starts by using total population as his denominator then claims its the fraction who were infected (which is a much smaller number).
I wonder if he realizes just how dishonest he is being, or if he just doesn’t have the chops to understand his own arguments. Or both.
“Is there a link to the actual study?”
It was included (complete with the abstract) in the article above. Why didn’t you read it? Why is it that “warrior” mothers so rarely actually do the basic research?
I’m sure you are aware,the usual suspects,AoA,whale.to,etc have been blaming MMR for SSPE for years.Here is an example from 2012. http://www.ageofautism.com/2012/09/age-of-autism-weekly-wrap-does-mmr-plus-toxins-equal-sspe-equal-autism.html
Thanks for that. (well, sort of 😉 )
With people like Mark Blaxill and Dan Olmsted, one can always count on AoA to make laughably bad scientific arguments. And pretend they are experts at the same time.
Frome the article you linked to
Irony meter officially blown. Olmsted has common sense but has spouted nonsense for well over a decade. Looks like he can manage to live independently, even go to college, and still firmly believe things that are absolute nonsense. And then act like he understands this well enough to guide others. People who think that just because they have “common sense” that they aren’t going to make fools of themselves from time to time are, well, fools.
As they are well aware of the idea of PCR (gene sequencing), a method abused by Andrew Wakefield, they should at least look for studies where people test whether SSPE is caused by vaccine strain measles virus.
It isn’t.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15566859
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12210437
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16235165
But, we are talking Dan Olmsted. Journalist. Who together with Mark Blaxill (whose profession centers around intellectual property) couldn’t do a simple website search of CHOP and instead wrote a long attack article about Paul Offit by pulling figures out of their virtual nether regions.
Watching them throw their gifts away, just ignore their intelligence, is very frustrating when one has a disabled kid.
“Olmsted has common sense but has spouted nonsense for well over a decade. Looks like he can manage to live independently, even go to college, and still firmly believe things that are absolute nonsense.”
🙂
My adult son is not ready for independent living, but he has more sense than Olmsted. Even if he did spend seven years getting a two year associates degree and still believes in aliens.
When citing the conference about the 12 cases of SSPE it says that they had had a illness prior to 12 months of age and they had been given a measles vaccine. How did they get measles, which causes SSPE, if they were vaccinated? I’m honestly curious. Does this mean that the measles vaccine was ineffective?
“Twelve (71%) cases had a clinical history of a febrile rash illness compatible with measles; all 12 had illness prior to 15 months of age and measles vaccination.”
They had the illness (measles) before the vaccination.
So, it means that the measles vaccination can’t prevent SSPE in children who have already had the measles. Which is expected. It would be wonderful if the vaccine could stop SSPE, but that was never the intention of the vaccine.
The MMR vaccine is only given after the first birthday. They were too young for the vaccine. This is why it is important to maintain community immunity to protect babies who cannot be vaccinated.
Though when they were old enough, they would still get an MMR vaccine to protect them from mumps and rubella.
When they check the viral strain they find that it is the viral strain found in the measles VACCINE: https://oup.silverchair-cdn.com/oup/backfile/Content_public/Journal/cid/29/4/10.1086/520449/2/29-4-855.pdf?Expires=1494547058&Signature=b6nIOgsqxMFYgIet0tw1eNHXpVVTaznYhuT~9YuSakt-OwGjJHwWvmw-GZsJCY0GcKlp-EjnBJhlgAE31wHt~0gAUsJjwYxrgHBu9t2Hkh6dcdV69R1jx5UCWnOMJ~G21BVXIuG2ByVRvWYqahkbhoFoEcHnLuVD2gYSeK-GXD7oCx0flFLqSGl-9aaccncZ7EcPuoG618D6h~HwvXuOLOVRX9qX0LlBPCeP0QA0G47ndj6gC8UupidgUvG-PxsKd4kaHmn6tBDzTZxLdz7DXPGVVxq1UVPIDQzvvhIINW2hsenN0p6Q9dzGifamq5mGTUeW4fbMXV7HjALKB-WKyw__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIUCZBIA4LVPAVW3Q
No. They didn’t. Do real research. They typed the measles strain and it was one that was previously seen in the the Philippines as I recall.
Link doesn’t work. But the vaccine strain was never implicated in SSPE, always the wild virus. See:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8749.2010.03717.x/full
http://m.ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/36/6/1334.full
So this is simply wrong.
Thank you for pointing out that the “wild strain” of measles (a strain we don’t have a vaccine against) is found to be the SSPE culprit.
People need to stop attacking parents with autistic children. None of the recent outbreaks were traced back to anti-vaxxers or parents with autistic children.
More people are killed by cows in the U.S. than by measles and SSPE combined. You are more likely to die from a snake or spider’s bite; even death rates caused by falling out bed are much higher than measles and SSPE deaths in the U.S.
Do you let your child swim in open water? The odds of dying from a shark bite or alligator bite are the same as dying from measles in the U.S.
I’m not telling anyone to stop getting vaccinations. I’m asking everyone to stop being ridiculous because a parent makes a choice not to vaccinate their kid.
Have you ever seen a child that suffered irreparable damage by the MMR? Unfortunately I have met children that are blind, deaf, mute, and unable to walk or ever eat solid food because they had a rare, but devastating reaction to the vaccine. Parents that have won lawsuits proving irrefutably the disastrous effect the vaccine had on their child. The millions of dollars won won’t cover the cost of lifetime care for these children.
Having a child with a disability such as autism reveals a world most people never know exists. I’ve been in hospitals, waiting rooms, therapy offices, and I’ve seen some very sad things.
People should do their own research. They should make the decision that is right for their family, and NO ONE should be shamed or belittled for making an informed choice.
The fact is we don’t know what causes autism. We don’t know what triggers some autoimmune dysfunctions. It could be so many combinations of things. As the research stands now their isn’t evidence to link autism to vaccinations, but parents should be aloud to make the decision that is right for their family. The United States upholds the freedom to decide whether or not to vaccinate. It’s a personal choice and should be respected.
I believe we shouldn’t call people names; it’s childish and not intelligent behavior.
As a mother of a child with autism and two children with poor immune function, I did a crazy amount of research trying to understand the pro’s and con’s of vaccinations. My children are vaccinated. I looked at all of the evidence and I chose a path that deviated from the normal vaccine schedule because of the immune function issues my children have; however, they are vaccinated. They are also more likely to still catch a disease they were vaccinated against because it doesn’t give enough antibodies to eliminate the risk of infection.
Stop name calling, blaming, and using scare tactics to manipulate parents. Know the facts, and make the choice that’s right for you.
Of course our vaccine works against the wild strain. Where have you gotten this incorrect idea from?
Not sure of your facts, but, thank you vaccine. Without the vaccine many people would die from measles and SSPE.
please, take your own advice. Know the facts. You presently don’t.
*allowed not aloud
Grammatical mistake made after a long day. I dare not dismiss it. I’ve been a part of many of these discussions and individuals will use anything to invalidate a statement they disagree with.
A. Wild strain is distinguished from the attenuated vaccine strain. It simply means natural measles, and that is exactly what the vaccine is against.
B. There are plenty of outbreaks started by unvaccinated children, or children of parents who are anti-vaccine. So claiming outbreaks are not traced back to them is strange.
C. Death rates from measles in the U.S. are low because cases are low because most people vaccinate. The anti-vaccine movement is working to change that. Calling them out is part of keeping deaths low.
We do know that vaccines do not cause autism and, generally, do not cause autoimmune diseases.
and yes, calling out people who increase the risks of outbreaks – whether by promoting misinformation that scares people from vaccinating or by not protecting their children because of misinformation – is appropriate. MMR is extremely safe. Measles is not.
The vaccine causing the disease, but mistargeting the actual event seems to be extremely common and along a common trend beyond the usual suspects.
The talking point is, reassortment and that only occurred in OPV, in an active epidemic area, so became a subject of official discussion, measurement and mitigation.
I’ll be passing along said information tomorrow, along with suspicions and some suspect metadata that was captured previous to this interaction.
I’m saying this in a public forum for a reason, even minor transgressions will be addressed in time.
Personally, I’m advocating for cobalt-60 salted devices in reprisal. Just upon the source city, if a full exchange is desired, go for it.
I’m better at mind games than they are. Always was, always will be.
The laugh is, psyops adopted my games, never attributed them, didn’t care or want attribution, only wanted the effect.
Hearts and minds, our group’s resurrection of an old idea that worked.
So, yet another minion.