MADISON, WI - JUNE 06: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Wildlife Pathologist Carol Meteyer inspects a ... [+] dead adult female Bald Eagle June 6, 2006 in Madison, Wisconsin. Along with searching for cause of death, the USGS also test for avian flu as a routine step in examination. The USGS National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin is one of the top testing facilities for the avian flu virus in the U.S. (Photo by Darren Hauck/Getty Images)
The highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus has infected nearly 140 dairy herds across 12 states in America, resulting in four reported human cases this year, according to the CDC. The FDA recently announced efforts to increase testing of more dairy products in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus across dairy farms, according to reports from Reuters. The testing would sample 155 dairy products to ensure pasteurization inactivates the virus.
In addition, the state of Michigan will also start serological testing on farm workers for signs of prior infection of the virus.
Bolstering testing strategies is critical from a public health perspective for several reasons. Increased testing allows public health officials to detect and contain outbreaks early. The bird flu has killed millions of birds globally and is responsible for infecting millions of other animals as well. Early detection can prompt appropriate interventions such as imposing quarantine zones and restricting movement of birds and milk products to prevent the spread of the infection to new areas. These interventions are only possible by comprehensive and thorough testing of the bird flu virus.
In addition, testing ultimately will help prevent transmission of the virus among different populations, including humans. While the current public health risk to humans remains low, the virus could eventually mutate and cause sustained human to human spread, which could then potentially lead to a pandemic. Testing allows different bird flu strains to be identified and monitored. By understanding the genetic composition of potentially deadly strains, public health practitioners can implement appropriate strategies to protect high-risk individuals, as well as develop vaccines that would be pivotal in decreasing the transmission of the virus.
Robust testing allows for more clear and transparent messaging to the general public. Testing ensures the adequate tracking of the evolution of the virus as well as studying the characteristics of new and problematic strains that could potentially spread among humans. This information is vital in developing policy decisions that help mitigate the spread of the virus. In addition, the more information that is gathered from testing, the clearer messaging can be from health officials to educate the public on best practice policies to curb the spread of the virus. Without adequate testing, health authorities and media personnel would have scant information to deliver to the general public with respect to prevention strategies.
Finally, testing can prevent substantial economic loss when considering the poultry and dairy industries represent a significant part of the global economy. Bird flu outbreaks can lead to substantial economic loss if culling of infected flocks occurs as well as implementation of trade restrictions. This is precisely why some farmers may be hesitant to get tested themselves for bird flu out of fear of losing revenue. However, testing can actually reduce economic loss in the long-run through early intervention that can subsequently reduce the duration of outbreaks. Shorter scale of outbreaks also means a stable supply of poultry and dairy products which would prevent increases in prices from potential shortages.
Testing for the bird flu remains pivotal in both managing and mitigating the risks for humans. Although the FDA and the state of Michigan have taken positive strides in increasing testing, much more testing will be needed to fully understand the genetics, transmission and evolution of the bird flu virus. Testing represents the cornerstone of public health initiatives to curb disease and can be the difference between whether or not a future pandemic occurs.
A cow resting in her stall. In the foreground is a colorized transmission electron micrograph of H5N1 virus particles (yellow). In 2024, H5N1 bird flu has been causing outbreaks in poultry and U.S. dairy cows. Cow photo by NIAID; micrograph, which has been repositioned and recolored by NIAID, is courtesy CDC. Credit: NIAID and CDC
Research on H5N1 influenza in U.S. dairy cattle shows the virus can cause severe disease in mice and ferrets but lacks efficient transmission through respiratory droplets. This finding suggests a limited potential for these bovine-derived viruses to cause widespread disease among mammals.
A series of experiments with highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza (HPAI H5N1) viruses circulating in infected U.S. dairy cattle found that viruses derived from lactating dairy cattle induced severe disease in mice and ferrets when administered via intranasal inoculation. The virus from the H5N1-infected cows bound to both avian (bird) and human-type cellular receptors, but, importantly, did not transmit efficiently among ferrets exposed via respiratory droplets.
The findings, published on July 8 in the journal Nature, suggest that bovine (cow) HPAI H5N1 viruses may differ from previous HPAI H5N1 viruses and that these viruses may possess features that could facilitate infection and transmission among mammals. However, they currently do not appear capable of efficient respiratory transmission between animals or people.
In March 2024, an outbreak of HPAI H5N1 was reported among U.S. dairy cattle which spread across herds and led to fatal infections among some cats on affected farms, spillover into poultry, and four reported infections among dairy workers. The HPAI H5N1 viruses isolated from affected cattle are closely related to H5N1 viruses that have circulated in North American wild birds since late 2021. Over time, those avian viruses have undergone genetic changes and have spread throughout the continent causing outbreaks in wild birds and mammalssometimes with mortality rates and suspected transmission within species.
Colorized transmission electron micrograph of avian influenza A H5N1 virus particles (yellow/red), grown in Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) epithelial cells. Microscopy by CDC; repositioned and recolored by NIAID. Credit: CDC and NIAID
To better understand the characteristics of the bovine H5N1 viruses, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Japans Shizuoka and Tokyo Universities, and Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory conducted experiments to determine the ability of bovine HPAI H5N1 to replicate and cause disease in mice and ferrets, which are routinely used for influenza A virus studies. Ferrets are thought to be a good model for understanding potential influenza transmission patterns in people because they exhibit similar clinical symptoms, immune responses and develop respiratory tract infections like humans.
The researchers intranasally administered to mice doses of bovine HPAI H5N1 influenza of increasing strength (5 mice per dosage group), and then monitored the animals for body weight changes and survival for 15 days. All the mice that received the higher doses died of infection. Some of the mice that received lower doses survived, and those that received the lowest dose experienced no body weight loss and survived.
The researchers also compared the effects of the bovine HPAI H5N1 virus to a Vietnamese H5N1 strain that is typical of H5N1 avian influenza virus in humans and to an H1N1 influenza virus, both delivered intranasally to mice. The mice that received either the bovine HPAI H5N1 virus or the Vietnamese avian H5N1 virus experienced high virus levels in respiratory and non-respiratory organs, including in the mammary glands and muscle tissues, and sporadic detection in the eyes. The H1N1 virus was found only in the respiratory tissues of the animals.
Ferrets intranasally infected with the bovine HPAI H5N1 virus experienced elevated temperatures and loss of body weight. As with the mice, the scientists discovered high virus levels in the ferrets upper and lower respiratory tracts and other organs. Unlike the mice, however, no virus was found in the ferrets blood or muscle tissues.
Together, our pathogenicity studies in mice and ferrets revealed that HPAI H5N1 derived from lactating dairy cattle may induce severe disease after oral ingestion or respiratory infection, and infection by either the oral or respiratory route can lead to systemic spread of virus to non-respiratory tissues including the eye, mammary gland, teat and/or muscle, the authors write.
To test whether bovine H5N1 viruses transmit among mammals via respiratory droplets, such as emitted by coughs and sneezes, the researchers infected groups of ferrets (four animals per group) with either bovine HPAI H5N1 virus or H1N1 influenza, which is known to transmit efficiently via respiratory droplets. One day later, uninfected ferrets were housed in cages next to the infected animals. Ferrets infected with either of the influenza viruses showed clinical signs of disease and high virus levels in nasal swabs collected over multiple days. However, only ferrets exposed to the H1N1-infected group showed signs of clinical disease, indicating that the cow influenza virus does not transmit efficiently via respiratory droplets in ferrets.
Typically, avian and human influenza A viruses do not attach to the same receptors on cell surfaces to initiate infection. The researchers found, however, that the bovine HPAI H5N1 viruses can bind to both, raising the possibility that the virus may have the ability to bind to cells in the upper respiratory tract of humans.
Collectively, our study demonstrates that bovine H5N1 viruses may differ from previously circulating HPAI H5N1 viruses by possessing dual human/avian-type receptor-binding specificity with limited respiratory droplet transmission in ferrets, the authors said.
Reference: Pathogenicity and transmissibility of bovine H5N1 influenza virus by Amie J. Eisfeld, Asim Biswas, Lizheng Guan, Chunyang Gu, Tadashi Maemura, Sanja Trifkovic, Tong Wang, Lavanya Babujee, Randall Dahn, Peter J. Halfmann, Tera Barnhardt, Gabriele Neumann, Yasuo Suzuki, Alexis Thompson, Amy K. Swinford, Kiril M. Dimitrov, Keith Poulsen and Yoshihiro Kawaoka, 8 July 2024, Nature. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07766-6
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, funded the work of the University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers.
A dairy worker in Colorado has been infected with bird flu, marking the fourth human case in an ongoing outbreak that started with detection of the disease in cattle this spring.
Colorado health officials said the man experienced mild symptoms, reporting only eye inflammation, a condition known as conjunctivitis.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said in a statement that the man was given antiviral medication and recovered. He works at a dairy farm in northeastern Colorado and had direct exposure to dairy cattle infected with H5N1, a virus that causes bird flu.
Colorado health officials said they provided personal protective equipment to the facility where the man worked.
We are still gathering additional information about the workers exposures and PPE use, state epidemiologist Rachel Herlihy said in a statement.
No household contacts of the farmworker have developed symptoms and there is no evidence of person-to-person transmission, Herlihy said. State and local health officials are conducting follow-up investigations and will do additional testing if needed, Herlihy said.
Two other dairy workers infected earlier in Texas in April and in Michigan in May also reported eye inflammation. A second Michigan worker infected in late May reported having a cough and eye discomfort with watery discharge. That worker was the first to report more extensive respiratory and eye symptoms.
Colorado health officials said the worker developed symptoms in late June, reported his symptoms one day later and was tested two days after symptoms began. Those initial tests were inconclusive. Additional testing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the presence of bird flu.
In 2022, a poultry worker in Colorado tested positive for the same strain of avian influenza. Across the world, cases of human illness have ranged from mild infections to more severe illness, including pneumonia.
Federal health and agriculture officials have repeatedly underscored the importance of dairy farm owners ensuring that workers take precautions such as wearing personal protective equipment when working with infected cattle. Federal and state officials have made supplies available to dairy farms but have not required their use.
Dairy farm workers typically express milk by hand from cow teats before attaching milking equipment. A splash of contaminated milk could get into the eye directly, or the virus could enter when workers touch their eyes with a contaminated hand. Eye infections have been associated with previous human infections of bird flu.
Many public health experts have said insufficient testing of cattle is hampering the ability to understand and control the outbreak, which was officially detected in March but may have been in cows since December.
A recent Agriculture Department study of H5N1 in 15 dairy herds and eight poultry flocks in Michigan found three risk factors for local spread, including contaminated equipment or machinery, people who carry the virus on their clothing or boots, and the animals themselves.
Federal health officials said this week their assessment of risk has not changed. The threat to the public remains low, and although dairy workers and others in contact with infected animals are at higher risk, U.S. officials are not recommending vaccination for any groups of people.
Earlier this week, federal officials announced plans to expand vaccine and testing capacity in case the ongoing bird flu outbreak in dairy cattle causes an increase in human cases, if the virus changes to become more easily spread or causes more severe disease, or if cases occur with no connection to an infected herd or person.
The U.S. government has stockpiled 4.8 million doses of bird flu vaccine, and those shots are expected to be available starting in mid-July. The U.S. government has also awarded $176 million to Moderna to complete development and testing of an mRNA-based vaccine against H5N1.
According to the most recent update from the CDC and USDA, bird flu has now impacted more than 115 herds of dairy cows in 12 states.
Those infected included 20 million different species in the U.S., 12 states and 118 dairy cow herds. Right now, it feels like bird flu is everywhere, and it might be worse than you think.
"We know that thats likely an undercount. Theres probably other states and other herds just as we talk about the bovine species being infected," said NYC Hospital System infectious disease epidemiologist Dr. Syra Mada.
What makes the spread of the H5N1 virus unique here in the U.S. is the way it's infecting dairy cattle. Dr. Madad says that usually doesn't happen. "And whats also so concerning is that dairy cattle brings it also closer to humans," she said. That's because people are in constant interaction with dairy cattle in the States because of U.S. food production.
Now the USDA has put restrictions on cattle movements. But Dr. Madad says we also need to be doing more testing across the country because we still don't know how exactly the virus is being transferred. She also says there needs to be more federal support to urge people to get themselves and their animals tested and offer support if they're positive.
At this point, three people have contracted bird flu in the United States. None have been here in New York. But public health officials in New York are working to prevent the potential for this happening. "There have been humans that have been potentially exposed, whether its backyard poultry or its captive birds and the like. but luckily there hasnt been any confirmed human cases, and we hope to keep it that way. New York is certainly working with various public health authorities to ensure that we have a good infrastructure in place across the nation," said Dr. Madad.
Dive Brief:
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, norovirus is the leading cause of foodborne illness, vomiting and diarrhea. Outbreaks occur when infected people make direct contact with other individuals. Contact with contaminated food, water and surfaces can also lead to infection.
Norovirus outbreaks commonly occur in healthcare facilities, as well as in schools and childcare centers. Children younger than 5 years, as well as older adults or people who are immunocompromised are at higher risk of severe infection.
HilleVax has sold investors on the promise of its vaccine being first to a market it estimates to be worth multiple billions of dollars. The company prioritized seeking approval in infants first, although it has been considering the adult market as well.
The Phase 2b study, dubbed NEST-IN1, was a randomized, placebo-controlled trial of more than 3,000 healthy infants in the U.S. and Latin America. Results showed that vaccine efficacy against moderate or severe acute gastroenteritis was only 5%, with 25 cases in the vaccine arm and 26 cases in the placebo group.
While HIL-214 previously showed clinical benefit in adults, NEST-IN1 was the first efficacy study conducted in infants for a norovirus vaccine candidate, Rob Hershberg, CEO of HilleVax, said in a statement. We believe the efficacy in the infant setting may have been impacted by the appearance of multiple emerging GII.4 strains in this trial.
The company said HIL-214s safety and immune response profile was consistent with prior testing.
HilleVax was launched in 2021by Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Frazier Healthcare Partners with a license to what was then Takedas norovirus vaccine candidate.
RICHMOND, Va. -- There's currently no FDA approved vaccine to treat breast cancer patients. However, a national clinical trial is trying to develop a vaccine targeting one of the most aggressive forms of cancers for one breast cancer group in particular.
This vaccine is remarkable, Dr. Masey Ross, an oncologist with VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, said.
A national clinical trial is looking to develop a vaccine to treat women with metastatic triple negative breast cancer.
So, that means breast cancer that has spread outside the breast and lymph nodes, Dr. Ross said.
Triple negative breast cancer is an aggressive form of cancer. Fifteen percent of breast cancer patients have that type of cancer and the standard of treatment is chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
As triple negative cancer is growing and dividing, it can acquire different mutations with its genetic material, Dr. Ross said.
In the national trial sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, some triple negative breast cancer patients will receive the standard care of treatment. The other women in the trial will receive the vaccine.
The idea behind the trial is to combine the vaccine with immunotherapy and chemotherapy to lead to a longer (life), prevent further growth and spread of the cancer. Help women live longer, better lives. Dr. Ross said.
What makes the vaccine so different is its personalized.
So, each vaccine is made from a specific woman's biopsy from her tumor because each cancer is slightly different, Dr. Ross said.
Once each personalized vaccine is created, it goes to work.
It's a way of training the body's immune system to recognize those cancer cells or tumor cells as foreign so the immune system can go in and then attack the tumor, Dr. Ross said.
If the vaccine shows positive results, it could lead to FDA approval and that process could take years.
EAT IT, VIRGINIA restaurant news and interviews
Trinity College Dublin researchers have developed a promising approach to combat MRSA by targeting the immune suppressor IL-10 during vaccine delivery. As MRSA continues to evade traditional antibiotics, this innovative strategy offers new hope for effective vaccines against S. aureus infections, which are major contributors to mortality worldwide.
Researchers have made significant progress in the fight against MRSA by enhancing vaccine efficacy through targeting IL-10, an immune-suppressing molecule. Their findings suggest that neutralizing IL-10 can potentiate the immune response and aid in the clearance of the bacterium in animal models.
Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have taken a leap forward in understanding how we might fight back against the potentially deadly MRSA bacterium. They have shown in an animal model that targeting a key suppressive immune molecule (IL-10) during the delivery of a vaccine improves the ability of the vaccine to protect against infection.
The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus is one of the leading causes of community- and hospital-acquired bacterial infection, and is associated with over one million deaths worldwide each year. Unfortunately, antibiotics are becoming increasingly less effective against this bacterium with the antibiotic-resistant form, MRSA, responsible for the highest number of deaths in high-income countries that are attributable to antimicrobial-resistant bacterial infections.
As a result, scientists are keenly focused on finding solutions to turn the tide in fighting S. aureus-related infections. One hugely appealing option is a vaccine but, while some progress has been made on that front in recent years, a number of major hurdles remain. One of these appears to be the bacteriums ability to dampen the immune response by turning on one of the natural breaks that exists within the immune system, an important immune-suppressive molecule known as Interleukin-10 (IL-10), which acts to reduce inflammation in the body.
Digitally colorized scanning electron microscopic image of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (mustard-colored) enmeshed within a human white blood cell (red-colored). Credit: NIAID
The interesting thing about S. aureus is that in addition to being a deadly pathogen, forms of this bacteria live in and on our bodies without causing harm. During these asymptomatic interactions the bacterium is, however, shaping the immune response meaning that when a vaccine against S. aureus is administered the immune system struggles to respond appropriately.
Here, in the work published today (July 8) in a leading journal, JCI Insight, the researchers showed in the animal model that if they immunized subjects with a vaccine that primed their immune systems to respond to infection in tandem with antibodies that neutralized IL-10, the immune response (via specialized T cells) was improved and bacterial clearance was likewise improved following subsequent infection.
Staphylococcus aureus is a common bacterium that can be found on the skin and in the noses of many people. While typically harmless, it can cause a range of mild to severe infections if it enters the body through cuts or other wounds. Infections can include skin issues like boils and impetigo, and more serious problems such as pneumonia, bloodstream infections, and endocarditis. A particularly concerning aspect of Staphylococcus aureus is its ability to develop resistance to antibiotics, notably seen in MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which is difficult to treat and is known for causing severe hospital-acquired infections.
The research team was led by Rachel McLoughlin, Professor in Immunology in Trinity College Dublins School of Biochemistry and Immunology. Rachel, who is based at the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, said: Taken in combination, our results offer significant promise for what would be a novel strategy for improving the efficacy of vaccines developed with the aim of suppressing S. aureus infection.
Our work also strongly suggests that prior exposures to this bacterium may create a situation whereby our immune system no longer sees it as a threat and thus does not respond appropriately to a vaccine due to the creation of this immune-suppressed state. Again, this underlines why immunization delivered with something that helps neutralize IL-10 offers renewed hope for effective vaccines against S. aureus.
Reference: IL-10 inhibition during immunization improves vaccine-induced protection against Staphylococcus aureus infection by Alanna M. Kelly, Karen N. McCarthy, Tracey J. Claxton, Simon R. Carlile, Eoin C. OBrien, Emilio G. Vozza, Kingston H.G. Mills and Rachel M. McLoughlin, 8 July 2024, JCI Insight. DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.178216
Funding: Wellcome Trust, Irish Research Council, Science Foundation Ireland
After a drawn-out litigation process, Merck & Co. seems to have finally washed its hands of more than a thousand lawsuits tied to its shingles vaccine Zostavax.
Late last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit tossed an appeal to resurrect certain lawsuits claiming Mercks popular shot caused patients to develop shingles.
The appeals court made its decision after the plaintiffs filed a voluntary dismissal some two years after logging a loss in Pennsylvania, court documents show.
With the appeals court snub, the plaintiffs could conceivably still take their cases to the Supreme Court.
Merck still faces claims from plaintiffs in other states who argue Zostavax caused various other injuries besides shingles plus those contending the vaccine causes hearing loss. As of summer 2021, Merck was facing some 1,950 lawsuits related to Zostavax. The December 2022 ruling against the plaintiffs knocked out 1,189 cases.
At the time, the court determined that the medical expert on deck to prove that Zostavax caused patients shingles failed to consider whether the plaintiffs disease occurred naturally because theyd had chickenpox as kids.
Chickenpox and shingles, also known as herpes zoster, are caused by the varicella-zoster virus. The judge overseeing the December 2022 dismissal pointed out that [v]irtually all persons over the age of 30 in the United States have had chickenpox and carry the so-called wild-type virus in their systems.
He added that Merck provided the court uncontradicted medical authority that a laboratory test of a persons shingles rash was the only way to tell whether the shingles was caused by the virus strain contained in Zostavax or by the wild-virus strain from chickenpox closeted in a persons body.
Merck, for its part, hasnt sold Zostavax in the U.S. since 2020.The shot was once the premier shingles immunization in the states, but it was quickly usurped once GSKs Shingrix hit the scene in 2017.
Earlier in 2022, meanwhile, Merck prevailed in another Zostavax case in Ohio when a federal judge tossed a lawsuit alleging the company misled consumers about the vaccines effectiveness, especially in older adults.
CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) Second Chance Animal Services is teaming up with Teddy Bear Pools and Spas in Chicopee as part of a free vaccine clinic for dogs and cats.
Free distemper and parvo vaccinations will be available along with rabies vaccinations for $1 and microchipping for $22. The clinic will take place at Teddy Bear Pools and Spas located at 41 East Street in Chicopee on Friday, July 19th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.Pre-registrationis recommended however, walk-ins are also welcome based on availability.
Parvo is a highly contagious disease that can be deadly and affects mainly young and unvaccinated dogs.Once infected, the virus attacks a dogs gastrointestinal system. Some signs of parvo typically begin within 7-14 days following exposure include:
Ted Hebert, owner of Teddy Bear Pools said, Barbara and I are humbled to have the opportunity to help our furry friends and the communities we serve.
Lindsay Doray, Chief Development Officer of Second Chance, shared, We are excited to once again partner with Teddy Bear Pools to bring lifesaving vaccines to area pets. This clinic is open to all pet ownersyou dont need to live in Chicopee to register. Doray also extended gratitude to PetcoLove for their generous grant, which makes this clinic possible.
A grant was provided by PetcoLove with all services administered by Second Chance veterinary professionals. Free pet beds donated by Chewy are available while supplies last.
Second Chance Animal Services is a nonprofit animal welfare organization founded in 1999. It has grown from a small, volunteer-run shelter into a community resource that helps over 49,000 animals annually. Low-cost vaccine clinicsare also available weekly in their veterinary hospitals at North Brookfield, Southbridge, Springfield, and Worcester.
For those wishing to donate to the animal shelter, the following supplies are needed:
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com.
July 7, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.
Lena H. Sun, a Washington Post national health reporter, has been reporting on rising measles outbreaks in the United States in recent years amid falling vaccination rates.
These days, most Americans dont think about measles because vaccination had largely eliminated the scourge from the United States in 2000. Many doctors cannot even diagnose measles because they have not seen it in practice. But measles outbreaks are back. There have been more cases this year than in each of the past two years.
The measles virus is one of the most contagious on Earth; it can live for up to two hours in the air after an infected person coughs or sneezes. Up to 9 out of 10 people who are not protected will become infected if they breathe the contaminated air or touch a surface that has been infected. Measles is especially deadly for babies and young children who are not vaccinated.
The WHO declared measles eliminated in the U.S. in 2000
In 2014 and 2019, localized outbreaks caused a spike in cases
Reports of measles dropped during covid-19
*Data through June 27, 2024
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
In the decade before a vaccine became available in 1963, more than 3 million people contracted measles every year in the United States; 48,000 were hospitalized, and about 400 to 500 died (many of them children), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Many people who survived measles as children before a vaccine existed never forgot how sick they were. They wanted to share their stories so others could understand what it was like to have measles and its long-term consequences.
They remember being confined in dark rooms to lessen the risk of blindness, a serious complication. They remember classmates and family members who died of other severe complications, such as dehydration or pneumonia, or swelling of the brain.
Here are their memories of surviving measles, in their words, edited for clarity:
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Wilde, a retired teacher for the visually impaired, was in second grade in 1963. The measles vaccine was already available, but she remembers her mother telling her years later that it was not yet in widespread use.
I just remember being very sick. I remember lying on the couch in the living room and being very hot, like I was under the sun. My parents were arguing about what to do. They seemed to be millions of miles away. I felt very detached. My fever was very, very high, and I was not responding to them when they were speaking to me.
They were afraid to call an ambulance because they werent sure if I was well enough to be taken to the hospital. They called the pediatrician. The next thing I remember, he was patting my face and I could see his nose hairs and feel his breath. He was calling my name and trying to rouse me. He said, Weve got to bring the fever down, and told my mother to run cold water in the bathtub. He was concerned about brain swelling.
They stripped me down, wrapped me in a cotton sheet and put me in the bathtub. I remember I felt like I was screaming with every bit of strength in my body.
My mother told me later, You sounded like a dying kitten.
I was in the back bedroom in the dark for several weeks to protect my vision. Gradually I got better. But I remember my eyes aching and me squinting. There are a lot of photos of me holding up a hand to shield my eyes.
Even now, when I get outside, my eyes ache. I also see little sparkles of light when I am in the dark. I know that is part of aging, but I still suspect if I had not had a severe bout of measles, I would have come through with far fewer vision problems.
McGregor-Foxcroft, a retired fingerprint technician, was in first grade in 1956. The measles vaccine was not yet available. Her older siblings had already had measles, as did many of her classmates.
I was 5 or 6. I had to be confined to a dark room, which was pure torture because I was just so bored. I couldnt join the family for dinner. I couldnt watch TV or any of that stuff. I couldnt read.
I did something very naughty. I wrote a note on a piece of paper. It said, Help, Im being held prisoner. And I pitched it out my bedroom window. And a neighbor showed it to my mother. And she just about had kittens.
She handed it to my dad and said, The poor child is going crazy.
Another week after that, I was allowed to read or write for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon.
When I went back to school, I didnt have the energy to walk home for lunch. It was probably three-quarters of a mile. Sometimes the neighbor would just drive me home. They knew how tired I got.
Tim, a software engineer, spoke to The Washington Post on the condition that only his middle name be used because his family has been harassed for not vaccinating him as a child. He became infected as an adult in 2016 after attending a crowded school event and was hospitalized.
I attended a family members school ceremony in a large auditorium. That same evening, I flew out to Las Vegas for a conference. About three or four days after I got home, I started to get sick.
I had a fever up to about 104. And I started to get this terrible headache that felt like the worst flu I had ever had combined with the worst hangover that I had ever had. A day or two after, I got out of bed to use the bathroom and I just collapsed in the hallway.
My partner drove me to an urgent care facility. They tested me for strep throat. They ruled out meningitis. They didnt get a positive diagnosis of strep. But they prescribed me some antibiotics and sent me home. I took the antibiotics for a couple of days, but I just kept getting worse. And I woke up one morning and my body was just covered in red spots.
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I ended up going back to the ER. Somebody asked me if Ive been vaccinated against measles. This is when I realized that I wasnt actually sure. I got confirmation from my mom that I had not been. They ran more tests and confirmed that I did, in fact, have measles.
They admitted me to the hospital into an isolation room. It was a teaching hospital, and it was the most surreal experience because no one had seen measles before.
They would bring in an army of doctors, and I had people asking, Can I take a picture with you?
I start getting calls from our health department. They want to track down what happened. It turns out, at the graduation I went to, someone flew in from out of the country and had measles. I must have somehow walked past them. I didnt interact with anyone. I didnt shake anyones hands. I didnt have any conversations with anyone that was not my family. A little bit of errant air coming my way that was all it took.
I was in the hospital three or four days. They sent me home under pretty strict guidelines not to go anywhere. This kind of started a whole new chapter of challenges. I lost about 20 to 25 pounds in the process. Walking upstairs, I would just be completely winded.
I ended up with immune amnesia, where it basically resets the bodys immune system. Everything that I would get exposed to I would get sick. And every time I would get sick, I would get the worst version of being sick. Like, one of the bad colds I got turned into this full-on bronchitis where I just had no ability to talk. It totally changed the trajectory of my life for more than half a year.
I was recently diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, and I dont necessarily know that its linked to measles. But Ive kind of come to look at all of these things, at least in some way, as connected.
Tidwell, a retired attorney for the U.S. Postal Service, got sick as a kindergartner in 1961, before the first vaccine was available. He infected his pregnant mother, who passed it on to his baby sister.
My father was in the U.S. Army. We lived on an Army base in Wertheim, Germany. Everyone in my kindergarten class had measles. I got measles. I had bumps; I had the itching. As a young boy, you almost wanted whatever was going around. You didnt think of it as potentially deadly. It was sort of a badge of honor.
My mother got them from me during the course of her pregnancy.
After my sister Dianna was born in March 1962, early tests showed she had some sort of visual problems. Doctors tried to correct them with surgery. The surgery got botched. Then, at some point, it became evident she was going to be developmentally challenged.
My father was transferred to Fort Sam, Tex., and thats when [my sister] experienced her first epileptic seizure. Over time, she began to develop a swallowing disorder. She lived with the family for as long as my parents were able to take care of her. Then, over time, she began to lose motor control; she lost the ability to walk. She had recurring bouts of pneumonia, and recovery always left her at a lower plateau.
She died in October 1995. She was 33.
Dianna was the glue of our family. She never stopped believing in Santa Claus, which allowed the rest of us to take joy in playing along for a lot longer than most families get a chance to. Though she could never read, Dianna knew that the stories she liked were in books, and she liked making us read to her. Sometimes, shed hand me two socks and insist on a puppet show. Nothing cracked her up more than when two puppets got into a fight. Keeping Dianna amused bonded us and taught me a lot about improvisation and flexibility that would serve me well throughout my life.
Leonhard, a retired teacher of English as a second language, was 6 in 1958. The first vaccine was not yet available. She was in a coma and unable to walk for a period.
I was 6 years old when I got measles. It was 1958. That summer my brother and sister and I got it. I remember being feverish and feeling miserable. I remember my mom sending me upstairs to get something off the dresser. I ran upstairs and all of a sudden my legs gave out and I couldnt walk. I couldnt move my arms. I remember it was too hard to carry me up and down the stairs, so they finally made a bed for me in the living room on the couch. My mom made a tent of blankets and put me in there and had me breathe steam and spit out phlegm because I guess they were concerned about pneumonia starting.
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One night, I remember being swept up and taken to the hospital. I went into a coma on the way there. The last thing I remember was getting in the car. Everything went black. We went to the same hospital where my grandfather was dying. I thought when my parents put me in the car I was going to see Granddaddy. I remember talking to him. I remember saying to the people standing around the bed, I want to go with him. And they said, No, you cant go with him. You need to go back to your room. The next memory I have I woke up from the coma.
That was like seconds to me, but I was in a coma for 30 days. I could talk, but I couldnt walk. The doctor was saying, Say, The bear went over the mountain. And I said it.
And he said, Shes okay. But shell never walk again.
But I taught myself how to walk. While my parents were gone to close up the family home, I remember pulling myself from one piece of furniture to another, dragging my body and just willing myself to walk. I didnt want to be in that wheelchair. When they came home, I ran up to them, Look, I can walk!
Mom told me that before I had encephalitis [a complication from measles], I could hear a story once and repeat it word for word. After that, I had a hard time learning. I had problems focusing in school. I lost my confidence. It was hard to learn and hard to relate to people. I worked really hard, graduated high school with honors. I have a masters in English literature.
But Im going to be seeing a neurologist because Im experiencing some nerve things. I dont know if its related to encephalitis.
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