The Number Of Mainers That Have Contracted Measles In The 21st Century:  0

The last time a Mainer had measles was in 1997.
– Johanna Mackenzie, MPH Epidemiologist, Division of Disease Surveillance, Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention

In 2015, a visitor from Europe came to Kittery for a day of shopping.
He had the measles.

No one caught it.

In 2017, a woman from Canada came down for a visit, and was diagnosed with measles in Maine the next day.

No one caught it.

Our current vaccine policy prevents measles in Maine.
The exemption removal bill, LD 798 is a solution looking for a problem.

It is a vaccine sales bill, written by the Maine Medical Association, PhARMA’s lobbyist in Maine.

 

The Number Of CDC Confirmed Measles Deaths in Americans in the last 27 years: 1

The last time the CDC confirmed Measles death occurred in an American was 2003.

A 13 year old transplant patient on immunosuppressive drugs. No other case of measles could be found in the area, so how it was transmitted is a mystery. CDC did not report if it was a wild strain or the vaccine strain.

That same year, an elderly man who had traveled to the US from the middle east with the illness, passed away from the infection two weeks later.

From the CDC MMWR:
“In 2003, two measles-related deaths were reported. The first was attributed to measles encephalitis in a child aged 13 years who had chronic granulomatous disease, received a bone marrow transplant in October 2002, and died in January 2003. Measles was confirmed by a positive serologic test for measles IgM and isolation of measles virus from a brain biopsy. Despite an intensive search, no additional cases were detected in the surrounding area. The second measles-related death was in an international traveler aged 75 years infected in Israel who had measles pneumonitis and encephalopathy. Measles was confirmed by reverse transciptase-polymerase chain reaction from nasopharyngeal swab and urine.” https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5331a3.htm

A third case that is discussed was reported by the Washington State Health Department. They claimed that a vaccinated woman died of measles in 2015. This death was NOT confirmed by the CDC.

The woman was reportedly suffering from several health conditions, and passed, showing no signs of measles. A month after her death, while the Washington State Health Department was attempting to restrict vaccine exemptions in the legislature, they reported that they discovered that the woman had shared a waiting room with someone who had the measles. They performed an autopsy and reported finding the measles virus in her body, and declared that she had died from measles.

This would have been a case of measles so mild that she had no symptoms, yet so severe that it killed her, which should have been a case for the medical journals. Washington State has removed the press release on the case from their website. https://web.archive.org/web/20150704232306/https://www.doh.wa.gov/Newsroom/2015NewsReleases/15119WAMeaslesRelatedDeath

To find a CDC confirmed measles death before that, you have to go back to 1992. CDC MMWR: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00020688.htm

The facts on measles do not justify the fear campaign in the media to sell the public on mandatory vaccination.

Our current vaccine policy prevents measles deaths.
The exemption removal bills being pushed by the vaccine industry are a solution looking for a problem.

Confirmation on measles deaths from CDC:

“From: CDC NCIRD DVD Inquiry <ncirddvdinquiry@cdc.gov>
Date: February 18, 2015 1:47:08 PM EST
To: “merylnass@gmail.com” <merylnass@gmail.com>
Subject: FW: RESPONSE REQUIRED: Topic: measles deaths, Priority: Medium, Mode: Phone [ ref:_00DU0YCBU._500U0HiNrz:ref ]

Good Afternoon,

Thank you for your inquiry regarding measles deaths. Measles data available to the public can be found in www.cdc.gov/measles, MMWR (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/), and other publications such as those listed on http://www.cdc.gov/measles/resources/ref-res.html.

The last documented deaths in the US directly attributable to acute measles occurred in 2003. Before the measles vaccination program started in 1963, we estimate that 3-4 million people got measles each year in the US, and 400-500 of those died (http://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/faqs.html).

Kind Regards,
Division of Viral Diseases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention”

Some have circulated the “Reported Cases and Deaths from Vaccine Preventable Diseases, United States” CDC report, which reports additional measles deaths. These are compiled from death certificates. CDC reported to us that none of these, other than the 2003 cases, were CDC confirmed deaths. Nor were they reported in the media.

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/E/reported-cases.pdf

“From: Ginger Taylor [mailto:GTaylor@HealthChoice.org]
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2017 4:05 PM
To: Branam, Ian (CDC/OID/NCIRD) <yfi1@cdc.gov>
Subject: Re: Measles Inquiry

Mr. Branam,

I have now been sent the following chart, dated October 14th, 2016, that reports that there have been 6 additional measles deaths between 2009 and 2012 that are not reported anywhere else in CDCs literature.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/63/wr/mm6354a1.htm

Yet when I asked CDC in 2015 how many measles deaths had occurred in the US, I was told that the two 2003 cases were the only such deaths. Where did these six additional cases come from, and where are the reports on them? No such deaths have been reported by any media agency or any health department that I can find.”

“Subject: RE: Measles Inquiry
Date: Thu, 18 May 2017 19:20:50 +0000
From: Branam, Ian (CDC/OID/NCIRD) <yfi1@cdc.gov>
To: Ginger Taylor <GTaylor@HealthChoice.org>

Hi Ginger,

CDC investigates, where possible, all reports of deaths in the U.S. associated with measles, by examining the available information linking these deaths to measles infection. These reports come from multiple sources including CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), which provides statistical information about deaths in the United States based on death certificate data. Not all deaths reported by NCHS are confirmed by laboratory testing.

In 2015, a confirmed measles-related death was reported to CDC. The previous verifiable death in the United States from acute measles infection occurred in 2003 when there were 2 reported deaths. Other reports of deaths since that time cannot be verified.

Thanks!

Best,
Ian”

These reported deaths may simply be clerical errors.