Immune Amnesia: Measles Is Much Worse Than We Thought

It has long been recognized that the measles virus is about the most infectious agent that humans encounter.  It has also long been recognized that vaccination against the virus is very effective.  Consequently, the disease had been erased from our consciousness—until recently when we learned that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had impressed Trump with his knowledge of medical matters and was selected to be placed in charge of the agencies that treat infectious diseases.  For many years Kennedy has been encouraging people to avoid vaccinations, including that for the measles virus.  Kennedy’s wacky ideas play well with the anti-vaccination sentiments that arose from the politics of the covid pandemic.  He will now have an opportunity to cause even more grief for our nation.

Consider this report: Measles Outbreak Continues to Spread in West Texas.  It provides details on a growing outbreak.

“As a measles outbreak expands in West Texas, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, on Tuesday cheered several unconventional treatments, including cod liver oil, but again did not urge Americans to get vaccinated.”

Kennedy seems to think treatment of measles infection is more important than avoiding infection.

“Texas doctors had seen ‘very, very good results,’ Mr. Kennedy claimed, by treating measles cases with a steroid, budesonide; an antibiotic called clarithromycin; and cod liver oil, which he said had high levels of vitamin A and vitamin D.”

“While physicians sometimes administer doses of vitamin A to treat children with severe measles cases, cod liver oil is ‘by no means’ an evidence-based treatment, said Dr. Sean O’Leary, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases.”

“Dr. O’Leary added that he had never heard of a physician using the supplement against measles.”

Experts say that measles is so infectious that a vaccination level of 95% is required to inhibit the spread of infections.  Covid-related politics has had an effect on vaccination rates.

“Just 93 percent of kindergarten students nationwide had received the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella in the 2023-24 school year, down from 95 percent before the pandemic.”

The Texas measles outbreak has spread to nine counties, with the one in which the infection emerged having a school student vaccination rate of about 80%.  Politics and conspiracies encouraged by Kennedy have multiplied the regions that have vaccination rates below 95% allowing infections to spread.

Only one child has died from infection thus far.

“About one in five people who catch measles will be hospitalized, according to the C.D.C.”

“While most measles cases resolve in a few weeks, in rare cases the virus can cause pneumonia, making it difficult for patients, especially children, to get oxygen into their lungs, or brain swelling, which can lead to blindness, deafness and intellectual disabilities.”

Measles is far from a negligible disease that might make vaccination optional.  And it is far worse than the immediate response to infection suggests.

“The virus also weakens the immune system in the long term, making its host more susceptible to future infections. A 2015 study found that before the M.M.R. vaccine was widely available, measles may have been responsible for up to half of all infectious disease deaths in children.”

The weakened immune system is explained in the article Measles and Immune Amnesia.

“The risk associated with measles infection is much greater than the sum of its observable symptoms. The immune memories that you have acquired are priceless, built over many years and from countless exposures to a menagerie of germs. Measles virus is especially dangerous because it has the ability to destroy what’s been earned: immune memory from previous infections. Meanwhile, the process of fighting measles infection leaves patients especially vulnerable to secondary infection. The worldwide increase in measles prevalence is cause for concern because morbidity and mortality from the disease extends far beyond acute measles infection.”

“One of the most unique—and most dangerous—features of measles pathogenesis is its ability to reset the immune systems of infected patients. During the acute phase of infection, measles induces immune suppression through a process called immune amnesia. Studies in non-human primates revealed that MV (measles virus) actually replaces the old memory cells of its host with new, MV-specific lymphocytes. As a result, the patient emerges with both a strong MV-specific immunity and an increased vulnerability to all other pathogens.”

The process of containing the measles virus destroys many of the memory T-cells and B-cells that recall prior infections and provide the ability to fight reinfection.

“The number of T cells and B cells significantly decreases during the acute stage of measles infection, but there is a rapid return to normal WBC (white blood cell) levels after the virus is cleared from the system. This observation masked what was really going on until researchers were able to evaluate the qualitative composition of recovered lymphocyte populations. We now know that the memory T-cells and B-cells that are produced immediately following infection are dramatically different from those that existed before the measles infection. Not only have pre-existing immune memory cells been erased, but there has been a massive production of new lymphocytes. And these have only one memory. Measles. Thus, the host is left totally immune to MV and significantly vulnerable to all other secondary infections.”

It was possible to analyze mortality rates before and after the availability of the measles vaccine.  The results were startling, indicating the effects of measles infection produced mortality from other viruses due to damaged immunity.

“Examination of child mortality rates in the U.S., U.K., and Denmark in the decades before and after the introduction of the measles vaccine revealed that nearly half of all childhood deaths from infectious disease could be related to MV infection when the disease was prevalent. That means infections other than measles resulted in death, due to the MV effect on the immune system.”

Fortunately, the depressed B-cells and T-cells slowly rebuild to levels that make them again effective against other diseases that had been encountered.

“Furthermore, it was determined that it takes approximately 2-3 years post-measles infection for protective immune memory to be restored. The average duration of measles-induced immune amnesia was 27 months in all 3 countries. Corresponding evidence indicates that it may take up to 5 years for children to develop healthy immune systems even in the absence of the immune suppressing effects of MV infection. If MV infection essentially resets a child’s developing immunity to that of a newborn, re-vaccination or exposure to all previously encountered microbes will be required in order to rebuild proper immune function.”

If you have read this far, congratulations are in order.  You now know more about measles than Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

  

You can learn a little about a lot of things or you can learn a lot about a very few things. Guess which is the most fun.

Source: http://letstalkbooksandpolitics.blogspot.com/2025/03/immune-amnesia-measles-is-much-worse.html