We have gotten more information about the 5th measles death in Pennsylvania.
“The headstone had not yet been placed Thursday on the freshly dug grave where a 20-year-old Amish woman was buried this week amid the rolling clover fields and dairy farms at the edge of suburban Philadelphia.
Newly wed, and receiving treatment for blood cancer, she was the last of nine siblings sickened when measles swept through her unvaccinated family’s home on a one-lane road in Lancaster County.”
A 20-year-old Amish woman with leukemia got measles and died in Pa.’s largest outbreak in three decades
An unvaccinated 20-year-old with leukemia who had just gotten married last year.
The 5th Measles Death Was a 20-Year-Old Newly Wed With Leukemia
She got sick a few weeks ago, and as she was getting worse, she went to the hospital.
“Her family does not operate cars, in keeping with Amish beliefs, so they hired a driver to take her to the emergency department at Hershey Medical Center about an hour away. She died about two weeks later in the intensive care unit there, her grandmother said.”
A 20-year-old Amish woman with leukemia got measles and died in Pa.’s largest outbreak in three decades
And she died.
“She said her granddaughter ultimately developed double pneumonia and died after the family decided to discontinue use of a ventilator.”
A 20-year-old Amish woman with leukemia got measles and died in Pa.’s largest outbreak in three decades
She died as she was being treated for leukemia and had wanted to get vaccinated.
“The young woman, the second oldest in a line of nine siblings, ages 6 to 22, feared getting measles in the outbreak in Lancaster County, her grandmother said.
About two years ago, she was diagnosed with leukemia, a blood cancer, and began medical treatment with the help of an “English” neighbor — as Amish call outsiders — to drive her to her medical appointments.
The treatment regimen of chemo and steroids further weakened her immune system. She knew she was at risk of more severe sickness from a viral infection like measles, which started spreading throughout her family in the late summer.”
A 20-year-old Amish woman with leukemia got measles and died in Pa.’s largest outbreak in three decades
But she couldn’t because of the chemo.
That doesn’t mean the rest of her family and friends could not have been vaccinated though.
Although no one in the household was vaccinated, they are not opposed to the vaccine based on Amish beliefs. They believe it’s an individual choice, she said, and many Amish people opt not to get vaccinated because they “don’t know what’s in it.”
A 20-year-old Amish woman with leukemia got measles and died in Pa.’s largest outbreak in three decades
That might have protected her and kept her from getting measles.
Tragic.
This prompts me to question:
We don’t give people who are immunosuppressed live vaccines, for the reason that they may get a mild version of the disease, and this might be severe enough to make the individual ill. But how often would this lead to severe vaccine-strain measles that is life threatening? That would be extremely uncommon, surely?
But would the strategy of vaccinating the immunosuppressed DURING a widespread outbreak of measles actually save lives?
I’m trying to imagine what decision or strategy I would want, should say my own daughter be in this position. I think firstly I’d make damn sure everyone she encountered was vaccinated, and keep her as isolated as possible from others, even avoiding empty spaces or empty rooms where virus might be lingering. But if it was unavoidable that she could be safely isolated (eg she needs to have hospital visits and chemo), then I’d consider the merits of giving her the vaccine might well outweigh the risks in this scenario.
What do you think?
Del and RFKjr and that crowd will downplay it. She won’t matter to them. Makes me so mad.