Anti-vaccine folks often try to tout the benefits of natural immunity.
That measles reduces your risk of cancer is probably one that you haven’t heard.
Neither are you likely to have heard of the conspiracy theory that Big Pharma wants you to get vaccinated and protected so that you don’t get measles, just so you are at increased risk of cancer later.
Does Having Measles Protect You from Cancer?
The idea of a viral infection protecting you from cancer doesn’t make much sense, after all, many viral infections actually cause cancer.
That’s why we have vaccines to protect us against hepatitis B and HPV infections! So much for the idea that Big Pharma wants you to get cancer. If they did, then why did they develop vaccines that prevent cancer?
But Brandy Vaughn has evidence for her claim, doesn’t she?
Kind of. She has a study, “Febrile infectious childhood diseases in the history of cancer patients and matched control,” that was published 20 years ago in the journal Medical Hypothesis. A study that consisted of a questionnaire that was sent to cancer patients who were seen by anthroposophic general practitioners in Switzerland.
Anthroposophic general practitioners? Think Rudolf Steiner and Waldorf Schools.
Understand the connection with vaccines now?
That’s right, a “study” done by alternative health providers who are against vaccines found a benefit to getting febrile infectious childhood diseases, many of which are vaccine preventable.
What Are the Benefits and Risks of Measles?
Not surprisingly, few other people talk about any benefits to having a natural measles infection.
Unfortunately, we also don’t hear enough about the complications of these infections either, mostly because they are rather uncommon these days since most folks are vaccinated and protected.
Not uncommon enough though, as we still do have outbreaks.
| Measles Benefits | Measles Risks |
|---|---|
| natural immunity | death |
| can miss 7-10 days of school or work | encephalitis |
| SSPE | |
| seizures | |
| pneumonia | |
| 7 to 10 days of high fever and irritability | |
| can trigger an outbreak | |
| a few years of immune amnesia |
Immune amnesia?
That’s a risk that you might be unfamiliar with, but it is the increasing popular theory that a natural measles infection resets your immune system to that of a newborn, so that you are once again susceptible to many infectious diseases. That’s likely why mortality rates from other diseases besides measles goes down when folks start to get vaccinated against measles.
Measles and Cancer Risks
What about the association of measles and cancer?
Unlike the idea that a natural measles infection might be protective against cancer, there are more than a few studies that actually associate measles with a risk of developing cancer, including:
- lung cancer
- Hodgkin’s lymphoma
- endometrial cancer
- breast cancer
Are these associations real?
Probably not, after all, why don’t rates of these cancers go way down after measles gets under control or eliminated?
Still, most of us know that measles isn’t a mild disease and don’t need any extra benefits to getting vaccinated and protected.
We know what life was like when measles was a common childhood disease and see what is happening in parts of the world where measles is still much more common than it is in the United States.
And we understand the most dangerous association between measles and cancer that affects the most people – when unvaccinated people get measles and expose children and adults on chemotherapy who are immunosuppressed and can’t be vaccinated.
More on Measles and Cancer
- Measles and Cancer: A Wake-Up Call
- When It’s Not a Choice: Measles and Leukemia
- Study – Febrile infectious childhood diseases in the history of cancer patients and matched controls.
- Study – Long-term measles-induced immunomodulation increases overall childhood infectious disease mortality
- Scientists Crack A 50-Year-Old Mystery About The Measles Vaccine
- Study – Measles Virus: Association with Cancer
- Study – Measles virus: evidence for association with lung cancer.
- Study – Measles virus: evidence of an association with Hodgkin’s disease
- Study – Evidence of measles virus antigens and RNA in endometrial cancer.
- Study – Measles virus antigens in breast cancer.
- Does the Measles Virus Contribute to Carcinogenesis? – A Review
- Woman’s cancer killed by measles virus in unprecedented trial
- Measles Vaccine = Cancer Cure?
Wow keep spouting lies! Fucken oath it protects you from cancer because it strengthen the immune response! Did you here about the recent study? The one where they injected high dose measles (not a vaccine with a weakened version of the virus) and it obliterated cancer cells in its tracks?? Orrrr the lie where you say unvaccinated children are not allowed around chemotherapeutic patients and the immunosuppressed? Because it clearly stares in measle vaccine inserts your not allowed to go near these people within a week of the vaccine! Another thing, why is it always in highly vaccinated areas there are more people with measles in the fully vaccinated then the unvaccinated!? Rockport last year had a 75% rate of measles in the fully vaccinated… stories like this are everywhere… could it be that vaccines don’t work? Or could it be like the recent scientific investigation of infrarix hexa which scientist found absolutely no antigens of the 6 that you are supposed to be protected from in that vaccine. More tests should be done on all vaccines to see if the anthems are even in there! But noooo the cdc and fda don’t want to do that because hey it’s so outrages and why question anything in the first place??!
I was just wondering if you understand how vaccinations work. You seem to hold the belief that recovering from a natural infection is the best way to immunity, which is correct, however purposefully infecting your child is not safe. These are diseases that kill. You may not understand the risks because medicine can allow a hasty recovery but these are dangerous diseases. Vaccines on the other hand are very safe. They are rigorously tested to provide the best product. They work on the same principle of providing a ‘natural immunity’ without the risk. A vaccine is just a dead or replicated virus that allows your child’s immune system to learn to fight it off.
Do you really want to risk the lives of children by going against the opinion of the CDC, WHO and every doctor you’ll ever consult because some blog and unpublished study talks about alternative medicines?
I respond to you because you seem to understand things better. the fact that a person has cancer assures that their immune system is not working properly. to expose this person to another virus should easily kill them, it will not kick up their immune system. however if another virus were introduced to the patient that is proven to attack a specific cancer virus, this perhap should be the answer. like killing specific bacteria with specific bacteriophages. but even in bacteriophage therapy, the introduced bacteria should not be harmful to the patient otherwise you risk killing them. so i highly doubt the measles virus is a good candidate to cure any cancer. the sad part is just like in bacteriophages, no one can patent a virus so no one will invest in this research in the United States.
Are you reading a different measles vaccine insert than the rest of us, Mary?
Here’s what the insert I’ve read “clearly states”:
[Merck MMR ll] “There are no reports of transmission of live attenuated measles or mumps viruses from vaccinees to susceptible contacts”.
The American Cancer society, IDSA, St. Jude, the CDC, ACIP, and WHO, to name a few, acknowledge that there has never been a documented case of the recently vaccinated infecting anyone with vaccine strain measles and stress the importance of caregivers, close contacts, and family members of the immunosuppressed being vaccinated. St. Jude’s was even offering free vaccines for family members of their patients.
You’re wrong on quite a few points, but that was the most obvious and insane.
Oh and hey the list of side effects you mentioned for measles is also clearly stated in the vaccine inserts under warming and precautions. Death rate is 0.02 in measles. If treated with vitamin a you’ll be fine! I’d rather take my risks with nature…
I had the measles there is nothing dangerous about the measles for a child that is normally pretty healthy. They had parties for these “dangerous” diseases business went on as usual. There is fear mongering going on with the new generations.
Exposing cancer patients to measles should kill them and not kick up their immune system, but radiation, chemo and removing vital organs won’t?!! You are full blown idiot if you think otherwise. I just have to point that out. Cancer treatments are more damaging than the cancer itself. Cancer treatments sabotage your immune system making your immune system have to fight to survive the treatments and the cancer. Cancer treatments are a huge scam, right along with your poison needles.