It’s a common anti-vaccine myth that we rename diseases to make them go away. It helps them explain the control, elimination, and eradication of diseases, since many of them don’t believe that vaccines actually work.

Now imagine that “they” actually found evidence that we did rename vaccine-preventable diseases!
That would be something, wouldn’t it…
Did CNN Rename Mumps?
Of course, they haven’t.
The original CNN story about the USS Fort McHenry stated that the sailors and Marines had parotitis, which was “due to an outbreak of a viral infection similar to mumps.”
Why didn’t they just say that they had mumps?
Because that’s not what they were told by the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.
“… a military medical team specializing in preventative medical care is expected to deploy in the coming days to make an assessment if further steps may be needed, according to the official.”
US warship quarantined at sea due to virus outbreak
It may come as a surprise to some people, but many viruses and bacteria can cause parotitis. And until the outbreak was further investigated, they didn’t know if it really was mumps or another condition.
Since then, the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) has stated that “based on clinical presentation and laboratory testing, these cases are currently classified as probable cases of mumps.”
Still, a very small percentage of the sailors and Marines on board have gotten mumps. That’s because vaccines work, even when they don’t work perfectly well.
More on the Myth that CNN Renamed Mumps
- VAXOPEDIA – Mumps on the USS Fort McHenry
- VAXOPEDIA – Did CNN Apologize for Using a Fake Measles Photo?
- VAXOPEDIA – Do Your Kids Need a Mumps Booster Shot?
- VAXOPEDIA – What to Do If Your Child Is Exposed to Mumps
- VAXOPEDIA – Mumps Outbreaks
- VAXOPEDIA – Waning Immunity
- VAXOPEDIA – Military Vaccines
- VAXOPEDIA – Does Your Child with Parotitis Have Mumps?
- VAXOPEDIA – Is Mutating Mumps More Than the MMR Can Manage?
- VAXOPEDIA – Do Your Kids Need a Mumps Booster Shot?
- VAXOPEDIA – Anti-Vaxxers Should Be Able to Answer These Questions Correctly
- VAXOPEDIA – Ask 8 Questions Before You Skip a Vaccine
- VAXOPEDIA – This Is the Modern Anti-Vaccine Movement
- VAXOPEDIA – Grave Reminders of Life Before Vaccines
- VAXOPEDIA – Why Didn’t Everyone Die with Our 1980s Level of Vaccination Rates?
- VAXOPEDIA – 100 Myths About Vaccines
- VAXOPEDIA – The Myth That Measles Isn’t Deadly
- VAXOPEDIA – Answers to Anti-Vaccine Talking Points
- VAXOPEDIA – 50 Ways to Get Educated About Vaccines
- VAXOPEDIA – Anti-Vaccine Points Refuted A Thousand Times
- US warship quarantined at sea due to virus outbreak
- New virus case aboard US warship prolongs quarantine
- The Navy’s fighting to get a rare viral mumps outbreak under control after it stranded a US warship at sea
- 9 Reasons to Completely Ignore Joseph Mercola
- Joseph Mercola – Misinformation and Fear Mongering About Vaccines
- Joseph Mercola
- Joe Mercola using random nonsense words to push vaccine denialism
- Joe Mercola: 15 years of promoting quackery