Most of us go out of our way to make sure our kids are fully vaccinated and protected so that they don’t get measles and other vaccine preventable diseases.
Then there are some parents who skip or delay one or more vaccines, hiding in the herd, free-riding on our protection, hoping their kids don’t get sick.
Lastly, there are those folks who actually want their kids to get sick!
Pro-Infection Influencers Don’t Understand Measles Encephalitis
These people, like Del Bigtree, are actually pro-infection!
“Over coffee at a Starbucks just outside Austin, Texas, Del Bigtree told me he wants his teenage son to catch polio. Measles, too. He’s considered driving his unvaccinated family to South Carolina, which is in the midst of a historic outbreak, so that they can all be exposed. He prefers pertussis—whooping cough—to the pertussis vaccine, which he later described to me as a “crime against children.” It’s not the diseases that Americans should be afraid of, Bigtree insists: It’s the shots that stop them.”
‘I Genuinely Am Upset That Your Kids Are Vaccinated’
Of course, that goes with their world view that vaccines are always dangerous and vaccine-preventable diseases are always mild.
And of course, neither are true.
Do You Want Your Kids to Get Measles Encephalitis?
Let’s take a look at measles encephalitis, since that has been in the news a lot recently.
In the pre-vaccine era, hundreds of kids would get measles encephaltitis each year. And many of them died.
But what happened to the ones who ‘recovered?’
What is it like to have measles encephalitis?
“Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain parenchyma and typically manifests with a triad of symptoms comprising fever, headache and altered level of consciousness. Other symptoms include disorientation, behavioural and speech disturbances and neurological signs such as hemiparesis and seizures.”
Measles-induced encephalitis
With measles encephalitis, you will have the typical symptoms of measles, but they will eventually get worse – much worse, usually between the fourth and seventh days of being sick.
These symptoms typically include:
- continued fever
- nausea and vomiting
- headache
- altered level of consciousness
- behavioral disturbances
- disorientation
- speech disturbances
- seizures
- hemiparesis (weakness or mild paralysis on one side of the body)
Symptoms for which there is no cure.
“Mortality is 5% in children and 25% in adults. Some children who appear fully recovered demonstrate subtle long-lasting deficits in attention or decision-making ability or behaviour when evaluated more than 3 years after acute post-measles encephalitis.”
Measles-induced encephalitis
A disease which can leave children, if they survive, with:
- seizures
- intellectual disability
- vision problems
- learning problems
- memory problems
- attentional problems
- major behavioral problems
- ataxia
- residual weakness
- aphasia
- deafness
Keep in mind that although they would now be referred to as having an intellectual disability, these are kids who in the 1950’s and ’60s were labeled as being mentally retarded.
“Case 3 has become a behavior problem and is mentally retarded. The slow activity in the electroencephalogram had cleared up by the third month. Yet, the record after four years is less dysrhythmic than that seen in the other case.”
Electroencephalographic Studies of the Encephalopathiesiii. Serial Studies in Measles Encephalitis
And although measles encephalitis is now vaccine preventable, there is still no cure.
“Of those who survived acute encephalitis, 35% had neurologic sequelae at the time of discharge from the hospital or within several months after discharge. The most common sequelae were mental retardation (10% to 25% of discharged patients) and residual seizures (1% to 11%). Other sequelae included hemiparesis (8%), visual impairment (3%), ataxia (2%), and major behavior disorders (2%). Less frequent complications included dysarthria, aphasia, and deafness.”
Health impact of measles vaccination in the United States
Also know that recovering after discharge didn’t mean you were in the clear if you had measles encephalitis…
“Follow-up of patients from 2 to 10 years after acute measles encephalitis indicated that 57% had sequelae, principally mental retardation or behavior disorders. This included patients who appeared normal at discharge who subsequently showed evidence of mental retardation or behavior disorders.”
Health impact of measles vaccination in the United States
Many kids later developed long-term problems.
Plus there is always the risk of SSPE when you have a natural measles infection.
Still want your kids to get measles or measles encephalitis, especially when there is a much safer option – getting them vaccinated and protected?
More on Pro-Infection Influencers
- Current United States Measles Elimination Status
- Vaccines and Encephalitis
- America’s Pro-Disease Movement
- Jonathan Howard, author of We Want Them Infected
- Encephalitis Surveillance Annual Summary: 1977
- The benefits from 10 years of measles immunization in the United States.
- Trends in encephalitis-associated deaths in the United States
- What it’s like to have measles, mumps, whooping cough, and other vaccine-preventable illnesses
- Measles-induced encephalitis
- Measles Encephalitis. Report of 61 Cases
- Electroencephalographic Studies of the Encephalopathiesiii. Serial Studies in Measles Encephalitis
- Health impact of measles vaccination in the United States
Last Updated on February 25, 2026
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