New Mexico Health Officials Mum on Whether Adult Died From — or With — Measles
An adult who died in Lea County, New Mexico, tested positive for measles, state health officials said on Thursday, but officials did not confirm that measles caused the death.
An adult who died in Lea County, New Mexico, tested positive for measles, state health officials said on Thursday, but officials did not confirm that measles caused the death.
David Morgan, public information officer for the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH), told The Defender today that the state’s medical examiner is still investigating the official cause of death.
However, given the presence of the measles virus, the health department was counting the death as a “measles-related death,” Morgan said.
He said no additional information about the patient would be released, including comorbidities or other information about the patient’s health status.
The NMDOH said in a press release that a laboratory confirmed the presence of the measles virus and that the person was unvaccinated. The health department also said the person did not seek medical attention before dying, suggesting the measles test was performed post-mortem.
New Mexico health authorities said people should get vaccinated. “We don’t want to see New Mexicans getting sick or dying from measles,” said Dr. Chad Smelser, NMDOH deputy state epidemiologist. “The measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is the best protection against this serious disease.”
The health department scheduled two free MMR vaccination clinics for next week.
The New Mexico Office of the Medical Examiner and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not respond to The Defender’s request for comment.
The NMDOH announcement followed news last week that a hospitalized 6-year-old child in Texas who died also reportedly tested positive for measles — it was the first measles-related death reported in the U.S. in 10 years. Texas health authorities did not release additional information about the child’s health.
‘Why do they keep so much information hidden?’
Internist Dr. Meryl Nass, who has been covering the measles outbreaks on her Substack, said, “The big question in my mind is, why do they keep so much information hidden?”
Karl Jablonowski, Ph.D., senior research scientist for Children’s Health Defense (CHD), voiced a similar concern. “This is the second death reported from a state health department where the minimum amount of information was released.” He accused health authorities of inciting fear and promoting vaccination as the “solution to that fear.”
In an email to The Defender, Jablonowski wrote:
“Lea County [New Mexico]: adult, unvaccinated, measles, dead. Lubbock [Texas]: school-aged child, unvaccinated, measles, dead. Without cause of death, comorbidities, circumstances, or any other details, it is akin to screaming fire in a crowded theater.”
CHD Chief Scientific Officer Brian Hooker said the adult who died was not tested for measles until after death — presumably an autopsy — showing that the person “most likely died with the measles but not necessarily from the measles.”
Hooker added:
“This is similar to the death of a young adult woman in 2015 in Washington state whose autopsy testing revealed she died with the measles virus. The woman had multiple comorbidities, including pneumonia, which was the cause of death.
“To tell the reader that they died from the measles is quite a quantum leap for a deceased person who wasn’t tested for measles until their autopsy, which yielded a positive test.
“Also, was it a RT-PCR test? Do we know the reliability of the test? There are so many questions that need to be answered rather than ‘rubber stamping’ this a ‘measles death.’
“It seems all too convenient for the narrative of ‘vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate.’”
Mainstream media were quick to report that the adult death in New Mexico was from measles, even though the NMDOH did not confirm that:
“Second measles death reported as outbreak grows in Southwest” — The Hill
“Second death reported in growing measles outbreak — The Washington Post
“Unvaccinated New Mexico Resident Dies of Suspected Measles — The New York Times
Public health strategy: ‘increase vaccination rates at all costs’
Six adults and four children have tested positive for measles in Lea County, which borders West Texas, where a larger outbreak is ongoing. However, health authorities have not confirmed a link between the two outbreaks.
The outbreak in West Texas — particularly in Gaines County — garnered mainstream media attention after the Texas Department of State Health Services last week reported what it called “the first death from measles in the ongoing outbreak in the South Plains and Panhandle regions.”
Media reports highlighted the fact that many of the cases were among a Mennonite community.
Many members of that community said they feel “frustrated” and “targeted” by mainstream media coverage of the outbreak, said Mennonite community member Tina Siemens in an interview with The Defender.
“The media is portraying the unvaccinated as uneducated” and reporting that because they decline the vaccine, “they are the ones that are carrying all of the measles outbreak,” Siemens said.
Jablonowski said this type of coverage is part of a public health strategy:
“If you are over 12 months old and unvaccinated, you are unvaccinated for a reason. And there are many good reasons: religious convictions, personal philosophy, a different view of medicine, a different interpretation of the science, a different balance of risk, the beneficial effects of actually getting wild-type measles, and — frankly — distrust in the widely and wildly conflicted zealots.
“The posturing of so-called public health is to increase vaccination rates at all costs. It is a value-free enterprise, meaning it doesn’t matter what your values are — they still want you to vaccinate. When we accept achieving a goal as value-free is when we lose our humanity, let alone our freedoms.”
41 deaths reported to VAERS following MMR or MMRV vaccines in past 10 years
Evidence exists of serious health risks associated with the MMR vaccine. Researchers in 2004 found that boys vaccinated with their first MMR vaccine on time were 67% more likely to get diagnosed with autism compared to boys who got their first vaccine after their 3rd birthday.
The CDC recommends that children receive their first dose of the MMR vaccine between 12 and 15 months old.
Research also shows that the MMR vaccine causes febrile seizures, anaphylaxis, meningitis, encephalitis, thrombocytopenia, arthralgia and vasculitis.
Over the past 10 years, there have been 41 deaths following MMR or MMRV vaccination reported in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).
There is also evidence that contracting measles provides more comprehensive and long-term immunity to the illness, although the illness can also be serious.
“There are risks from measles and risks from the vaccine,” Nass wrote. “There are apparent benefits from both. … And everyone should have the right to balance their own risks and benefits and make this decision for themselves.”
Mainstream media smears treatments
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last week recommended vaccination against measles. However, he also endorsed treatments for the disease — which mainstream media used to discredit Kennedy and the treatments he recommended.
“This outbreak has been a trial by fire of the new secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine skeptic. His equivocal response has drawn harsh criticism from scientists, who say he has offered muted support for vaccination and has emphasized untested treatments for measles like cod liver oil.”
However, according to doctors who treat patients with measles, the treatments Kennedy recommended — cod liver oil (a food-based source of vitamin A and vitamin D), budesonide (a steroid used to relieve inflammation affecting the airways), and clarithromycin (an antibiotic) — can be effective.
Nass noted that the World Health Organization also recommends vitamin A supplements to treat measles.
Dr. Ben Edwards, an integrative medicine family practitioner in Lubbock who has been treating measles patients there, told The Defender earlier this week that he was having a lot of success with what the Times called “untested treatments” for measles.
He also said that the hospital treating the child who died refused to give the child “breathing treatments,” as the family requested.
Reports also indicate that children exposed to the measles in Texas are being given the MMR vaccine, which is contraindicated for anyone who is pregnant, immunocompromised or sick with a fever — a common measles symptom — according to its package insert.
Related articles in The Defender
Exclusive: ‘Just Normal Doctoring’ — a Texas Doctor’s Eyewitness Report on Measles Outbreak
Exclusive: Mennonite Community in Texas Is ‘Frustrated’ by Media Coverage of Measles Outbreak
Media Panic Over Measles Distracts From Real Threats to Kids’ Health and Safety
Texas Reports Death of Child Who Tested Positive for Measles, But Releases Few Details
Hawaii, Religious Exemptions and Measles: Will the Playbook Work Again?
Here we go (again.) SCARE TACTICS with no scientific evidence the death was caused by measles.
Not a bit surprised about the minimal info on this case. You just weren’t paying attention to New Mexico during WuFlu. We were one of the very WORST states w/ lockdown, “death counts” in every county every day that chalked up practically every death as “from” not “with”, distancing, masks, banning Ivermectin from vet supply stores, & relentless hectoring to “vaccinate”. Our road whore “governor” had delusions of grandeur to be like the worst governors in the big states like CA, NY, etc. & copied them to a T.