She was 20 years old. She’d been married barely a year. But a 20-year-old Amish woman with measles has died after her family had her ventilator turned off.
“Her immune system wasn’t built up,” her grandmother told local media.
“She just couldn’t take it with the measles.”
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Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, has become the epicentre of the United States measles outbreak with 1004 confirmed cases.
Five have died.
And it is continuing its relentless march across the country.
New York declared a State Disaster Emergency this week after its count topped 108. Seven of these are in New York City’s close quarters.
Ohio, which borders Pennsylvania, is also experiencing an outbreak. It has logged 210 cases, with 13 sufferers hospitalised so far.
Wisconsin has recorded 243. But health officials say the number is likely much higher.
And Florida has been warned that a new push to end mandatory vaccinations could lead to the worst outbreak in 50 years.
Vaccination has become a midterm election issue in the US.
Leading the charge is long-time anti-vaccination campaigner and now US Secretary of Health Robert Francis Kennedy (RFK) Jr.
He’s convinced vaccines do more harm than good.
So he’s campaigning for a “pro-choice” approach.
And he’s been rubbishing the risk measles presents to sufferers.
But he’s also experiencing pushback.
“He doesn’t believe that measles is an issue,” states Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
“When I spoke to him over the phone, he wanted to lecture me about natural measles, and in many ways, making excuses.“
Tragic tale
“They weren’t worried,” the grandmother said of the 20-year-old Amish woman’s immediate family.
“Measles just has to take its course.”
At least four of Pennsylvania’s five measles-related deaths have been among the state’s 44,000 Amish residents.
One, an 18-year-old Amish woman from Mifflin County, died of brain inflammation. Two newborn Amish babies in the county of Lancaster succumbed to the infection. A 40-year-old asthmatic woman who lived in the same district also died.
The 20-year-old Amish newlywed, also from Lancaster, had been diagnosed with leukaemia.
Then she, her eight siblings, her parents and her new husband all contracted measles.
None were vaccinated. None immediately sought medical care.
“We do what we can at home,” the grandmother said.
“We have so many natural things we can do.”
Then the young woman’s condition worsened.
“She could hardly breathe. Her lungs were just in bad shape.”
The Amish religion does not prohibit vaccination.
“We wouldn’t tell people not to get vaccinated,” the grandmother told a local reporter.
“It’s up to each person.”
That’s the line Secretary of Health Kennedy is pushing. And Florida’s Governor, Ronald DeSantis.
And Mr Kennedy continues to refuse to allow the CDC to provide a national count for measles deaths. He insists it isn’t the cause of the vast majority of deaths. Underlying conditions are.
But he is very worried about vaccinations.
Mr Kennedy opened a new clinic at the National Institutes of Health this week, “dedicated to studying and caring for patients experiencing health problems following vaccination”.
He also proposed rewarding doctors who report vaccination issues to the VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) with a cash payment.
Such reports do not need to be verified.
“We must listen to patients and families who report vaccine injuries – not dismiss or gaslight them,” Mr Kennedy said in a statement.
“President Trump and I are building a health system that takes them seriously, follows the evidence, and uses what we learn to make vaccines safer. This is how we earn back trust in our public health institutions.”
Public Enemy No 1
Measles is widely considered the world’s most virulent human contagion.
It brings with it fever, a runny nose – and, after several days, a distinctive rash. But its associated coughing can also produce pneumonia. Inflammation can also lead to encephalitis, a swelling of the brain.
More than 90 per cent of those exposed to the virus go on to develop the disease. That is why more than 95 per cent of any given population must be vaccinated to halt its spread.
Some 20 per cent of all cases need hospitalisation. Between one and three out of every 1000 sufferers die.
A global vaccination effort had pushed the virus to the point of eradication. But conspiracy theories and medical myths have since become entrenched in various community and commercial interest groups.
US vaccination levels had fallen to about 92 per cent before the current outbreak. In some areas, that figure was far lower.
This has produced a resurgence of the virus in the US, with the Johns Hopkins Measles Tracker recording 4020 nationally confirmed cases before October 2.
And resistance to vaccination is growing.
Like New York, Pennsylvania initiated an urgent vaccination campaign once its outbreak began in April. Since then, it has administered just 8843 measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) doses to its 13 million citizens.
Its kindergarten vaccination rate is about 92.7 per cent.
“I would bet that this goes on for at least another three to six months,” says infectious disease expert Dr John Goldman of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre.
“We have seen an increase in vaccinations, but we aren’t seeing enough people get vaccinated to stop the epidemic.”
Governor Shapiro blames the Trump Administration’s Secretary of Health, RFK Jr.
“Incompetence is letting measles, a disease that was declared eliminated in 2000, re-emerge,” he wrote.
“Incompetence is spending your time promoting outright lies instead of urging people to get a vaccination that would protect them against this deadly disease. Incompetence is denying the tragedy of four measles-associated deaths in Pennsylvania.”
Philadelphia’s embattled infectious diseases chief Dr Paul Offit believes that “choice” is a false argument when it comes to vaccination:
“I mean, another way to ask that question is, is it your right to catch and transmit a potentially fatal infection? I think the answer to that question is no.”
Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer