{"id":39573,"date":"2025-03-11T03:38:24","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T08:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=39573"},"modified":"2025-03-11T03:39:02","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T08:39:02","slug":"in-west-texas-measles-outbreak-families-forgo-conventional-medicine-along-with-vaccines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=39573","title":{"rendered":"In West Texas’ measles outbreak, families forgo conventional medicine along with vaccines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SEMINOLE, Texas \u2014 The building where hundreds of families are lining up for measles care amid a fast-growing outbreak in West Texas<\/a> looks more like an abandoned car dealership than a doctor\u2019s office. There\u2019s no signage, nothing saying \u201cOpen\u201d or indicating office hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But nearly every day, dozens of pickup trucks from all over Gaines County fill the parking lot, squeezing into any available space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside the building \u2014 a \u201cbarndominium\u201d in West Texas parlance \u2014 there\u2019s a handful of tables and chairs set up. Sick families, mostly Mennonite, sit in a makeshift waiting room on the far left, and Dr. Ben Edwards is at a table on the far right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One by one, families are called over to meet with the doctor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edwards asks about their diet and nutritional intake but does not do bloodwork to look at levels of specific vitamins or nutrients. Based on the conversations with the parents and the child, he decides whether the patient might benefit from cod liver oil, which is high in vitamins A and D. Bottles of the product \u2014 offered at no charge \u2014 line tables in the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If kids are having significant trouble breathing, Edwards recommends budesonide, an inhaled steroid typically used for asthma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He does not offer vaccines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gaines County, where Seminole sits, has one of the state\u2019s highest vaccine exemption rates, at\u2002nearly 18%<\/a>, compared to 3% nationally<\/a>. The embrace of unproven remedies shows that many members of the community are also eschewing conventional medical approaches<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to help these kids out,\u201d said Edwards, a family physician based an hour away in the city of Lubbock. Part of that help, he said, is by supplying kids and their families with cod liver oil and nutrition information, \u201clike Bobby Kennedy is trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edwards is, of course, referring to newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who\u2019s been vocal against proven medical practice. He\u2019s encouraged vitamins and cod liver oil over vaccination and isolation to control the outbreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no antiviral or cure for measles. Kids sick enough to be hospitalized are often given oxygen to help with their breathing. Studies done in other countries have suggested that vitamin A may be helpful in treating malnourished children with the disease. There\u2019s no credible evidence to suggest cod liver oil is effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though doctors here can administer vitamin A for measles<\/a>, it\u2019s typically used for severe cases in the hospital. Most people in the U.S. have normal levels of the vitamin and don\u2019t need extra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too much can be toxic, said Dr. Ronald Cook, chief health officer at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock and health authority for the city. \u201cBefore I\u2019d give mega doses of vitamin A, I would certainly get a vitamin A level\u201d in the blood, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any messaging suggesting that vitamin A, including cod liver oil, could be an alternative to vaccination is \u201cmisleading,\u201d said Dr. David Higgins, a pediatrician and preventive medicine specialist at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. \u201cThe goal is to prevent measles from ever occurring. Every single illness, hospitalization and death [from measles] is entirely preventable with vaccines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edwards said that he\u2019s spoken with Kennedy about how he\u2019s treating measles cases, but said he didn\u2019t know him and wasn\u2019t involved with the anti-vaccine group Kennedy founded, Children\u2019s Health Defense, before the outbreak began several weeks ago. Both, however, have long advocated against vaccines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The makeshift clinic and unproven treatments in Texas echo a different deadly measles outbreak in which Kennedy was involved. In 2019, as measles raged in Samoa<\/a>, Kennedy, then chairman of Children\u2019s Health Defense, connected alternative medicine doctors in the U.S. with a local self-described \u201cnatural healer,\u201d who administered their vitamin protocols to sick children and spread fear over the Pacific Island nation\u2019s vaccination campaign. A total of 83 people, mostly children, died in the outbreak. Kennedy has repeatedly denied any involvement in the deaths and questions whether they were caused by measles at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of Friday, the Texas Department of State Health Services reported<\/a> 198 confirmed cases of measles in West Texas, mainly in Gaines County. Across the state border, in Lea County, New Mexico<\/a>, 30 cases have been reported.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty-three people \u2014 mostly unvaccinated children \u2014 have been hospitalized in West Texas, per state data. Two people have died, a\u20026-year-old in Gaines County and<\/a> an adult in Lea County\u2002who tested positive for measles after death.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

News of the child\u2019s death \u2014 the first child in the U.S. to die of measles in over two decades \u2014 was met with skepticism from anti-vaccine activists. On last Friday\u2019s edition of the Children\u2019s Health Defense internet morning show, the group\u2019s chief scientific officer, Brian Hooker, repeated false claims that have been spreading on social media that the child had actually been sick with RSV and pneumonia, and denied proper treatment in the hospital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really nefarious,\u201d Hooker said. \u201cIt feels like Covid all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edwards hosted Hooker on his podcast in February, about a month into the Texas outbreak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOffering nontraditional therapies to individuals who look for something other than science-based or evidence-based medicine makes it really hard to convince that group that my science is better than his science,\u201d Cook said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A turn away from conventional medicine<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edwards was conventionally trained at the University of Texas-Houston Medical School and initially opened a small town clinic where he practiced family medicine<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, however, he\u2019s made a switch to practicing outside of conventional medicine, operating as a so-called integrative practitioner or functional medicine doctor and promoting something he\u2002called<\/a> the \u201cFour Pillars of Health\u201d as the key to health: nutrition, hydration, movement and peace. Through\u2002his website<\/a>, Edwards sells dietary supplements, blood tests, and $35-a-month membership plans for access to his online education materials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edwards told NBC News that he\u2019s volunteering his time in the measles outbreak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During Covid, Edwards\u2002appeared as an expert<\/a> at Texas state legislative hearings,\u2002where he shared<\/a> dubious claims about widespread injuries and deaths he said were caused by the vaccines. In 2020, Edwards\u2002said<\/a> that masks were ineffective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On recent podcast episodes, Edwards said that after practicing for several years, he came to believe that vaccines and modern medicine were not responsible for historical declines in infectious disease deaths. Instead, he credited sanitation, nutrition and other lifestyle factors \u2014 factors that were instrumental in decreasing mortality, but do not account for how vaccines have reduced or eliminated infectious diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On his podcast, he\u2019s hosted anti-vaccine influencers and activists, including\u2002Barbara Loe Fisher<\/a> of the National Vaccine Information Center and Hooker<\/a> of Children\u2019s Health Defense;\u2002defended<\/a> Andrew Wakefield, the discredited doctor behind the retracted study that falsely linked autism to the MMR vaccine; and\u2002recommended<\/a> books from anti-vaccine activist J.B. Handley and the 2016 anti-vaccine film, \u201cVaxxed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A community approach <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full scale of the measles outbreak in West Texas isn\u2019t captured by official reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edwards did a quick tally of the number of cases he\u2019s seen at the warehouse in Seminole: approximately 188 in the last week. That estimate is based on symptoms alone, without confirmatory testing. It\u2019s unclear how much overlap there is between his estimates and the official Texas numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of hospitalizations is also outpacing the state\u2019s official count. Covenant Children\u2019s Hospital in Lubbock has treated 36 measles cases, said hospital spokesperson Meredith Cunningham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katherine Wells, director of public health at the Lubbock Health Department, said her worry level about the outbreak is \u201cat a 10.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe longer it goes on, the more likely we are to have people travel from one community to another and start an outbreak in another area,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Measles is one of the most contagious viruses on the planet. Viral particles can hang in the air for up to two hours and infect unvaccinated, vulnerable people. Large indoor gatherings are ripe for superspreader events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edwards said he wasn\u2019t concerned about patients congregating in his Gaines County clinic because \u201cthey were all sick with measles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A nearby health food store called Health 2 U is also a gathering place for members of the community. Cod liver oil is given out, sometimes for free, thanks to donations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe cod liver oil is being given away at no cost to anybody,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cThe local community and folks from across the country are donating to help pay for that.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, a steady stream of parents entered the store seeking advice for their kids sick with measles \u2014 including a woman carrying a little girl wrapped in a blanket. She was limp, with blotchy spots on her skin and a dazed look in her eyes that any parent knows means, \u201cI don\u2019t feel good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scene is worrisome to doctors, who generally advise that parents call their pediatricians before taking kids who may have been infected into public places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tina Siemens, a local historian in Gaines County who has assisted Edwards in the clinic, pushed back against the notion that the Mennonites in the area are uneducated about the disease or their decision not to vaccinate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese mamas, these daddies, they do their reading. They have made that choice based on what they read,\u201d Siemens said. \u201cTo paint everyone with the same wide brush stroke is a misrepresentation of our amazing community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A measles expert from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention personally met with Siemens on Friday, she said, to learn more about vaccine attitudes in the community, while also encouraging the shots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite overwhelming evidence that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is safe, both Edwards and Kennedy insist that families should decide for themselves whether to get their kids the shots or not. That\u2019s widely applauded in Gaines County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Folks in Seminole bristle at questions about whether they vaccinate their children. A group of moms gathered at a coffee shop recently did not want to speak on the record, offering this message instead: \u201cMind your own business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nbcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SEMINOLE, Texas \u2014 The building where hundreds of families are lining up for measles care amid a fast-growing outbreak in West Texas looks more like an abandoned car dealership than a doctor\u2019s office. There\u2019s no signage, nothing saying \u201cOpen\u201d or indicating office hours. But nearly every day, dozens of pickup trucks from all over Gaines County fill […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":39574,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5784],"tags":[1631,1831,2382,1298],"class_list":["post-39573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-family","tag-measles","tag-outbreak","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39573"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39575,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39573\/revisions\/39575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}