Is Measles Deadly?
The Case of the Faroe Islands
What happens when an anti-vaccine influencer reads an account of a deadly measles epidemic?
He is simply amazed that a natural measles infection left these folks with lifelong immunity!
Is there another perspective?
Measles Deaths on the Faroe Islands
There sure is!
Roman Bystriankyk leaves out many of Peter Ludwig Panum’s observations about this measles epidemic on the Faroe Islands.
“But as I have no very accurate statistical data for Suderø, which Mr. Manicus has taken care of, I shall here give account only of the other islands, comprising six parishes, with 6626 inhabitants, of whom about 5000 had measles last year. From the beginning of the year 1846 until the epidemic had ended, 215 persons died in these parishes, of whom 164 died during the epidemic, the duration of the latter having been calculated separately for each village, and, of these, seventy-eight were victims of measles or its results.”
Observations made during the epidemic of measles on the Faroe Islands in the year 1846
A measles epidemic that Panum noted to be quite deadly!
“The influence which the epidemic of measles of 1846 exerted on the mortality rates of the Faroes may serve as an example to illustrate the tendency of epidemics as a whole to decimate (See Appendix [23]) the population of a country.”
Observations made during the epidemic of measles on the Faroe Islands in the year 1846
That was the take away from these observations.
“Here, therefore, an edict of quarantine against measles would seem ludicrous, but the Faroe Islands would probably not have lost nearly 100 inhabitants if an edict directed against the introduction of measles had not been removed some years ago”
Observations made during the epidemic of measles on the Faroe Islands in the year 1846
He went so far as to advocate for “an edict of quarantine against measles” to help prevent future deaths from measles.
Of course, the inhabitants of the Faroe islands weren’t the only ones to suffer when they were finally introduced to measles and other now, vaccine-preventable diseases.
“We review the remarkably tragic 1824 journey of King Kamehameha II and Queen Kamamalu of Hawaii to London and the later enormous impact of measles on Hawaii on first arrival in 1848. The young royalty came to seek an audience with King George IV to negotiate an alliance with England. Virtually the entire royal party developed measles within weeks of arrival, 7 to 10 days after visiting the Royal Military Asylum housing hundreds of soldiers' children. Within the month the king (27) and queen (22) succumbed to measles complications.”
The tragic 1824 journey of the Hawaiian king and queen to London: history of measles in Hawaii.
Measles also devastated Fiji, the Hawaiian Islands, and Polynesian islands, etc.
“The estimated loss is of from one fourth to one fifth of the native population, or more than 20,000 deaths in four months from this disease.”
On Measles in Fiji
Do they all now benefit from life-long immunity to measles?
“In 1861 on Aneityum in the New Hebrides, the population was reduced by about 60 per cent in a measles epidemic.”
The epidemiology of measles in the U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
Only the ones who survived…
References:
Observations made during the epidemic of measles on the Faroe Islands in the year 1846 by Panum, Peter Ludwig, 1820-1885
Shulman ST, Shulman DL, Sims RH. The tragic 1824 journey of the Hawaiian king and queen to London: history of measles in Hawaii. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2009 Aug;28(8):728-33. doi: 10.1097/INF.0b013e31819c9720. PMID: 19633516.
Shanks GD, Lee SE, Howard A, Brundage JF. Extreme mortality after first introduction of measles virus to the polynesian island of Rotuma, 1911. Am J Epidemiol. 2011 May 15;173(10):1211-22. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwq504. Epub 2011 Apr 15. PMID: 21498623.
Squire W. On Measles in Fiji. Trans Epidemiol Soc Lond. 1879;4(Pt 1):72-74. PMID: 29418970; PMCID: PMC5526369.
Gould KL, Herrman KL, Witte JJ. The epidemiology of measles in the U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Am J Public Health. 1971 Aug;61(8):1602-14. doi: 10.2105/ajph.61.8.1602. PMID: 5105569; PMCID: PMC1530194.