I Speak of Dreams

Measles in Samoa: What You Need to Know

First, the Samoan Islands are an archipelago.  

Second, the Samoan Island archipelago include two different political entities, Samoa, a sovereign nation, with historical ties to New Zealand;   and American Samoa, which is a US territory (but it controls its own immigration and border matters). 

Third, earlier this year, Samoa, the sovereign nation, had a terrible immunization tragedy, in which two children were killed by improperly-prepared measles vaccination. 

Fourth, Samoa,  the sovereign nation, has had historically low immunization rates, including the Measles, Mumps, Rubella vaccine (MMR)

Fifth, the current terrible measles outbreak is occurring in Samoa, the sovereign nation. There have been over 700 cases in this nation of 197,000. If the same rate happened in the US, it would be about 1,171,000 cases. There have been 8 suspected deaths: a case fatality rate of 1.1%

Samoa’s Director General of Health Leausa Take Naseri says the crisis is partly his ministry’s fault with coverage rates being at a low 41 per cent and it’s taken a crisis to change that.

He says his staff are working around the clock to keep the epidemic from worsening but it’s far from over.

And a New Zealand infectious disease expert blames her country's lack of action

Dr Helen Petousis-Harris said given New Zealand's responsibility for the 1918 flu epidemic reaching Samoa and wiping out 22 per cent of the population, this country should have done more to protect Samoa from the outbreak.

"I feel deeply ashamed and incredibly angry that this has happened because it was absolutely predictable," Petousis-Harris said.

"It was inevitable that we would export this to Samoa. The situation in Samoa is well known that they have very low levels of immunity there."

Measles is the most contagious disease known to man and in an unimmunised population the infection spreads rapidly, she said.

"A single case can infect on average a further 12 to 18 others. So it virtually explodes. And the only way to prevent that is to have at least 95 per cent of your population immune to stop it from spreading."

The immunologist said successive New Zealand governments had failed their closest neighbour.

"I think ultimately we need to look to our leaders. [Not] the current leadership, or the one before... We've known about these problems for 20 years, so where are you going to place [sic] the buck?

"We've had 20 years to do something about this. This is something we could have done a lot better on."

The head of public health in Samoa, Dr Robert Thomsen, said Samoa had asked New Zealand for medical supplies and also for nurses who were competent to vaccinate, had experience caring for children and who could volunteer their time.

Joyetter Feagaimaali'i, writing in the Samoa Observer, reported

American Samoa has had two suspected measles cases imported from Samoa, but is acting to curb further importation.

But Samoans planning to travel to the territory should carry their immunisation records, as those who are unable to produce them will be turned back.

American Samoa Director of Health, Motusa Tuileama Nua, told the Samoa Observer in an interview that the reports of a border closure are not true, but Samoan citizens entering the territory now have to show their immunization records. 

Update 11/15/2019: Samoa declares state of emergency over measles epidemic as child deaths mount

There have been nine suspected deaths from the disease - most of them children - with more than 700 cases reported.

All isolation wards are full and the main hospital is at capacity. Many children are in critical condition.

The state of emergency will include a ban on any mass gatherings and an urgency will be given to vaccinating 100,000 people.

Is Theresa Deisher a Reliable Expert on Vaccine Ingredients?

This is mostly a guest post, as the majority of the research and writing was done by a medical student, V. Abey. I have added some historical material. 

On October 31, 2019, the anti-vaccine propagandist Del Bigtree invited Theresa Deisher on his show, to promote her unscientific views on fetal cell fragments in some vaccines.

There's a Deisher backstory, which I (Liz) will review briefly. I first became aware of Dr. Deisher through a 2009 post at Respectful Insolence, Thermonuclear stupid about vaccines from someone other than Jenny McCarthy, deconstructing her 2009 white paper, Is Aborted Fetal DNA in Vaccines Linked to Autism? Orac concluded his deconstruction with:

[Deisher’s] strategy panders to the anti-vaccine movement and super-religious conservatives at the same time. Indeed, I grudgingly have to admit that it’s brilliant, from an anti-vaccine PR perspective–except for the fact that the anti-vaccine movement doesn’t really care if “fetal parts” are removed from vaccines because it’s the vaccines they oppose. Still, it may make Dr. Deisher some money. What more could she ask for?

In 2013, Matt Carey at LeftBrain/RightBrain wrote about a petition Dr. Deisher had made to have access to Vaccine Safety Datalink files, to look for a connection between receipt of the varicella vaccine and autism.  The request was denied, in part because Deisher's peers "have found her proposed study to be critically deficient".

In 2014, Deisher published a study, Impact of environmental factors on the prevalence of autistic disorder after 1979. It was (to put it mildly) not well-received. I (Liz) did a summary post of the criticisms at Critical Evaluations of "Impacts of Environmental Factors on the Prevalence of Autistic Disorder after 1979", Deisher et al. 2014   (It was from Genevieve H., writing at Rational Catholic, that I learned that Deisher's son was ill with Burkitt's lymphoma.) Sadly, he died on July 3,  2013. Deisher filed a National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) petition on his behalf; it was denied in April, 2019.

In spring, 2015, Deisher published two papers in the journal Issues In Law and Medicine,

1. Sociological Environmental Causes are Insufficient to Explain Autism Changepoints of Incidence, and
2. Epidemiologic and Molecular Relationship Between Vaccine Manufacture and Autism Spectrum Disorder Prevalence.

In a 2015 blog post, More horrible antivaccine “science” from Theresa Deisher, Orac addressed the dire shortcomings of the "Epidemiologic and Molecular Relationship Between Vaccine Manufacture and Autism Spectrum Disorder Prevalence" paper.

Earlier in  2019, Washington State legislators were considering HB 1638, which  removed personal and philosophical options  to exempt children from the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine required for school and child care entry.  (The bill passed in May. )  The bill  retains medical and religious exemptions and leaves intact personal belief exemptions for all other required immunizations.

On April 8, 2019. Dr. Deisher published an “Open Letter to Legislators Regarding Fetal Cell DNA in Vaccines”.   The open letter  didn't name the legislators -- but as we can see from the above, it's clearly to Washington State legislators, and Dr. Deisher lives in Washington State.

The "Open Letter" was republished by Brian Shillavy's anti-vaccine, anti-science organization, Vaccine Impact, which is part of his publishing stable, Health Impact.

Claim:Theresa A. Deisher, PhD in molecular and cellular physiology from Stanford, is an expert in stem cell research.

Theresa Deisher may have a PhD from Stanford but her claims don’t reflect an expertise in stem cell research - or biology in general. Her mantra is this: that ‘fetal parts’ used in the making of vaccines somehow infiltrate the brain and recombine with neuronal DNA to cause autism. Interestingly, the only ‘evidence’ of such a phenomenon is found in her own studies, statements and open letters.

Health Feedback is a worldwide network of scientists sorting fact from fiction in health and medical media coverage. Shortly after Deisher's Vaccine Impact article was published, three reputable scientists in the Health Feedback network gave the article a close reading, and and deconstructed them, one by one. One of the reviewers concluded:

The claims are so biologically and immunologically wrong that the entire letter is just a condensed list of fake claims and fear mongering that can be dangerous when read by someone that does not understand biology.

In summary, her claim that homologous recombination of fetal DNA in vaccines leads to mutagenesis and autoimmune disease is proven wrong by basic biology. For this to occur, the vaccine DNA has to integrate into cell surface protein genes and express foreign or altered proteins on the cell; for a reaction as prolific as the one she describes, it would have to occur on a massive scale. This is implausible; it’s the reason why gene therapy isn’t exactly a walk in the park.

Deisher, a molecular biologist, would be more than aware of this. Yet, what I (V.) find most distasteful is her data manipulation.  Let's use the infamous paper Epidemiologic and Molecular Relationship Between Vaccine Manufacture and Autism Spectrum Disorder Prevalence for examples.

Point one:  she begins by claiming a “worldwide autism epidemic” - an ableist and untrue claim. She also combined data from three random countries, Norway, Sweden and the UK - a recipe for the ecological fallacy (where inferences about the nature of individuals are deduced from inference for the group to which those individuals belong.)

.Point two: Deisher cultured cells at a Cot1 DNA concentration of 500-750 ng of DNA per 107 cells; she found uptake in some cell lines. It is a subtle deception because, by her own admission, the most DNA was found in Havrix: “276 ng single-stranded and 36 ng double-stranded DNA per vial”. It is certainly interesting that her culture more than doubled the DNA concentration found in vaccines.

Point three: Her graphs use cheap and deceptive tactics to imply significance; for example, Figure 1 has the autism prevalence axis ranging from 0 to 0.6%, whilst the MMR coverage axis ranges from 86 to 95%. Matt Carey of Left Brain/Right Brain normalised the MMR coverage axis to 0 to 100% (as it should be) and the scary curve flattened. Her findings are not remotely analogous to the true scope of DNA in vaccines.

Source: https://soundchoice.s3.amazonaws.com/soundchoice/wp-content/uploads/Deisher-article-2-FINAL1.pdf

Source: https://respectfulinsolence.com/2015/08/24/more-horrible-antivaccine-science-from-theresa-deisher/

Deisher is a conservative Catholic. After she lost her son to Burkitt’s lymphoma, she added childhood cancers to her list of vaccine consequences. I am more than empathetic of her circumstances and I understand how they may have turned a great scientist into a fearful one. But I struggle to find sympathy for Deisher’s deceitful tactics, to demonise a foundation of vaccine development that her own Church finds acceptable.