Measles deaths return to the U.S. after thirty years: when vaccine skepticism becomes policy
This week America reported three measles deaths that vaccines could have prevented entirely—New York's first in thirty years, Wisconsin's first in thirty-six. Daniel Griffin attributes them to misinformation from health officials, not public health misfortune.
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Measles took three lives in the U.S. this week
Three measles deaths reported this week in America: a child in northern New York (the state's first in thirty years), an unvaccinated adult in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, and a baby in Wisconsin (the state's first in thirty-six years). Daniel Griffin emphasizes that America had previously eliminated measles—children should not be dying preventably of this vaccine-preventable disease. He directly blames health officials who've undermined the public health system and spread vaccine misinformation, and argues their accountability should rank above political impeachment.
— Daniel GriffinAutochthonous Chagas disease emerges in a Texas infant
A ten-month-old in Corpus Christi, Texas fell ill with Chagas disease, presenting with high fever, rash, and periorbital swelling. Blood smears confirmed Trypanosoma cruzi, and the infection rapidly progressed to fulminant myocarditis and toxic megacolon. The baby had never left the U.S.; environmental surveys found kissing bugs and animal hosts carrying the parasite in the area, confirming local transmission—likely when the baby ingested the infected insect. The hosts acknowledged that prevention is nearly impossible beyond keeping children indoors, since kissing bugs can penetrate indoor spaces.
— Daniel GriffinScrewworm cases jump from single digits to over a hundred in months
Screwworm is spreading northward through Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona: four cases in August, three in September, and thirty-six in October brought the total to 113 animal cases by November 5, including a cat in New Mexico. Daniel Griffin showed maps of its progress into central New Mexico, underscoring that this once-eradicated parasitic disease is now advancing north far faster than expected.
— Daniel GriffinEbola in DRC shows no sign of slowing
The DRC Ebola outbreak has totaled 10,563 confirmed cases and 5,130 deaths, with no curve inflection—the slope stays constant, a straight upward line. Daniel Griffin points out these numbers have already exceeded the previous largest outbreak (West Africa) in the same timeframe, and most predict it will eventually completely surpass it. The current hope rests on U.S. public health capacity quickly reorganizing to provide assistance.
— Daniel GriffinInfection in cell culture doesn't mean infection in the human body
A PLOS ONE study infected neural stem cells from human neuroectoderm with pseudoviral particles, finding that Omicron spike protein preferentially entered cells via endocytosis. The authors recommended long-term neurodevelopmental monitoring of infants exposed in utero. But Daniel Griffin cautions that this is petri-dish biology—infected cells in culture don't mean the virus reaches those sites in a living person. Poliovirus replicates in cultured kidney cells but never actually infects human kidneys in real infection.
— Daniel GriffinLow-dose naltrexone doesn't help long-COVID fatigue
A randomized controlled trial in MedRxiv tested low-dose naltrexone for post-COVID fatigue. Patients accessed a compounding pharmacy, starting at 0.5 mg and titrating to 4.5 mg over 16 weeks of double-blind placebo control. On the primary endpoint of fatigue severity, naltrexone and placebo showed no difference. Given that many long-COVID patients have already tried this drug, this negative result deserves wider awareness.
— Daniel GriffinEarlier metformin use cuts long-COVID risk more
A target trial emulation study in the Journal of Medical Virology found that starting metformin within six days of COVID diagnosis yielded a 4% incidence of long COVID or death, compared to 8.5% in the control group (treated with fluvoxamine, fluticasone, ivermectin, etc.)—nearly 50% risk reduction. But starting treatment on day 14 showed almost no difference—timing is critical. Daniel Griffin notes the 8.5% long-COVID rate in controls seems high, and the mechanism of response remains unclear, so it's uncertain who should receive the drug.
— Daniel GriffinCOVID vaccines approved for one dose, but protection wanes in six months
Daniel Griffin explains that FDA approval of mRNA COVID vaccines like Comirnaty is for a ‘single dose’, requiring only a minimum two-month interval from any prior dose—not a mandatory six months. In practice, protection declines noticeably around six months but doesn't disappear, so high-risk populations still benefit from another dose then. This year's mRNA flu vaccine could theoretically shift its formulation faster to match circulating strains, but the strain composition this season is identical to traditional egg- and recombinant-based vaccines—no actual advantage taken from the technology.
— Daniel GriffinIn their own words · checked verbatim
I just don't understand why this isn't the top of everyone's list. Like everyone's talking about, oh, we've got to impeach Egg Seth. I think the first person we have to get rid of is the one responsible for little children dying of vaccine-preventable illnesses, for lying to people, for misinforming them.
Daniel Griffin9:20
Look at screw worm. Look what's going on with screw worm. It's really moving, isn't it? I mean, look at it.
Daniel Griffin17:40
It is a straight line. And yeah, it's really remarkable that it's so much bigger than the West African outbreak was in the same number of days because that was the biggest ever.
Daniel Griffin18:41
For example, if you take a human who has polio, the kidney is never infected. But if you put kidney cells in culture, you can infect them with polio virus.
Daniel Griffin30:06
They're going to go up to 4.5 milligrams if they're tolerated, or they're going to do placebo. You can do this for 16 weeks. And the primary outcome was fatigue severity. Basically, no difference. Did not help. Same as placebo.
Daniel Griffin35:21
in the primary analysis, 4% in the Metformin group developed along COVID versus 8.5% in the control group. So about a 50% reduction.
Daniel Griffin36:23
The packaging now is this one shot, but there will be certain high risk folks. And just realize that six months from now, there's potentially a reason to go ahead and get a second shot.
Daniel Griffin51:57
Figures
| Reported measles deaths | 3 (New York: first in 30 years; Wisconsin: first in 36 years) | 9:20 |
| U.S. measles cases to date | 5,051 (321 new this week) | 19:42 |
| Florida dengue cases to date | 485 (60 new this week) | 15:38 |
| DRC Ebola cases and deaths | 10,563 confirmed, 5,130 deaths | 18:41 |
| U.S. screwworm animal cases total | 113 | 17:40 |
| Long-COVID incidence: early metformin vs. controls | 4% vs. 8.5% | 36:23 |
| U.S. child flu deaths (two recent seasons) | 193 / over 200 | 23:56 |
Glossary
- low-dose naltrexone
- An opioid antagonist typically used for pain; tested here at ultra-low doses for long-COVID fatigue.
- target trial emulation
- Using observational data to simulate a randomized trial by applying RCT design principles to infer causal effects.
- screwworm
- Parasitic fly larvae that infest living tissue; a disease once eradicated in the U.S. now spreading north from the tropics.
- parosmia / phantosmia
- Distorted smell perception (parosmia) or phantom smells (phantosmia)—perceiving real scents as twisted, or smelling things that aren't there.
- autochthonous
- Locally acquired infection; a disease case contracted in-country rather than imported through travel.
How to listen
Doctors, patients, and families tracking U.S. public health policy trends, vaccination timing, and clinical evidence on long COVID.
Starting at 41:36, listener questions shift to personal medical advice—skip if this doesn't apply to you.