Associated Press/AP
This map shows outbreaks of measles and mumps over the past five years:
It’s no surprise that Africa has been heavily hit, but why are the United States and Europe seeing so many outbreaks? Aaron Carroll explains:
- All of that red, which seems to dominate? It’s measles. It’s even peeking through in the United States, and it’s smothering the United Kingdom.
- If you get rid of the measles, you can start to see mumps. Again, crushing the UK and popping up in the US.
- Both measles and mumps are part of the MMR vaccine.
Use of the MMR vaccine plummeted during the aughts, as vaccine-autism hysteria was spread by charlatans and the ignorati. Needless to say, this did nothing to affect the incidence of autism, but it sure had an effect on measles and mumps. To this day, though, I don’t think any of the vectors of this hysteria have so much as apologized. It’s shameful.
