Measles Virus Possible Cure for Cancer!
Awesome news! The measles virus cured a woman’s cancer!
Stacy Erholtz, a 49 year old woman, had suffered with multiple myeloma. Having this deadly cancer of the blood Stacy Erholtz went to the Doctors at the Mayo Clinic where she received every type of chemotherapy drug available for her cancer and had undergone two stem cell transplants, only to relapse time and again.
A while back a young boy in Uganda had a large tumor on his head, by chance he contracted the measles virus. Then, miraculously the tumor went away!! Doctors then started trying to figure out why and how. They re-engineered the measles virus so that it is still the active virus but, does not give you the measles.
Doctors believe is that the measles attacks cancer! It is making the body immune-system work for you instead of against you! “The idea here is that a virus can be trained to specifically damage a cancer and to leave other tissues in the body unharmed,” said the lead study author, Dr. Stephen Russell.
This high dose of re-engineered measles virus was given to six people with cancer. While Stacy Erholtz is the only one who now has been in remission for nine-months now, to me those are great odds! One in six people could be cured of cancer possibly!
The measles vaccination was created in 1963 and then elimination goals were announced in 1978. We all know cancer rates have been on the up-growth for years. Many may ague over the reasoning behind the numbers….better diagnostic testing or more accurate records. Either way, people have cancer and we would love a cure! Maybe hope is around the corner.
It does make me wonder what else we have taken out of our world that may have been a cure for other evils. The first year the chickenpox vaccine was made mandatory was the year my oldest son reached that age. When I was told he had to have the vaccine I thought to myself, “What? Chickenpox is like a right of passage as a kid. Everyone gets chickenpox!” Now, I do know all the advantages of not getting chickenpox but, still makes me wonder.
Sources: CNN, Journal of Infectious Diseases
It’s always nice to hear of seen as “bad”‘and to find its actually has a good side too
I just hope nobody reading this decides it’s a great idea to skip measles vaccinations for kids.