Measles cases in the United States have exceeded 4,500 in 2026, marking the highest annual total since 1991. The surge comes as kindergarten vaccine exemptions hit a record 4.2%, leaving overall school coverage well below the threshold needed to stop community transmission. This modern shift, visible in the Make America Healthy Again movement, echoes the 1834 actions of Jane Butt, who treated 37 children with unproven Morison’s pills after feeling sidelined by professional physicians.
Key points
Declining vaccination coverage has dropped pediatric immunization below the critical thre…: Declining vaccination coverage has dropped pediatric immunization below the critical threshold required to stop community transmission.
Modern movements like MAHA are largely driven by mothers who feel marginalized by traditi…: Modern movements like MAHA are largely driven by mothers who feel marginalized by traditional medical authorities.
Historical parallels show that alternative health movements consistently gain momentum wh…: Historical parallels show that alternative health movements consistently gain momentum when caregivers seek to assert their own authority against professional institutions.
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On Sept. 23, I sat in a small glass reading room at Yale’s medical library, turning the rag-paper pages of the Medical Dissenter, a London journal from the 1830s. At the bottom of one page, under the headline, “Report from Mrs. Butt to Mr. Hudson,” I met Jane Butt. Her letter was dated Sept. 23, 1834. I was reading it 192 years later to the day.
Jane lived in the village of Broughton and explained that measles had spread through the children around her earlier that year. She described how one of her own children had caught it. She then reported 36 other cases in her community. Some, she noted, developed severe inflammation of the lungs, one of the complications that can make measles deadly. She believed a cold east wind aggravated their symptoms. Nevertheless, she reported, all of them recovered.
Jane attributed the recoveries to Morison’s pills. James Morison was a merchant with no medical training who believed that a purgative could expel “impure blood” from the body and restore its natural balance. She administered the pills to the…
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