Due to the surge in parents refusing to vaccinate their children, a measles outbreak has spread across the Pacific Northwest. Not only has this reached Butte County, but specifically the measles outbreak has reached a student at Chico State.

The anti-vaccination movement believes getting exposed to a dangerous and possibly fatal illness is a good thing. This ideology is a treasure trove of ludicrous pseudoscience and the worldwide issue has found its way onto “health” blogs, rallies and children’s books.

The measles, according to the CDC, is anything but good.

Ear infections occur in about one out of every 10 children with measles and can result in permanent hearing loss.

Not scary?

Measles can cause a condition called encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) which can either kill or lead to brain damage. As far as deaths go, having your brain swell to the point of it being crushed under the pressure of your own skull is pretty high on the list of brutality.

Still not scary enough?

Even if a patient with measles survives they can develop subacute sclerosing panencephalitis. This is a progressive, disabling and deadly brain disorder that develops years after the measles infection.

The final stage of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis is death. According to the National Institute of Health, in stage four the parts of the brain that control breathing, heart rate and blood pressure shut down due to damage. This leads to coma and then death.

If that’s not scary enough to you, that’s just sad.

That’s the worst part of it: No amount of fear will change an anti-vaxxer’s mind simply because it is a matter of faith rather than fact. This is nearly impossible to argue because the delusion of their own making is ever cycling in a wheel of confirmation bias.

Anti-vaxxers are willfully spreading around misinformation as if they are heroes. Standing tall on a mountain of ignorance. Willfully allowing suffering and death because of a discredited article from a discredited doctor.

And even if it’s not about autism, the reasoning (if you want to call it that) for anti-vaxxers is about standing up to tyranny and reasserting personal rights. This still doesn’t make sense because it disregards a newborn baby’s choice (or lack thereof) for getting infected. What about children’s rights to life and adequate health?

This is the same reason smoking is not allowed on planes or in restaurants anymore, because other people do not need to get cancer or simply be bothered by second-hand smoke. If you want to take a risk against your own life, that is on you, but diseases such as these are worse because it is not just your own life at stake.

Measles is the just one of the more preventable diseases that are still around today because of people like this. Is measles something that is guaranteed to kill or maim someone? No. But are the lives of children something to gamble with just to avoid a needle in the arm?

Good work to all of you who create and pedal this nonsense around. I’m sure the innocent child is incredibly thankful for their seizures and possible mortality.

I hope the time you spend raising your kids “however you see fit” is precious to you because it is more than likely fleeting. If they get sick and suffer or die, it is 100% your fault.

Gage Northcutt can be reached at [email protected] or @GageNorthcutt on Twitter.