Irresponsible Controversial doc gets measles while treating unvaccinated kids—keeps working Ben Edwards has grown popular in Texas for providing unproven measles treatments. Beth Mole – Apr 21, 2025 7:28 pm | 33 Signs point the way to measles testing in the parking lot of the Seminole Hospital District across from Wigwam Stadium on February 27, 2025 in Seminole, Texas. Credit: Getty | Jan Sonnenmair Signs point the way to measles testing in the parking lot of the Seminole Hospital District across from Wigwam Stadium on February 27, 2025 in Seminole, Texas. Credit: Getty | Jan Sonnenmair Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more A controversial doctor providing unproven measles treatments to unvaccinated children in West Texas recently contracted the highly infectious virus himself amid the mushrooming outbreak—and he continued treating patients while visibly ill with the virus. The doctor's infection was revealed in a video posted online by Children's Health Defense (CHD), the rabid anti-vaccine advocacy organization founded and previously run by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a long-time anti-vaccine advocate who is now the US secretary of health. Kennedy headed CHD until January, when he stepped down in anticipation of his Senate confirmation. In the video, the doctor, Ben Edwards, can be seen with mild spots on his face. Someone asks him if he caught measles himself, and he responds, "Yeah," saying he was "pretty achy yesterday." He went on to say that he had developed the rash the day before but woke up that day feeling "pretty good." The video was posted by CHD on March 31, and the Associated Press was the first to report it. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a person infected with measles is considered contagious from four days before the rash appears to four days after it appears. The virus is among the most infectious known to humans. It spreads in the air and can linger in the airspace of a room for up to two hours after an infectious person is present. Up to 90 percent of people who lack immunity—either from prior infection or vaccination—will get sick upon an exposure. In the video, Edwards is wearing scrubs, apparently in a clinic with patients, parents, and people from CHD. In an email to the AP, Edwards claimed that he "interacted with zero patients that were not already infected with measles" during the time he was infectious. "Therefore, obviously, there were no patients that were put in danger of acquiring measles since they already had measles." However, the video shows him in a room with other people who do not appear sick, and he is not wearing a mask. Edwards has become quite popular in the severely undervaccinated community in Gaines County, Texas, the epicenter of the explosive outbreak that began in late January and continues to grow steadily. Edwards set up a makeshift measles clinic in Gaines and provides unproven treatments, such as cod liver oil, the antibiotic clarithromycin, and the glucocorticoid budesonide, which is used to treat asthma and Crohn's disease. Edwards and his unproven treatments have garnered direct praise from Kennedy, who in a social media post called Edwards and another controversial doctor working in the area, Richard Bartlett, "extraordinary healers." In 2003, Bartlett was disciplined by the Texas Medical Board for "unusual use of risk-filled medications" in multiple patients, including children. The risky treatments included intravenous antibiotics and hefty doses of glucocorticoids. In the social media post, Kennedy claimed the two doctors had treated "some 300" children with measles amid the outbreak. According to another video posted by CHD, some of those children included the four surviving siblings of an unvaccinated 6-year-old girl who died of measles in February. In the video, members of CHD interviewed the girl's parents, who believed that if Edwards had treated their now-deceased daughter, who developed measles before her siblings, she, too, would have lived. They also falsely claimed that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine was dangerous. Misinformation The interview culminated with the parents urging others to avoid the MMR vaccine. "We would absolutely not take the MMR," the mother said through a translator of Low German. "The measles wasn't that bad, and they got over it pretty quickly," she added, speaking of her four living children. In the video with Edwards that has just come to light, CHD once again uses the situation to disparage MMR vaccines. Someone off camera asks Edwards if he had never had measles before, to which he replies that he had gotten an MMR vaccine as a kid, though he didn't know if he had gotten one or the recommended two doses. "That doesn't work then, does it?" the off-camera person asks, referring to the MMR vaccine. "No, apparently not, " Edwards replies. "Just wear[s] off." It appears Edwards had a breakthrough infection, which is rare, but it does occur. They're more common in people who have only gotten one dose, which is possibly the case for Edwards. A single dose of MMR is 93 percent effective against measles, and two doses are 97 percent effective. In either case, the protection is considered lifelong. While up to 97 percent effectiveness is extremely protective, some people do not mount protective responses and are still vulnerable to an infection upon exposure. However, their illnesses will likely be milder than if they had not been vaccinated. In the video, Edwards described his illness as a "mild case." The data on the outbreak demonstrates the effectiveness of vaccination. As of April 18, Texas health officials have identified 597 measles cases, leading to 62 hospitalizations and two deaths in school-aged, unvaccinated children with no underlying medical conditions. Most of the cases have been in unvaccinated children. Of the 597 cases, 12 (2 percent) had received two MMR doses previously, and 10 (1.6 percent) had received one dose. The remaining 99 percent of cases are either unvaccinated or have no record of vaccination. Toward the end of the video, Edwards tells CHD he's "doing what any doctor should be doing." Beth Mole Senior Health Reporter Beth Mole Senior Health Reporter Beth is Ars Technica’s Senior Health Reporter. Beth has a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and attended the Science Communication program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She specializes in covering infectious diseases, public health, and microbes. 33 Comments