Anti-Vaxxer Nurse Fired for Post About Measles Patient

A Texas Children's Hospital nurse is out of a job after posting about a toddler who tested positive for measles on an anti-vaccination Facebook page. Identifying herself as a "nonvaxxer" on a since-removed page called Proud Parents of Unvaccinated Children-Texas, the woman wrote Friday that she'd seen her first measles case "and honestly, it was rough. The kid was super sick." Suggesting the boy contracted the disease overseas, she added she seriously "thought about swabbing his mouth and bringing [the sample] home" to her own child, per ABC News and KTRK. "By no means have I changed my vax stance, and I never will. But I just wanted to share my experience and how much worse it was than I expected," continued the woman, whose profile listed the hospital as her workplace.

"We were made aware that one of our nurses posted protected health information regarding a patient on social media" and "this individual is no longer with the organization," the hospital said Tuesday following a tip from a parent, adding "vaccination is the best protection against measles." The director of the City of Houston Health Department, which is probing the measles case, says the child had recently traveled overseas but was too young to get the vaccine like the rest of his family; the first dose is usually given at 12 to 15 months of age, per the Houston Chronicle. If confirmed, the boy's diagnosis represents the eighth measles case in Texas this year. The CDC lists 124 cases across 22 states and Washington, DC, through August 11. (The EU has counted at least 41,000 cases.)