Willing to try anything to beat blood cancer, 50-year-old Stacy Erholtz decided to participate in a Mayo Clinic experimental trial that involved injecting enough measles vaccine to inoculate 10 million people. Now, thanks to that "measles blitzkrieg," the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports, almost a year later, Erholtz is in remission.
Erholtz's tumors were mostly in her bone marrow, while the other study participant had tumors in the leg muscles. While Erholtz was the only one who went into remission, the experiment provides the "proof of concept" that a large amount of intravenous viral therapy can wipe out cancer by overpowering its natural defenses. "It's a landmark," lead researcher Dr. Stephen Russell, a professor of molecular medicine, told the Star Tribune. "Nobody's shown that you can do that in people before."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Pentagon Discord leaker gets 15 years in prisonSpeed Read Jack Teixeira, a Massachusetts Air National Guard member, leaked classified military documents
-
Today's political cartoons - November 13, 2024Cartoons Wednesday's cartoons - winds of change, Democratic depression, and more
-
Can Ukraine win over Donald Trump?Today's Big Question Officials in Kyiv remain optimistic they can secure continued support from the US under a Trump presidency
-
ACA opens 2025 enrollment, enters 2024 raceSpeed Read Mike Johnson promises big changes to the Affordable Care Act if Trump wins the election
-
McDonald's sued over E. coli linked to burgerSpeed Read The outbreak has sickened at least 49 people in 10 states and left one dead
-
Texas dairy worker gets bird flu from infected cowSpeed Read The virus has been spreading among cattle in Texas, Kansas, Michigan and New Mexico
-
Dengue hits the Americas hard and earlySpeed Read Puerto Rico has declared an epidemic as dengue cases surge
-
US bans final type of asbestosSpeed Read Exposure to asbestos causes about 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year
-
Seattle Children's Hospital sues Texas over 'sham' demand for transgender medical recordsSpeed Read Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton subpoenaed records of any Texan who received gender-affirming care at the Washington hospital
-
Afghanistan has a growing female suicide problemSpeed Read The Taliban has steadily whittled away women's and girls' rights in Afghanistan over the past 2 years, prompting a surge in depression and suicide
-
US life expectancy rose in 2022 but not to pre-pandemic levelsSpeed Read Life expectancy is slowly crawling back up
