1834 measles letter highlights historic roots of today's anti-vaccine sentiment

Jim Downs, a medical historian, examined a 1834 letter from Jane Butt in a London journal while at Yale's medical library, noting the date matches 192 years later.

Butt described a measles outbreak in Broughton, reporting 36 cases among children, some with severe lung inflammation, but all recovered.

She credited the recoveries to Morison's pills, a purgative promoted by a merchant without medical training, illustrating how lay remedies were trusted.

Downs uses the letter to argue that women's observations have been historically ignored in medicine, and draws a parallel to today's anti-vaccine movement that also relies on anecdotal claims.