You, sir,
are an idiot.
Stefan Lanka is a German biologist with a long history of pseudoscientific outbursts, including a denial that the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, "exists at all."
In November 2011 he put his money where his mouth is by offering 100,000 euros (about $106,000) to anyone who could prove that the measles virus exists. His position is that the disease is "a psychosomatic illness" caused by "traumatic separations."
The challenge was taken up by David Barden, a German doctor who compiled evidence from medical journals proving the disease's viral cause. When Lanka rejected the evidence, Barden sued. Last week a German court found Barden's evidence persuasive and ordered Lanka to pay. He says he'll appeal.
It's not just the U.S. that is seeing a spike in measles infections. This year,
Germany has had 574 reported cases. In Berlin, a toddler died due to the measles infection. Anti-vaxxers are not just an American phenomenon.
German Health Minister Hermann Gröehe said the “irrational fear-mongering of some vaccination-foes is irresponsible” and said they threaten the lives of those with serious health problems who cannot be vaccinated.
“The vaccination gaps in Germany are still too large,” Gröehe said in a statement. Berlin’s vaccination rate is currently around 95 percent, AFP reports. National measles vaccination rates in the U.S. are around 92 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[...]
The anti-vaccination movement in Germany—like that in the U.S. and U.K.—has been driven by fears of a purported link between autism and the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine, The Guardian reports. That theory originated in a now-retracted 1998 Lancet study, authored by Andrew Wakefield, that has since been debunked in a number of studies.
Sigh. Apparently misinformation knows no borders.
BTW, I'm more than happy to take any anti-vaxxer up on a $100,000 bet.