Disneyland Measles Outbreak

Audience hook: In 2014, the U.S experienced a record number of cases of measles, mostly from the Philippines. Most were unvaccinated and most were from international travel.

Imagine traveling to the “Happiest Place on Earth”, Disneyland, with your family. While you are there a person that has not been vaccinated is walking around with the measles virus in their system. While that person shows no signs or symptoms of the measles, they are infecting others that haven’t been vaccinated, due to young age or other purposes. Now what turned out to be many people’s family vacations is now a life-threatening situation for some. This type of outbreak actually occurred during December of 2014, where 40 Californians were exposed to the measles at Disneyland and 91 additional cases of the outbreak strain also occurred from the people exposed affecting others (Blumberg et al, 2015). Outbreaks likes this can potentially be

Thirty-nine (35%) of the California patients visited one or both of the two Disney theme parks during December 17–20, where they are thought to have been exposed to measles, 37 have an unknown exposure source (34%), and 34 (31%) are secondary cases. Among the 34 secondary cases, 26 were household or close contacts, and eight were exposed in a community setting. In addition, 15 cases linked to the two Disney theme parks have been reported in seven other states: Arizona (seven), Colorado (one), Nebraska (one), Oregon (one), Utah (three), and Washington (two), as well as linked cases reported in two neighboring countries, Mexico (one) and Canada (10).”(CDC, February 11, 2015)

An infection in my community would quickly become an outbreak of measles and would probably spread quickly infecting many and claiming lives of young and old. A Measles outbreak is a strong possibility due to a large religious group with thousands of members in my community that do not believe in vaccinations, and only allow for limited healthcare. Popular organic lifestyles and refusal of vaccinations are believed to have aided in spread of a recent outbreak of Measles in California. The virus detected in California was identical to one that caused a large outbreak in the Philippines last year. The California outbreak that was noted from December 2014 to February 2015 notes that there were 125 confirmed cases, and 15 of the cases were confirmed to have been linked to the

A measles outbreak in my community would cause massive strain on our resources at the local level. Being the small community we are, the threat of spreading the disease is always a real concern. There are two banks, two gas stations, 18 churches and 5 schools within the county limits. The hospital in neighboring Pasquotank is relatively small for the areas it serves, the emergency room has eight fast track beds, twenty six main side (including tow trauma bays) and 13 chest pain beds, the other floors hold a maximum census of 30 with 6 nurses. The strain on the hospital and healthcare staff would be significant, the other floors stay at full census almost daily without any outbreaks. I do believe depending on the number affected it would be comparable to when the flu hits our community hard and the emergency room has long wait times and the chest pain unit is used as overflow for admitted patients without beds. These count for long stays and short supplies. The hospital requires all employees to be up to date on all vaccinations, however the risk to passing the disease to other patients is a concern. The fast track area is where we set up isolation for contagious disease, as it provides distance from the main but is still within close proximity to the nurse’s station. The need for all hands on

When an outbreak occurs of a disease as contagious as measles, the first response should be to quarantine the affected people. Since measles does not transmit from animals, there is no need to eliminate the animals that may have come into contact with the infected individuals. Clinics need to be set up for those that could have been contaminated and quarantine those individuals as well. Travel needs to be banned to and from the community that has the outbreak declared. With all the quarantines, this will affect the local schools, grocery stores, local businesses, and the overall economic status. The media will be in high demand to help communicate the orders from the local

Measles was at one time in the not too distant past, a killer of those that became infected. Measles has been around for centuries. The first published, written account of the disease was in the ninth century by a Persian doctor. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website on measles, it was not until 1757 that a Scottish physician, named Francis Home, proved that something infectious in the blood was causing the disease. By the early 1900’s, the United States began requiring every healthcare provider and laboratory to report all identified cases, with approximately 6,000 deaths being

The new trend of parents not having their children vaccinated for measles is causing harm to the child and contributing to future outbreaks of the disease.

Measles, mumps, and rubella. Viruses that have become so rare most nobody knows the dangers and symptoms. But since the preventative measure of vaccinations have been used less and less in Ashland Oregon, these outbreaks are predicted to occur. Cluster of Ashland, Oregon parents have created a dangerous community brewing with diseases ready to erupt by choosing to opt-out of vaccinating their children. Misinformation circulating the Internet activated an anti-vaccination cluster that could be reversed with legitimate evidence of risks and benefits of immunizing kids,

The American Health Association has also been working hard to remind Americans that without vaccinations throughout our population, preventable – and serious – diseases could once again rise in our schools and homes. Indeed a recent outbreak of measles in Minnesota is but one of recent outbreaks in developed countries.

In December of 2014, an outbreak of measles, which started in Disneyland, resulted in nearly two hundred people being sickened across the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The highly contagious respiratory disease spread for three months. Among those who contracted the illness, one developed severe pneumonia and multiple organ injury, while another suffered acute respiratory distress syndrome. So, why did an illness, which was purportedly eliminated sixteen years ago, experience a surge so dramatic that it caused more cases in 2014 than in the five preceding years combined? According to the CDC, the outbreak could be boiled down to one simple reason: “The majority of people were unvaccinated.” So while the California measles outbreak is a thing of the past, the fight to increase compliance with vaccinations continues. Although the benefits and safety of vaccinations are undisputed by the medical and scientific community, there are still sizeable groups of “anti-vaxxers” who refuse to vaccinate their children. These groups spread misconceptions, sometimes unknowingly, and become even more influential when coupled with the power of the internet and social media. Therefore, in order to increase compliance with routine vaccinations, the misconceptions of parents should be targeted, and legislation should be changed in order to prevent leniency and loopholes regarding vaccine exemptions.

a) Measles is not something of the past, nor is it a sickness constrained to creating nations. Today measles is one of the main sources of death of children around the world, regardless of the accessibility of a shabby, powerful antibody.

On the pro-vaccination site entitled, Why Vaccinate, they detail a situation that is a true story depicting a breakout of measles in Minnesota. In 2011, an unvaccinated toddler traveled to Kenya for a family vacation. Upon their arrival home the child now, unknowingly infected with the measles virus, not only infects another adult family member, but also attends a day care shortly after returning home. One day after attending the day care the child broke out into a rash and had unknowingly infected 3 more children at her daycare, these children went home and 2 more adults became infected. The adult family member that was infected spread the virus to 2 emergency medical professionals; the medical professionals would respond to a call at a homeless shelter later and infect 4 of its member. Three more cases would pop up in the area with uncertainty of how they contracted the virus. It only took one child to infect 23 people and put 14 children in the hospital, this could have all been avoided had the child been given the proper vaccination (Pastuer, 2013).

Parents need to realize that the risks of not being vaccinated greatly compensate the minimal risks associated with vaccination. Diseases such as measles and mumps are entirely preventable, and if are not prevented can cause permanent disability and death. A little over a decade ago a measles outbreak amongst unvaccinated children in Philadelphia resulted in seven deaths. It is also known that children who become infected with mumps become permanently deaf. What many parents do not realize is that an outbreak can be totally

Measles is an airborne disease that is spread through respiration (contact with fluids from an infected person's nose and mouth, either directly or through aerosol transmission (coughing or sneezing)), and is highly contagious—90% of people without immunity sharing living space with an infected person will catch it.[4] An asymptomatic incubation period occurs nine to twelve days from initial exposure. The period of infectivity has not been definitively established, some saying it lasts from two to four days prior, until two to five days following the onset of the rash (i.e., four to nine days infectivity in total), whereas others say it lasts from two to four days prior until the complete disappearance of the rash. The rash usually appears