Measle Illness Outbreak: Article Analysis

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.

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

In early April 2013 a measles outbreak was discovered in North Carolina. By mid-May the outbreak had been identified in Stokes and Orange Counties via 23 active cases. Every case was linked back to a family that had spent 3 months in India and had not been vaccinated. By the 16th of April the state laboratory of Public Health was able to confirm the diagnosis, with the last known case being confirmed on May 7th. The investigation of this outbreak revealed 4 patients with a confirmed diagnosis that had received one of vaccination of the two part series. The other 19 cases had not ever been vaccinated.

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

In these blog post “Enough is Enough with Blaming ‘Anit-Vaxxers’” by Modern Alternative Health and “Enough is Never Enough with Blaming ‘Anit-Vaxxers’” by SciBabe, they each gave their opinions about vaccination choice and their reaction to the 2015 measles outbreak at Disneyland. While Scibabe is more on the offensive side and pointing out Modern Alternative Health’s flaws, Modern Alternative Health stays more on the defensive side in order to get her point across. Just one thing that both of these blogs post can agree on is that children are suffering one way or another, no doubt about it, the children are the first priority.

Wolfson stated in his interview “Measles is not a big deal.” Measles outbreak in the United States has increased tremendously since parents refuse to have their children vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published a report, “Measles Cases and Outbreaks,” that shows how the measles cases have been increase nationwide.

In late 2014, 146 children were confirmed to have contracted measles from a single source- a single infected person, who contracted the virus overseas, and then went to a public place effectively allowing the transmission of the pathogen to other people who were at the same amusement park the same day as them. This strain of infection was confirmed to identical to the same outbreak occurring in the Philippines, resulting in 21,420 confirmed cases and 110 deaths. (Zipprich J, 2015)All of the case from the amusement park could have been prevented if there had been more stringent requirements in vaccination enforcement and scheduling. This is just one such example of a potentially deadly outbreak occurring from the result of poor vaccination

However, we must understand that only one disease - smallpox – has been completely erased from this planet. “From around the world in 2011 there was around 350,000 cases of measles, with outbreaks in the Pacific, Asia, Africa, and Europe." With this ever-growing sense of safety, small groups of anti-vaccine have begun to sprout and even our very own president has refused vaccines. Even though it may seem as though we are safe from the vaccine-preventable diseases, if we become too vulnerable due to no vaccinations there is a chance that a case that will start an outbreak of some disease that is now under control is just a plane ride

Areas with large percentages of unvaccinated are more likely to have outbreaks. In 2014 the U.S.experienced a record high 667 measles cases in 2014. The outbreak was contributed to an increased number in vaccine refusals. Large outbreaks can be triggered by a single person. In minnesota a single unvaccinated boy who visited Kenya caused a measles outbreak that infected over 21 people.

It is transmitted very easily through the air, when the person infected coughs or sneezes (Chang, 2015). Runny nose, fever, and the tell-tale rash are symptoms associated with this disease (Chang, 2015). Those particularly at risk include pregnant women, infants too young to have received immunization and those with a depressed immune system (Chang, 2015). Measles became a nationally recognized disease in 1912, with 6000 measles-related deaths in each year of that first decade (CDC, 2014). According to the CDC (2014) “In the decade before 1963 when a vaccine became available, nearly all children got measles by the time they were 15 years of age. It is estimated 3 to 4 million people in the United States were infected each year. Also each year an estimated 400 to 500 people died, 48,000 were hospitalized, and 4,000 suffered encephalitis (swelling of the brain) from

Measles is an infectious disease that affects people worldwide. It is one of the most communicable infectious diseases, also known as Rubeola. It is considered to be a childhood illness but can affect people of all ages. In 1982, Department of Health Services set out to eradicate in the United States. The vaccine became available in 1963, after which cases in the United States dropped significantly. In third world countries, death rates are as high as 30%, the mode of transmission of measles is thru unimmunized people. Since the vaccine has been used worldwide since 2000 to 2006, there has been a reduction of death globally. (Friis, 2010)

Now, many once-forgotten diseases are reappearing. TIME Magazine reported that “In 2014, the U.S. experienced a major outbreak of measles that totaled 383 cases and was primarily spreading among an unvaccinated Amish community in Ohio.” (Measles Outbreak) The number of cases of these diseases is going up when it can be easily prevented. Worldwide, “Measles is one of the leading causes of death among young children even though a safe and cost-effective vaccine is available.” (World Health

California had a total of 129 cases of measles reported between Jan 1 - April 18, 2014. This is the highest number of reported cases for this time period since 1996. Among the 129 cases, 34 were importations, including 17 in travelers to and from the Philippines. “The Philippines has been experiencing an explosive outbreak of measles, with approximately 20,000 confirmed or suspected cases reported during January 1–February 28 and 69 confirmed deaths”. The Philippines outbreak highlights the importantce of U.S travelers being vaccinated before traveling outside the United States (Zipprich “et al.”).

In 2000, measles was considered to be eliminated in the United States, however the disease still exists in other countries as it’s estimated that approximately 20 million people become infected with the disease every years with 146,000 actually dying from the disease ("For Healthcare Professionals", 2016).As this is the case, there are still outbreaks that occur within the U.S. due to travelers going into exposed countries, exposed individuals traveling into the U.S., or those exposed who have not had the MMR immunization.