Measles Outbreak Concerns Washoe County Health Department
- by Arnold Ball
- in Medicine
- — Feb 2, 2019
It has now hit 37.
Clark County Public Health says there are now 13 additional suspected cases. The county has had most of the diagnosed cases so far.
The majority of measles cases are children, with 25 of the 35 confirmed cases impacting children under 10 years old.
M - Measles has been confirmed in more than 1,600 citizens of Kazakhstan, while at the beginning of this week the number of measles cases made around 900, Astana television channel reports.
The Washington State Department of Health, for example, has instituted an infectious disease Incident Management Structure to manage the public health aspects of the incident through investigations of possible cases, laboratory testing and other efforts to protect communities around the state. Harris' bill would preserve the medical and religious exemptions for the MMR vaccine and would preserve philosophical exemptions for other vaccines.
Washington, Idaho and OR are among 18 states that allow parents to opt out of immunizing their children for philosophical reasons. Ninety percent of people exposed to measles who have not been vaccinated will get it, health officials said. DOH urges everyone to check their immunization records to verify that they are fully immunized and get vaccinated if they are not already.
Measles symptoms include a fever, rash, cough, conjunctivitis (red watery eyes) or a runny nose.
Officials haven't yet determined how the measles outbreak started. Health officials say the measles vaccine is 97% effective. "There is no magic bullet cure to fight it". Only one case occurred in a person who was vaccinated.
But in recent years, there's been a resurgence of the disease both in the United States and overseas, and experts believe its return is fueled by anti-vaccination laws, groups and lobbies, experts say.
Measles is highly contagious, so we lose herd immunity when about 5 percent of the population is unvaccinated.
Measles virus travels through the air.
"I wouldn't say there's any reason to worry, I'd just say folks should get prepared as best they can", Henderson said.
Patients are contagious four days before and four days after getting the rash. Those opposed to certain vaccines also object to an outside authority mandating what they put in their children's bodies, and some have concerns about the combination of the measles vaccine with the mumps and rubella immunizations, which is how it's routinely given. Someone who has no immunity can get sick up to three weeks after they have been exposed to the virus.
Foreign travel or exposure to foreign travelers increases the risk for measles.
