How Many People Are Infected With Measles. Part 1 of 3

How Many People Are Infected With Measles. The multitude of people infected with measles linked to the outbreak at Disney amusement parks in Southern California now stands at 70, strength officials reported Thursday. The overwhelming majority of cases – 62 – have been reported in California, and most of those people hadn’t gotten the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, vaccine, the Associated Press reported. Public fettle officials are urging people who haven’t been vaccinated against measles to avoid the Disney parks where the outbreak originated.

California state epidemiologist Gil Chavez also urged the unvaccinated to escape places with lots of international travelers, such as airports. “Patient zero” – or the source of the initial infections – was probably either a resident of a country where measles is widespread or a Californian who traveled outside and brought the virus back to the United States, the AP reported. The outbreak is occurring 15 years after measles was declared eliminated in the United States.

But the unknown outbreak illustrates how quickly a resurgence of the disease can occur. And health experts explain the California outbreak simply. “This outbreak is occurring because a critical number of commonalty are choosing not to vaccinate their children,” said Dr Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Division of Infectious Diseases.

And “Parents are not alarmed of the disease” because they’ve never seen it. “And, to a lesser extent, they have these unfounded concerns about vaccines. But the big reason is they don’t fear the disease”. On Friday, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended that all parents vaccinate their children against measles. “Vaccines are one of the most leading ways parents can protect their children from very real diseases that exist in our world,” Dr Errol Alden, the academy’s manager director and CEO, said in a news release.

So “The measles vaccine is safe and effective”. Dr Yvonne Maldonado, vice chair of the academy’s Committee on Infectious Diseases, said: “Delaying vaccination leaves children powerless to measles when it is most dangerous to their development, and it also affects the entire community. We see measles spreading most rapidly in communities with higher rates of delayed or missed vaccinations. Declining vaccination for your woman puts other children at risk, including infants who are too young to be vaccinated, and children who are especially vulnerable due to certain medications they’re taking”.

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