Can US Measles Outbreaks Be Stopped?

The United States is Given its worst year for measles in more than three decades, with more than 1,300 cases in 40 states on July 16. The cases were almost as high in 2019, which endangered the state of elimination of the country’s measles. Six years ago, health officials were able to stop the spread. But in the midst of a growing public reaction against vaccines, many tactics used may not work now.

The elimination of measles means that there has been no continuous transmission in a country for more than 12 months. This almost happened in the 2019 epidemic, which largely affected Orthodox Jewish populations in New York and some surrounding counties. In the fall of 2018, American travelers returning from Israel were tested positive for measles. The disease quickly spread in very united communities, especially in children, due to low vaccination rates. While the rate of vaccination of measles across the state level for school age was 98% compared to the previous school year, vaccination coverage in the schools of the epidemic was only 77%. Because measles is very contagious, a 95% vaccination rate is necessary to protect a community against the disease.

Consequently, the majority of measles cases occurred in individuals aged 18 and under, of which almost 86% were known to be not vaccinated. Some of these people have developed serious complications, including pneumonia, and almost 8% have been hospitalized.

The current increase is fueled by an epidemic that has started in a subvacinated Mennonite community in western Texas. The cases have since distributed in other counties in Texas, in New Mexico and Oklahoma. Two children in Texas without underlying conditions and an adult at New Mexico died this year following measles. Not all were vaccinated.

“There are certainly parallels. What we have seen in New York was the result of years and years of disinformation and disinformation spread around vaccine safety, “said Neil Vora, executive director of the prevention of pandemics of the Coalition source and previously a medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that helped respond to the 2019 epidery.

Cases finally exhausted in New York after an effort of several months which included both traditional public health approaches and changes in local and state policy.

“You have to take the first case seriously, because it is like ignition. You never know when this fire will simply break out, “explains Oxiris Barbot, current president and chief executive officer of the United Hospital Fund, who was New York Health Commissioner from 2018 to 2020.

As the disease propagated, Barbot realized that the city’s health service should go to the source of the transmission, largely the orthodox Jewish schools of the affected districts. By working with school administrators, they examined the vaccination files to identify non-vaccinated or subvacinated children. Following an exhibition, these children were prohibited from frequenting school and childcare for 21 days, the incubation period for measles. Similar measures have been taken in certain counties outside the city.

“It took a long time, a lot of work on the legs,” explains Barbot. In a school, a contagious child led to more than 25 infections in other students and spread outside the school. She says that the Department of Health was “strongly involved” to ensure that schools respected quarantine measures. “