Keeping America measles-free: Reuters reports how one county at the epicenter of a national health crisis scrambled to bring an outbreak under control: by gabriellaborter
NEW YORK - In Rockland County, New York, a wooded suburb 30 miles north of Manhattan, a teenage boy lay in a room in an empty wing of a health clinic, in a fetal position, coughing.
Measles, which causes a rash, fever and coughing, can be fatal and lands up to 20% of Americans who catch it in the hospital. It afflicted millions of Americans every year before a vaccine became available in 1963. The vaccine is 97% effective with two doses and helped the United States eliminate the disease in 2000, according to the World Health Organization , which says measles is wiped out if there is no continuous, endemic transmission for 12 months.
To some health officials, it was a hollow victory – a small battle in a global fight against an enemy that respects no borders and is fed as much by confusion and mistrust of modern medicine as by microbes. U.S. officials fully expect there will be fresh measles cases, potentially leading to new outbreaks of measles or other dangerous diseases, as some people harbor overwhelming suspicions about vaccines, and distrust the agencies that recommend them.Rockland County’s measles campaign started on Oct. 1 with the teenager in the clinic. Originally from Israel - officials declined to give his name and age - he was visiting for the Jewish Holy Days and fell sick during services at synagogue.
Health department phones were soon ringing again - doctors and clinics calling to report patients with rashes. Health officials believe opponents of vaccination have become increasingly influential in the Orthodox community in the last 5 to 10 years. They trace this skepticism to a pamphlet that came out at least five years ago from an anonymous group calling itself “P.E.A.C.H.” which circulates in print and online. The pamphlet contains bogus or unsupported assertions about vaccines, scientists say.
Staff would also drive two hours each way to bring nasal swab samples from patients with rashes to the state lab in Albany to be tested. At first, they mailed the samples overnight, but then learned some were left in a shipping warehouse over the weekend. Wanting to confirm new cases as soon as possible, staff hand-delivered them in coolers.
Common side effects of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine include a sore arm, fever and a mild rash. Serious reactions are rare: According to the CDC, about 4 out of every 10,000 children who receive the MMR vaccine between ages 1 and 2 have febrile seizures and 1 out of 40,000 will develop a non-life threatening bleeding disorder.Many Orthodox Jews in the Rockland community did not want to talk to the health officials.
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