Growing Concern After US Measles Outbreaks Leave 2 Dead, 28 Hospitalized
Reported measles cases have topped more than 320 nationwide, with 38 hospitalizations and two deaths across 16 states. The largest outbreaks are in New Mexico and west Texas.
Measles is one of the most contagious viruses in the world and can be prevented with a vaccine. In fact, back in 2000, so many Americans were vaccinated that measles was considered eliminated. However, vaccine rates have fallen.
Healthcare workers at Covenant Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas, one of the hardest hit areas, recently gathered in the hospital chapel to pray. "We ask that the hearts that have been hurt and broken are guarded by your Holy Spirit," one worker prayed.
A six-year-old unvaccinated girl died at this hospital, the first U.S. measles death in more than a decade. The hospital has treated more than 20 other patients.
"You see them struggling to breathe. They don't want to eat or drink," said Texas Tech Physicians pediatrician Dr. Summer Davies. "They're dehydrated. They have high fever. They're miserable."
Doctors recommend children get their first measles vaccine at one year old, then a booster at age four. Adults can get them, too. The CDC recommends people vaccinated between 1963 and 1967 consider getting another shot, depending on what kind of vaccine they received.
Scott Weaver, a virologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch, said while it's not necessary, it's helpful for adults to locate their vaccination records.
"If they cannot find the records or don't know for sure, there's no harm, even if they did receive those two childhood doses, and going out and getting a booster now as an adult," he said.
The CDC says measles spreads in areas where kindergarten vaccination rates dip below 95%. One infected person can infect 15 unprotected others. The vast majority of people recover without incident. However, 1 in 20 develop pneumonia, one in 1,000 develop brain swelling, and one in 1,000 die.
David Klassen is the pastor of Community Church of Seminole, a Mennonite/Evangelical church two miles outside of Seminole, Texas, where dozens of children have been sickened.
"Do I trust all the vaccines? No," he said. "I'm not sure if they're always for my best."
Despite his vaccine hesitancy, he believes his congregants should decide for themselves. "With this measles situation, I can just honestly tell you that we haven't taken any steps as a church," he said. "We did leave it up to the mothers."
Well-known vaccine skeptic, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the new Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is now America's top health official, which includes authority over the CDC.
"We are following the measles epidemic every day," he said, adding the current outbreaks are not unusual.
"There have been four measles outbreaks this year," Kennedy said, "In this country last year, there were 16. So it's not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year."
Kennedy previously linked the measles vaccine to autism.
Dr. Tammy Camp, a Texas Tech Physicians pediatrician, says studies overwhelmingly debunk any link between the measles vaccine and autism.
"It's disheartening to see people in power that are not willing to recognize the importance of vaccines, not willing to recognize the safety of vaccines," she said., "And it's discouraging for us who are on the front lines."
Despite extensive scientific research that has failed to find evidence of a link between the measles vaccine (MMR) and autism, federal officials announced last month the CDC will conduct a large-scale research project this year, further examining a possible connection.
"As President Trump said in his Joint Address to Congress, the rate of autism in American children has skyrocketed. C.D.C. will leave no stone unturned in its mission to figure out what exactly is happening," Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement.
