Texas Issues Measles Alert After 9 People Sickened
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Texas Issues Measles Alert After 9 People Sickened 9 People Get Measles in North Texas Outbreak By SYDNEY LUPKIN Aug. 20, 2013— A North Texas measles outbreak has health officials urging residents to get vaccinated against the highly contagious illness in time for the first day of school. Nine people have come down with the measles over the last month in Tarrant County, county health department spokesman Al Roy told ABCNews.com. One person caught measles traveling outside the United States, and the other eight adults and children caught it from that first person, he said. "There are potentially hundreds of people exposed in the North Texas area," state Health Commissioner Dr. David Lakey said in the health alert that went out Friday. Although the MMR vaccine should offer lifelong protection against the measles, Texas is a state that allows children to attend school without it if their parents fill out personal belief exemption paperwork. Children can be exempt from entering school without the required vaccinations "for reasons of conscience, including a religious belief," according to the state health department. "Measles is probably the most contagious virus that we know of," said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. "More importantly, there are an increasing number of children whose parents are delaying immunization or stretching them out, and others who are simply withholding these children from immunizations because of autism." Schaffner said the autism argument "has been laid to rest scientifically," but parents still believe it and don't vaccinate their children. Almost 92 percent of Texans received MMR vaccinations, making its estimated vaccination rate better than 30 other states, according to 2010 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is the most recent data available. Schaffner said measles is so contagious, however, that even a small number of unvaccinated people won't be protected by the so-called herd effect if someone brings the measles virus to the community. Measles causes flu-like symptoms and a rash, according to the CDC. Complications include pneumonia and encephalitis, so several hundred children used to die from it every year before MMR vaccines were required in 1957, Shaffner said. As a result, he said it's a problem when people don't get vaccinated for it. "We're talking about numbers of cases that can be counted on two hands," he said of the current outbreak. "We think of each of these as a major public health failure today, and it's very, very sad." Although Tarrant County officials are worried about adults and children who are not vaccinated -- especially those who are somehow against getting vaccinations -- they are glad this is happening now because back-to- school vaccination clinics and programs are already under way. "It could have come at a worse time but it didn't," Roy said. Five other cases had been reported elsewhere in Texas earlier in 2013, but those aren't considered connected to this outbreak, according to Christine Mann, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services. Copyright © 2014 ABC News Internet Ventures OBITS CLASSIFIEDS AUTOS JOBS REAL ESTATE SHOPPING LIFE 80° FORECAST TRAFFIC FOOD & WINE HOME & GARDEN STYLE PETS WEDDINGS TRAVEL HEALTH & FITNESS Home > Lifestyles > Health & Fitness > Health Texas health officials issue measles alert after nine cases in Tarrant County 164 24 1 Share 2.2k AA By SHERRY JACOBSON Staff Writer [email protected] Published: 16 August 2013 10:40 PM Updated: 16 August 2013 10:40 PM The Texas health department issued a measles alert Friday after nine cases were confirmed in Tarrant County this week. In all, 14 measles cases have been confirmed throughout the state this year, the most since 1996. Dallas and Denton counties have reported two cases each, and Harris County has confirmed one. “We have an outbreak” in Tarrant County, said Dr. Theresa Barton, associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases at UT Southwestern Medical Center. “It concerns us because measles has the potential to be a really serious infection, which is why we vaccinate for it.” No cases of measles were reported in Texas last year, and only six were confirmed in 2011. “We issued the alert because most physicians probably don’t see this disease that often,” said Christine Mann, a spokeswoman for the Department of State Health Services. The outbreak does not appear to be spreading between North Texas counties, health officials said. Only those infected in Tarrant County were believed to still have active measles symptoms, said officials in the three North Texas counties. “Of the new cases, the individuals who are currently ill and infectious have been asked to self-isolate,” Al Roy, a spokesman for the Tarrant County Public Health Department, said in a statement late Friday. People with measles are considered infectious for seven to 18 days, starting four days before they develop a rash. The Tarrant outbreak began when an adult traveled to a foreign country in late July and developed measles upon returning to Texas, officials said. The first two cases were announced Thursday as being related to each other. The other seven were confirmed Friday. “It has been determined that all of the new cases are connected to one of the previously known measles cases,” the Tarrant statement said. “That one adult case [from the two originally reported] is the only one that has traveled outside the United States.” The measles cases in Dallas and Denton counties occurred months ago but also were linked to foreign travel. The Denton case involved a woman in her 40s who became infected in April while traveling in the Republic of Georgia, according to the Denton County Health Department. After she was diagnosed, health officials notified the University of North Texas. She had attended an event there and may have exposed others, said Sarah McKinney, a spokeswoman for the Denton department. The second measles case in Denton was linked to the woman in May. The two Dallas County measles cases involved a 14-month-old child who traveled abroad and became ill in May, and a 14-year-old who was diagnosed in June. The cases were related, said Dallas County officials, and no other contacts were found to be infected. The statewide measles alert was intended to promote immunization against the highly contagious illness, which rarely is diagnosed because of high U.S. vaccination rates. Of the nine cases in Tarrant County, “the vaccination status of these individuals varies,” Roy said. How vulnerable the North Texas population might be in a wider measles outbreak is unknown. An estimated 98 percent of U.S. children have been vaccinated once by the time they’re 15 months old, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, a second shot is needed to confer full immunity before a child goes to kindergarten. Many people, especially adults, did not receive the booster shot, UT Southwestern’s Barton noted. “We do not have perfect vaccination rates,” she said. The two-dose regimen also has about a 1 percent failure rate, the CDC says. In recent years, some parents also have resisted childhood immunizations because of fears about children possibly contracting autism from the shots. One study purported to show such a connection but was later discredited. “There has not been any established linkage between immunizations and autism,” Barton said. Adults may be particularly vulnerable to contracting the measles because the booster shot was not recommended until the mid-1990s. “Individuals born before 1957 are considered immune to the measles,” said Dr. Christopher Perkins, medical director of Dallas County Health and Human Services. “But everyone should check their immunization records. Make sure your minor children, young adults and you yourself are all vaccinated.” Health alert issued as measles suddenly spreads near Dallas By Carol Christian | August 22, 2013 | Updated: August 22, 2013 1:18pm Comments 0 E-mail Print Tw eet 3 1 0 479 With 20 Photo By CDC 1 of 3 An undated file photo from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a child with a classic Day 4 rash with measles. confirmed measles cases in the past month, state health officials are continuing a health alert issued last week and are urging immunization against the highly contagious illness. As of Wednesday, the Texas State Department of State Health Services had confirmed 15 cases in Tarrant County and five in Denton County, said Christine Mann, department spokeswoman. Potentially hundreds of people in North Texas have been exposed to the airborne illness, according to the agency's health alert issued Aug. 16. Measles is a highly contagious respiratory illness spread by contact with an infected person through coughing and sneezing. Measles is so contagious that if one person has it, 90 percent of the people close to that person who are not immune or vaccinated will also become infected with the measles virus, the alert stated. Prior to the recent outbreak, there were five cases of measles in Texas this year, including one Harris County case diagnosed in April, Mann said. At the time, Harris County health officials said the 1-year-old child represented the county's first case of measles in two years. No measles cases were reported last year in Texas, according to the state health department. The recent outbreak's so-called "index" case, or the person whose illness triggered the spread, is believed to have been exposed while traveling to a country where measles is endemic, the alert stated. Measles symptoms include a generalized rash, fever greater than 101 degrees Fahrenheit, cough, runny nose and conjunctivitis (pink eye).