Disneyland Measles Outbreak Highlights The Importance Of Vaccines

Viruses flourish in high-density areas and vacation spots where large numbers of visitors coming together, bringing their unique colonies of pathogens. So it shouldn't be particularly surprising that an outbreak of measles has been tracked back to December visits to Disneyland in Orange County, Calif. A total of 17 confirmed cases of measles originated with visits to the theme park, confirmed the California Department of Public Health. Measles is highly contagious. The virus lives in the nose and throat mucus of an infected person and can be airborne, which means the virus can be coughed or sneezed into the air and land on someone else, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To make matters worse, measles can live for up to two hours on surfaces or in the air after being sneezed or coughed out, and people can transmit the disease up to four days before and four days after developing the signature measles rash. According to a CDC explainer, 90 percent of the unvaccinated people who come into contact with an infected person will also develop measles. The best way to avoid getting the measles is to get two doses of a vaccine with the measles virus in it -- commonly known as the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine. Unfortunately, recent school inoculation reports indicate that vaccination rates among Californian children dropped substantially between 2007 and 2014, due to a number of factors that include discredited fears that the shots can cause a...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news