Disneyland Measles Outbreak

When an outbreak occurs of a disease as contagious as measles, the first response should be to quarantine the affected people. Since measles does not transmit from animals, there is no need to eliminate the animals that may have come into contact with the infected individuals. Clinics need to be set up for those that could have been contaminated and quarantine those individuals as well. Travel needs to be banned to and from the community that has the outbreak declared. With all the quarantines, this will affect the local schools, grocery stores, local businesses, and the overall economic status. The media will be in high demand to help communicate the orders from the local

Measles, mumps, and rubella. Viruses that have become so rare most nobody knows the dangers and symptoms. But since the preventative measure of vaccinations have been used less and less in Ashland Oregon, these outbreaks are predicted to occur. Cluster of Ashland, Oregon parents have created a dangerous community brewing with diseases ready to erupt by choosing to opt-out of vaccinating their children. Misinformation circulating the Internet activated an anti-vaccination cluster that could be reversed with legitimate evidence of risks and benefits of immunizing kids,

In early April 2013 a measles outbreak was discovered in North Carolina. By mid-May the outbreak had been identified in Stokes and Orange Counties via 23 active cases. Every case was linked back to a family that had spent 3 months in India and had not been vaccinated. By the 16th of April the state laboratory of Public Health was able to confirm the diagnosis, with the last known case being confirmed on May 7th. The investigation of this outbreak revealed 4 patients with a confirmed diagnosis that had received one of vaccination of the two part series. The other 19 cases had not ever been vaccinated.

Measles was discovered in the 19th century by a Persian Doctor, but was not recognized until 1957 as an infectious agent in human blood by a Scottish physician. In 1912 measles became a notifiable disease and in the first decade that records were kept there was on average 6,000 deaths per year reported from the disease. (Center For Disease Control). There is no definite origination of measles but scientists believe that it dates back to the Roman Empire about the 11th and 12th century (NCBI, 2010). The first outbreak known in America was in 1657 in Boston,

This outbreak was large and included several states. The outbreak was connected to a California amusement park. Although no source was identified, it is believed that the outbreak most likely started when an international traveler visited the amusement park during the time in which they were infectious. The CDC analyzed the strain of the virus (B3) and concluded the outbreak was the same as the strain that triggered a large outbreak in the Philippines in 2014. That one exposure in the theme park in California brought outbreaks in Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. The countries of Canada and Mexico also had cases linked to the California theme park outbreak. This is an example of just how contagious and how fast measles can spread. (Zipprich et al., 2015, p. 3)

Thirty-nine (35%) of the California patients visited one or both of the two Disney theme parks during December 17–20, where they are thought to have been exposed to measles, 37 have an unknown exposure source (34%), and 34 (31%) are secondary cases. Among the 34 secondary cases, 26 were household or close contacts, and eight were exposed in a community setting. In addition, 15 cases linked to the two Disney theme parks have been reported in seven other states: Arizona (seven), Colorado (one), Nebraska (one), Oregon (one), Utah (three), and Washington (two), as well as linked cases reported in two neighboring countries, Mexico (one) and Canada (10).”(CDC, February 11, 2015)

The new trend of parents not having their children vaccinated for measles is causing harm to the child and contributing to future outbreaks of the disease.

On the pro-vaccination site entitled, Why Vaccinate, they detail a situation that is a true story depicting a breakout of measles in Minnesota. In 2011, an unvaccinated toddler traveled to Kenya for a family vacation. Upon their arrival home the child now, unknowingly infected with the measles virus, not only infects another adult family member, but also attends a day care shortly after returning home. One day after attending the day care the child broke out into a rash and had unknowingly infected 3 more children at her daycare, these children went home and 2 more adults became infected. The adult family member that was infected spread the virus to 2 emergency medical professionals; the medical professionals would respond to a call at a homeless shelter later and infect 4 of its member. Three more cases would pop up in the area with uncertainty of how they contracted the virus. It only took one child to infect 23 people and put 14 children in the hospital, this could have all been avoided had the child been given the proper vaccination (Pastuer, 2013).

Imagine traveling to the “Happiest Place on Earth”, Disneyland, with your family. While you are there a person that has not been vaccinated is walking around with the measles virus in their system. While that person shows no signs or symptoms of the measles, they are infecting others that haven’t been vaccinated, due to young age or other purposes. Now what turned out to be many people’s family vacations is now a life-threatening situation for some. This type of outbreak actually occurred during December of 2014, where 40 Californians were exposed to the measles at Disneyland and 91 additional cases of the outbreak strain also occurred from the people exposed affecting others (Blumberg et al, 2015). Outbreaks likes this can potentially be

The American Health Association has also been working hard to remind Americans that without vaccinations throughout our population, preventable – and serious – diseases could once again rise in our schools and homes. Indeed a recent outbreak of measles in Minnesota is but one of recent outbreaks in developed countries.

In December of 2014, an outbreak of measles, which started in Disneyland, resulted in nearly two hundred people being sickened across the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The highly contagious respiratory disease spread for three months. Among those who contracted the illness, one developed severe pneumonia and multiple organ injury, while another suffered acute respiratory distress syndrome. So, why did an illness, which was purportedly eliminated sixteen years ago, experience a surge so dramatic that it caused more cases in 2014 than in the five preceding years combined? According to the CDC, the outbreak could be boiled down to one simple reason: “The majority of people were unvaccinated.” So while the California measles outbreak is a thing of the past, the fight to increase compliance with vaccinations continues. Although the benefits and safety of vaccinations are undisputed by the medical and scientific community, there are still sizeable groups of “anti-vaxxers” who refuse to vaccinate their children. These groups spread misconceptions, sometimes unknowingly, and become even more influential when coupled with the power of the internet and social media. Therefore, in order to increase compliance with routine vaccinations, the misconceptions of parents should be targeted, and legislation should be changed in order to prevent leniency and loopholes regarding vaccine exemptions.

Communicable diseases are present in every community, city, state, village and country throughout the world. They are easily spread and, in some cases and places, easily prevented. International travel and parents not vaccinating their children are major contributors to the measles outbreak. As a nurse it is pertinent that we are educated on the signs, symptoms and the treatment of any communicable disease. It is imperative that we are also able to educate the general public on them as well.

Measles is an airborne disease that is spread through respiration (contact with fluids from an infected person's nose and mouth, either directly or through aerosol transmission (coughing or sneezing)), and is highly contagious—90% of people without immunity sharing living space with an infected person will catch it.[4] An asymptomatic incubation period occurs nine to twelve days from initial exposure. The period of infectivity has not been definitively established, some saying it lasts from two to four days prior, until two to five days following the onset of the rash (i.e., four to nine days infectivity in total), whereas others say it lasts from two to four days prior until the complete disappearance of the rash. The rash usually appears

When children who have been vaccinated do contract a disease, despite being vaccinated against it, they usually have milder symptoms with less serious complications than an un-vaccinated child that gets the same disease. It is true that some children who receive vaccinations may still become ill when exposed to other disease-ridden children. Research shows that 70-90% of the entire population must be vaccinated to attain “herd immunity”, “the resistance of a group to attack by a disease to which a large proportion of the members are immune.” (Farlex, 2012) When herd immunity is accomplished the spread of the disease can be averted throughout. If all parents were to take proper responsibilities and keep their children’s immunizations up-to-date, herd immunity would be achieved against all 16 of the major life threatening diseases.

Audience hook: In 2014, the U.S experienced a record number of cases of measles, mostly from the Philippines. Most were unvaccinated and most were from international travel.