February
5, 2015
County Executive Bellone and Health Officials Advise
Residents to Make Sure They are Up to Date on Immunizations
Nationwide measles outbreak cause of concern
As the United States experiences a
large, multi-state outbreak of measles, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone,
Legislator William Spencer, MD, and Commissioner of Health Services James
Tomarken, MD, MPH, urge residents to make sure that they are up to date on
their immunizations.
Though Suffolk County has not
reported a case of measles since 2008, officials are concerned because CDC has reported
102 cases from 14 states, including New York, between January 1 and January 30,
2015. Most of these cases are part of a large, ongoing outbreak linked to an
amusement park in California. Patients have ranged in age from 7 months to 70
years, and most of the patients were unvaccinated.
“When measles gets into communities
of unvaccinated people, outbreaks are more likely to occur,” said County
Executive Bellone. “We are advising everyone in Suffolk County to do their part
in keeping their families and community safe by making sure they and their
children have received all recommended immunizations.”
Measles is a serious respiratory
disease that is highly contagious and spreads through the air when an infected
person coughs or sneezes. It starts with a fever and soon after, causes a
cough, runny nose, and red eyes, followed by a rash of tiny, red spots that
start at the head and spread to the rest of the body. The rash can last for a
week, and coughing can last for 10 days. Measles can cause serious health
complications, such as pneumonia or encephalitis (inflammation of the brain),
and even death. About one in four unvaccinated people in the U.S. who get
measles will be hospitalized; about one to two in 1000 may die.
Since 2000, when measles was
declared eliminated from the U.S., the annual number of people reported to have
measles ranged from a low of 37 people in 2004 to a high of 644 people in 2014.
Most of these originated outside the country or were linked to a case that
originated outside the country.
“Measles can be prevented with the
MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine,” said Dr. Spencer. “Before the measles
vaccination program, which began in 1963, three to four million people in the
U.S. got measles each year and 400 to 500 died. Widespread use of measles
vaccine in the U.S. has led to a greater than 99 percent reduction in measles
cases compared with the pre-vaccine era. Immunizations are safe, effective, and
necessary for public health.”
As local health departments are the
lead in investigating measles cases when they occur, health officials are
asking doctors and healthcare practitioners to be on alert.
“One of our concerns is that one in
12 children is not receiving his or her first dose of measles, mumps, rubella vaccine
(MMR) on time, which causes vulnerability,” said Dr. Tomarken. “I urge all
doctors to ensure all patients are up to date on MMR vaccine. It is important
to consider measles in patients presenting with a febrile rash illness and
other symptoms clinically compatible with measles; ask patients about recent
travel; isolate patients with suspected measles and report the case to the
Department of Health Services. Finally, be sure to obtain specimens for
testing.”
For more information, visit CDC’s
Measles Cases and Outbreaks website http://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html.
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