Measles has been much in the news of late, especially with respect to the outbreak in New York City. Currently, there have been 20 confirmed cases of measles, nine children and eleven adults. And now, experts are saying that measles may have spread as a result of medical workers failing to quarantine measles patients in an efficient manner to ensure that they would not infect others in their proximity, in the medical facility.
New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center alerted its staff that about 600 patients may have been exposed to measles as a result of pediatric and adult patients with measles seeking treatment there. They are now taking action to try to prevent the spread of measles by instructing medical and nursing professionals to immediately give suspected measles patients a mask and isolate them, as well as posting security guards at the doors of the hospital to look for signs of measles in patients entering the facility.
However, there is a simpler solution. Of the eleven adults currently infected, only three could provide proof of vaccination. And of the nine children, seven were too young to be vaccinated and two come from families who are opposed to vaccinations.
ACSH s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan comments: It is unacceptable that people choose not to get vaccinated. As this outbreak clearly demonstrates, getting vaccinated not only protects you, but also those around you, such as those too young to have been vaccinated. The fact that parents of young children refuse to have them vaccinated on the basis of the belief that vaccines cause autism or any other disease is completely baseless, and is not backed by science. Currently, measles is considered eliminated in the US because of our vaccination programs, but if parents continue to make decisions based on fear and hysteria rather than facts, outbreaks of previously eliminated diseases will inevitably become more common.
