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Uh-Oh: There's A Measles Outbreak! And It's Spreading?
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 8, 2011
Modified Jun 8, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 8, 2011
Modified Jun 8, 2011
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Nobody panic or anything, but the Department of Health says there have been an increase in the number of measles cases in NYC this year, prompting them to send an alert to city doctors. And it's not just happening here: Vermont, Arizona and Utah have also all reported new measles cases this year. So why is it happening, and what can we do to prevent 28 Days Later from coming to be?
NYC officials say that a total of 13 people have come down with the measles so far this year, and none of those people have traveled abroad this year—that indicates that the virus is now spreading here from person to person. "This is a big deal because you're increasing numbers of children who are not being immunized and they are at great risk of acquiring measles and the consequences," said Dr. Nat Litman, who is Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the Children's Hospital of Montefiore. According to the CDC, for every 1,000 children who get measles, one or two will die.
Three years ago, there was a mild outbreak of measles which doctors were not as worried about, because most of the people infected had traveled abroad and contracted the virus there. The reason it may be on the rise now is because people are not following health officials recommendations to get vaccinated for the virus. And Andrew Wakefield is partially to blame for that.
To that end, the New Yorker delved into the measles vaccine controversy last month—and they directed much of their ire toward Wakefield, the British medical practitioner who falsely claimed that the Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccine was a cause of autism. Wakefield's research has since been discredited, and he lost his license to practice medicine recently.
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measles
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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