Regional Measles Outbreak is Reminder to Parents to Get Children Up-to-Date on Immunizations

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicated the United States has reported more measles cases in 2008 than in any year since the same period in 1996.  Of the 131 cases in the nation, 91 percent were unvaccinated or had an unknown vaccination status.

As children return to child care and school, state health officials are encouraging parents to ensure their children are vaccinated against diseases like measles, and to ask their health care provider to enter any vaccinations their children receive in the state Children and Hoosiers Immunization Registry Program.

"It is important for parents to remember serious vaccine-preventable childhood diseases, including measles, are not usually seen in the United States but do continue to circulate throughout the world," says State Health Commissioner Judy Monroe, M.D.  "Many of the measles cases this year have resulted from unvaccinated individuals returning or traveling to the United States from other parts of the world.  They become infectious and, subsequently, spread the highly contagious virus into pockets of other unvaccinated individuals."

Measles is transmitted through respiratory droplets from the infected individual and is considered infectious from four days before to four days after onset.  Early symptoms, arising seven to 18 days after exposure, may include cold-like symptoms such as a cough, runny nose and conjunctivitis.  The measles rash appears one to two days later, starting at the hairline and spreading down the trunk and out towards the extremities over the course of three days. It disappears from the body two to three days later in the same order it appeared.

"We live in a global society where we are a plane ride away from every disease on earth," says Joan Duwve, M.D., medical director for Immunizations at the Indiana State Department of Health. "While Indiana does not have a confirmed measles case as part of the recent resurgence, the risk remains.  Choosing not to vaccinate your children leaves them susceptible to measles as well as other serious diseases potentially leading to life-long complications or even death."

State health officials say child care and school immunization requirements play a key role in preventing disease by ensuring all children are up-to-date on the necessary vaccines.  When immunization rates drop, diseases are reintroduced into the population.

"Ensuring your child is up-to-date on immunizations protects not only him or her, but also other children, including infants and others who have not yet received certain vaccinations," says Dr. Duwve. 

For more information about measles, go to www.in.gov/isdh/22120.htm.  For more information about school immunization requirements, call your primary health care provider, or visit www.in.gov/isdh/23941.htm.

Source: Indiana State Departmenf of Health

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