>>> RECENTLY WE'VE HEARD ABOUT THE OUTBREAK OF MEASLES IN
WASHINGTON STATE AND NEW YORK.
THIS, AFTER MEASLES HAD BEEN ELIMINATED IN THE UNITED STATES
IN 2000.
AND ACCORDING TO THE CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL, THERE HAVE BEEN
CASES REPORTED IN TEXAS, CALIFORNIA, AND CONNECTICUT AS
WELL.
CAROLEE McGRATH SAT DOWN WITH REGISTERED NURSE MAGGIE EBOSO,
THE INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL COORDINATOR FOR MERCY
MEDICAL CENTER TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE OUTBREAKS AND
PREVENTION.
>> MEASLES IS A VIRUS AND VIRUSES ARE EASILY CONTAGIOUS.
THIS HAPPENS TO BE ONE THAT IS EXTREMELY CONTAGIOUS.
AND THE IMPLICATIONS IS PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T GOTTEN IMMUNIZATIONS
ARE HIGH RISK.
THERE IS 90% IF YOU DIDN'T GET THE VACCINE, YOU WILL GET
INFECTED WITH IT.
THE COLD IS A VIRUS.
FLU, THOSE WILL VIRUSES, THAT IS HOW PEOPLE END UP GETTING IT.
THE LAST FEW WE HAVE SEEN POP UP, WE HAVE SEEN, LIKE YOU
TALKED ABOUT IN NEW YORK, THE OTHER AT DISNEY.
THESE ARE PLACES PEOPLE ARE OUTDOORS.
IN DISNEY THERE IS A LOT OF CONTACT WITH A LOT OF PEOPLE.
IF ONE PERSON, LIKE YOU ARE COUGHING, YOU HAVE
CONJUGTIVITIS, RUNNING NOSE, SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS WITH MEASLES.
YOU ARE TOUCHING RAILS AND SOMEBODY ELSE TOUCHES AFTER YOU
COUGHED AND TOUCHED THOSE, THAT IS HOW THEY ARE UP TO GETTING
THAT MEASLES VIRUS TRANSMUTED TO ONE PERSON TO ANOTHER.
>> THERE WERE CASES IN WASHINGTON AS WELL.
TELL US, YOU KNOW, AS FAR AS YOUR RESEARCH HOW DID THIS
HAPPEN IN THE MOST RECENT CASE?
>> FOR THE MOST PART, THEY ARE ATTRIBUTING THIS TO, LIKE, IT IS
IMPORTED.
ONE PERSON COMES INTO THE COUNTRY.
WE HAVE BECOME A GLOBAL SOCIETY.
PEOPLE ARE TRAVELING.
ONE DAY YOU ARE HERE, NEXT DAY YOU ARE SOMEWHERE.
BECAUSE OF THE GLOBALIZATION OF THE WORLD, PEOPLE ARE TRAVELING
AND GOING TO PLACES AND THEY MAT NECESSARILY BE SYMPTOMATTIC, 18
HOURS LATER THEY NOW MAYBE HAVE A COUGH OR SOME OTHER SYMPTOM,
WHATEVER THE VIRUS PRESENTS ITSELF AS FOR THIS PERSON.
IF THEY HAPPEN TO BE IN THIS INSTANCE LIKE THE AMISH SOCIETY
WHERE THE LAST ONE WAS IN UTAH, BECAUSE THAT POPULATION HAS VERY
LOW VACCINE RATES.
AGAIN, THAT IS THE HIGH RISK AND GENERALLY CHILDREN UNDER 5 AT
HIGHEST RISK FOR IT, THEY GET IT AND IT IS JUST GOING TO SPREAD
AND THOSE ARE THE INSTANCES WE HAVE SEEN SO FAR.
SO AT THIS POINT, ANY TIME ANY PERSON THAT REPORTS MEASLES,
BECAUSE IT IS REPORTABLE TO EVERY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC
HEALTH IN EACH STATE AND UP TO THE CDC, THE FIRST THING THEY DO
IS START THE INVESTIGATIONS WHO IS THE FIRST POINT PERSON, WHO
IS THE SOURCE.
ANY RECENT TRAVEL, ARE THEY BORN HERE, UP TO DATE WITH
IMMUNIZATIONS.
WE TRY TO FIND THE SOURCE AND CONNECTING ALL THE DOTS.
>> IT HAD BEEN ALMOST ELIMINATED IN THE UNITED STATES.
>> YES, IT HAD.
>> SO EXPLAIN THAT.
>> BECAUSE THE VACCINATION RATE WAS SO HIGH.
I WILL GO BACK UP TO MAYBE 1964.
WE WERE GETTING UP TO 500,000 CASES PER YEAR WITH MORE THAN
100 DEATHS.
BUT BECAUSE WE WERE GETTING PEOPLE TO GET, PARENTS TO
VACCINATE THEIR CHILDREN, THOSE NUMBERS DROPPED SIGNIFICANTLY
AND BY THE YEAR 2000, ENDEMIC THEY SAY WAS BASICALLY
ELIMINATED.
TRANSLATES WE WENT 12 MONTHS WITHOUT A SINGLE CASE OF MEASLES
BEING REPORTED IN THE COUNTRY.
THE NEXT CASE WE WOULD HAVE A SIGNIFICANT POP-UP.
WE WOULD HAVE A FEW SPORADIC CASES.
ONE IN 2014 WAS ATTRIBUTED TO THE AMISH, TRAVELED AND IMPORTED
IT HERE AND BECAUSE THEY WENT INTO A COMMUNITY THAT HAD LOW
VACCINATION RATES THAT IS HOW IT ENDED UP GETTING TO ALL THOSE
PEOPLE WHO GOT IT.
>> WHEN BABIES GET VACCINATED, IT IS TWO.
>> WHEN THEY INTRODUCED THE VAX VACCINE IN THE 1970s AND 1980s.
IT WAS INTRODUCED AS ONE VACCINE, 12 MONTHS TO 15 MONTHS
THEY WOULD LIKE THE CHILDREN TO GET IT.
THEY WERE TRYING TO SEE -- OBVIOUSLY, EVERY TIME THEY
INTRODUCE A VACCINE, WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS, AFTER YOU GOT THE
VACCINE, WHEN YOU GET EXPOSED TO THAT VIRUS, HOW IS YOUR BODY
REACTING TO IT.
STUDIES INDICATED THEY NEEDED TO DO A SECOND VACCINE.
IN THE LATE 1990s THEY WANTED THE SECOND VACCINATION.
SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN, 4-6 YEARS, THE RECOMMENDATION IS THEY
SHOULD GET THE SECOND ONE. AND THE REASON BEING IS THAT
THIS LASTS YOU LONGER INTO YOUR -- SO EVEN IF YOU END UP
GETTING EXPOSED, BUT BECAUSE THE VACCINE HADN'T BEEN THERE THAT
MUCH LONGER THEY ARE LOOKING AT PEOPLE BORN PRIOR TO 1957, DID
YOU GET THE DISEASE, DO YOU HAVE IGG.
ONCE YOU GET EXPOSED TO SOMETHING, YOUR BODY DEVELOPS
THE IMMUNITY, THAT IS THE IGG.
IF YOU GET SICK NOW AND HADN'T GOTTEN THE DISEASE OR EXPOSURE,
WE CHECK IGM, THAT IS YOUR BODY'S REACTION TO IT AND WHAT
YOU WOULD HAVE IF YOU HAVE AN ACUTE INFECTION AT THE PRESENT
TIME.
>> HOW SICK DO YOU GET IF YOU HAVE MEASLES?
>> IT VARIES.
IT DEPENDS ON HOW STRONG YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM IS.
CHILDREN AND THE VERY ELDERLY, IMMUNE COMPROMISED, COULD GET
VERY SICK.
COMPLICATIONS VARY FROM PNEUMONIA TO SIGNIFICANT REZ PRA
TERRY ISSUES AND EVEN DEATH.
THE MAJORITY OF DEATHS ATTRIBUTED TO MEASLES IS
CHILDREN UNDER 5 YEARS OLD.
HERE IN THE AMERICAN PENINSULA, VERY LOW, BUT IF YOU LOOK AT THE
W.H.O., THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, THE NUMBERS OF
CHILDREN STILL DYING FROM MEASLES TODAY IS UP TO 90,000
PER YEAR, THAT IS 246 KIDS EVERY DAY.
THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES STILL UP TO DATE FOR IMMUNIZATION IS
WHERE THEY ARE SEEING VERY HIGH.
>> SOME PARENTS GET CONCERNED WITH THE VACCINATIONS, WHAT'S IN
THE SHOTS, WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS LONG TERM?
HOW CAN YOU EXPLAIN TO PARENTS OR HELPING THEM FEEL FEEL BETTER
ABOUT GETTING THESE VACCINES?
>> THE VACCINES ARE SAFE.
I HAVE CHIRP -- CHILDREN, TOO.
MY CHILDREN ARE UP TO DATE.
ME AS A HEALTH WORKER, I GET THE FLU VACCINE.
THERE IS ALWAYS GOING TO BE A SIDE EFFECT WITH EVERYTHING IN
THE WORLD, BUT VACCINES IN GENERAL ARE SAFE.
THEY HAVE DONE A LOT OF STUDIES.
THEY CONTINUE TO DO STUDYS.
IT IS NOT AN END ALL, NO, THEY STILL CONTINUE TO LOOK AT IT.
WE HAVE PEOPLE WHO HAVE HAD REACTIONS TO ALL VACCINES ACROSS
THE BOARD, LIKE FOR THE FLU, WHICH I TAKE AS AN EXAMPLE,
PEOPLE THAT GET IT AND GET A SERIOUS CONDITION, THOSE THEY
SAY DON'T GET IT AND NEVER GET IT.
AS FAR AS MEASLES GOES, THERE HASN'T BEEN SIGNIFICANT STUDIES.
WHAT THEY ARE SEEING IS THAT MANY YEARS AFTER THEY GOT
MEASLES VACCINE OR MEASLES, THEY WILL END UP WITH A CONDITION
CALLED SSRE.
IT IS ALSO PRETTY SIGNIFICANT, BUT IT IS A VERY SMALL
PERCENTAGE.
I WOULDN'T NECESSARILY DETER PARENTS FROM GETTING IT.
AS A HEALTH CARE PERSON, AS A NURSE, AS A PARENT AND HAVING
LIKE I -- MY HISTORY IS THAT I WAS BORN IN KENYA.
I HAVE FAMILY BACK IN KENYA AND I HAVE LIVED AND SEEN, BECAUSE I
HAVE ONLY BEEN HERE A FEW YEARS, I HAVE SEEN THE EFFECTS OF
PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T HAVE ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE, DIDN'T HAVE THE
LUXURY OF GETTING THE VACCINE AND THE THE DEBILITATING EFFECTS
THEY HAVE HAD BECAUSE THEY END UP WITH T.B., POLIO OR MEASLES
BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T HAVE ACCESS TO THE VACCINE AND NEVER GOT IT