Efforts To Contain Measles Outbreak Involve Infection Control Expertise And Detective Work
Health officials work to track measles patients in order to identify people who may have come into contact with them and therefore may be at risk. In some cases, parents are being advised to keep babies who may have been exposed at home for 21 days. Meanwhile, parents who have opted not to vaccinate their children are defending this choice.
Los Angeles Times:
In The Fight Against Measles, Science And Detective Work Join Forces
The battle to halt the spread of the measles outbreak that began at Disneyland has required both infectious disease expertise and a good amount of old-fashioned detective work. Health officials in California and seven other states have painstakingly traced the steps of measles patients, tried to identify anyone who came in contact with them, and quarantined those at greatest risk of getting the highly contagious disease to keep the virus from spreading. (Xia, Lin II and Muskal, 1/30)
NPR:
As Measles Outbreak Spreads, Some Babies Under Isolation
California is grappling with an outbreak of measles. In Alameda County, health officials have told parents whose babies have been exposed to the virus to keep their children at home for 21 days. (Neighmond, 2/2)
The New York Times:
Vaccine Critics Turn Defensive Over Measles
Their children have been sent home from school. Their families are barred from birthday parties and neighborhood play dates. Online, people call them negligent and criminal. And as officials in 14 states grapple to contain a spreading measles outbreak that began near here at Disneyland, the parents at the heart of America’s anti-vaccine movement are being blamed for incubating an otherwise preventable public-health crisis. Measles anxiety rippled thousands of miles beyond its center on Friday as officials scrambled to try to contain a wider spread of the highly contagious disease — which America declared vanquished 15 years ago, before a statistically significant number of parents started refusing to vaccinate their children. (Healy and Paulson, 1/30)
