Officials Report 90 New Cases Of Measles All But Guaranteeing 2019 Will Be Worst Year This Century Has Seen
While 20 states have reported cases, New York -- in particular, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community that lives in Brooklyn -- has been the epicenter of the outbreak. The infections test the boundaries between religious freedom and protection of public health. Meanwhile, the boom in cases in America is mirrored worldwide: globally there are four times as many measles cases so far this year as there were at the same time last year.
The New York Times:
90 New Cases Of Measles Reported In U.S. As Outbreak Continues Record Pace
The number of new measles cases in the United States rose again this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday, bringing the total number to 555 in 2019. This year’s outbreak is on course to be the worst since the country eliminated measles as an endemic disease in 2000. Health authorities reported 90 additional cases as of April 11, with outbreaks in New York, Washington, California, New Jersey and Michigan, up from 78 the week before. (Malkin, 4/15)
The Associated Press:
US Measles Count Up To 555, With Most New Cases In New York
The 2019 tally is already the most since 2014, when 667 were reported. The most before that was 963 cases in 1994. (4/15)
The Hill:
90 New Measles Cases Reported As Outbreak Nears Record
The states that have reported cases to the CDC are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas and Washington. (Weixel, 4/15)
The Washington Post:
CDC Reports 90 New Measles Cases As Outbreak Approaches Record
New York City has had the most cases. As of Monday, 329 cases, virtually all of them in Brooklyn, have been reported since the outbreak began in October. Of those, 273 were reported this year, including 44 cases since last week, when New York City officials declared a public health emergency and ordered mandatory measles vaccinations to halt the outbreak concentrated among ultra-Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn. That was the broadest vaccination order in the United States in nearly three decades. (Sun, 4/15)
The Wall Street Journal:
Measles Cases Continue To Soar, Stirring Concern Over Long-Term Effects
Researchers who study the virus say concern about these outbreaks extends beyond the effect of the initial infection to longer-term implications for the health of the victims. The virus may leave the immune system in a temporary state of amnesia, leaving the body’s defenses unable to remember and effectively attack some invaders it has seen before, according to emerging research. Immune-system memory loss could leave the body prone to more severe infections for two to three years, until it relearns from hard-won experience how to fend off attackers, researchers have said. (Evans and McKay, 4/15)
NPR:
Measles Cases Spike Driven By Outbreaks In N.Y. And 4 Other Regions
More American families are bringing measles home with them after traveling abroad, Cohn says. And once the disease lands stateside, it has a better chance of gaining a foothold because vaccination rates in some places have dropped below 93 to 95 percent, the threshold required to protect the entire community. "When you make the decision not to vaccinate your child, please understand you're also making that decision for the people around your child," New York City's deputy mayor of health and human services, Herminia Palacio, told NPR on Wednesday. (Doucleff and Neighmond, 4/15)
Reuters:
U.S. Measles Cases Surge Nearly 20 Percent In Early April, CDC Says
The U.S. outbreak is part of a worldwide rise. The World Health Organization reported on Monday that global cases had risen nearly four-fold in the first quarter of 2019 to 112,163 compared with the same period last year. (4/15)
Reuters:
Measles Cases Rose Nearly Four-Fold In First Quarter 2019-WHO
The number of measles cases worldwide nearly quadrupled in the first quarter of 2019 to 112,163 against the same period last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday, citing provisional data. Higher rates of the preventable but contagious disease - which can kill a child or leave it blind, deaf or brain-damaged - have been recorded in all regions, the United Nations agency said in a statement, appealing for better vaccination coverage. (4/15)
The Washington Post:
Unaware He Had Measles, A Man Traveled From N.Y. To Michigan, Infecting 39 People
Last month, a traveler raising money for charity in Brooklyn’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community drove through the night to Detroit — his next fundraising stop. He felt sick en route and saw a doctor when he got there. But the doctor, who had never seen measles, misdiagnosed the man’s fever and cough as bronchitis. Over the next two weeks, the traveler would become Michigan’s Patient Zero, spreading the highly contagious respiratory virus to 39 people as he stayed in private homes, attended synagogue daily and shopped in kosher markets. His case offers a cautionary tale about how easily one of the most infectious pathogens on the planet spreads within close-knit communities — especially those whose members live, work and socialize outside the mainstream. (Sun, 4/15)
Politico:
Measles Outbreak Tests Limits Of Religious Freedom In New York City
A quick fix to New York City’s measles outbreak is proving elusive, and the reasons are as much political as they are medical. A powerful voting bloc, the ultra-Orthodox community has managed to carve out what is arguably a separate system of city services with their own ambulances, school buses and police. They run their own private schools for which they receive city, state and federal funds. (Nahmias, Goldberg and Eisenberg, 4/15)
The New York Times:
Measles Outbreak: Yeshiva’s Preschool Program Is Closed By New York City Health Officials
New York City closed a preschool program at a yeshiva in Brooklyn on Monday for violating a Health Department order that required it to provide medical and attendance records amid a measles outbreak. The preschool at United Talmudical Academy, which serves 250 students between the ages of 3 and 5 in the Williamsburg area, is the first program to be closed by the city, as it escalates efforts to stem the country’s largest measles outbreak in decades. (Pager, 4/15)
Bloomberg:
NYC Measles Outbreak: Parents Seek To Block Shot Requirement
A group of parents asked a judge to block New York City’s order requiring people in three Brooklyn zip codes to be vaccinated against measles. An outbreak in the Orthodox Jewish community in Williamsburg prompted the city to declare a public health emergency April 9, imposing fines as high as $1,000 for residents who fail to be vaccinated with the measles-mumps-rubella shot. As of April 8, there were 285 confirmed cases of the highly contagious and sometimes deadly illness since October, in Brooklyn and the neighboring borough of Queens, according to the city health department. (Van Voris, 4/15)
The Hill:
Brooklyn Parents Sue Over Measles Vaccination Mandate
Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) issued the order last week, requiring everyone over the age of 6 months who lives within ZIP codes associated with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn receive the measles vaccination. The order also applies to people who work or attend school in the area. The plaintiffs argue there is “insufficient evidence of a measles epidemic or dangerous outbreak to justify" the order and that the city has not taken the least-restrictive measures possible to combat measles. (Budryk, 4/15)
CNN:
Anti-Vaxers Are Winning The War On Social Media. What's The CDC Going To Do About It?
Concerned that anti-vaccination activists are winning the war on social media, advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say public health authorities need to figure out how to fight back. "Have we done enough? I think the answer to that is no," said Patricia Stinchfield, a pediatric nurse practitioner and a liaison representative to the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. (Cohen, 4/12)
Detroit Free Press:
How Oakland Co.'s Orthodox Jewish Enclave Became Epicenter For Measles
It was a traveler from Israel, state health officials say, who unknowingly brought the measles to Oakland County in early March, and sparked what has become the largest measles outbreak in Michigan in 28 years. Before he came to visit an Orthodox Jewish enclave in Southfield and Oak Park, the man spent some time in New York, where an unrelated and fast-spreading measles outbreak among mostly unvaccinated children led the mayor last week to declare a state of emergency. (Shamus, 4/15)
Orange County Register:
Increase In Measles Cases Nationally Has Doctors, Public Health Officials On Alert
An uptick in measles cases in California and other parts of the country, coupled with resistance to vaccines, has physicians and public health officials concerned that a potentially fatal disease, which was declared eradicated in the United States nearly two decades ago, might create a public health crisis. As of Wednesday, April 10, 21 measles cases have been reported in California including one in Los Angeles County. On Wednesday, Long Beach health officials announced that a person recently traveled through Long Beach Airport while having measles, putting others at risk of contracting the highly contagious disease. (Bharath, 4/12)
