As of January, there have been more than 38 confirmed cases of Measles in the State of Washington. The disease is spreading across the states and many are putting the blame on anti-vaxxers.
On January 25, Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency. “Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease that can be fatal in small children,” Inslee mentioned in his speech, adding that these cases create “an extreme public health risk that may quickly spread to other counties.” Inslee’s proclamation has given agencies and departments the freedom to use the state’s resources to “do everything reasonably possible to assist affected areas.”
Most of the cases detected were in Clark County, which is located in the southern border, across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon. Health officials have also reported at least one confirmed case in Georgia, Hawaii and Oregon. 85% of these cases never had a measles immunization, and 25 out of the 38 cases are children between the ages of 1 to 10 years old.
Measles is a highly contagious virus that spreads easily through the air through coughing and sneezing. The most common symptoms are high fever, a cough and red eyes. The rashes, which measles is most known as, spreads shortly after these initial sicknesses. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in twenty children who contracts measles will most likely suffer from Pneumonia. One or two out of 1,000 who get measles children will also die from complications.
Measles was a common disease in the U.S. until 1963, when a highly effective vaccine was discovered. In 2000, the U.S. officially declared the disease completely removed from the country because of the success of the vaccination.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that there has recently been a 30% increase of measles cases all over the world. Vaccine hesitancy is included in the 10 threats to global health WHO came out with for 2019, along with HIV, Ebola and climate change.
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