Measles outbreak Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Measles outbreak - Essay Example The unvaccinated women from California transmitted the virus in theme parks and Airports (Gastaà ±aduy, et al., 2014). The State Health departments from Colorado, California, Washington, and Utah have confirmed cases of an extremely contagious strain of measles. These cases, taken together, they would account for about 12% of all measles cases reported in United States over the last one year. The Centre for Disease Control, (CDC) projects that there are about 220 cases of measles reported per annum (Gahr, et al., 2014). According to the CDC, Measles is the most deadly of all childhood fever or rash diseases. Measles is a virus that inhabits the throat and nose of all the people that are infected and causes a rash, fever, coughing and red eyes. Although, there is a vaccine, an anti-vaccination movement has gained momentum in the United States despite the increased debunking and criticism of the movements claims (Jin, 2015). On January 7th, 2015, the California’s Department of Public Health believes that, in December, the individual infected with measles was residing in Disneyland Theme Park. The person unknowingly infected other people at the theme park (Zipprich, et al., 2015). According to LA Times, at that time, among the people infected with Measles was unvaccinated traveller in her 20s. On 28th December, while at the Theme Park the woman became sick and contagious. From there, she flew from Orange County to Washington State, Snohomish County, and then returned to Orange County, on January 3rd. Four days later, on January 7th, health officials in California announced an outbreak of measles (Jin, 2015). Measles viruses are contagious; they can live up to two hours on the surfaces of the infected people, transmitting it through sneezes and coughs (Whitaker & Poland, 2014). The CDC states that Measles is a highly contagious virus that 90% of the unvaccinated people close to the sick person are infected. Although, over 20 Million