Measles updates
Should you get a booster? How can you protect yourself and your family?
I’m sure you’ve seen the sad news about the child who died from measles. It’s just so sad and preventable. As a parent, I can’t imagine what the family is going through. The child was taken care of by physicians in Lubbock, Texas where I have lots of family and I grew up and went to college where the outbreaks are. So, all of this is near and dear. If you know the family, please pass on our condolences.
I wanted to give you an update on the outbreak with updated info on how you can protect yourself and your family (including those of you wondering if you should get a booster). I also took out the additional commentary to this post to focus solely on measles, but you can see the rest here if you want.
9 out of 10 people will become infected with measles if exposed and not protected through vaccines - making measles one of the most infectious diseases in the world.
Measles can survive for 2 hours in the air or on infected surfaces (like doorknobs, light switches, tables, etc) and spreads when an infected person breathes, coughs, or sneezes.
An infected person can transmit measles to others from 4 days prior to the rash starts.
Once infected, it usually takes 10-14 days to become symptomatic. At the beginning (4-7 days), symptoms include a running nose, cough, eye irritation (think red and watery), and white spots inside your cheeks. The characteristic rash begins 7-18 days after exposure, spreading from the face and upper neck first, and then to the hands and feet.
Some of those complications can happen years after infections.
1 in 5 will need hospital care.
Complications include blindness, brain swelling/damage, pneumonia or other breathing problems, severe diarrhea leading to dehydration, and infections. 30% of children infected with measles develop a complication. For pregnant women, measles can be super dangerous to her and the baby.
There is no specific treatment for measles.
I started this post with the statistics on measles to stress the importance of this disease. Usually, I try to start these posts with an introductory paragraph to gear us up for the data. But because measles is so serious, I didn’t want to sugarcoat it.
Measles is one of the most infectious diseases in the world, with high complication rates (including death), and is not a simple rash or cold. It can be deadly or have life-long complications for children. I don’t know how to say it softer and I know it sounds scary. That’s because it is. There’s no softening about it.
Update on the measles outbreak in Texas and New Mexico
Let me tell you about the outbreak to highlight how measles can spread quickly and tell you how you can protect yourself and your family.
On February 5th, the Texas Department of State Health Services reported an outbreak of 6 cases of measles in Gaines County (this is rural West Texas in the panhandle). All were unvaccinated. Nine days later, the confirmed cases rose to 49, of which 42 were kids. Most were school-age kids and 13 were hospitalized. For those of you doing the math, that’s 30%-45% of the infected kids are in the hospital. As of February 25th, 124 cases have been confirmed in Texas, the majority are children. There are currently 18 people hospitalized now, most are children.
Health officials are following hundreds of others who were exposed in West Texas - and others in New Mexico - which brings me to my hometown.
I grew up in a tiny town in rural, Southeastern Lea County New Mexico. This past week, health officials were also following cases in Lea County and confirmed 9 cases. For those of you that live there, possible exposures could have occurred at:
I included the dates in early February because you can start being symptomatic with measles up to 14 days after exposure. Although we are after the 14 day window for these exposures, I wanted to highlight where exposures occurred. Albertsons grocery store, Walgreens, the local ER, a church, a school. Measles can linger in the air for hours and is extremely contagious (9 out of 10 unvaccinated people will get infected) - which is why it spreads like wildfire if you’re not protected. (Solidarity to friends at Nor-Lea. I know you are working very hard to contain this.)
Is the measles vaccine (MMR) safe?
Measles is also preventable with childhood vaccinations and the vaccine is safe. The false claim about autism being caused by vaccines has been widely debunked over and over again. This claim started in 1998 when Andrew Wakefield and colleagues published a paper claiming that the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine caused autism - a paper that has since been retracted due to scientific misconduct (aka. really bad and fraudulent science).
A recent study with 657,461 children, one of the largest ever on the MMR vaccine (for context, the debunked Wakefield study I mentioned above had only 12 children), looked specifically at the connection between the MMR vaccine and autism. The conclusion: MMR does not cause autism. To further prove the point, researchers looked at a subgroup of children at higher risk of autism, such as having a sibling with autism, and concluded the same: MMR does not cause autism. Decades of other studies have had the same result. (Side note: The journals that published these two studies are some of the highest and most respected scientific journals. They are very hard to get published in because of the rigorous standards of excellent science. In other words, they are as legit as they come.) Study after study after study debunked those claims.
The real data with hundreds of thousands of children show that MMR vaccines are safe and effective against measles.
Don’t believe the “stories” you see on Facebook or elsewhere. I know they can be loud right now. But, vaccines are safe and effective.
How can I protect myself and my family? Should I get a booster?
For children - Mommas (especially in West Texas and Lea County, New Mexico), please get your babies protected. There’s still time and your child has a 90% chance of getting measles if they are unvaccinated and exposed. Your child needs 2 doses but even 1 dose can provide good protection - 93% protection! In high-risk areas, like West Texas/Lea County, NM, children as young as 6 months can be vaccinated too. If your child gets the MMR vaccine within 72 hours of exposure, it can provide some protection! See below:
Here’s where residents of South Plains can get vaccinated.
Here’s where residents of Lea County can get vaccinated.
For adults - If you’re an adult and wondering if you should get the MMR vaccine, here’s a helpful website. You can ask your healthcare provider for a blood test to determine if you should get a MMR. Specifically, this is called a titer and is a simple blood test.
-If you were born prior to 1957, you probably were exposed to measles as a child and have natural immunity. If that’s the case, you don’t need a booster or vaccination. But, you can still check if you have protection through the blood test (the titer) by asking your doctor.
-If you were vaccinated between 1963 and 1967, that vaccine didn’t work. So you might still be at risk if you didn’t receive your 2nd dose.
-The 2nd dose was added to the vaccination schedule for children in 1990.
-If you were vaccinated between 1968 and 1989, you probably received only 1 dose. 1 dose is still really protective - 93-95% protective! You can ask your doctor for the blood titer test to see if you have enough protection through antibodies or if you need another dose.
-So if you were born between 1957 and 1968, I would highly recommend checking your vaccination status by asking your doctor for a blood test (titer) to check for antibodies.
-If you don’t know your vaccination status or if you want to know if you need a booster, ask your doctor for a blood test to check for antibodies.
Stay safe out there, everyone. I’ll keep you updated. And to all of my friends in NM and west Texas, hang in there!
-Emily
Can you speak to the immunity breastfed babies have at 4 months and any measures we can take to protect those too young to be vaccinated?