There are at least 80 cases which stemmed out from the outbreak that started in Disneyland. Around 57 people have been quarantined in Orange County and San Diego as a part of the health sector's effort to curtail the growing outbreak of measles that began in Disneyland last month.
Measles is a highly infectious disease that can be transmitted through droplets in the air. It can cause serious complications and even death among children. In fact, according to World Health Organization, in 2013, there were 145,700 measles deaths worldwide and about 400 deaths every day or 16 deaths every hour. Measles vaccination has resulted in about 75% drop in deaths from 2000 to 2013.
When a person has measles, public health workers need to track all possible contacts of the person and even those who were in the same room. Measles virus can stay in the room for about two hours.
If the person is vaccinated, he has immunity to the disease and he would not be infected by the virus. However, unvaccinated people should admit themselves to self-quarantine to make sure they will not transfer the virus to other people.
Babies and children are at higher risk in contracting the virus and their immune systems are not well-developed to fight the disease. Hence, they are more vulnerable to complications caused by the virus. Initial symptoms include high fever, runny nose, cough, red and watery eyes and a rash that usually starts in the head and would spread down to the extremities.
A spokeswoman of the Orange County Health Care Agency and Public Health Officer Dr. Wilma Wooten, said that public health nurses are working to reach out to hundreds of people who had been exposed to the virus. Out of the 40 who have been quarantined, nurses have contacted around 325 possible contacts this weekend.
However, health officials reiterated the importance of having the measles vaccine and for those individuals who have not yet received the vaccine, they are recommending them to get it as soon as possible.
