13 Survey: How many students are vaccinated against measles at your child's school?

HOUSTON (KTRK) – The heart of Juliana Graves began to weaken from birth. Four weeks before term, Juliana was not even considered to term when she received a heart transplant at the age of 17 days.

"This wonderful family has had a tragic story, and after a tragedy, they decided to give back to the world and donate organs to their children," said Riki Graves, Juliana's mother. "Since she's had her heart, she's a little straightened and she's done very well."

Juliana, now 5 years old, still takes medication every day to keep her healthy. Its immune system is also too weak to receive live vaccines, including the one used to prevent measles. Instead, Graves said his daughter had to rely on those around her who had been vaccinated and could prevent the spread of the disease, which became especially important when Juliana started kindergarten last month.

Doctors suggest that when a vaccination rate of 95% of the population is sufficient, just develop what is called "collective immunity", a sufficiently high vaccination rate to protect the entire school population. But getting detailed information to determine which Juliana primary school was attending was difficult for the Graves family.

"It's still very worrying for us because we know that unvaccinated children are going to his school, but we do not know for sure whether they are in his class or not," Graves said at 13. Investigates. "I can not stop her from going to the grocery store or to school. These are things she's going to do as a child, so I have to appeal to her." other people to vaccinate them. "

Watch the full investigation all day Monday on ABC13 while we are discussing with a Houston doctor who has treated dozens of cases of measles and described the contagious, sometimes fatal symptoms. We will also show you how to know how many unvaccinated students attend your child's school.

The state of Texas only publishes vaccination rates at the school district level. In districts with hundreds of schools and hundreds of thousands of students, like Houston, the lack of information on campus prevents parents from knowing the percentage of students vaccinated in the school. School of their child.

And for Juliana, the lack of information in her smaller school district could still put her life in danger.

Attempts to force Texas parents to obtain campus-level data for parents have failed in the last two legislative sessions, despite warnings from public health officials.

"In Texas, school districts are required to report vaccination rates from their school districts and not individual schools," said Dr. Umair Shah, executive director of public health for Harris County. "You can assume that an independent school district has a rate that looks pretty good – 98%, 99% – but you can have schools that will have vaccination rates much lower than those, and you may be able to be dropping your child at school and not be aware … Parents do not have this information and teachers either. "

13 Investigators collaborated with ABC journalists in some of the largest cities in the United States, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco, to analyze local measles immunization rates and found schools in the United States. Houston area and in the country below the recommendations. vaccination rate.

13 Investigate mapped measles vaccine rates in hundreds of schools, allowing you to easily know where your child is. Explore the chart below to find out the vaccination rate in your child's school or district. The red dots indicate schools with a vaccination rate of less than 95%.
On a mobile device? Click here for a full screen experience.

Through the Archives Act 13, surveys have provided campus-based measles immunization rates for the independent school districts of Houston, Conroe and Cypress-Fairbanks. Katy ISD has sent inconsistent data for analysis with these districts. The Fort Bend ISD did not respond to requests for information.

Data on measles in Texas are collected based on the immunization status of kindergarten and grade 7 children. On the sole basis of the ISD in Houston, according to the data, more than 50 campuses had a measles immunization rate of less than 95% last year. Las Americas Middle School has the lowest rate, with only 26% of seventh year students immunized against measles during the 2018-2019 school year.

In Conroe, seven schools had a vaccination rate of less than 95% and at Cy-Fair, two schools were below the recommended rate in the last school year. According to state data, more than 80 of the 307 private schools in the region have vaccination rates below 95%.

At the state level, the number of schools with lower vaccination rates has increased. During the 2015-2016 school year, the vaccination rate of 468 school districts or private schools was less than 95%. During the 2018-2019 school year, this number increased to 580 districts and private schools at the lowest rates.

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Dr. Jeffrey Starke, a specialist in infectious diseases in children at Texas Children's Hospital, said he remembered a child with leukemia in Houston in the 1980s. Child was in remission but caught measles, developed pneumonia and died despite thorough treatment.

Starke has treated dozens of measles cases in his 40-year career, including one in the last five years. He added that doctors can try to control the symptoms, but that the patient will suffer because there is still no treatment or effective drug against the measles virus.

"Measles is by far the most contagious of childhood diseases," Starke said. "It's like a heat-seeking missile that finds people who are not properly immunized and protected and that's how people get sick."

Measles causes symptoms of flu-like illness, fever and congestion, but it is the only infection that causes a rash that starts on the hairline and spreads throughout the body. causing red spots that become larger and more joined. It can also cause white spots on the cheeks of the mouth, potential seizures or even brain damage years after infection.

"Among the childhood diseases, especially the ones we have warned, measles is the worst, it has the highest complication rate," Starke said. "This is not a simple and simple disease and that is why it was one of the very first diseases to be targeted for vaccination. fever (up to 105 degrees) for several days. "

Harris County has not had measles cases since 2015, but this year there have been four. Two of the patients were younger than four years old.

At the state level, there have been 21 cases of measles in Texas so far this year. Last year, there were nine cases of measles throughout the state and by 2017, there were only one. The numbers are also increasing nationally, from 188 measles cases in 2015 to 1,241 cases since the beginning of the year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

These figures are for the health professions, especially since in 2000, the United States eliminated measles, which means that there has been no continuous transmission of the disease for 12 months or more. The influx of cases this year means that the status of country "measles-free" is threatened. Public health officials warn that if a case occurs in October, the designation will be canceled.

"Here we are 19 years later and it's almost as if we had kicked off the pedal," said Shah. "As the health authority of Harris County, confirming four cases of measles earlier this spring, it is for me a concern, that is the critical point."

To prevent measles, doctors recommend two doses of measles vaccine; the first dose is effective at 93% and the second dose efficiency at 97%.

In Texas, children of school age must receive two doses, the first on the day or after their first birthday.

However, parents may refuse to vaccinate their children for medical reasons, such as a cancer patient or an organ recipient whose immune system is too weak to receive vaccines. Parents may also request an exemption for "reasons of conscience", such as religious beliefs.

The number of conscientious exemptions has increased over the past 15 years in Texas. According to the Partnership for Immunization, during the 2004-2005 school year, fewer than 3,000 children gave up at least one vaccine. This number continues to increase each year with more than 64,000 vaccine exemptions during the last academic year.

Starke said that parents of measles patients who are not vaccinated or who are not old enough to have the second vaccine often feel a sense of regret.

"I remember very well one child in particular who had very very poorly done and whose parents felt horrible," Starke said. "What they do, is that they play lottery, measles and when you lose, you lose big."

Disease detectives

Dozens of manila folders are neatly stacked on each other in Ana Zangeneh's office, each constituting a record for a person who has contracted an infectious disease.

As an epidemiologist at Harris County Public Health, Zangeneh's job is to seek as much information as possible after a patient's diagnosis of measles.

As one of the most contagious infectious diseases, Zangeneh said she is reaching out to anyone who may have been exposed. For the four cases of measles confirmed so far this year in Harris County, she said, this meant reaching more than 400 people in total.

Zangeneh said that if a patient with measles went to a hospital, then to an emergency room, then to a clinic, he would contact the three facilities and contact all patients who were in the same room. Waiting room or patient's room as the infected person for two hours. after the patient is gone. Measles can live in the environment for two hours after the departure of an infected person.

Epidemiologists will also work over the weekend, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, if necessary, making multiple calls to reach as many people as possible who are exposed to the disease.

"We told them that they may have been exposed so that they monitor the symptoms and ask them if they are immune," she said. "It's a scary phone call to receive."

Zangeneh stated that she was asking questions to the patient about her trip and vaccination history. Measles is contagious four days before the onset of symptoms and four days later. It can also survive in airspace two hours after someone has left a room.

"You can technically infect someone before you know you have the disease," Zangeneh said.

Hospitals will also conduct similar awareness raising efforts. Starke recommended quarantining the patient so that the disease does not spread.

"It's kind of a nightmare," Starke said. "That's one of those, stop everything you do and take care of it next week, and in general it's the time it takes to go all the way because that's what it's all about. is so contagious and in hospitals we have so many vulnerable people that we can just not risk that someone develops measles if we can fix it. "

Fight for information

Last spring, Juliana was sitting on her mother's lap in front of a packed Texas Capitol hall. When a legislator asked her mother why she was there, the little girl put her head in her hands and put it on the table.

"Parents should not have to go through this bureaucracy to get data already collected," said Ms. Graves in April, in support of a bill guaranteeing transparency of vaccination rates in Texas schools.

Nearly two dozen people voted against the bill on Capitol Hill. The measure has never been the subject of a vote.

Today, every school year, Graves announced that she would monitor her child 's school to ensure that the percentage of students vaccinated against measles and kidney disease. other diseases do not fall below 95%.

"For me to know this information, it's really important, if her school falls below 95%, I have to look for her and find her somewhere else to go," Graves said. "This is very detrimental to her health – some of these diseases are life threatening for Juliana."