Doctors in the region on alert after a measles outbreak nationwide

APPLETON, WIS. (WBAY) – The growing number of measles cases in the United States and abroad has caught the attention of local officials.

On the one hand, the school district nurse De Pere sent a reminder last week on the importance of inoculation.

In the Philippines, fears of vaccination are attributable to an epidemic that killed 136 people and sickened more than 8,000 others. The country's state secretary for health hopes that a massive vaccination campaign will contain the epidemic in a few months.

Here in the United States, 127 measles cases have been confirmed in 10 states so far this year.

The highly contagious virus spreads in the air by coughing and sneezing.

Symptoms include high fever, rash, stuffy nose and red eyes.

According to the CDC, 1 or 2 out of 1,000 children who contract measles will die from complications.

Until now, no case of measles has been confirmed in Wisconsin, but our neighbor, Illinois, is one of those states.

This is why many doctors in our area are now on alert.

While the majority of residents in northeastern Wisconsin have been vaccinated against measles, Dr. Sharon Rink says the percentage of those who have not exceeded 12 percent.

"This may mean that one in two in 10 children are not immunized against measles.You need a vaccination rate of about 95% in a state to be considered protected So our community is not protected against measles and it will come to us if we continue that, "said Rink, a pediatrician at ThedaCare Physicians-Darboy.

Although the virus did not appear locally, a single case could encourage health officials to act aggressively.

Kurt Eggebrecht, head of health at Appleton, said: "We would look to the school district to identify any students who have not been vaccinated and if they did not wish to receive the vaccine at this stage, they would be excluded from school, we would take this role very seriously to prevent others from getting sick. "

In 2000, the virus was declared eliminated from the United States.

However, travelers continue to bring it back from countries where the threat still exists and expose pockets of unvaccinated people.

"Because it's so contagious, there was a room for 10 people and one person was sick, we expect that a majority of the others would become, "said Eggebrecht.

Eggebrecht also said that the current measles vaccine had a 97% success rate among those who had received it.