200 people may have been exposed to measles in California



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"You will need to inform your primary care provider (s) and your child's health care provider about this potential exposure to discuss your risk of infection, vaccination history and any other questions you may have. ", says the letter.

As for other family members who may also be in the waiting room, "they will also want to inform their doctor."

UC Davis Medical Center sent the letters on March 25th and 26th.

Dr. Dean Blumberg, head of pediatric infectious diseases at the UC Davis Children's Hospital, said in a statement that as soon as measles was suspected in the case of March 17, "we have taken the appropriate precautions in the areas visited by the patient, including an examination room. "

"Except for the case of March 17, there are no more cases of measles or symptomatic patients at the UC Davis Medical Center at this time." For the record, we sent the attached letter to patients who may have been treated find near this patient center. "

Why New York has not contained the largest and longest measles outbreak ever seen in decades
Measles is a highly contagious disease, according to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can spread by coughing and sneezing and can live up to two hours in the air where an infected person coughs or sneezes.

The symptoms appear about nine to 12 days after a person's infection. Measles usually starts with a mild to moderate fever, a cough, a runny nose, conjunctivitis or red and watery eyes, the letter says. This is followed by fever and rash two or three days later.

People with measles are contagious four to four days after the onset of rash. The letter warns that "anyone diagnosed with or suspected of having measles should stay home for four days after the onset of the rash". But people infected without symptoms may still be able to transmit the virus.

The MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella, helps prevent this disease. Children should receive two doses of MMR vaccine, with the initial dose administered between 12 and 15 months of age and a second dose between 4 and 6 years of age. The vaccine is about 97% effective in preventing measles, according to CDC recommendations.

"I could always lose my son"

Rayna Souza's son is among those who may have been exposed to measles, said Pamela Wu, director of information and media relations for UC Davis Health.

Souza told KTXL, a subsidiary of CNN, that her 7-year-old son, Jackson, who was terminally ill, was discovered when she took him to the UC Davis Medical Center because of his illness. his convulsions. Souza then learned that during his stay at the hospital, Jackson had been exposed to measles.

"I felt mortified. My son is already terminally ill, "she said. I do not have any potential areas with him, because I'm just working around him with a plastic bubble, while trying to keep him here as long as I can. . "

Souza said the doctors told him the source was an unvaccinated child who had contracted measles.

Blumberg said that "Jackson was in the emergency room where this other patient was seen." Jackson was the next person to be badessed in the examination room after the person with measles, "before measles was suspected and the room was closed for cleaning."

"It was less than an hour of separation between them," he said. "So, there was still potentially the measles virus in the air."

His son is dead. And then the anti-vaxers attacked it

Blumberg said that although Jackson was exposed to the virus, he did not think the child had measles. It is difficult for most doctors to identify measles because it is so rare.

"Fortunately, we do not think he has measles," he said. "The last time our doctors evaluated it on April 2, 16 days after exposure, he had not had measles."

But her mother said that she had seen all the symptoms, reported KTXL.

Souza said that she thought that the negligence of other parents could shorten her son's life. "People who make irresponsible decisions for their family and their child must really and really look at how this could affect other people because I could always lose my son."

World Epidemics

The second highest number of individual cases of measles – a total of 387 – has been reported in the United States since the elimination of the disease in 2000. These cases were confirmed in 15 states from January 1 to March 28, according to the CDC.
Rockland County, NY, is one of the places where the measles outbreak has erupted. It began in October when an unvaccinated person was infected while traveling to Israel and returned with the disease. The county has taken an "extremely unusual" measure to prohibit unvaccinated minors from gaining access to public places in order to contain the epidemic.
According to UNICEF, the number of measles cases increased in 1998 in 98 countries worldwide.

The number of measles cases increased by 48.1% between 2017 and 2018, according to calculations by the United Nations Children's Agency, which used data from 194 countries of the World Health Organization. health. And 10 countries – including Brazil, the Philippines and France – accounted for almost three-quarters of the total increase in the number of cases in 2018.

According to UNICEF, poor health infrastructure, lack of awareness, civil unrest, complacency and retaliation against vaccination have been factors in some of the recent epidemics.

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