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The country is experiencing the worst year for measles in a quarter of a century, according to the CDC, with 704 cases reported. And New Jersey is in the middle of an epidemic.
The state has 14 confirmed cases, a suspected case reported last week in Middlesex County. Although New Jersey has not been as affected as New York and Rockland County, New York, where hundreds of people have been infected, experts remain concerned if we fail to limit the spread of the disease . How could this happen here?
Although it is unlikely that New Jersey will experience hundreds or thousands of cases at once, the state could also witness localized outbreaks with "pockets of people with low rates of infection." vaccinations infected with many infections, "Dr. David Cennimo, an infectious disease specialist at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, said via SMS.
Religion is perhaps no longer a reason why children avoid vaccines if this law is changed
Senator Loretta Weinberg of D-Bergen said she would request a hearing on vaccine legislation in May or June.
Failure to control measles could weigh heavily on the state's medical system and distract medical staff.
Cennimo said that the state was already witnessing a "disruption of medicine because of measles". Treating a patient with measles is often tedious and tedious, he said.
"Measles is suspended in the air, so people have to stay in special negative pressure rooms. … These rooms are not numerous, Cennimo said in an email. "You can not let a patient enter a waiting room with measles without a mask because they can infect everyone."
Measles is so contagious that 90% of those at risk for an infected person will be infected, according to the CDC. If epidemics continue, experts worry that measles patients may be walking around the public or in hospitals, eventually spreading the disease to vulnerable populations, such as babies who do not have the disease. still received the vaccine. People whose immune system is weakened, such as cancer patients on treatment, would also be at risk.
Medical staff may need to develop protocols to treat patients reporting vague symptoms such as a rash or fever. They may need to meet potentially infected patients in the parking lot with a mask, which will distract staff from other serious health issues.
"All this is heavy and, if it delays the care, potentially dangerous," Cennimo said. "It's difficult for your primary care physician or your average pediatrician to do all this in a busy office. The measles rash is not very specific and can be confused with other viral outbreaks. "
He added: "This can really slow down the flow in one (emergency service)".
Prolonged measles outbreaks could also be very expensive, according to Herb Conaway, D-Burlington, a member of New Jersey, who is a co-author of a bill to eliminate a loophole allowing thousands of parents to cite their religious convictions. refuse to vaccinate their children.
"We know that the lack of immunization results in huge preventable health care costs: loss of work, lack of education, cost of hospitalization and outpatient care. Overall, these costs are huge, "said Conaway.
In fact, a study of Washington State, which has also been particularly hard hit by measles in recent weeks – mostly because of unvaccinated people – has shown how much the cost of managing a outbreak of measles can be expensive.
The study, published last month in the medical journal JAMA, revealed that "responses to a single case of measles can reach $ 142,000". This includes case tracking, laboratory testing, quarantine of patients, compensation of health care providers, public awareness and other measures necessary to prevent the spread of the disease.
The study estimates that in 2011, the total cost of outbreaks in the United States ranged from $ 2.7 million to $ 5.3 million. That year, 220 cases of measles were reported, according to the CDC.
Although the recent upsurge in measles is not attributable to one and the same reason, health experts say that the anti-vaccination movement has proven to be a problem that needs to be solved because the spread of misinformation and propaganda continues to affect vaccination rates. . According to the World Health Organization, a vaccination rate of 93% to 95% is needed within a community to prevent measles from spreading among the population.
"If we continue to have pockets of unvaccinated children, we will continue to see outbreaks," said Dr. Glenn Fennelly, chair of the Pediatric Council of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.
The measles epidemic in New York City has mainly affected the ultra-orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn, where vaccination rates tend to be lower and current anti-vaccination sentiments. The epidemic got so much worse that New York City officials said this month that it was a public health emergency and ordered mandatory vaccination.
The New Jersey epidemic, though less severe, has also been largely concentrated in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities of Lakewood, in Ocean County (as has the outbreak in Rockland County, New Brunswick). from New York).
"We have more and more people choosing not to vaccinate themselves or their children, putting not only their own risk at risk, but also all others, including young people and people who are medically vulnerable," he said. Conaway told NJ Advance Media.
Spencer Kent can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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