Nearly 50,000 Wisconsin Children Not Vaccinated Against Measles Back to School

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ONALASKA, Wisconsin (WKBT) – The number of measles cases in the United States is at its highest in 27 years. There are no confirmed cases in Wisconsin, but experts said nearly 50,000 children in that state were not vaccinated.

Health experts say the measles virus was almost eliminated in 2000. However, cases have increased in recent years.

Another statistic that has increased is the number of unvaccinated children. Local health officials said everyone should be concerned.

"This is something that all nurses in all districts should monitor," said Katie Drury, director of nursing services for the Onalaska School District.

As children return to school, the risk of a case of measles increases every day.

"When a developing child develops measles, the risk of very serious illness is always present," said Dr. Charles Peters, pediatrician consultant in the Mayo Clinic's health system.

Peters said it should not be a problem for our country.

"It's preventable," he said.

The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, or MMR vaccine, helps protect children from this life-threatening disease.

The MMR is normally a necessity for students, but Drury said that parents have a choice in this area.

"Students may be exempted from vaccination for personal beliefs, religious reasons or medical reasons," she said.

As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported for the first time, the number of exemptions for these reasons has increased by more than 9% over the past three academic years.

"The anti-vaccination groups have clearly spread misleading information," Drury said.

A common fear for people is the idea that this vaccination causes autism, which studies have proven wrong.

"Unfortunately, a number of well-known people in the general public continue to say that there is an association and that many people are being misled," Peters said.

Officials like to see immunization rates around 92-95% to provide collective immunity, helping to prevent a generalized epidemic.

Of the 72 counties in Wisconsin, 40 have failed to reach 80% by 2018.

"It's really only a matter of time before we start seeing cases," Peters said.

This is why local health authorities ask parents to vaccinate their child before the community has a serious health problem.

According to the Wisconsin Health Services Department, the rate of MMR vaccination in La Crosse County was 89% last year for 2-year-olds. Onalaska school health officials said that parents were cooperating each year.

They say they will have data on the number of students who are not vaccinated after 40th day of the school year.