The largest measles outbreak in two decades costs $ 394,000 at the University of New York



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NEW YORK, NY – Leaving unvaccinated children comes with a high price. A Brooklyn measles outbreak in 2013 fueled by parents' failure to inoculate their children cost the Department of Health nearly $ 400,000, according to a new study.

58 people – none of whom had received the measles vaccine – contracted According to the study published Monday in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics, the deadly disease in the biggest epidemic of the city since 1992. The The city's response to the outbreak cost $ 394,448 in staff costs, test costs, travel and other, according to the study. According to the study, more than 80 municipal workers spent a total of 10 054 hours responding to the measles outbreak and controlling it, the study said.

"Refusals or delays in measles vaccine can result in outbreaks of measles importations, resulting in costly and resource-intensive intervention and containment measures," says the report. study by Jennifer B. Rosen from the Ministry of Health and two other researchers. 59002] Measles has spread in two Brooklyn neighborhoods from March to June 2013 after only one child has returned to New York from London infected with the disease, according to the study. The outbreak would have affected Borough Park and Williamsburg

. All 58 patients were Orthodox Jews and none had been vaccinated, although nearly 80 percent were old enough to be vaccinated, according to the study. According to the study, the group was aged from zero to 32 years and included 12 children under one year old.

According to the study, more than 70% of these patients came from eight extended families. The outbreak exposed more than 3,300 other people to measles, although about two-thirds of them showed immunity against the disease, according to the study.

The "insular nature of the affected community" and the high rate of vaccination

The city's response to the epidemic has taken resources from other "public health activities" and Required nearly one-third of the staff involved to perform tasks outside of their usual job descriptions. "The heavy burden and consequences of measles outbreaks as well as other public health emergencies underscore the importance of continuing to support a robust and flexible public health infrastructure for health departments," said the Minister of Health. # 39; study.

(Head Image: Child Receives Vaccine Against Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Varicella in Berlin, Germany, February 2015. Photo by Sean Gallup / Getty Images)

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