Measles Outbreak

[tribbleorlfl]

9 sickened after attending DL parks Dec 10-15, at least 3 more suspected. Reportedly 3 of the children have been hospitalized. 8/9 were unvaccinated, though I suppose that's a discussion for somewhere else.

I tell you, this is the kind of thing that has always worried me about attending the parks: an outbreak of some potentially fatal disease spread by someone who was too stubborn to stay at home (or had no clue they we're contagious in the first place).

I guess my question is, in previous health scares (swine or avian flu, Ebola, etc) did Disney take any precautions (ie, distribute face masks, hand sanitizer stations, more frequent cleanings of surfaces, etc) or pass out literature to guests? Does Disney have a legal leg to stand on to deny guests entry if they are visibly ill?

 

[RandomPrincess]

Some that got sick were too young to have the full panel of shots yet. As for adults get your boosters! Many adults and doctors fail to keep grown ups, up to date on shots. They don't last forever boosters are needed.

 

[tribbleorlfl]

Yes, 2 were too young to receive their immunizations (though according to one local article I read, 1 of those was the younger sibling of one of the ~10 year old unvaccinated victims, so the outcome would have likely been the same even if they were).

 

[ExtinctJenn]

Just read this story on People.com. I am always confused when I read about things like this because the vaccines for these diseases exist! They are preventable if we get our children immunized, and if we as adults get ours too (and our boosters - to @RandomPrincess's point)!

As the mom of a child recently diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum, I have done a fair amount of research into the claims that there is a link between the two (vaccines and autism). I totally see why some parents, after reading some of the information that came out of the studies, would be concerned. If I had read these articles when my son was born, I may not have kept him vaccinated either. The key is however, to keep reading. Since then numerous studies have been done that concluded no link between the two (and even accuse the original teams who did the studies of falsification of data as it relates to the results).

I know this can be a hot topic and I'm definitely not trying to spark a debate. As parents we are entitled to make that decision and having that freedom is a wonderful thing! If you chose not to vaccinate your child and feel strongly that the reasons for not doing so are important to your way of life and thinking, fantastic! Good for you for being brave enough to do that! Me, I've got enough stress without adding a case of the measles to my day! LOL!

 

[westie]

The last 2 times I've been to WDW I've come home with norovirus and was out of commision another 2 weeks. Not saying it was WDW or the plane flights and airports, nor is there a vaccine for norovirus but measles? I thought we were rid of that disease when polio went out. In any event I hope the kids who contracted it don't suffer from it. I bet disney comes out with a pin commemorating surviving the outbreak of 2015!

 

[NYwdwfan]

There was just an outbreak of the mumps in the NHL. It spread through teams as they played each other. If I'm not mistaken, players had been vaccinated as children and had not had any boosters and they were calling it a case of "waning immunity". Teams rushed to get their players boosters once it was reported but it was too late. I'm not an alarmist or anything but geez - measles, mumps - I'm afraid to ask what's next.

 

[TP2000]

Agree that this seems very silly when vaccines have been readily available for decades. Who the heck isn't vaccinating their young children against Measles anymore?!?

That said, is it really an "outbreak" if it was a dozen people infected? Over five days during a slow time of year there is still easily 250,000 people or more who were also at Disneyland and DCA at that time. A dozen cases of Measles is like 0.005% of the people who were in the two theme parks on those five days.

And if they were mostly children who hadn't been vaccinated for some strange reason, then the real story seems to be why their parents are putting their kids into the middle of large groups of people flown in from around the world (AKA "Disneyland") without having the children properly vaccinated.

 

[RandomPrincess]

Agree that this seems very silly when vaccines have been readily available for decades. Who the heck isn't vaccinating their young children against Measles anymore?!?

That said, is it really an "outbreak" if it was a dozen people infected? Over five days during a slow time of year there is still easily 250,000 people or more who were also at Disneyland and DCA at that time. A dozen cases of Measles is like 0.005% of the people who were in the two theme parks on those five days.

And if they were mostly children who hadn't been vaccinated for some strange reason, then the real story seems to be why their parents are putting their kids into the middle of large groups of people flown in from around the world (AKA "Disneyland") without having the children properly vaccinated.

You apparently have never been in the middle an a pro-vax, anti-vax fight on the internet before. Back away slowly.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Agree that this seems very silly when vaccines have been readily available for decades. Who the heck isn't vaccinating their young children against Measles anymore?!?

That said, is it really an "outbreak" if it was a dozen people infected? Over five days during a slow time of year there is still easily 250,000 people or more who were also at Disneyland and DCA at that time. A dozen cases of Measles is like 0.005% of the people who were in the two theme parks on those five days.

And if they were mostly children who hadn't been vaccinated for some strange reason, then the real story seems to be why their parents are putting their kids into the middle of large groups of people flown in from around the world (AKA "Disneyland") without having the children properly vaccinated.

Parts of the larger Los Angeles area, wealthier parts at that, now have vaccination rates similar to poor, developing countries.

 

[RandomPrincess]

Parts of the larger Los Angeles area, wealthier parts at that, now have vaccination rates similar to poor, developing countries.

I read an article a whole back that said it's the very wealthy that are choosing to not vaccinate in the US an it's not just in LA. We have had whooping cough pop up quite a bit around here at a few schools. It finally made me get off my butt and go get my adult boosters.

 

[jensenrick]

Agree that this seems very silly when vaccines have been readily available for decades. Who the heck isn't vaccinating their young children against Measles anymore?!?

That said, is it really an "outbreak" if it was a dozen people infected? Over five days during a slow time of year there is still easily 250,000 people or more who were also at Disneyland and DCA at that time. A dozen cases of Measles is like 0.005% of the people who were in the two theme parks on those five days.

And if they were mostly children who hadn't been vaccinated for some strange reason, then the real story seems to be why their parents are putting their kids into the middle of large groups of people flown in from around the world (AKA "Disneyland") without having the children properly vaccinated.

While it may seem a small percentage, the fact that Measles should have been wiped out is why many are reasonably alarmed.

 

[tribbleorlfl]

Agree that this seems very silly when vaccines have been readily available for decades. Who the heck isn't vaccinating their young children against Measles anymore?!?

That said, is it really an "outbreak" if it was a dozen people infected? Over five days during a slow time of year there is still easily 250,000 people or more who were also at Disneyland and DCA at that time. A dozen cases of Measles is like 0.005% of the people who were in the two theme parks on those five days.

And if they were mostly children who hadn't been vaccinated for some strange reason, then the real story seems to be why their parents are putting their kids into the middle of large groups of people flown in from around the world (AKA "Disneyland") without having the children properly vaccinated.

Granted those infected represent a tiny proportion of the visitors those days, this case highlights that 1) Vaccines are effective and 2) It only takes a few un-vaccinated people to spread a dangerous illness around and threaten "herd immunity." Measles was considered eradicated in this country about 15 years ago, so anytime there is an isolated pocket of cases, it is considered an outbreak. Note the original 12 cases in 2 states has grown to 26 in 4 states, and we've likely not begun to see cases that weren't exposed at DL but by those who brought it home with them from the park; 6 have been hospitalized. Considering it has been my observation that non-vaccinating parents tend to congregate with like-minded families (churches, homeschool co-ops, play groups, etc) and because measles is so easily spread, this is likely to get much worse.

http://news.yahoo.com/california-li...8--finance.html;_ylt=AwrSyCXEEbVUlDkAA0.ZmolQ

You sound like I was about 2 years ago regarding the anti-vaccine movement, that they were a bunch of silly, misguided parents that believed in a false narrative pushed by a disgraced physician and a former playmate, and while they were putting their children at risk, they really weren't a danger to anyone else. My eyes were opened to what these people are really all about shortly after our daughter was born when we posted a picture after she received one of her immunizations with a caption of "Took It Like a Champ." One of our mutual friends started filling our FB walls with truly vile garbage such as "I can't believe you're pumping that angel full of poison" and "You should have your kids taken away for what you've done." Other friends who we had no idea were anti-vaccine, people we always thought to be intelligent, rational and educated people, also started posting AV propaganda as they started having kids of their own. This caused me to read into various AV groups and I was shocked to discover not a scattered group of fringe, confused people but a growing, organized network of groups, including non-profits and lobbying arms, with a galvanized resistance to vaccines. There are conservative AV groups that resist vaccine on liberty grounds, liberal AV groups that resist based on "natural remedies" and a distrust of "Big Pharma" and religious AV groups that think vaccines are counter to God's creation. They honestly believe vaccines are more dangerous than the diseases they're there to protect us from.

No, these people aren't silly but a danger to the health and well-being of the communities they live in. While parents absolutely have the right and responsibility to make the healthcare decisions for their children, when a parent decides to forgo vaccinations and their child catches a vaccine-preventable disease, they can then pass on the illness to other people that had no say in the matter due to age, compromised immune system or vaccine failure. These AV parents effectively force their medical decisions onto other people.

 

[Okgrandma]

Well said tribble.....I remember the iron lung days from polio, and birth defects from measles. My husband almost died from a case of whooping cough as a youngster. We recently got our boosters for whooping cough so we wouldn't endanger our newest grandchild. Whooping cough kills and unknowingly you can pass on what you might think is a mild cold to an infant, happened in our community. Why would anyone take this risk? If you are an older adult you've lived through the years when vaccines were not available and saw the results....no thanks. Thank God that most parents follow their doctors advice and protect their children. It saddens me to see a family lose a child to a preventable disease. I guess it is going to take more outbreaks and more deaths before it sinks in with these anti-vaccine groups that vaccines have saved millions....

 

[LeRaposa]

This really is disgusting. Regardless if the woman who spread measles was allergic to the vaccine, there's still no excuse for going out while you have the disease. Hopefully the people who were infected recover. I can't believe that's it's not actually a crime to spread a disease. As for these people who refuse vaccines they're every bit as stupid and disgusting as the woman who spread the disease.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

Just read that another 13 cases related to the Disney "outbreak" have been confirmed.

The newest Disney Parks fashion accessory is going to end up being face masks with printed characters on them.

 

[RandomPrincess]

Just read that another 13 cases related to the Disney "outbreak" have been confirmed.

The newest Disney Parks fashion accessory is going to end up being face masks with printed characters on them.

They are up to 30 some cases but many of the new cases got sick from the first group when they went home, not from Disneyland directly.

 

[tribbleorlfl]

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-disneyland-employee-measles-20150120-story.html

Up to 53 cases in CA, but the latest news is 5 CM's have been infected and all CM's that had been in close contact with them have been put on paid leave until they provide proof of vaccination or immunity. Bravo on Disney for taking the proper steps to ensuring this doesn't spread any further.

Still curious if they have any legal standing to deny entry to anyone who appears seriously ill.

 

[RandomPrincess]

California health officials called for anyone who has not received the measles vaccine to get vaccinated as an outbreak of the disease continues to spread.

“For the time being, if you are not vaccinated, or if you have an infant who is too young to be vaccinated, you should avoid going to Disneyland,” said Dr. Gil Chavez of the California Department of Public Health.



More - http://www.buzzfeed.com/claudiakoer...measles-urged-to-stay-away-from-di#.moYVKVJV1

 

[BuzzKillington]

Think back to the recent crisis at the southern boarder. Enterovirus EV68 and now measles. Coincidence?

 

[Arthur Wellesley]

This just broke all over our local news today, to the point where they are talking LESS about the Patriots' deflategate scandal (and that's saying a lot) to discuss Disneyland & the measles.