ATLANTA — Providers across metro Atlanta are on high alert for signs of measles, after three cases were confirmed this month in Georgia.
This comes as a measles outbreak in the Pacific Northwest is drawing national attention, where 31 cases have been reported. In most of those cases, the patients had not been vaccinated.
“In the U.S. there are now cases of measles when just as recently as 2000, the CDC said measles was eradicated,” said 11Alive medical correspondent Dr. Sujatha Reddy. “And here we are seeing it again year after year … people avoiding vaccines is definitely the problem.”
Many people have been misled by viral posts on social media that state vaccines are dangerous. Reports that vaccines cause illness or autism in children are completely unfounded, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“Besides the misinformation about the vaccine going on social media, there’s also misinformation on how deadly this disease is,” said Dr. Allan Melnick with the Clark County Department of Health in Washington State.
According to the CDC, there were 349 cases of measles nationwide last year alone – the second greatest number of annual cases since measles was eradicated in the U.S. 19 years ago.
The highest number of measles cases was in 2014, when 667 people were ill. To put it in perspective here, six measles cases have been reported in Georgia since 2005.
Dr. John Lynch, an infectious disease specialist, said the potentially deadly disease starts with flu-like symptoms.
“You start developing a fever, a pretty high fever, often a cough, runny nose – what we call coriza and conjunctivitis,” Lynch said. “That cough and runny nose are full of the measles virus, and as you cough, you are spreading it to others and you are also spreading it to the environment.”
So, how worried should you be?
“We have a potentially deadly disease that’s contagious and we have a very effective and safe, cheap prevention for it that is specifically a measles vaccination,” Melnick said.
The Georgia Department of Health said 95 percent of those who receive a vaccine develop an immunity to measles, mumps and rubella.
“For the most part, if you have been vaccinated, you have nothing to worry about,” Melnick assured. “The children that you have, if they’ve been vaccinated, then there’s nothing to worry about.”
Most of the cases of measles reported in Washington State are children under the age of 10. Out of the 31 cases of measles confirmed in the Northwest, 26 of those patients had not been vaccinated.
Those who are most at risk to measles exposure are people with compromised immune systems, infants who are too young to get the vaccine and pregnant women.