MYNORTHWEST NEWS

Washington measles outbreak prevalent in unvaccinated kids

Jan 25, 2019, 2:11 PM

Measles vaccine...

(AP)

(AP)

There are now 31 confirmed cases of measles in Washington state, including 30 in Southwest Washington’s Clark County. A Seattle-area man also got sick after visiting Clark County.

RELATED: Doctors worry measles outbreak will get worse, spread

Outbreaks are troubling to doctors like Melissa Genualdi of Swedish Medical, because, as she notes, preventing measles and other diseases is simple: Get vaccinated.

“Vaccines are really important to keep kids and other people healthy and safe. I’ve seen what a lot of these disease do to some children and it can be very devastating,” she told KIRO Radio.

Measles, for instance, can cause serious neurological problems, blindness, and death, but is also largely preventable. That being so, the vast majority of cases in the current outbreak are in children who were not vaccinated.

The Washington Post found nearly 7 percent of kids in Clark County are skipping shots for religious or personal reasons. The national average is just 2 percent.

Fear can also deter people from getting shots. A spike in measles cases in the US in 2017 stemmed largely from a community in Minnesota, who skipped vaccines on purpose over concerns about autism.

“I’ll be abundantly clear on this: There have been numerous, excellent randomized control trials those are kind of our gold standard studies out there that do not show any connection whatsoever between autism and any vaccine,” said John Lynch, an infectious disease doctor at Harborview and UW Medicine.

You also can’t catch a disease from a vaccination itself. Vaccines contain only dead or inert forms of the illness that teach your immune cells to recognize and remember the disease.

“And these memory cells just sort of stay in the background and if you’re exposed to say the flu virus your body can now mount a really large immune response because it’s ‘seen this’ before,” Doctor Robert Klem, with Swedish Medical, explained.

So, why do you sometimes feel crummy after a shot? Klem says it’s your immune system being triggered.

RELATED: Measles case in King County came in contact with hundreds

“So you may get a few swollen glands, you may feel a little fatigued, a little punky, maybe even a low grade fever, but that’s just your body’s immune system sort of getting activated,” he described.

Doctors say vaccines don’t prevent illness 100 percent of the time, but if you do get a disease, it will likely be much less severe than without the protective vaccine. More than that, when you’re vaccinated, it actually protects others.

“It takes a fairly large percentage — probably about 80 percent if not greater — of a community to be immunized to prevent that illness from penetrating into the community,” said Klem.

That’s key. The Washington State Department of health says in most parts of our state, vaccination rates among kindergartners are consistently in the mid to high 80s, so outbreaks  here are not common, but can still happen.

Experts say it would take a 95 percent vaccination rate to eradicate measles, for instance, just as smallpox was eliminated in 1980.

As a mom, Melissa Genualdi vaccinates her young children, and as a doctor with Swedish medical, she’s talked with parents who might believe the myths about vaccines.

“Most people have reasons why and once you find out why, you can help educate them, [and] give them some resources,” she said. “There’s lots of false claims out there with vaccines and there’s lots of different beliefs and what parents think. So I think just finding out why, and then just educating them.”

MyNorthwest News

Image: The awnings of a store advertise the sale of lottery tickets, including Mega Millions and Po...

Steve Coogan

Lottery jackpots update: Powerball prize up for grabs after $1.1B Mega Millions ticket sold

A lottery jackpots update: The Powerball prize reached an estimated $865 million ahead of Wednesday night's drawing.

6 hours ago

Photo: The Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center....

James Lynch

King County’s plan to close youth detention center met with fierce backlash

The King County Law and Justice Committee received a final report on Executive Dow Constantine's plan to close a youth detention center.

8 hours ago

Image: A cargo ship is stuck under the part of the structure of the Francis Scott Key Bridge after ...

Associated Press

Authorities identify 2 bodies recovered at site of Baltimore bridge collapse

A major bridge in Baltimore snapped and collapsed after a container ship rammed into it early Tuesday, and several vehicles fell into the river below.

9 hours ago

Photo: Mountaineer Jim Whittaker has died at 95....

Gene Johnson, The Associated Press

Lou Whittaker, among the most famous American mountaineers, has died at age 95

Lou Whittaker, a legendary American mountaineer who helped lead ascents of Mount Everest, K2 and Denali, has died at age 95.

10 hours ago

File photo: Former Sen. Joe Lieberman speaks in Washington on Jan. 18, 2024....

Associated Press

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP pick in 2000, dead at 82

Former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who nearly won the vice presidency on the Democratic ticket with Al Gore in 2000, has died.

10 hours ago

Image: A Tacoma teen was shot outside her Tacoma Hilltop area apartment over the weekend....

Heather Bosch

Estranged boyfriend suspected in Tacoma teen’s death turns himself in

We're learning more about the man who's accused of fatally shooting a teenager outside her Tacoma Hill Top area apartment over the weekend.

11 hours ago

Washington measles outbreak prevalent in unvaccinated kids