Page 11 - Flathead Beacon // 2.11.15

FLATHEADBEACON.COM NEWS FEBRUARY 11, 2015 | 11 Flathead County’s Last Measles Outbreak
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Health officials recall measles sweeping the valley in 1988
By JUSTIN FRANZ of the Beacon
Basketball games were canceled. Prom was postponed. Orchestra events were put on hold.
Those were just a few impacts of the last major measles outbreak that took place in Flathead County over 25 years ago, and local health officials are con- cerned about history possibly repeating itself as the respiratory disease spreads nationwide.
“We literally had to stop all sport- ing events and extracurricular activities because of the outbreak, and there was a lot of unhappy people because of that – no school dances, no sports, no orches- tra, no nothing,” Joe Russell, Flathead County health officer, said about the last outbreak in the winter of 1988-89. “But this is not a disease you want your kids to have.”
According to the Centers for Dis- ease Control and Prevention, there were more than 100 reported cases of measles in the U.S. in January, an extraordinari- ly high number considering the disease was nearly eradicated a decade ago. In 2004, there were 37 reported cases of measles in the United States, but a de- cade later the number had spiked to over 644 cases.
This year’s outbreak is stemming from an exposure at Disneyland in De- cember where at least 42 people were sickened. It has since spread to 14 states, including Oregon, Washington and Col- orado. There have not been any cases re- ported in Montana.
Measles is incredibly contagious and can remain airborne for more than two hours, according to Kalispell Regional Medical Center’s infectious disease spe- cialist Dr. Jeffrey Tjaden.
“If you put 10 people into a room with one person who has measles, nine people are going to get it,” Tjaden said. “Measles is so contagious that if there is even one case it is considered an outbreak.”
Soon after someone is infected they may notice a high fever and runny nose. Then a rash of tiny, red spots will spread from the head to the entire body. In young children, measles can lead to pneumonia, swelling of the brain and, in some cases, death.
However, measles can be avoided with a vaccination, called the measles- mumps-rubella, or MMR, shot. The shot was first made available in the U.S. in 1963. Prior to that, almost all children got measles before they were 15 years old. According to the CDC, nearly 4 mil- lion people were infected every year and between 400 and 500 died. In 1978, the CDC attempted to eradicate measles and by 1981 there had been an 80 percent drop in reported cases from the previ-
Students blur through the hallway after lunch at Glacier High School. BEACON FILE PHOTO
ous year. By 2000, the CDC announced it had eradicated the disease thanks in part to the MMR2 booster shot in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Despite the success of vaccinations in eradicating measles and other dis- eases, some parents remain hesitant about letting their children get the shot. Some have suggested that vaccinations can cause autism, citing a now-retracted study from England published in 1998.
In 2013, the American Academy of Pediatrics said that there were more than 40 different studies that prove there is no link between vaccinations and autism, a view backed up by the CDC and most medical professionals. Par- ents are also concerned about common substances in vaccines, including small traces of aluminum and formaldehyde.
The group Montana Families for Health Freedom promotes the idea that parents should decide for themselves whether their children are vaccinated.
“Vaccines are one therapeutic model of wellness, but not all parents subscribe to that model,” spokesperson Edna Kent said. “We support parents in that deci- sion, believing that health-care freedom of choice is unequivocally embodied in this country’s founding principle of in- dividual liberty.”
While most schools and daycare fa- cilities require children to be vaccinat- ed, in Montana parents can get a reli- gious or a medical exemption that must be approved by a doctor. In Flathead County, 94.5 percent of students were up-to-date on their vaccinations during the 2013-2014 school year.
However, even with that high rate of vaccination, Flathead City-County Health Department Deputy Health Of- ficer Hillary Hanson said there is still reason for concern.
“From a public health standpoint, anytime we don’t have 100 percent of students vaccinated then the community is at risk,” Hanson said. “If measles hits Flathead County, there is no guarantee thatitwilljustimpactschools.Everyone needs to take this threat seriously.”
Hanson said the health department
is working with school administrators to make sure that they know which stu- dents are not vaccinated. If the measles outbreak came to the Flathead, those students would be required to either get the vaccination within 72 hours or be dismissed from school until the threat is over.
Hanson said parents who are con- cerned about vaccinations should talk to a medical professional to understand the risk they are taking by not getting their children vaccinated.
The last reported case of measles in Montana was in the early 1990s. There was a massive outbreak of the disease in the Flathead Valley from September 1988 to February 1989, according to pub- lic health officer and former health di- rector Boni Stout.
During that six-month period, there were 70 cases of the measles, mostly im- pacting young people. The outbreak was so disruptive that the county had to call for help from the state health depart- ment, Stout said.
“All we did was give vaccines and in- vestigate every case,” Stout said, adding that her crew often worked seven days a week just to keep up.
In hopes of stopping the spread, the health department ordered schools to cancel extracurricular activities. Stout said it was an unpopular decision, but the right one in the end. While most tod- dlers get the measles vaccination when they are 1 year old, Stout said health of- ficials began giving it early during that outbreak because the disease can be es- pecially dangerous for young children.
Having seen the last outbreak, Stout said it is critical that people take this current threat seriously. Since today’s society is much more mobile, she said she is not surprised by how far this cur- rent outbreak has spread.
Tjaden, the doctor at KRMC, agrees.
“I’m very concerned about measles. I’m more concerned about it than Ebo- la,” he said. “It’s just a matter of time be- forewegetacaseofmeaslesinMontana. It’s not if, but when.”
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