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5 Things You Need to Know About the Measles to Keep Your Family Safe

By Amy Zimmer | February 16, 2015 7:49am
 As measles cases rise nationally, New York City doctors and parents are discussing vaccines.
As measles cases rise nationally, New York City doctors and parents are discussing vaccines.
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MANHATTAN — Measles cases are on the rise across the country, and with 121 people from 17 states infected and an outbreak linked to California's Disneyland, many parents and doctors fear New York could be next.

The best way to prevent the measles is to get vaccinated, medical professionals say. But vaccinations are not 100 percent effective, and when coupled with the persistence of a myth (thoroughly debunked) that links vaccines to autism, many parents fear children are increasingly vulnerable to infection.

A growing number of parents are worried — and resentful — about how vaccine refusers could potentially harm their kids. More than 230 Brooklynites, for instance, signed a petition asking the Fort Greene outpost of Tribeca Pediatrics to ban anti-vaccinators from sharing the common areas and exam rooms with their kids.

Here are additional steps you can take to protect your children from possible measles cases:

1. Ask your school or daycare about its vaccination rates, but you might not get an exact answer.

Schools are required to keep up-to-date information about vaccine exemptions. While it's easy to find the percentage of students with vaccinations at the city's private schools — through open data published by the state health department — the state does not provide the same level of information for individual public schools.

Public school principals are allowed to use their "professional judgment when sharing information about their school and students," DOE officials said.

Families concerned about whether their child's preschool or daycare is staying on top of immunization records can check for violations on the Health Department's Bureau of Child Care site.

New York is one of the strictest states in terms of requiring vaccines, pediatricians noted.

Exemptions are only given for medical or religious reasons, not for personal, moral, scientific or philosophical beliefs, though a Brooklyn state senator is trying to make it easier for parents to get exemptions for their kids.

Children who are home schooled currently aren't required to be vaccinated.

Roughly 97 percent of kindergartners at public schools in The Bronx and Staten Island had their measles vaccinations in the 2012-13 school year, and 96 percent of public kindergarten students in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens were vaccinated, according to data obtained from the state by DNAinfo New York.  (The numbers of vaccinated kindergartners in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island dipped slightly from 99 percent two years before that.)

At some private schools, however, the rates are much lower. Twenty city private schools have less than 72 percent of children vaccinated, according to Capital New York.

2. Ask your pediatrician whether the practice accepts families who refuse vaccines.

Many doctors are grappling with how to handle families who refuse vaccines.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends pediatricians do not turn away families who don't want to vaccinate their children. Instead, doctors should educate these families and try to dispel their fears, Tribeca Pediatrics founder Michel Cohen wrote recently on Facebook.

"I find that most become comfortable with vaccinating after a rational and informed discussion," Cohen wrote.

"Risk of contagion is less of a concern in doctors' offices where we are able to screen kids, and more of an issue in unmonitored and crowded public places," he added.

Dr. Beverly Sheppard, chair of the pediatrics department at AdvantageCare Physicians, one of the region's largest doctor-led practices, agreed that it was important to win over anti-vaccinators rather than "shut them out."

"It can become truly a public health issue if we don't try to continue to educate and try to convince people that this is the proper thing to do," Sheppard said.

3. Find out how your pediatrician keeps potentially infectious children from infecting others during office visits.

Unvaccinated children are most at risk for the measles, including babies who are too young for vaccinations and others who can't get vaccinations, like immune-suppressed kids on chemotherapy or who are HIV-positive.

Babies get their first dose of the measles vaccine when they turn 1 and a second dose between the ages of 4 and 6.

The first dose is about 95 percent effective and the second dose is 99 percent effective, said Dr. Matthew Weissman, the chief medical officer of the Community Healthcare Network, which operates more than 10 clinics across the city.

Many pediatricians take particular precautions with newborns, preferring to see them early in the day before the after-school rush of potentially germ-laden school kids, Sheppard said.

"We try to encourage the younger kids to come in the mornings," she said.

4. If you suspect you have the measles, call your doctor. Don't go to the office.

If you think you or your child has the measles, call your doctor first. Don't go to the office or the emergency room, physicians advise.

"You don't want to walk into a room of unvaccinated kids and potentially expose them," Weissman said.

Measles is an extremely contagious virus that spreads through the air by coughing and sneezing. The virus can live for up to 2 hours on a surface or in the air where an infected person has been present, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The illness begins like many viruses do: with fever, runny nose, cough, sore throat and red eyes. It's followed by a rash that begins on the face and then spreads to the trunk and extremities. Patients are contagious four days before and after the rash appears.

As many as one in three measles-infected people develop complications, which can include pneumonia, brain inflammation and even death, health officials said. Infants under 1 year and people with weakened immune systems are at highest risk of severe illness and complications.

"The symptoms are very similar to a lot of other things," Weissman said. "When the rash comes it becomes more obvious."

5. Be sure that your family is vaccinated before any international travel.

Measles can be found around the globe, including Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, so many doctors advise families to make sure everyone is immunized — even babies who are at least 6 months old.

"For people traveling abroad, the recommendation is to start at 6 months even though that dose doesn't count toward your school requirement," Weissman said.