The medical community is in a tizzy after a measles outbreak that was said to have stemmed from Disneyland California Adventure Park in Orange County ended up spreading across further across the country to Mexico and more, USA Today reported.
Reports have it that after coming home from visiting the "happiest place on Earth," numerous families ended up spreading the virus to unvaccinated family members. The first group of individuals who were infected reportedly visited the park from Dec. 15 to Dec. 20 and ended up spreading the virus.
"It's going to take a while to control," said William Schaffner, an expert from Vanderbilt School of Medicine in Nashville.
Robert Glatter, a physician from Leno Hill Hospital in New York, commented that the outbreak "has the potential to develop into one of the worst outbreaks since 1989."
There are numerous documented cases of measles which have popped up across the United States that are related to the Disney outbreak, according to The Los Angeles Times. Fifty-one cases were reported in California, with others from Mexico, Colorado, Washington, Utah and more.
Six other reports came in from Orange County from families who did not visit the Disney attraction, as well as others from Ventura County and Alameda County. This has officials scrambling to warn people about getting the appropriate vaccinations or medications for their families.
Dr. Mark Grabowsky, who works with the United Nations, is worried about the growing anti-vaccination movement in the United States though.
"The greatest threat to the U.S. vaccination program may now come from parents' hesitancy to vaccinate their children," he said. "Many measles outbreak can be traced to people refusing to be vaccinated."
He also shared that once, a church advocate who was against vaccination, ended up causing a large measles outbreak.
Such was the case for "patient zero," a young woman who was identified as having become contagious on Dec. 28, according to The Guardian. She came to Disneyland, flew home to Washington for a few days and then returned on Jan. 3 to Orange County. Because of her exposure to large crowds at the theme park, airport, airplanes and more, it quickly led to the outbreak on Jan. 7.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention refers to measles as the "most deadly of all childhood rash or fever illness." Symptoms of the measles are coughing and sneezing and the appearance of rashes along the head and then the body. Other symptoms include fever, runny nose and red eyes, according to The LA Times.
The organization explained that people can catch the virus from the surrounding area even when the infected person has left. With the Disney outbreak possibly growing worse, they have been urging families to get proper vaccination or at least get checked out to prevent infection or the further spread of the virus.
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