Six more measles cases reported in California after Disneyland outbreak

Six more cases of measles have been confirmed in California following an outbreak at Disneyland that began in December, public health officials said, raising to 74 the total number of people in the state who have been infected.

A woman with a Mickey Mouse hat walks toward Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015, in Anaheim, California. (AP/Jae C. Hong)

A woman with a Mickey Mouse hat walks toward Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015, in Anaheim, California. (AP/Jae C. Hong)

Six more cases of measles have been confirmed in California following an outbreak at Disneyland that began in December, public health officials said, raising to 74 the total number of people in the state who have been infected.

Previously, 68 people in California had been confirmed to have the measles, along with 14 others elsewhere: five in Arizona, three in Utah, two in Washington state, one each in Oregon, Colorado and Nevada, and one in Mexico.

The latest tally includes 73 cases documented by the California Department of Public Health and one additional patient reported by the Ventura County Health Care Agency. 

Most, but not all, of the 88 known cases of measles in California and out of state have been linked to an outbreak that is believed to have begun when an infected person, likely from out of the country, visited the Disneyland resort in Anaheim between Dec. 15 and Dec. 20.

Among those infected are at least five Disney employees and a student from a local high school that has ordered its unvaccinated students to stay home until Thursday. Four patients are less than a year old and 11 others are between the ages of 1 and 4.

The outbreak has renewed debate over the so-called anti-vaccination movement in which fears about potential side effects of vaccines, fueled by now-debunked theories suggesting a link to autism, have led a small minority of parents to refuse to allow their children to be inoculated. 

The California health department has said that unvaccinated individuals have been a factor in the outbreak, although some of the infected patients had been inoculated.

The Los Angeles Times blasted the anti-vaccination movement in an editorial last week for what it called an "ignorant and self-absorbed rejection of science." 

Homegrown measles, whose symptoms include rash and fever, was declared eliminated from the United States in 2000. But health officials say cases imported by travelers from overseas continue to infect unvaccinated U.S. residents.

The sometimes deadly virus, which is airborne, can spread swiftly among unvaccinated children. There is no specific treatment for measles and most people recover within a few weeks. But in poor and malnourished children and people with reduced immunity, measles can cause serious complications including blindness, encephalitis, severe diarrhea, ear infection and pneumonia.


Share
3 min read

Published


Tags

Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world
Six more measles cases reported in California after Disneyland outbreak | SBS News