Public health officials claim that the high vaccination rate of Maryland protects most residents, but the non -vaccinated population is still in danger.
Health officials have confirmed three cases of measles in Maryland this month, but say that it is not time to panic an epidemic given the vaccination rate of more than 96% of the state against the very transmitted virus.
But with epidemics occurring in other states, experts urge Marylanders to ensure that they are up to date with their vaccinations, protect vulnerable populations and ensure that measles remains manageable in the state.
“What we now see with three imported cases, that does not concern me. This is a reflection of what is going on worldwide and people traveling,” said Dr. William Moss, professor of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
“What would concern me is that we are starting to see more locally acquired cases where people who have not traveled have acquired measles in Maryland,” said Moss.
The Maryland Ministry of Health announcement On March 9, a resident of the County of Howard who had traveled internationally had contracted measles.
Two other international travelers, this time in Prince George County, also caught measles while abroad, the health service reported Thursday.
Although the three cases are linked to Washington International Airport Dulles, the cases of Prince George are not linked to the County Tower of Howard, according to the Department of Health. And the ministry said that none of the Maryland cases was linked to the current epidemics identified with New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma, some of which have resulted in deaths.
But by “an abundance of prudence”, the agency has published a list of flights, metro lines and potentially exposed hospitals where the public could have been exposed to one of the affairs of Maryland.
“Breedy cases occur sporadically in Maryland, with a case of measles identified in Maryland earlier this year (the case of March 9), one in 2024, one in 2023, and no case from 2020 to 2022,” the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
With three cases identified in March only, Marylanders should expect an epidemic? Public health experts say no – as long as you are vaccinated, which, according to 96% of state residents, is, according to Dr Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American public Health Association.
If people who have contracted the measles virus “are in a community that is not vaccinated or undervalued, or around a child under 1 who has not yet had their vaccine, you can see spreading,” he said. “But the probability of a large epidemic on Maryland is relatively low. Very low.”
Measles begin as a standard respiratory disease, with a fever, a flowing nose, a cough and red and aqueous eyes. A few days after the initial symptoms, people who are sick in measles can develop the disease business card – a red and jack rash that begins in the head area and spreads to the rest of the body.
Moss said that although the measles virus moves faster among the unvaccinated populations, cases of breakthrough in vaccinated people are always possible, although rare. He said that those who suspect that they could have been exposed to measles should not simply enter an emergency room if they can avoid it, due to its transmissible.
“Because the measles virus is so contagious, you don’t want someone with measles to walk in a crowded emergency room with many other patients,” said Moss.
“Ideally, what would happen is that a parent or an individual would contact his health care provider to give them a downstream … They think they could have measles,” he said. “In this way … they can be ready to manage this patient and make sure that the patient does not transmit the infection to others.”
People can be vaccinated for measles from 6 months, and Maryland schools need children’s garden to be vaccinated for measles and other diseases before entering class, although the state has a liberal religious exemption policy.
But Moss is concerned about a national upward trend of parents requesting religious exemptions from the vaccinations required to attend public schools – a trend in which Maryland is not immune.
From the Pandemic of COVID-19, more parents have invoked a religious exemption to eliminate their children from vaccination requirements in recent years, which, according to MOSS and other experts in public health, is an indication of increased hesitation in the vaccine.
During the school year of 2023-24, for example, 1.54% of children in Maryland kindergarten received a religious exemption from the required vaccinations, including the ROR vaccine which helps protect against measles, mumps and rubella. Religious exemptions have increased regularly since 2002-2003, when only 0.2% of students were exempt, according to state data.
According to data from the Health Department, of 98.46% of kindergarten children who were vaccinated last year, 99% received the ROR vaccine. Vaccination rates for the current academic year are not yet available.
“Successful vaccination programs are compared because the disease disappears and people do not care about these vaccine preventable diseases that can really come back,” said Moss. He added that vaccination hesitation has grown from the Pandemic Covid-19.
“I hope that for many people, the current measles epidemic here in the United States is a reminder that measles is still there, that measures can always put people in hospital, that measles can still kill,” he said. “And this will highlight the value of measles vaccination and that we will be able to maintain a vaccination coverage with measles high here in Maryland and at the national level.”
He said that if Maryland could maintain high vaccination levels, he can maintain a future potential distance epidemic.
“My prediction would be that we are not going to see many secondary cases because of these imports in Maryland,” said Moss. “I think we are quite good here.”
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