As measles cases and hospitalizations increase in parts of the United States, including Texas and New Mexico, and in the neighboring country of Canada, the New York State Health Department issued an alert (Health Advisory) and accelerated the dissemination of a public service announcement that asks all New York that empties their children to protect them from measles.
This occurs when a child of school not vaccinated in Texas died of measles, the first death for this disease reported in the US since 2015.
Given this, as part of a broader campaign to reach areas with low vaccination, the New York State Department of Health also published a Video on YouTube that urges the community to vaccinate minors as measles prevention.
Contagious and dangerous
It should be noted that vaccination rates throughout the state continue to fall below the necessary level to protect communities. So far from 2025, 2 cases have been notified in New York City, while there are currently no cases in the rest of the New York state. In 2024, at the state level there were 15 cases, 14 of them in NYC.
“As a pediatrician and state doctor, I want to remind everyone that vaccination is safe and the best protection for their children against measles and other potentially mortal diseases,” said Dr. James McDonald, state health commissioner.
«Measles is a serious and very contagious respiratory disease that causes rash and fever. In some cases, measles can reduce the ability of the immune system to combat other infections such as pneumonia. I encourage all people who are not vaccinated against measles to receive at least 1 dose of the measles vaccine, papers and rubella (MMR) as they empty their children with 2 doses ».
Symptoms and complications
Measles is a very contagious respiratory disease. Measles can spread when a person coughs or sneezes in the air. A person can contract the disease by breathing the virus or by touching an infected surface and then touching their eyes, nose or mouth.
A person can contract measles simply when entering a room that an infected person visited up to 2 hours before. Up to 90 % of people who are not immune to measles because they are not vaccinated or the vaccine was not effective they will contract measles when exposed.
From 7 to 14 days and up to 21 days after a measles infection, the symptoms usually include high fever that can increase to more than 40 ° C, cough, nasal secretion and red and crying eyes.
From 3 to 5 days after the symptoms begin, a rash appears. The rashes begins as flat red spots on the face of the hair line and extends to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet.
Small high bumps can also appear on flat red spots. The spots can join as they extend from the head to the rest of the body. Fever can increase up to more than 40 ° C after the rashes appears.
Serious measles complications include hospitalization, pneumonia, cerebral inflammation and death. Grave long -term complications may also include subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, a brain disease that results from an earlier measles infection that can cause permanent brain damage. Measles during pregnancy increases the risk of premature delivery, spontaneous abortion and babies with low birth weight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuxlewgn7ke
Saving vaccine
The measles vaccine is the best way to prevent the disease, the authorities of the New York Health Department emphasize.
Children should receive their first measles, paperas and rubella (MMR) vaccine between 12 and 15 months of age. The second dose can be administered as soon as a month after the first dose, but it is generally administered between 4 and 6 years. Two doses of the MMR vaccine have an efficacy of 97 % to prevent measles.
A 95 % or more than 2 doses of the vaccine contains measles is needed to create collective immunity to protect communities. Current MMR vaccination rates among 2 -year -old children have fallen well below collective immunity levels in all counties in the state of New York.
1 early dose of the MMR vaccine for children from 6 to 11 months of age who travel abroad or are in an outbreak environment is recommended.
You can find more information about measles by clicking here: https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/measles/
