Welcome to Florida's Manatee Bay Elementary School, a measles petri dish

 

Photo credit: Weston Guide

Headline:  CBS News, 2/18/2024

According to a Broward County vaccine study, Manatee Bay Elementary's vaccination rate is at 89.31%. The school currently has 1,067 students enrolled, ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade. So, that percentage of students not vaccinated are at risk for the highly contagious infection. [emphasis added]

"Measles is spread just like an upper respiratory infection. So, it's the droplets," Aneja said. "If a child is sick — just getting sick with a runny nose, with conjunctivitis, which is red eyes, low-grade fever — that could be just beginning stages of measles."

Thank you , vaccine-averse parents.

The Guardian, 1/30/2024

Taylor Nelson, a University of Missouri healthcare center infectious disease physician, said to the news station KRCG that measles would probably spread to the midwest and the west coast given the situation laid out by the CDC. 

If measles cases are discovered, healthcare workers are asked to isolate patients, immediately notify local and state health departments, test patients with nose or throat swabs, and ensure all patients are vaccinated against the disease, especially if traveling internationally. 

The CDC email said measles cases often originate from unvaccinated or undervaccinated people who travel internationally and then transmit the disease to others who are not vaccinated against the disease.