Measles outbreak jumps to 7 Ohio daycares, 1 school--all with unvaccinated kids
A measles outbreak in Ohio has swiftly expanded, spreading to seven childcare facilities and one school, all with unvaccinated children, according to local health officials. The outbreak highlights the risk of the highly contagious but vaccine-preventable disease mushrooming amid slipping vaccination rates.
On November 9, the health departments of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, which encompasses Columbus, announced an outbreak at one childcare facility, which had sickened four unvaccinated children. Officials reportedly expected that more cases would follow.
As of Wednesday morning, there have been 18 confirmed cases from seven childcare facilities and one school. All of the cases are in unvaccinated children, and at least 15 cases are in children under the age of 4. At least six have required hospitalization, Kelli Newman, spokesperson for Columbus Public Health, told Ars.
Health officials are now working to curb the outbreak, including conducting contact tracing at affected facilities, coordinating with local health care providers on measles awareness efforts, and reaching out to families to educate them about and encourage vaccination with the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.
"MMR vaccines are very safe and highly effective at preventing measles," Newman told Ars in an email. "We offer walk-in MMR vaccines at Columbus Public Health Monday through Friday every week. We have not seen an uptick here on MMR vaccinations yet from what we usually do, but that is not indicative of uptake overall since we do not know what is being given by providers in the community."
Ars has reached out to Ohio's health department, which keeps records of vaccination rates around the state, but the numbers for the city of Columbus and Franklin County were not readily available. We will update this story if they are provided.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/11/measles-outbreak-jumps-to-7-ohio-daycares-1-school-all-with-unvaccinated-kids/
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