Health
51 Measles Cases Put Unvaccinated Children at Severe Risk in US State
United States: In the recent reports, it is revealed that the measles outbreak is in a continuous spawning mode, where fifty-one cases have been confirmed in total in the Twin Cities area since May.
More about the news
As per the latest update from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), nine new cases have been confirmed this month.
Since the onset of the outbreak, a dozen people have been hospitalized after getting sickened with measles.
Minnesota health officials are urging families to make sure they are up to date on their measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, as a measles outbreak continues to impact unvaccinated children in the Twin Cities metro area.https://t.co/flg64EIiPb#VaccinesSaveLives pic.twitter.com/yNazAwNGxB
— MnMedAssociation (@mnmed) September 10, 2024
Reason for Measles spread
As per MDH, all the confirmed cases of the state have been from the Twin Cities area. Along with that, as many as 45 cases have come from Hennepin County, bringmethenews.com reported.
Counties: Anoka, Ramsey, and Dakota have reported at least one case each.
According to the Sahan Journal, the outbreak has spread to an elementary school in Minneapolis, in which one-fourth of the students were not fully vaccinated, although the school and health dept. officials denied revealing the name of the school owing to privacy concerns.
Image credits: bringmethenews
As the journal included, the students at the school who were not vaccinated were being denied attendance for atleast twenty-one days.
The officials of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) asked the district families to vaccinte themselves with the up-to-date doses.
According to MPS, “Please use this notice to ensure that you and your family are vaccinated and safe from this very contagious yet controllable disease,” bringmethenews.com reported.
“Please also make sure your school health office has the most up-to-date immunization records,” they continued.
Who is considered as vulnerable?
The health officials noted that the measles outbreak mainly affects those children, particularly those who are unvaccinated in the state’s Somali community, where misinformation about vaccine safety was spread earlier.
Moreover, children between the ages of 1 and 5 also accounted for 24 of Minnesota’s confirmed measles cases to date.