More Measles

Following on Mike’s post about measles in Maryland, we now also have reports of measles from Pennsylvania and from my state of Iowa.  Ugh.  If you are interested, you can read the details of the last big measles scare in my state (focusing on the overall costs of the public health response to a single case).  My fondest memory from that 2004 episode was spending a long weekend afternoon in our emergency department while a child with a compatible clinical illness was being evaluated--compiling exposure lists, reassuring healthcare workers, and communicating with our on-call state epidemiologist about setting up vaccine clinics.

Details are still emerging, but the Pennsylvania cases appear to be associated with unvaccinated children, the common theme in these situations (lack of vaccination, that is).