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posted by mrpg on Thursday January 24 2019, @10:20AM   Printer-friendly
from the smart-phones-but-no-smart-people dept.

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

Emergency declared near Portland for measles outbreak in anti-vaccine hotspot

Health officials in Clark County, Washington have declared a public health emergency for a measles outbreak in an area with a high rate of unvaccinated children.

[...] Nearly eight percent of children in Clark County were exempt from standard vaccination for the 2017-2018 school year, according to state records reported by the Washington Post. Breaking down that eight percent, about seven percent of kids had personal or religious exemptions and the remaining one percent or so had medical exemptions. Factoring in the rest of the population, the county is below the 92 percent to 94 percent range some experts consider required to prevent the spread of highly contagious diseases such as measles.

[...] “It’s really awful and really tragic and totally preventable,” Peter J. Hotez told the Post. Hotez is a professor of pediatrics and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “Portland is a total train wreck when it comes to vaccine rates,” he added.

[...] Correction: This article has been updated to correct the state in which Clark County resides. It is in Washington State, not Oregon. 


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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by kazzie on Thursday January 24 2019, @11:44AM (1 child)

    by kazzie (5309) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 24 2019, @11:44AM (#791185)

    1/3 of Child Neurologists (at a particular conference), but interesting, nonetheless.

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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 24 2019, @11:53AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 24 2019, @11:53AM (#791188)

    “I was on a conference call a few weeks ago with about 50 doctors from medical centers across North America,” Van Haren said. “Every center had seen cases. That puts the numbers real high, real fast.”