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Tag: measle

  • CDC announces change in COVID-19 and chickenpox vaccine recommendations

    The new acting director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced changes to the recommended vaccination schedule for adults against COVID-19 and for kids against chickenpox.

    The changes were expected and were already previewed by recommendations made two weeks ago by the CDC’s powerful Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. All members of the committee were recently replaced after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired everyone on the previous panel earlier this year.

    The CDC’s changes have been criticized by mainstream medical groups.

    The CDC is now recommending that children under the age of 4 no longer get a combination vaccine that protects against four diseases: the chickenpox (also known as varicella), measles, mumps and rubella. Instead, the CDC now recommends two separate shots, one just against chickenpox, and the other that protects against measles, mumps and rubella.

    The CDC has also now officially lifted its recommendation that adults under age 65 get the updated COVID-19 vaccine. The CDC now says the decision on whether an adult under age 65 gets a COVID-19 vaccine should be based on “individual-based decision-making” in consultation with health professionals like a physician, nurse or pharmacist.

    This matches a change in recommendations made to the childhood vaccination schedule earlier this year.

    The announcement was made by acting CDC director Jim O’Neill, a top deputy to Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic. O’Neill replaced Susan Monarez, who was fired as CDC director after 29 days on the job. Monarez said she was terminated after she pushed back against an effort by her bosses to undermine vaccines; Kennedy said she was fired because she said she was not trustworthy.

    O’Neill has no training in medicine or healthcare and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in humanities, according to the Associated Press, and is a former investor who has been a critic of health regulations. He has previously worked at the Department of Health and Human Services, serving six years under President George W. Bush.

    O’Neill’s announcement said that the changes will still allow for immunization coverage to continue through programs including the Vaccines for Children program, Children’s Health Insurance Program, Medicare and Medicaid.

    The American Academy for Pediatrics in late September criticized the change, which removed the option for toddlers to get a single shot that can protect against chickenpox, measles, mumps and rubella.

    The acting CDC director’s statement, issued by the press office of the Department of Health and Human Services, raised concerns about an increased risk of febrile seizure caused by fever after getting the combined chickenpox, measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (known as MMRV) versus those given the chickenpox vaccine separately.

    The American Academy of Pediatrics said that in a meeting last month, some of the CDC’s new vaccine advisors “at times…misrepresented data and used talking points common among anti-vaccine groups. Some seemed unfamiliar with febrile seizures. They also disregarded CDC assurances that febrile seizures after MMRV are rare and do not have long-term impacts.”

    The American Academy of Family Physicians recommends that all adults get the updated COVID-19 vaccine, especially those with risk conditions and people who have never gotten a COVID-19 vaccine.

    The California Department of Public Health has slightly different guidelines. The agency recommends that adults younger than 65 with risk factors get the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as all adults who are in close contact with others with risk factors, and everyone who chooses to get vaccinated. The agency also recommends that all seniors get vaccinated against COVID-19.

    Rong-Gong Lin II

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  • L.A. child dies from complication of measles infection contracted in infancy

    A school-aged child in Los Angeles County has died from a rare complication of measles after contracting the disease in infancy, the county public health department announced Thursday.

    The child — who was not old enough to be vaccinated at the time of infection — died from subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, a fatal progressive brain disorder that strikes roughly one in 10,000 people infected with measles in the U.S. Doctors believe the risk is as high as one in every 600 children who contract measles as a baby.

    The disorder typically develops two to 10 years after initial infection, even when — as in this child’s case — the patient recovers fully from measles. The disease begins with seizures, cognitive decline and involuntary muscle spasms, and progresses to dementia, coma and eventually death.

    “Most pediatricians in the U.S. have never seen a child with SSPE because we’ve been vaccinating kids against measles for decades,” said Dr. Adam Ratner, a New York-based pediatric infectious-disease specialist and author of the book, “Booster Shots: The Urgent Lessons of Measles and the Uncertain Future of Children’s Health.”

    The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health could not release further details on the child’s age, gender or location due to patient privacy laws, a spokesperson said.

    The department could only confirm that the child acquired measles before becoming eligible for an MMR vaccination.

    “This case is a painful reminder of how dangerous measles can be, especially for our most vulnerable community members,” county health officer Dr. Muntu Davis said in a statement. “Infants too young to be vaccinated rely on all of us to help protect them through community immunity.”

    Children typically receive their first MMR dose when they are 12 to 15 months old and a second dose between the ages of 4 and 6 years.

    An early first dose from the age of 6 to 11 months is recommended for babies traveling internationally or through an international hub. Infants under the age of 6 months are too young to receive the MMR shot, according to guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Very young babies rely on antibodies acquired during gestation and herd immunity to protect them from measles, which killed roughly 400 children every year in the U.S. before the combined MMR vaccine’s introduction in 1971.

    Measles was “eliminated” in the U.S. in 2000, meaning the disease was rare enough and immunity widespread enough to prevent local transmission if an errant case popped up.

    For 25 years, parents in the U.S. have been able to trust that herd immunity will keep infants safe from measles until they are old enough to be vaccinated.

    This recent death may be a signal that social contract is beginning to break.

    Childhood immunization rates have been slowly but steadily falling nationwide, from 95% in the years before the COVID pandemic to below 93% in the 2023-24 school year.

    In California, one of five U.S. states that banned all non-medical vaccine exemptions, the vaccination rate that year was 96.2%. California is also one of only 10 states with a kindergarten measles vaccination rate exceeding the 95% threshold experts say is necessary to achieve herd immunity.

    But if current vaccination rates hold steady over the coming decades, measles will once again be endemic in the U.S. within 25 years, two Stanford University researchers found in a study published earlier this year.

    “Right now we should really be trying to up vaccination rates,” Mathew Kiang, an assistant professor of epidemiology and population health, told the Times in April. “If we just kept them the way they are, bad things are going to happen within about two decades.”

    Times staff writer Jenny Gold contributed to this report.

    Corinne Purtill

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  • L.A. County has its first measles case since 2020: What to do if you’re exposed

    L.A. County has its first measles case since 2020: What to do if you’re exposed


    A recently arrived traveler at Los Angeles International Airport is the source of the first case of measles in L.A. County since 2020.

    Measles is a highly infectious disease, and health experts say the best way to evade infection is immunization.

    The Los Angeles resident was a passenger on a Turkish Airlines flight that arrived at 5 p.m. Jan. 25 at the Tom Bradley International Terminal, Gate 157. Anyone who was at Terminal B from 5 to 9 p.m. may have been exposed and could be at risk of developing measles.

    L.A. public health officials are notifying Turkish Airlines passengers who sat close to this flier about possible measles exposure.

    The measles virus can live in the air for up to two hours after an infected person has left the area, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which works with the L.A. Department of Public Health to investigate communicable disease exposure on international flights to the U.S.

    Following the flight, the infected person made a stop at a Northridge Chick-fil-A.

    Patrons who were at the restaurant at 18521 Devonshire St. between 8 and 10:30 p.m. may be at risk of developing measles, county health officials said.

    Additional locations where possible exposures may have occurred are being investigated by the health department.

    “Measles is spread by air and by direct contact,” said Muntu Davis, Los Angeles County health officer, in a news release. “Even before you know it, you have it, and [it] can lead to severe disease.”

    Those who haven’t been immunized against measles, or are not sure whether they’ve had the vaccine, and were at these sites during the date and times listed above are at risk of developing measles. Symptoms appear from seven to 21 days after exposure to the virus. Those who have been free of symptoms for more than 21 days are no longer at risk.

    The CDC reported a recent rise in domestic measles cases. Between Dec. 1 and Jan. 23, the agency was notified of 23 confirmed U.S. cases of measles, including seven direct importations of measles by international travelers and two outbreaks with more than five cases each.

    If you think you were exposed

    Public health officials recommend:

    • Review your immunization and medical records to determine whether you’re protected against measles. People who have not had measles infection or received the measles immunization previously may not be protected from the virus and should talk with a healthcare provider about receiving the measles, mumps and rubella immunization.
    • Contact and notify your healthcare provider as soon as possible about a potential exposure if you’re pregnant, if you have an unvaccinated infant who may have been exposed or if you have a weakened immune system.
    • Monitor yourself for illness: a fever and/or an unexplained rash from seven days to 21 days after exposure.
    • If symptoms develop, stay at home and avoid school, work and any large gatherings. Call a healthcare provider immediately. Do not enter a healthcare facility before calling and making the provider aware of your measles exposure and symptoms.

    Last month, the CDC released an alert for healthcare providers for measles cases after there were 23 confirmed cases throughout the U.S.

    The best way to prevent measles infection is by getting the MMR vaccine, which covers measles, mumps and rubella. Children need two vaccine doses, one when they are 12 to 15 months old and the second between the ages of 4 and 6. Teenagers and adults who have not yet been immunized need one dose.

    How measles can spread

    The virus is highly contagious and lives in the nose and throat mucus of an infected person, according to the CDC. It can spread through coughing and sneezing.

    The CDC says the virus is so contagious that if one person has it, up to 90% of the people who are not immune and are in close proximity to that person will also become infected.

    Measles can also spread when other people breathe the contaminated air or touch an infected surface, then touch their eyes, nose or mouth.

    The infection can be spread four days before symptoms begin or four days after signs of the virus.

    Measles symptoms

    The first symptoms of measles infection will appear in seven to 14 days of contracting the infection.

    We know measles as a rash on the skin, but it can be dangerous especially for babies and young children. Measles typically begins with high fever (which could spike to more than 104 degrees), cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes.

    Two to three days after symptoms begin, tiny white spots may appear inside the mouth.

    In three to five days after having symptoms of measles infection, a rash breaks out. It usually begins as flat red spots that appear on the face and at the hairline, then spreads downward to the back, trunk, arms, legs and feet.



    Karen Garcia

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