Local health expert talks importance of measles vaccine

INDIANAPOLIS — As a measles outbreak in West Texas continues to impact people, one health expert here in Indianapolis is sharing the best ways to protect yourself from this disease.

Texas officials have confirmed one child who was unvaccinated has died from measles, marking the first reported U.S. death from the disease in decades.

The Texas Health Department has confirmed at least 124 cases. It said most cases are children in a “close-knit, undervaccinated” Mennonite community.

Thomas Duszynski, an assistant professor and director of epidemiology education at the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at IU Indianapolis, said the disease was eradicated in the United States.

This means there were no naturally occurring cases in the country, but the disease was still around mostly from people traveling overseas and bringing it back.

He said it is a highly contagious disease.

“If somebody with measles in the room, people who come in two hours after that case has left, could still contract the measles from that individual because it hangs in the air for that long,” he said.

He said measles generally appears 12 to 14 days after you’ve been exposed to it. It often starts as a rash at the top of your head and works down your body. Other symptoms are high fever, cough, runny nose and in more severe cases, brain swelling.

“You’re able to spread the disease four days before the onset of that rash and four days after the onset of that rash,” he said. “So you could actually spread measles and not even know yourself that you have it.”

He said masking up won’t necessarily help you from getting the disease. The best answer is getting both doses of the MMR vaccine. It is typically given to babies between 12 and 15 months of life and then again between four and six years old.

“It can be effective up to 95 to 97% of the time,” he said. “If you get both of those doses at the age appropriate times you’re generally considered immune for life.”

That means you won’t have to get any kind of booster.

Duszynski recommends you talk with your pediatrician if you have any questions or concerns about vaccinating your child against the measles.