Samoa measles outbreak: families fly red flags to request vaccinations

Dec 04 2019

Samoa’s main streets were eerily quiet on Thursday as the government stepped up efforts to curb a measles epidemic that has killed 62 people. The government told most public and private workers to stay home for two days and shut down roads to nonessential vehicles as teams began going door-to-door to administer vaccines. Families in the Pacific island nation were asked to hang red flags from their houses if they needed to be vaccinated.

Source: The Guardian

Which Vaccines Are Required Before Grandparents Hold Newborns?

Dec 03 2019

Nothing brings a family together more than the birth of a new loved one. But, part of taking care of vulnerable infants is to protect them against transmittable diseases. For parents, it is reassuring to know when someone who wants to hold their baby is up-to-date with their vaccines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says ‘newborn babies do not have fully developed immune systems, making them particularly vulnerable to infections.’

Source: Precision Vaccinations

Measles Outbreak Leads to Shutdown of Public Services in Samoa

Dec 03 2019

The government of Samoa is shutting down all public services for two days to fight a measles outbreak that has killed 60 people and infected thousands of others in the South Pacific island nation over the past two months. Nearly 3,900 cases of measles have been reported in the country, whose population is just 200,000. Schools have been shuttered since the government declared the outbreak a national emergency last month. The shutdown, which will take place on Thursday and Friday, comes amid a resurgence of measles in dozens of countries in recent years, including in the United States, the Philippines, the Democratic Republic of Congo and some European countries.

Source: New York Times

Pertussis Outbreak Reported At Boulder High School

Dec 02 2019

The Boulder County Health Department is warning parents about an outbreak of pertussis at Boulder High School. Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is a contagious illness that is spread when an infected person sneezes or coughs. Health officials said multiple students have been diagnosed with pertussis. Symptoms usually develop 7-10 days after exposure and include a runny nose, sore throat and severe coughing. Someone with pertussis may look and feel fine between coughing episodes and may not have a fever.

Source: CBS4

Measles outbreak spurred by anti-vaxxers shuts down Samoan government

Dec 02 2019

The government of Samoa will shut down for two days this week while officials try to curb a deadly measles outbreak that has sickened 3,728 and killed 53—48 of whom were children ages 0 to 4 years old. The Pacific island nation of around 200,000 first declared an outbreak of measles on October 16. The highly contagious viral infection spread rapidly, and officials declared a state of emergency by mid-November. The outbreak has continued to flare, however. On Sunday, the government reported that there had been 198 new measles cases in the last 24 hours alone.

Source: Ars Technica

To boost low measles vaccination rates, public health agencies are targeting Colorado’s biggest counties

Dec 02 2019

Public health officials in five of Colorado’s most populous counties are trying to make a dent in the state’s low measles vaccination rate, targeting parents of kindergarteners as they warn rates are too low to prevent an outbreak. In Denver County, the parents of about 800 children ages 4-6 got letters notifying them their kids need measles shots. Jefferson County health authorities have created a radio ad cautioning that kids who aren’t vaccinated could miss out on at least three weeks of school. And Tri-County Health Department sent letters this fall to schools in Douglas, Adams and Arapahoe counties in an attempt to get schools to focus on vaccines.

Source: Colorado Sun

In photos: Getting vaccinations to the world’s most hardest to reach places

Dec 01 2019

Children have the power to change the world, yet millions every year don’t reach the age of five because of preventable diseases. Vaccines are safe, inexpensive and save more than five lives every minute. Yet 1.5 million children still die each year because they haven’t received the right vaccines. Almost half of the world’s infants who lack vaccinations live in conflict-affected and low-income countries, which are hard to reach.

Source: Independent

Measles immunity passed from mother to baby may erode quicker than believed, study says

Nov 21 2019

Masles antibodies passed by pregnant women to their babies in the womb, protecting infants early in life, actually disappear quicker than had been previously recognized, leaving babies vulnerable to the sometimes fatal infection for much of their first year of life, according to a new study. The authors say their findings underscore the importance of widespread immunization against measles, which produces a phenomenon known as “herd immunity” — whereby measles viruses brought into the country by sick travelers can’t get to the vulnerable because so many people are protected. In the case of measles, that’s particularly important for infants; in babies, the risk of complications from the illness and of death is higher than in older children.

Source: STAT

Anal cancer is on the rise in the US, and almost all cases are linked to HPV

Nov 20 2019

Anal cancer is on the rise in the United States, according to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. After examining cancer diagnosis and death data from 2001 to 2016 and comparing it to years prior, the researchers determined the number of localized anal cancer rates, where the cancer was found only in the anus, had doubled and that distant anal cancer rates, where the cancer spread to other parts of the body, had tripled.

Source: Insider

Doctors offer to give free flu shots to detained migrants, warn Trump admin. of epidemic

Nov 19 2019

A group of physicians, alarmed that the Trump administration is denying flu vaccines to immigrants in custody, is urging the Department of Homeland Security to accept its offer to provide free flu shots to California detainees. In a Nov. 5 letter, the doctors pleaded with the administration to reconsider its decision to not vaccinate detained migrants for flu despite the deaths of at least three children in CBP custody during the 2018 flu season.

Source: NBC News