Measles was declared eliminated
in the U.S.
25 years ago, but this
year marks the most cases since
then with spread of the disease to
40 states in more than 1,300
cases.
Early this month, Wisconsin reported
nine cases in Oconto County,
but health officials say they
believe any spread there is
contained.
Still, Wisconsin kindergartners
have one of the nation's lowest
vaccination rates against measles.
With less than 85%
of them up to date on the measles
vaccine last year.
That's compared to about 92.5%
of kindergartners nationwide,
according to the CDC.
We turn to Dr. James Conway,
pediatric infectious disease
specialist at the UW School of
Medicine and Public Health, and
thanks for being here.
Happy to be back.
So with Wisconsin vaccination
rates, how at risk are
we for measles outbreaks?
Yeah, in many ways we're a sitting
duck, you know, as we see people
traveling and introducing the
disease into various areas.
All it takes is one person who's
incubating the disease to show up in
an area with under-immunized
populations and away it goes.
That's really how these things get
started.
Are you surprised that we haven't
seen that kind of outbreak?
Yeah, it's a little bit surprising
given our low rates and how much
travel people have been doing as
we've come out of COVID and gotten
back to more normal activity.
You know, we know that the disease
gets introduced fairly regularly.
You know of those over 1,300 cases,
while many of them are related to
the Texas outbreak, we still see
cases being brought in from other
countries. And so all it takes is
one person showing up in the right
place at the right time.
Now, I understand that Wisconsin is
one of only 13 states that
has a personal conviction waiver
for parents to opt out of the
vaccine.
Is that opt out on the rise?
Yeah, it's been debated, you know,
there are medical waivers in every
state and some states also have
religious waivers, but this personal
exemption waiver is something that's
a little unusual and it really
allows people that just have a
deep-held personal conviction to opt
out of it.
Some states are discussing actually
allowing more of that, while other
states are shutting it down and
actually trying to contain that
activity.
So what's it like for a doctor like
yourself to see a preventable
disease like this spreading?
It's hard.
It's heartbreaking.
I mean, I saw plenty of measles
earlier in my career, both
in my training here in the United
States and in my work globally.
And, you know, as we worked so hard
to eradicate polio when I was
younger, measles was really the next
one on the chopping block.
And in the 90s, we were very
optimistic we were getting closer.
You know, I've seen so many children
suffer with this disease.
Adults don't do well with it either.
And then having to see people
unfortunately subjected to this
again, you now, it's really both and
just so unfortunate.
How transmissible are measles?
Measles is probably one of the most
transmissible things on the planet.
You know, we talk about the fact
that you probably need about 95
percent of people to be vaccinated
in any community to keep an
outbreak from spreading.
And so when we're sitting well below
90 percent, you know, it's really
almost something that is inevitable.
But it is by far one of the most
contagious things on this planet at
this point.
No, you just spoke to kind of
the symptoms of measles,
but it can be fatal.
It can be fatal, probably
one to two people per thousand are
gonna be killed by this.
Probably 10% get hospitalized.
So it is really a
very high risk disease, especially
in young kids, the elderly, people
with compromised immune systems,
but even people that survive it.
I mean, it's a miserable disease.
And there are certain groups
that cannot get a vaccine
and any spread would put those
people at risk.
Who really does not get
the vaccine?
Yeah, so this is one of the few
vaccines that's still considered a
live viral vaccine.
So these are viruses that have been
essentially engineered to be
less transmissible, but they still
can cause some symptoms
in people that don't have a good
immune system.
So people that have had bone marrow
or other organ transplants shouldn't
be getting these vaccines.
Patients that are under
chemotherapy for other types of
cancers, people that are on immune
compromising drugs, they just can't
get the vaccines. And so they really
do depend on the rest of us.
To essentially build a firewall for
them.
Now, I learned that in Milwaukee,
the vaccination rate among
six-year-olds is 75%.
They are now giving out 800
doses of this vaccine,
but how at risk is a place like
Milwaukee?
Yeah, so that's exactly the worst
nightmare because, you know, one of
the things we need to remember about
measles is people are contagious
before they have symptoms.
So three or four days before you're
actually ill with obvious symptoms,
you may be shedding that virus.
And so when you've got even 75
or 80 percent of people immunized,
that means one in five people are
vulnerable.
Those get transmitted.
It's got a long incubation period so
people can be walking around for
weeks, not remember where they got
it. And so from a public health
standpoint.
Chasing down where it started and
getting people into quarantine and
isolation is really a nightmare
All right, Dr. James Conway,
thanks very much.
Thanks for having me.
Get vaccinated. Get your damn
vaccine, people.
I actually went and visited
my oldest son,
had a baby.
Congratulations. Thank you.
And I was invited
to watch the six-week-old
for a week while they left.
Terrifying. Yeah, right?
Right?
But my tongue are a
lot.
I wanted to know our vaccine
status and...
Good.