Rising Measles Cases Spark Concern Among Health Experts

Seattle Children’s Hospital is warning families that the number of measles cases is rising.

Paula and Oscar Abalahin of Port Orchard lost their son Jaxon to Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, a degenerative neurological illness caused by measles when he was just eight years old. “Within six months, he was no longer Jaxon, and Jaxon had no idea he was Jaxon. “He couldn’t speak, he lost all of his motor skills, and it took four months to get a diagnosis,” Oscar explained.

“He was usually happy. Even during his illness, he was always cheerful and smiling,” Paula noted.

More than a decade later, through their non-profit Jaxon’s Cure, they have increased awareness about the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, or MMR. They claim the virus infected Jaxon as a baby before he was old enough to receive the vaccine.

“We want to make sure they’re aware and make an informed decision and talk to their pediatrician on the importance of it,” he said.

The extremely contagious virus is back in the spotlight, with the CDC reporting 113 overall cases in the United States this year, including a significant increase in cases in mid-March. According to the data, Washington state accounted for up to nine of the total instances.

“The thinking here is that a lot of doses of the measles vaccine were missed or delayed during the pandemic, and now this is the result,” Seattle Children’s Hospital Medical Director of Infection Prevention Dr. Danielle Zerr explained. “Then, you can imagine in school settings or settings where there are a lot of kids who aren’t vaccinated, it’s just an opportunity for the virus to spread very rapidly and affect a lot of people.”

The first measles vaccine dosage is normally given to children around 12 to 15 months, and the second to children aged 4 to 6 years. According to the CDC, around 91.4% of students in Washington state received vaccinations for the 2022-2023 school year. Hawaii had the lowest immunization rate for the same time frame, at 83.6%.

Symptoms might range from a cough, eye redness, fever, runny nose, and rash lasting a few days to brain swelling or death in rare cases.

According to health officials, those infected with the virus remain contagious for four days before and after exhibiting symptoms. The virus is spread through air particles when an infected person speaks, coughs, or sneezes, or when they touch a contaminated surface.

In a blog post, Seattle Children’s stated that the majority of measles cases this year have affected unvaccinated children aged one and up and that cases are frequently associated with overseas travel.

Hospital authorities advise families to obtain the vaccine, which the CDC claims has a 97% success rate in avoiding illness.

The vaccinations are compulsory in Washington schools, although the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction has listed various religious and medical exemptions. The Abalahins say they will continue to gather funds for measles research in the hopes of finding a cure.

“We still want to keep his legacy alive,” Carlos said.