Health officials fear an Australian spread measles across New York
Washington: The New York State Department of Health wants people in the New York City area to know that an Australian tourist confirmed to have measles visited numerous hotels and the Metropolitan Museum of Art from February 16 to 21.
Measles is notoriously contagious for people without immunity to the disease, with a 90 per cent infection rate for non-immunised people who venture near an active spreader, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The virus latches onto the nose and throat mucus and proliferates through coughing and sneezing, with a life span of up to two hours in the open air.
About 9 out of 10 kids in the United States receive their measles vaccines, and the vaccine's effectiveness rates above 90 per cent, the CDC says.
In the United States, dropping immunisation rates and bumps in infections have been tied to the anti-vaxxer movement, which believes that autism is caused by immunisations. That belief has long been discredited, but it has taken root in some communities.
State health officials on Friday advised people without immunisations to contact a health-care provider if they exhibit symptoms of measles, which include fever, rash, cough, pinkeye or a runny nose.
The Australian tourist's travel route appears to show the contraction and progression of the disease, in a chronology provided Friday by state health officials:
February 16-19: La Quinta Inn, 31 W. 71st Street, New York, New York.
February 16-17: Oasis Bible Tours at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Avenue, New York, New York.
February 19: Watchtower Educational Centre, 100 Watchtower Drive, Patterson, New York.
February 19-20: Best Western Hotel, 1324 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.
February 20-21: Comfort Inn & Suites Goshen - Middletown, 20 Hatfield Lane, Goshen, New York.
February 21: Excel Urgent Care, 1 Hatfield Lane, Goshen, New York.
February 21: Orange Regional Medical Centre, Emergency Department, 707 E. Main Street, Middletown, New York.
There is some overlap, the state said, given the two-hour life span of the virus when airborne.
At this point, if you are digging into your vaccination records, immunisation for the disease may show up as MMR - the common cocktail immunization for measles, mumps and rubella.
The state is being proactive with the alert, as symptoms typically appear about 10 to 12 days after exposure. So if you checked into La Quinta Inn and enjoyed Central Park views on February 16-17, then symptoms of the disease may begin to show if you were infected.
This episode is noteworthy, given New York City's population density and the tourist's path cutting through area hotels and probably subway and cabs. The Met notched a record-high 7 million visitors in fiscal 2017, the museum said in its annual review, drawing art enthusiasts and others from all over the world.
Children must be immunised against measles to enroll in schools and day care, New York state health officials said, and university students since 1990 have been required to furnish their immunisation records for the disease.
Despite global efforts to combat the disease, measles has remained a serious threat, mostly to children in the developing world. In 2016, there were 89,780 measles deaths worldwide, the first year the figure dipped below six figures, the World Health Organization said. The World Bank found that Australia, at 95 per cent, has a slightly higher rate of measles immunisation than the United States, which stands at 92 per cent.
The disease has sometimes roared back in the United States in incidents tied to anti-vaxxer efforts. For instance, MMR vaccines in Somali communities in Minnesota dropped 50 per cent from 2004 to 2014 because of activist work there, sparking the worst measles outbreak in the state in three decades.
And in 2015, dozens of people at Disneyland contracted the virus in an outbreak that prompted state officials to warn non-immunised people to stay away from the park. Disneyland is in Orange County, California, an anti-vaxxer hotbed.
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