By Dan Margolies

With measles making a comeback in the United States after it was thought to have been eradicated 15 years ago, a new analysis finds that fewer than 90 percent of preschoolers nationwide have received the recommended vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella. Both Kansas and Missouri fell below the 90 percent threshold for preschooler vaccinations, the baseline goal set by Healthy People 2020, a federal interagency task force.

The analysis by Trust for America’s Health, a Washington, D.C.-based health policy organization, looked at MMR vaccination rates in all 50 states and found that Kansas and Missouri ranked in the bottom half: Kansas tied for 39th at 89.4 percent and Missouri tied for 35th at 89.8 percent. Health experts say that when vaccination rates drop below 90 percent, there’s a danger that “herd immunity” — the protection afforded a community when a certain percentage of the population is immune to a disease — may be lost.

Communities in which immunity falls beneath that threshold are vulnerable to measles outbreaks.  “We rely on the rest of the herd, the rest of the community to take the vaccines to protect those individuals who cannot take it,” says Lisa Hubbert, an epidemiology specialist with the Kansas City, Mo., Health Department. “And so if the anti-vaxxers choose not to take it — those parents (who) choose not to vaccinate their children — we are putting those who cannot at risk.”

Some individuals can’t take the vaccine because their immune systems are compromised, they’re allergic to ingredients in the vaccine or they’re infants whose immune systems are insufficiently developed.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently issued a health advisory about the measles outbreak, which has been traced to Disneyland in California and so far has afflicted more than 100 individuals in 14 states. Most of those who came down with the disease had not been vaccinated.

Recent measles outbreaks

So far, no measles cases have been reported in Kansas City this year, according to Kansas City, Mo., Health Department spokesman Jeff Hershberger. Last year, there were 22 reported measles cases in Kansas City, Mo. Several dozen people who were exposed were quarantined in their homes and weren’t allowed to leave unless they provided documentary proof that they were vaccinated. Ten of those people came down with measles, “so had we not quarantined them, they would have been working and exposed countless numbers of others,” Hubbert says.

Last summer, measles cases in Wichita were linked to the Kansas City outbreak.  Measles is highly contagious — 90 percent of those not immune to the virus will become infected if exposed to a carrier — and spreads rapidly: One infected person can infect 12 to 18 others. Worldwide, some 20 million people contract the measles and 146,000 die from it every year, according to the CDC.

The CDC recommends that all children get two doses of the MMR vaccine, one at 12 to 15 months of age and the other at 4 to 6 years of age. The vaccine is 95 percent to 97 percent effective and considered safe. Side effects are rare. Health experts attribute the recent outbreak in part to parents who refuse to vaccinate their children because they deem the vaccinations unsafe or because they have religious or philosophical objections.

Some anti-vaccine proponents have linked vaccinations to autism, a widely debunked notion that finds little support in the scientific literature. A 1998 research paper in the Lancet that first made that claim was later deemed fraudulent and withdrawn. The paper’s lead researcher was subsequently stripped of his ability to practice medicine in the United Kingdom. While visiting Kansas City last week,

Dr. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. Surgeon General, said that MMR vaccines were safe and effective. He said there was no evidence it was linked to autism or other developmental disorders. “I want to say that definitively there have been studies which have proven there is no link between the measles vaccine and autism,” Murthy said. “But not everyone has gotten this message, so that’s partly why I’m here out on the road, to talk about the importance of things like immunization.”

Kansas immunization efforts

Kansas has attempted to boost preschooler immunization rates through a program called “Immunize and Win A Prize,” which was begun in 2003.

Under the program, families who timely vaccinate their children up to age 2 receive small prizes and are entered into a drawing for a $300 payment applied to their utility bills. Aimee Rosenow, a spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, says a 2010 survey done by the Kansas Foundation for Medical Care found that the program had boosted immunization rates by 78 percent.

KDHE also was a partner in the Immunize Kansas Kids project, which started in 2004 with financial support from the Kansas Health Foundation. (The Kansas Health Foundation is the primary funder of the Kansas Health Institute, which is the parent organization of the editorially independent KHI News Service.)

The project studied barriers to improving the state’s immunization rate and used findings to create a plan to overcome them. Though project funding ended as of 2015, the coalition continues to meet. In its analysis, Trust for America’s Health reported that New Hampshire has the highest MMR vaccination rate for preschoolers, 96.3 percent, while Colorado, Ohio and West Virginia have the lowest, 86 percent.

Nationwide, the organization said, 91.1 percent of preschoolers are vaccinated. It noted, however, that more than 2 million preschoolers don’t receive all recommended vaccinations on time. “It is so important that communities maintain high levels of MMR vaccination — because measles is so infectious — and especially when outbreaks are occurring around them,” Litjen (L.J) Tan, chief strategy officer of the Immunization Action Coalition, said in a news release. “To have pockets where community immunity is below 90 percent is worrisome as they will be the ones most vulnerable to a case of measles exploding into an outbreak.”

 

Dan Margolies is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 22-year-old man is facing criminal charges in the death of his girlfriend, whose body was found in a parked car.

Darnell D. Hall of Wichita made his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon in Sedgwick County District Court. He was charged with one count of second-degree murder and three counts of criminal possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.

Police sought Hall after neighbors reported seeing him carry 23-year-old Sabryna Guerrero-Newman’s body from a home last week. She was found shot to death several hours later inside a dark blue car.

A district judge set bond at $1 million for Hall, who will be represented by the public defender’s office. A message seeking comment was left with the office Thursday.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A third-grade teacher in Wichita has won a prestigious teaching award that comes with a $25,000 prize.

Dodge Literacy Magnet Elementary School teacher Amy Stanislowski was named a recipient of the Milken Educator Award for Kansas. The Kansas State Department of Education said in a news release that Stanislowski was told about the award this week in a surprise ceremony at the school.

Stanislowski is one of about 40 educators around the country being recognized this year with the distinction.

Stanislowski has been teaching for more than six years. Colleague Melissa Mahan described Stanislowski as “one of the very best teachers in our profession.”

The Associated Press

Health insurer Anthem says hackers infiltrated its computer network and accessed a swathe of personal information about current and former customers including their incomes and street addresses.

The company says in a statement that the cyberattack was “very sophisticated.”

It says credit card information wasn’t compromised and so far it has not found evidence that medical information such as insurance claims and test results was targeted or obtained.

Anthem says the FBI is investigating and it has hired Internet security company Mandiant to improve its network defenses.

Information stolen included names, birth dates, social security numbers, street addresses, email addresses and employment details including income.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The University Daily Kansan is going digital with fewer print editions and more content online.

The University of Kansas’ student newspaper announced Wednesday that it will move to just two printed issues per week, rather than four, starting this fall.

The Kansan has seen its web traffic increase over the past several years, while print circulation has slumped. The Kansan says in a news release that the shift of more content to its website will better serve students and faculty.

The Kansan’s staff decided the move was necessary because of research showing the newspaper’s audience is increasingly consuming news online. The shift also was made to help prepare the student journalists that run the newspaper for today’s media environment.