Measles Outbreak: 160 Cases And Counting In Brooklyn, Rockland

The measles outbreak centered in Rockland County and also affecting Brooklyn is now so big that the New York state Health Department has a special internet headline for it.

Hudson Valley Measles | It Is Very Contagious | NY.gov‎

There are 105 cases in Rockland and as of Jan. 2 there were 55 confirmed cases in Brooklyn.
Plus, as of Dec. 21 there were 33 confirmed cases of measles in New Jersey.

These cases are connected with Ultra-Orthodox communities where vaccination rates are low and with travel to Israel, where a massive outbreak has been occurring.

How big is the local outbreak? Well as of Dec. 1 there were 292 individual cases of measles confirmed in 26 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Half of those were in New York.

In Rockland County health officials are also monitoring four suspected cases. Rockland officials ask parents to have babies as young as six months old start the vaccine process (the usual start is at one year). They also warn that people born before 1957, who have always been considered immune, could get at least a mild case of measles if exposed in this outbreak.

So far six people with measles have been hospitalized.

"We consider all of Rockland potentially exposed," said Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert, Commissioner of the Rockland County Department of Health.

There are bad measles outbreaks across the world.

Because measles is highly contagious — the virus is airborne and can live two hours after an infected person has left the area, and infected people are contagious four days before and after the rash appears — the way to prevent measles is vaccination and isolation.

Health officials ask anyone who might be infected to call the doctor before going in for a check-up.

Image/ NYDOH