"An outbreak of measles tied to a Texas megachurch where ministers have questioned vaccination has sickened at least 21 people, including a 4-month-old infant
— and it's expected to spread further, state and federal health
officials said. 'There's likely a lot more susceptible people,' said Dr.
Jane Seward, the deputy director for the viral diseases division at the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ...
All of the cases are
linked to the Eagle Mountain International Church in Newark, Texas,
where a visitor who'd traveled to Indonesia became infected with measles
– and then returned to the U.S., spreading it to the largely
unvaccinated church community, said Russell Jones, the Texas state
epidemiologist. ...
Terri Pearsons, a senior pastor of Eagle Mountain
International said she has had concerns about possible ties between early childhood vaccines and autism.
In the wake of the measles outbreak, however, Pearsons has urged
followers to get vaccinated and the church has held several vaccination
clinics. ...
'In this community, these cases so far are all in people
who refused vaccination for themselves and their children,' [Steward]
added. The disease that once killed 500 people a year in the U.S. and
hospitalized 48,000 had been considered virtually eradicated after a
vaccine introduced in 1963.
Cases now show up typically when an
unvaccinated person contracts the disease abroad and spreads it upon
return to the U.S."
Repercussion?
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