Should vaccinated individuals be worried about the Measles outbreak?

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — An eradicated illness is returning.

Should people be concerned?

A measles outbreak has started from a Mennonite community in Texas.

News 12’s younger audience might not know the history of measles.

Dr. Stephen Miller is the Health Officer for Hamilton County Health Department.

He says, “Measles is a very communicable virus. It is usually seen in childhood illnesses. We did not have immunizations for it until the 60’s. After that we saw less and less in the states and in the year 2000 we managed to eradicate it.”

The older generation is worried about their vaccine.

Dr. Miller says, “A lot of adults are calling the health department right now with concerns if they should get the measles booster shot. If they have been vaccinated either in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s or the 90’s they are still all fine. If they only for some reason had one of the shots then it may be necessary for them to get the second shot.”

Measles targets children.

Dr. Miller says, “It is extremely communicable. If you have 10 kids in a room that are exposed to one person with measles. If they are not vaccinated, 9 out of 10 of those kids will most definitely contract measles.”

If you have received your measles vaccine you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.

“If a child is exposed to someone with measles who has been vaccinated the likelihood of them contracting measles is pretty small. If they have had the series of shots they would’ve had in their childhood they are protected by around 97%. Heaven forbid they do show some symptoms, they are usually very mild,” says Dr. Miller.

The majority of the reported measles cases come from unvaccinated individuals.

There are around 164 reported measles cases as of Friday, February 28th.