Philly Officials Report More Cases In Measles Outbreak

January 9, 2024 News, Science

From the Philadelphia Enquirer editorial board:

From so-called vaccine skeptics like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to anti-vaccine advocates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., some politicians are hoping to gain political power by exploiting the misguided fears of worried parents and the curdled selfishness of American individualism exemplified by the anti-vaxxer movement.

Although these candidates’ chances of reaching the presidency are slim, the potentially lethal consequences of their way of thinking threaten to erase decades of public health gains and reintroduce long-dormant diseases into populations that are too young to be vaccinated.

Philadelphians were reminded of the dangers of the anti-vaccine movement last week when the city’s Department of Public Health confirmed a measles outbreak. The cluster began at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and spread to a day-care center where parents had sent their ill child in violation of quarantine guidelines.

Philadelphia’s PBS affiliate reports:



Public health officials in Philadelphia have confirmed two more cases of measles, bringing the total number of cases to eight in an ongoing local outbreak that originated at a daycare center.

A list of potential exposure locations now includes Nemours Hospital in Delaware, as well as Holy Redeemer Pediatric Urgent Care Meadowbrook and Jefferson Abington Hospital Emergency Department in Montgomery County.

City health officials are conducting contact tracing to notify people who may have been exposed to measles at these locations on certain dates and times within the past three weeks.

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