When you think back then, with the exception of polio, there wasn't this fear, anxiety and hysteria about getting measles or chickenpox. It was a rite of passage. What Every Parent Should Know, says measles is no joke. He well remembers the last major outbreak, in 1989 to 1991, when more than 55,000 cases were reported nationally, and there were 123 deaths. The disease begins with a cough and a runny nose, then a rash appears on the face and spreads to the trunk.
Many children develop severe pneumonia, and some suffer encephalitis that leads to brain damage.
There is no effective anti-viral medication to treat it. Seven of the nine children who died were from that church. The others were babies who lived nearby and had not gotten their measles vaccines. Offit remembers those children, he says, when he hears debate over whether vaccines should be mandated. If most people are vaccinated, there are too few susceptible people in a community to allow bacteria to circulate.