By Dr. Francis Koster

Measles is recognized as one of the deadliest and infectious of diseases in the world.

In 2000, measles was declared eliminated in the United States. A quarter of a century later, many healthcare providers had never seen it — when they were in training, they had only seen pictures of people who had it. Almost forgotten — but not gone. 

On Jan. 2, two new cases were reported in Texas. On March 6, the Centers for Disease Control reported 222 newly infected people in 12 states. Another month later, on April 11, the total rose to 712 with cases reported in 25 states. We have lift off.

You and your loved ones catch measles from germs floating in the air from the breath of an infected person near you. Those infected people are not to blame — if they are infected, they will not know it between 4 and 14 days after they have it, but they will spread it to an average of 12 more unvaccinated victims during that time. Those victims will also will not know they have it, and each one of those 12 symptomless infected individuals will spread it to another 12 unvaccinated (now up to 144) and in another week or so those new 144 will each spread it to another 12 unvaccinated people — 1,728 infected and on and on. 

Since January, one out of nine of those infected people required hospitalization, and one out of every 250 infected have died. Of the 712 people who caught measles since between Jan. 1 and April 11, 94 percent had not been vaccinated at all, and another 4 percent only got one of the two required shots.

This tragedy is occurring at the same time the emerging political debate about the right of government to require citizens to get vaccinations is complicating the lives of North Carolina elected leaders, school administrators and school board members, because one in six Americans attends or works in a K-12 school. If one child or adult in a school gets measles, their school becomes a major pipeline for infection of their unvaccinated classmates, teachers and all the people who keep the grass cut, the air conditioning working and building secure. 

North Carolina has a legal requirement that all children who are enrolled in K-12 schools must be vaccinated for measles, but despite that law, 81,000 (one in 16) North Carolina K-12 students have not been vaccinated. If exposed to an infected person, it is highly likely that every one of those 81,000 will become infected and carry the disease home or infect classmates.

What a measles infection does to your loved ones:

• Blisters and pimples on body
• One in nine will be hospitalized
• One in 250 will die
• Bad painful ear infections 
• Diarrhea
• Bronchitis, laryngitis or croup 
• Pneumonia 
• About one in 1,000 people with measles develop swelling of the brain which can cause permanent brain damage
• Pregnant woman can experience premature birth, fetal death and low birth weight which can cause lifelong health issues

As this disease spreads, North Carolina is likely to suffer more than other states because of our state legislature’s low funding of schools. N.C. has been ranked second lowest for funding out of all 50 states and Washington D.C. As a result, we do not pay our school staff (including nurses) well, and are understaffed by 7 percent (128 nurses) statewide.

As people of influence in North Carolina, you have a choice to make — you can help lower the number of people who have currently not been willing to get vaccinated, or you can stand by and let them continue to ignore the science. We are likely to see 9,000 North Carolina children hospitalized, and 324 die. And that is just the kids. 

There are things you can do to protect yourself, your loved ones, and the community that looks up to you:  

1. Let others know you are vaccinated, and if you are not yet, get vaccinated and set a good example.
2. Tell your community they can get these vaccinations for free in North Carolina Public Health Agencies and other locations. (For more information: click here.) 
3. Reach out to your North Carolina state elected officials and demand they increase the state financial support of K-12 schools nursing programs.
4. Do not repeat claims made by others about the risks of vaccinations without checking the source of their “facts.”

Dr. Koster lives in Kannapolis. After retiring from his career as an administrator in pediatric healthcare, he has been researching and implementing programs that address issues that prevent children from reaching their full potential. You can see the results of his teams work at www.thepollutiondetectives.org and www.theoptimisticfuturist.org.