A potential explosion of measles could have been triggered by a college student infected with the disease who traveled by train from New York City to northern New York State last Sunday. The student, who attends Bard College, traveled on the 1:20 p.m. train from Penn station to Rhinecliff, N.Y. with a stop in Albany according to ABC News.
The New York State Department of Health released a warning that stated, “Anyone traveling on Amtrak train #283 from Penn Station in NYC to Albany on January 25, 2015, and who is not immune to measles or not sure of their measles immunity, should contact their primary care physician if they become ill with fever.” The Department of Health continued according to ABC News, “In order to prevent the spread of illness, DOH is advising individuals who may have been exposed and who have symptoms consistent with measles to call their health care providers or a local emergency room BEFORE going for care. This will help to prevent others at these facilities from being exposed to the illness.”
Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said over 100 cases of measles have been reported coming from 14 states. Three of the cases come from New York, one in Dutchess County and two in New York City. The disease was declared eradicated in 2000.
As a result of the student’s measles, Bard College joined Dutchess County Department of Health to organize a measles vaccination clinic for students who were unvaccinated against the disease.
Fifty-eight of the measles cases have been traced to a carrier infecting others at Disneyland and another theme park in California in December. The CDC reported 620 measles cases in 2014, the largest number since 2000.
The White House, typically invasive when it comes to raising children, was somehow reticent to tell parents to vaccinate their children; White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Friday that Barack Obama thought the decision should be left to parents.