Six cases of childhood measles have been reported in Brooklyn over the last two weeks, the New York City health department said Friday, contributing to a spike in measles cases this year.
The health department usually sees four to six cases of measles per year in years when there are no outbreaks, said Susan Craig, a spokeswoman for the department. There were recent outbreaks in 2008, when there were 30 cases, and 2009, with 18 cases. Last year there were six cases. So far this year, there have been 24 cases. Many of the cases this year have been among travelers and were not linked together.
The latest outbreak took place within a close-knit Orthodox Jewish population in Brooklyn, officials said. There have been similar outbreaks among Orthodox Jews in the past. Some of the children had not been vaccinated, perhaps because of a preference within the community to delay vaccination, health officials said.
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2 Responses
No big deal really. As with anything else that brooklyn does not like, they can simply sweep it under the carpet and it magically disappears.
Get your kids vaccinated.
The shots are relatively safe (no, they do not lead to autism!). Measles is dangerous: brain damage or even death.
Don’t let your child become a statistic.