Cases of the measles are popping up across the country following a holiday season exposure at Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
Amy Schwartz is immunization surveillance coordinator at the North Dakota Department of Health. She says the exposure at the theme park was likely to infect a good number of people due to how contagious it is.
"It's kind of interesting because the virus can actually survive in the air two hours after someone's left a place. There's been instances where people have been in an elevator and then other people come into an elevator an hour later and get the measles that way. It spreads by the respiratory route, but it is very contagious."
Scwartz says vaccination is highly effective in guarding against the measles. However she says more parents are choosing to not vaccinate their children. She says the current level of vaccination for measles in kids in North Dakota is not as high as she would like.
"It's recommended that about 95 percent of the population be vaccinated against the measles to stop the spread of measles if it is introduced into a population. And looking at our school rates, in the past, we've had about 90 percent of school children who have been up to date with the measles vaccine. That's for kindergartners."
Schwartz says the measles virus is contagious four days before symptoms appear, and four days after they disappear. She says if a case should be diagnosed in North Dakota a lot of work would have to be done to contact trace where the individual had been so people could be notified of possible exposure.
