Measles outbreak in suburbs worries health officials

Northwest suburban Cook County has been hit by 11 cases of measles in the last two months - 11 more than it's seen in the last 13 years combined, the Cook County Department of Public Health announced Monday.

All 11 Cook cases involved home-schooled children age 18 months to 14 years old whose parents chose not to have them vaccinated, said Sean McDermott, spokesman for the department.

Cook is mirroring DuPage County, which has had 14 cases so far this year, said DuPage health department spokesman David Hass.

Between the two counties, the region is accounting for 25 out of Illinois' 26 cases this year, with downstate Franklin accounting for one, said Melaney Arnold, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health.

"In general, it appears that our region is experiencing an uptick," said McDermott.

Chicago and the South suburbs have not had a single case.

Although McDermott did not know the specific reasons the parents of those infected chose not to immunize them, the Internet is rife these days with suggestions that vaccines may be linked to rising rates of autism. But study after study has failed to show any link between the two, said Catherine Counard, assistant medical director for communicable disease control in Cook County.

In fact, a U.S. study by Dr. Loring Dales showed that the number of autism cases increased even when the number of measles/mumps/rubella vaccines declined over the same period, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While many fear that the mercury preservatives in vaccines may account for autism, vaccine makers removed mercury in all but influenza vaccines in 2001, and there was still no change in autism rates, the CDC Web site said.

The autism-vaccine rumor began when the scientific community began studying autism and looked at vaccines as one possible explanation, only to find that explanation a non-starter, Counard said. But even though the scientific community has found no link, the rumor persists.

"It has never been shown (a link between vaccines and autism) and there have been many, many studies looking at this," said Counard.

"We need to move on to look at what's really causing - autism" while still getting children vaccinated, she said.

The CDC speculates that the link persists in the public's mind because the vaccine is typically given around 12-15 months of age - the same age that children with autism should be reaching developmental milestones. Parents notice that their children aren't progressing as normal and associate the two, the CDC's Web site notes.

But because the measles vaccine isn't typically given until 1 year of age, that also leaves a large portion of the population susceptible to the highly contagious disease, McDermott noted.

And Counard said most people are infectious four days before any rash appears, and four days after it disappears. Should the person come into contact with infants not yet inoculated, chances are that infant will become infected, because measles can be transmitted through the air no touching is needed.

"The shame is that they're putting others at risk. It's a community decision that they're making, not a personal decision (to not vaccinate)," said Counard.

About 2 in 1,000 cases of measles result in death and 1 in 1,000 cases can cause encephalitis.

Cook health officials declined to identify the hometowns of those affected. All the cases have been in the past two months.