A Tennessee Tech nursing professor said the Measles outbreak in Texas may have been caused by a lack of vaccinations.
Professor Ann Hellman said the Upper Cumberland has not had any recent cases of measles, but certain areas across the country have had outbreaks in years past. Hellman said said a lack of vaccinations may play a significant role in the outbreak, but it is not the only reason.
“Normally you will have either someone who is not vaccinated or someone who had been previously vaccinated but their antibody level in their body drops or decreases below the level of immunity,” Hellman said. “So then they are susceptible to contracting the illness again.”
Children are the ones most affected by the outbreak. Hellman said that’s because many of those children being unvaccinated for various reasons.
“When you are considering that children seem to be the population that’s manifesting or contracting that illness, most people would consider looking at those children’s vaccination statuses,” Hellman said. “We are seeing a lot of parents in this day in time really put forth some questions about vaccinations for their children.”
Hellman said that with how today’s world runs, measles could potentially reach the Upper Cumberland.
“Our society today is very mobile,” Hellman said. “It’s very mobile through all sorts of transportation. most easily looked at is airline transportation where you cna be on one sid of the country in the morning and on the other side of the country later in the afternoon. So when you’re looking at how mobile our society is you have to consider that if some did have measles and was unaware they could easily go to a different state in our country and expose people that they were in the airplane with to measles as well as everyone they come into contact with once they land.”
