While 2020’s pandemic feels almost like a memory now, recent events have brought up some long-standing concerns spurred by the outbreak.
Dr. Mobeen Rathore is a leading expert in infectious diseases who served as a key source of information during the COVID-19 pandemic and is doing so again during the current measles outbreaks in several states. According to the CDC, as of Feb. 26, Florida had the third highest number in the country with 107 measles cases.
Given that this is one of many outbreaks Rathore has dealt with, he knows the ins and outs of a contagious disease.
WUFT reporter Harrison Leveton interviewed Rathore to find out what makes Florida unique enough to be top three in the number of cases. This Q&A has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Q: Why is Florida the top three in cases right now? Is it population-based or lifestyle?
A: I think we will be multifactorial. I believe in large part because of the unimmunized population, there has been a decrease in vaccination uptake in Florida, and as a result, individuals are at risk for getting measles. I think one of the reasons we got to the top three was that it happened in one of the colleges where, in a closed environment, you do tend to spread measles.
Q: Is there one specific thing that can be singled out for Florida’s current situation?
A: Measles is very contagious. Just to give you an example, one case of COVID can give the infection to one or two people. One case of measles can give the infection to nine to 10 people. Just north of us in South Carolina, there may be up to 1,000 cases now. But we are not necessarily out of the danger zone right now because we do have, unfortunately, a large unimmunized population, and so the risk continues.
It takes just one individual flying over from somewhere in the world, going to visit one of the parks in Orlando and spreading it to hundreds of people. There are also those who are unvaccinated because they chose not to take the vaccine.
Q: Recently, a state Senate committee passed a bill that would give parents more options on opting out of vaccines for their children. Could you explain what it might entail if it’s passed by the full Legislature?
A: Is there a risk of children not being immunized? I mean, any time we increase the risk of children not being immunized to any vaccine, which is a dangerous path to be on.
There may also be a lot of people who are not opposed to vaccines or not vaccine-hesitant, but for whatever reason are not able to get the vaccine, so now their children can still go to school.
But states with more lax exemptions have a higher case of not just measles, but a lot of other vaccine- preventable diseases. We also know that the school entry vaccine requirements play a significant role in keeping the population's vaccination rates high in children.
Q: Is there any group that is at more risk than others right now?
A: Well, those most at risk are the children, the infants. Children traditionally tend to have more risk because they are the ones who are more likely to be infected and as a result have more complications.
There is also the concept of waning immunity to vaccines. There's probably a small number of people who, even though they got both the shots of measles vaccine, their antibodies waned and they may not be as protected.
That is a harder group to identify because they have done everything they need to do and they don't know, they think they are protected. We think everybody thinks they are protected, but we know that in a small number of people, the vaccine antibodies wane.
So that could be a group that is at risk, and of course, all the immunocompromised people. I mean, it's the same people. I don't think the risk changes. There's not one group; anybody who's not protected is at risk.
Q: What is the No. 1 message you can give to the community on avoiding measles at this time? ‘
A: I think there are a lot of things. People believe that the general population immunization is still high, “so I will be OK.” That is not the case. There's also a lot of misinformation that measles vaccines cause autism and other things. All of that has been debunked clearly and none of that is true. So overall, measles vaccines are safe and they are effective and they are important.