Measles is an acute infectious disease that has a relatively high level of contagiousness and is characterized by various serious symptoms. In the winter of 2015, the California Department of Public Health received information about the possible spread of the measles epidemic. Thus, the first patient hospitalized with this infection was an 11-year-old child who had previously visited the Disney theme park. Within a few days, 7 more cases of measles were detected, and each patient recently visited Disney theme parks. In this way, the spread of this epidemic began, which subsequently affected many people.
The incubation period of measles, that is, the period after contact with the patient until the first symptoms, on average lasts from 7 to 21 one days. Analyzing the data on the outbreak, it becomes possible to distinguish that in this case the incubation period lasted about ten days. Thus, the first case was detected in the period from December 26 to December 28, 2014, and exposure at a theme park began on December 16 of the same year (Zipprich et al., 2015). The common source of the measles outbreak should be considered Disney theme parks, since they were the ones that united the first infected. The outbreak data shows that 15 cases reported in seven states and two neighboring countries are linked to Disney Parks.
Moreover, it becomes important to determine when the peak of the spread of the measles outbreak occurred. According to the table, the peak of the measles outbreak falls on the 1st of January of 2015, when the largest number of cases was detected (Zipprich et al., 2015). Spread and transmission rates can decline for a variety of reasons: quarantine, vaccination, and control efforts. During the 2014-2015 measles outbreak in California, news outlets were fairly quick to report the threat (Meadows et al., 2019). This, in turn, has led to fewer people visiting Disney theme parks. It is believed that in this case, the spread of measles occurred naturally, since it reached its peak (Worden et al., 2020). Thus, it becomes possible to note that the measures taken by health organizations have had a minor impact on reducing the incidence.
References
Meadows, C. Z., Tang, L., & Liu, W. (2019). Twitter message types, health beliefs, and vaccine attitudes during the 2015 measles outbreak in California. American journal of infection control, 47(11), 1314-1318.
Worden, L., Ackley, S. F., Zipprich, J., Harriman, K., Enanoria, W. T., Wannier, R., & Porco, T. C. (2020). Measles transmission during a large outbreak in California. Epidemics, 30, 100375.
Zipprich, J., Winter, K., Hacker, J., Xia, D., Watt, J., & Harriman, K. (2015). Measles outbreak—California, December 2014–February 2015. MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 64(6), 153.