Highly Contagious Measles Outbreak Linked to Disneyland

Health officials are concerned that a recent measles outbreak at the famed California theme park could have its roots in a greater public health hazard: the increasing number of parents who choose not to vaccinate their children.

The “happiest place on earth” hasn’t been quite that lately.

Nine people who visited Disneyland and its adjacent California Adventure park over a five-day period in December have been diagnosed with measles, according to the California Department of Public Health.  

CDPH Director Ron Chapman said three more suspected cases were under investigation.

"Based on information from current cases, it is likely that a person infectious with measles was at one of the theme parks on these dates," Chapman said, adding that patients infected with the virus could be contagious for nine days.

Measles symptoms typically begin with fever, cough, runny nose and red eyes, followed by the appearance of a red rash that generally starts on the face and spreads downward.  The disease can be deadly and can spread very quickly among unvaccinated children.  Kids with weakened immune systems can suffer serious complications such as blindness, encephalitis, severe diarrhea, ear infection and pneumonia.

Visitors spinning around in giant pastel teacups on the Mad Tea Party ride at Disneyland Park in California.

© Flickr / Nathan Rupert

 Chapman urges everyone who may have been exposed to contact a doctor, stressing that vaccination is key to preventing contraction of the virus. 

"If you have symptoms, and believe you may have been exposed, please contact your health care provider,” he said. "The best way to prevent measles and its spread is to get vaccinated."

As Sputnik reported in November, vaccinations against diseases like measles have served as the foundation of U.S. health policy since Jonas Salk developed the vaccine against polio in 1952. 

Other diseases such as whooping cough or pertussis, which was thought to have been nearly eradicated in the U.S. in the past, has recently emerged.  Following a low of about 1,000 cases reported in the 1970s, the disease reached a nearly 60-year high of about 48,000 cases reported in 2012, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). 

A movement against immunizations first gathered momentum in the late 1990s when former British surgeon and medical researcher Andrew Wakefield published a report that linked the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine with autism in children.

Though Wakefield later retracted that research, the anti-vaccine movement continues to attract followers, many of whom are centered in wealthy neighborhoods in Southern California, where Disneyland and California Adventure are located.

The nine measles patients range in age from 8 months to 21 years old, and six of the nine had not been vaccinated.  Two infants were too young to get the vaccine.

Chief Medical Officer for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Pamela Hymel confirmed in a statement that the company was “working with the California health department to provide information and assistance.”