Figure from http://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html
In 2015, over 84 cases (as of January 29th, 2015) of measles have been reported.1 The majority of these cases are part of a large, ongoing outbreak linked to a Southern California amusement park. A single visitor to the park was infected with measles, and while visiting, spread measles to a number of visitors, who then continued to spread the virus.
To date, it has spread cases to over 14 states.2
Many of the employees of the amusement park and students of nearby schools have been asked to prove that they’ve been vaccinated. Over 50,000 students in Orange County, California were sent home until they could provide proof of vaccination.
How do you prove you’ve been vaccinated? Many of us were vaccinated years ago, change doctors, and lose immunization records. Once you’ve completed the vaccination series, commonly termed MMRV (for measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella-zoster), your immune system should continue to make small amounts of antibodies to each of the viruses for which the vaccine provides protection.
Generally, you can satisfy proof of immunization by providing evidence from your physician, such as an immunization record, or by having a blood test proving you have antibodies to the virus that causes measles. One of the FDA-cleared blood tests commercially available through medical providers is the BioPlex® 2200 MMRV IgG,kit, based on Luminex® xMAP® Technology, and tests for antibodies to all four of the viruses in the MMRV vaccine.
Public health agencies also use xMAP Technology to create custom epidemiological assays to study rubella-specific antibodies in populations that have high vaccination rates versus those that have lower rates of vaccination.3
Public health officials, school districts, and the amusement park are concerned that measles will be spread. Read more on how infants can be severely impacted by a measles infection.
Extra resources:
- For more information about the BioPlex® 2200 MMRV IgG, click here.
- To read more about the history of vaccines and the role of immunization in the human experience, visit this website.
- Click here to read a previous blog highlighting the work of Maurice Hilleman, a microbiologist who developed more than three dozen vaccines—more than anyone else in history.
References:
- Measles Cases and Outbreaks. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Internet). Cited 2015 January. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html.
- California Department of Public Health Confirms 59 Cases of Measles. California Department of Public Health (Internet). Cited 2015 January. Available from: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OPA/Pages/NR15-008.aspx.
- Smits G, Mollema L, Hahné S, de Melker H, Tcherniaeva I, van der Klis F, Berbers G. Seroprevalence of rubella antibodies in The Netherlands after 32 years of high vaccination coverage. Vaccine. 2014 Apr 1;32(16):1890-5.