More on Measles

 The outbreak originating at Disneyland has proven to be a valuable case study on Measles. Since Disneyland attracts many people from around the world, it is well suited as an incubator for some transmissible diseases. Experts from the CDC have been involved in analyzing the outbreak. It is believed that unvaccinated individuals who had traveled to the Philippines and contracted measles then visited Disneyland. That led to an outbreak involving over 100 people in 14 states.

 "The index patient or patients could easily have spread the extremely infectious measles virus via sneezing and coughing. The people around him then inhaled or touched a surface where the droplets landed." Not only can measles survive up to 2 hours on a surface or in the air, and it also takes less of it to cause disease than any other infectious agent. "If you were in a room that a patient with Ebola was in 2 hours ago, you'd have to actually touch the patient's bodily secretions to get infected - the Ebola virus is not airborne." However, after a patient with measles coughs or sneezes, "the virus is still at high enough concentration 2 hours later that the next person who hasn't had measles or been vaccinated has a 90% chance of catching it."

 Measles was eradicated in the US in 2000, but 19 states in the US allow parents to opt out of vaccination for personal beliefs. Old beliefs about measles vaccine being linked to autism cited a European study that has been discredited. Investigators reexamined the children involved in the study, and found that the purported link to autism was a lie; the doctor was discredited and lost his medical license, though people still talk about measles and a possible link to autism. 

In 2014, there were 644 cases of measles in the US. We have already had more than 100 in 2015. Measles can cause pneumonia, encephalitis (inflammation and infection of the brain), eye problems, and ear infections that can cause permanent hearing loss. Encephalitis, though rare, is devastating.
The MMR vaccine (Measles Mumps Rubella) has been proven in study after study to be extremely safe. Independent bodies including the CDC, the Institute of Medicine and European experts have used databases going back into the 1980s, and have analyzed millions of vaccine records. They have found no hint of serious adverse events.
MMR vaccine is recommended at 1 year old, with a booster at age 4-6 years. The first shot confers around 90% protection, and the second dose raises it to 99%.