In January 2015, when news about Ebola in West Africa had largely declined in the US popular press, reports of another infectious disease outbreak started making headlines. “Measles hits Disneyland: 9 Cases Linked to Theme Park ” read the popular online magazine, Live Science on January 7, 2015. Since then, the disease has spread to over 14 states including California, some as far as Wisconsin.

Measles is different than Ebola in multiple accounts, but two differences have garnered my attention the most. First, measles is much more contagious than Ebola. An Ebola infected individual spreads it to 1.5 to 2 people in average, whereas that number rises to around 18 for someone with measles. Second, there is no vaccine for Ebola, but there is one for measles. MMR, a combined vaccine for Mumps, Measles and Rubella developed in 1971 is one of the most effective vaccines known to mankind. And despite the availability of the vaccine in the US, one could wonder- why was there an outbreak of this disease, which was in fact declared eradicated in 2000?

Besides the unvaccinated visitors who bring the disease into the country, there are pockets of unvaccinated people inside the U.S. that are contributing to the spread. Some of these pockets belong to the anti-vaccine movement, a trend that claims a causal link between vaccinations and a range of maladies, including autism. Despite heap of scientific evidence to disprove such connections, this large section of the population which is highly educated and affluent continues to deny their children this highly successful public health intervention. The question is again – why? Why is there such vehement denial? To answer that, we have to go back to 1998 when a British surgeon and medical researcher, Andrew Wakefield published a paper in the reputed medical journal, The Lancet, that lent support to the claim that autism disorders are linked to MMR vaccine. This paper was discredited by numerous scientists a few years later, and Wakefield was barred from practising medicine in the UK for his deliberate falsification of facts. But, what is interesting here, more than Wakefield’s case itself, is the role of media. Mass media outlets provided a widely misleading picture of Wakefield’s research results as substantial compared to evidence against it, flashed limited anecdotal evidence from parents, and defended Wakefield’s study even after there was conclusive evidence disproving his results. I believe the messages and images some media sources painted back in the late 1990s continues to live in the minds of many people today and fogs the science that disproves MMR-Autism like theories with emotions.

I believe that creating a measles free society requires effort from not only medical and public health professionals, but also from the mass media. Ethical journalism that debunks click-baits, and disseminates evidence based research in an understandable form is crucial to preventing another outbreak.

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