Others say

Don't forget about measles

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Tarrant County, Texas, residents got a sobering reminder of how important it is to vaccinate children when public health officials last week confirmed the first case of measles in the county since 2013.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, measles is the most deadly of all childhood rash/fever illnesses. It is highly communicable, meaning it can spread easily through coughing and sneezing, even breathing in close contact with an infected person.

It also can take up to three weeks to incubate, sometimes making it difficult to determine when or where a person contracted the illness.

But the virus is almost entirely preventable by way of an easily obtained vaccine, usually administered just after a child's first birthday.

Since 1963, the measles vaccine has been in wide use, leading to a greater than 99 percent reduction in confirmed cases in the U.S.

Still, many Americans wrongly assume that such illnesses are vestiges of less enlightened times and all but nonexistent. As a result, many fail to get their kids the vaccines that can ensure that these diseases do indeed remain things of the past.

Parents still have several weeks to get children vaccinated before the school year begins.

Editorial on 08/02/2014

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