Measles Causes Severe Complications in Healthy Pennsylvania Children
Becker's Hospital Review, citing NBC News reporting from Oct. 14, describes how pediatric infectious disease physicians in Pennsylvania are treating an unexpected wave of severe measles complications in previously healthy children. Pennsylvania has the nation's largest measles outbreak in over three decades, with at least 1,222 confirmed cases since April. Physicians at Penn State Health and UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh report cases involving encephalitis, liver and gut complications, secondary bacterial infections, and need for breathing tubes, with slow recovery even after discharge. All hospitalized children at one facility were unvaccinated, and physicians say measles expertise has nearly vanished since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000, forcing some to consult retired specialists.