Dr. Leila Myrick, a family medicine doctor, has recently confronted her first cases of measles amid a surge of infections in Texas. This outbreak has been alarming, with over 600 confirmed cases nationwide and vaccination rates dropping. Health care providers like Dr. Myrick and others across the U.S. are encountering measles for the first time after the virus was virtually eliminated in 2000. Experts worry that declining immunization rates may lead to more frequent outbreaks, with many young doctors having only learned about measles in textbooks rather than seeing real cases.
Most practicing doctors, in today's day and age, are not going to see it in real life. But in the past few months, I've treated about 20 people with measles.
The generation of physicians who are currently, for the most part, treating patients haven't actually seen what a measles case looks like other than from a textbook or a video.
Public health experts worry that this year, measles could become more common in more places as vaccine rates continue to decline.
If you don't use it, you lose it. That's why many physicians are unprepared for an outbreak they studied in school but have never encountered.
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