It’s a Small World After All: Dealing with the Aftermath of the Disneyland Measles Outbreak

Abstract

Imagine in your mind a little boy named Johnny. Johnny’s sixth birthday was quickly approaching, and all he wanted to do was to go to Disneyland for his birthday with his newborn brother, Colton. With their parents’ approval, Johnny and Colton went to Disneyland with their parents a few days before Christmas in 2014. Soon after, tragedy struck as Johnny’s family of four turned into a family of three as they helplessly watched Colton suffer not from the common cold or the flu, but from measles. On January 7, 2015, the California Department of Public Health warned the public that an unvaccinated visitor, who entered one or both Disneyland Parks in Los Angeles during December 17–20, 2014, might be connected to 7 confirmed cases of measles in California and 2 in Utah. One month later, there were 110 confirmed cases of measles in California alone. Additionally, 15 confirmed cases were linked to the Disneyland outbreak in Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, and Washington; and 11 in Mexico and Canada.