Measles Outbreak Spreads In Brooklyn Orthodox Community
Six cases of measles have been confirmed in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, with all of the patients being Orthodox Jewish children between 11 months and four years old, the New York City Department of Health confirmed on Wednesday.
“The initial case of measles was acquired by a child on a visit to Israel, where a large outbreak of the disease is occurring,” the Health Department said in a statement, according to radio station 1010 WINS.
The health department is meeting Thursday with rabbis and local elected officials to spread awareness of the disease, NBC 4 reported.
A similar outbreak has also grown in Jewish communities in Rockland County, home to many ultra-Orthodox enclaves, with the state health department confirming 11 measles cases on Tuesday. The disease spread there from three different groups that also traveled to Israel, the state health department said. It added that two of the cases were developed due to exposure in Rockland County.
Measles, a highly infectious disease, was declared eliminated in 2000, but has made a comeback as vaccination rates have dropped, particularly in religious communities. A study published in the academic journal JAMA Pediatrics in August found that the 2013 New York measles outbreak, the largest in decades in the city with more than 3,000 infected, occurred entirely within Orthodox Jewish communities in Williamsburg and Borough Park.
Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!