Right now, Disneyland is NOT “the happiest place on Earth.”
The world famous theme park is now battling a measles outbreak, as five employees and 59 people have contracted the highly contagious infection.
Measles, which were thought to have been eradicated, were once as common as the cold. Vaccines for measles were once required in order to send children to school, but now because of the debate over the safety of vaccines, fewer than 90% of children have the vaccine. And for those who were vaccinated as a child, if you haven’t had a booster shot, you’re still risk for contracting the infection.
Disney officials haven’t released an official link to where the measles came from, but it’s suspected that either it came from a foreign visitor, or an American who left the country and came back with the virus.
While an outbreak of measles isn’t as troublesome as Ebola, an epidemic of measles is a high risk to children—as measles is life threatening for those under the age of 5. Which is why the outbreak at the Disney theme parks in California has many health officials concerned and urging parents to get their children vaccinated if they haven’t already.