21 Cases In BK Measles Outbreak Traced To This W'burg Yeshiva

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — Nearly two dozen cases in the measles outbreak that continues to spread in Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish Community are from one yeshiva in Williamsburg that did not comply with orders from the health department, city officials said.

The city's Health Department announced last week that 31 newly-identified cases have brought the total number of people sick with the disease to 121, including 108 children and 13 adults. The outbreak, which started in October, has mainly hit the Orthodox Jewish communities of Williamsburg and Borough Park.

Of those new 31 cases, 21 were traced to one Williamsburg school, Yeshiva Kehilath Yako on Wilson Street, where school officials broke the city's order not to allow unvaccinated children to return to school. The yeshiva let an unvaccinated child who had the measles, but had not yet started showing symptoms, to go to school, officials said.

The exclusion order, which started in December for certain Williamsburg and Borough Park zip codes, required schools not to let unvaccinated children return to school until they could prove they were immune to the disease or until the outbreak was over to help prevent it from spreading, health department spokesman Michael Lanza said.

"Preventing exposure is really important for maintaining the health and safety for everyone in New York and specifically children in schools, and to ensure unvaccinated children are being protected," he said.

The yeshiva did not return a request for comment.

The measles outbreak, which has also spread in Rockland County and other places across the country, has been linked to trips to Israel, which is currently suffering from a large outbreak, as well as the U.K. and the Ukraine.

Lanza said Yeshiva Kehilath Yako was given a "Commissioner's Order" after it was discovered they did not follow the exclusion mandate, but will not be given any violations or penalties because they have since reached compliance.

Given the new cases, the department has expanded its vaccination recommendations for the Orthodox Jewish community. Health officials now recommend an extra dose of the MMR vaccine for children between the ages of 6 months to 11 months who live in Williamsburg and Borough Park.

“As a pediatrician, I can’t stress enough how critical is to vaccinate children against measles,” Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot said in a release. “Measles is a serious, highly contagious and potentially deadly infection. Complications and fatalities are rare but do happen. I urge parents not to take any risks that may jeopardize their children or other children in their community.”

In Brooklyn, eight people have been hospitalized and one child was rushed to the Intensive care unit since October, when the Health Department first reported the outbreak.

Measles, which is highly contagious, can lead to pneumonia, brain damage and death, but is preventable with the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine.

More than 7,000 people have received the MMR vaccine since the Health Department mounted a campaign to educate Brooklyn residents about the disease, officials said. Elected officials recently spoke out in support of the campaign and underscored the importance of vaccinations.

The outbreak has been especially prevalent in certain New York neighborhood's where international travel is "common and frequent," city Councilman Mark Levine, chair of the Council Committee on Health, said.

“The ongoing measles outbreak in Williamsburg and Borough Park highlights the urgency needed to address this crisis,” city Councilman Stephen Levin added. “Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that requires all of us coming together to stop it."