Measles Outbreak In BK Orthodox Community Cost $400K: Study

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — A 2013 measles outbreak that hit Orthodox Jewish communities in Williamsburg and Borough Park cost the city almost $400,000 to contain, a new study found.

The city’s health department spent $394,448 after a child who had caught the virus returned home from a trip to London in March 2013 and infected 58 unvaccinated people, the Journal of the American Medical Association found.

“Vaccine refusals and delays appeared to have propagated a large outbreak following importation of measles,” researchers wrote. “The United States remains at continued risk for importations of measles resulting in outbreaks.”

It took almost 90 Department of Health and Mental Hygiene staffers to spend more than 10,000 hours fighting to contain the outbreak, which caused one victim to miscarry, the report found.

The 58 patients, whose ages ranged from infancy and 32 years, were all members of the Orthodox community and 46 were old enough to have been vaccinated, the study found.

Less than 50 percent of the patients sought professional medical help, according to the report.

The study — co-authored by researchers from the city’s Health Department and the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases — said the insulated nature of the “affected community” exacerbated the outbreak.

“Geographic clustering of persons who refuse or decline vaccination, as observed in this and other outbreaks, has led to outbreaks following importations of a single case of measles.”

Photo courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via Getty Images