Measles reported in New Paltz elementary school

A Hudson Valley-wide measles alert was announced over the weekend after a child at the private Mountain Laurel Waldorf School in New Paltz was confirmed to have a case of the measles, the Times Herald-Record reports.

A press release issued by the New York State Health Department states that many of the children at the school are unvaccinated:

The current Ulster County measles case involves a child who attends a school where nearly half of the students are not vaccinated against measles. Although vaccination against measles is one of the required immunizations for school children in New York, exemptions from the requirement may be granted by a school.

The Ulster County Health Department is working with the school district to protect other school children from measles. Unvaccinated children who attend the same Ulster County school as the child with measles and unvaccinated school staff are being excluded from the school for 21 days to help prevent them from contracting or spreading the disease.

The student had recently traveled abroad, according to a story in the Daily Freeman.

Once a leading cause of child mortality, measles is now rare in the United States because of widespread vaccination. In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control report, there were 222 cases of measles in the United States, mostly among unvaccinated people.