Experts available to talk about measles prevention

What can the measles outbreak teach us about other infectious diseases? How much of a threat are the unvaccinated? And what’s keeping the concept of herd immunity from gaining traction?

University of Florida experts are available to discuss these and other less-explored dimensions of the recent measles outbreak.

• Fixing herd immunity’s image issue

Dr. Parker A. Small Jr., a member of UF’s Emerging Pathogens Institute and professor emeritus of pediatrics and pathology, says rebranding herd immunity as “community immunity” attracts more support for the concept, especially among young people.

Dr. Small is available for interviews at 352-378-4284 or smallgroup2@aol.com

• Why measles is a math problem

Protecting communities from measles and other infectious diseases might seem like a job for science, but math provides vital clues on how to keep populations safe. Biostatisticians at UF’s Emerging Pathogens Institute can calculate, based on how infectious as disease is, what percentage of the population must be immunized to create herd immunity. Measles has one of the highest percentages, meaning just a small percentage of unvaccinated people can open the door to an outbreak. Emerging Pathogens Institute director Dr. J. Glenn Morris can comment on the mathematics of measles and other diseases as well as the work the Institute does to understand and prevent the spread of disease.

Dr. Morris is available for interviews at 352-273-7526 or jgmorris@epi.ufl.edu