LOS ANGELES (AP) — Seventy people have been infected in a measles outbreak that led California public health officials to urge those who haven't been vaccinated against the disease, including children too young to be immunized, should avoid Disney parks where the spread originated. 
 
 FILE - This Nov. 20, 2009 photo shows Sleeping Beauty's Castle in winter dress with the iconic "Partners" statue featuring images of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse in the foreground, at Disneyland in Anaheim,... (Associated Press) 
 
 New infections linked to the theme parks emerged Wednesday in the outbreak that has spread to five U.S. states and Mexico, though the vast majority — 62 — occurred in California. 
 
 Because measles is highly contagious, people who have not received the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, vaccine are susceptible and should avoid visiting Disney "for the time being," state epidemiologist Gil Chavez said. 
 
 The same holds true for crowded places with a high concentration of international travelers, such as airports, Chavez said. People who are vaccinated don't need to take such precautions, he said. 
 
 Disneyland Resorts spokeswoman Suzi Brown said officials agreed with the advice that "it's absolutely safe to visit if you're vaccinated." 
 
 The people who have been infected range in age from 7 months to 70 years old. The vast majority were not vaccinated, and a quarter had to be hospitalized. 
 
 Among those sickened were five Disney employees. Three have since returned to work. The company previously said park employees who may have been in contact with those infected were asked to show proof of vaccination or have a blood test to show immunity against measles. Those with pending results were put on paid leave. Vaccinations are also being offered to all employees. 
 
 Measles has hit California hard recently. The state typically sees four to 60 measles cases a year. 
 
 "We are off to a bad start in 2015," Chavez said. 
 
 Since the outbreak, two dozen unvaccinated students at an Orange County high school were sent home for three weeks after an infected pupil showed up. 
 
 Measles is a highly contagious respiratory illness that can spread by air through coughing or sneezing. Symptoms include fever followed by cough, runny nose and a blotchy rash. Though the virus has been eradicated in the U.S. since 2000, it can still enter the country through an infected traveler. 
 
 While health officials said they likely may never find "patient zero" or the trigger of the outbreak, they believe it was either a resident from a country where measles is widespread or a Californian who went abroad and brought home the virus. 
 
 People at highest risk are those who are unvaccinated, pregnant women, infants under 6 months old, and those with weakened immune systems. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Contact Alicia Chang at http://twitter.com/SciWriAlicia ||||| The California Department of Public Health is investigating nine measles cases tied to Disneyland or Disney California Adventure Park, officials said Wednesday. 
 
 The cases were reported in California and Utah and probably occurred when the victims were visiting the theme parks during the holidays from Dec. 15 to Dec. 20, officials said. 
 
 Health officials said it is likely that a single person with measles visited the parks during that period, exposing the other visitors. 
 
 “If you have symptoms, and believe you may have been exposed, please contact your healthcare provider,” state health officer Ron Chapman said in a statement. “The best way to prevent measles and its spread is to get vaccinated.” 
 
 The California cases were discovered in the counties of Alameda, Orange, Riverside and San Diego, as well as the city of Pasadena, and included children as young as 8 months, officials said. Two additional park visitors who were diagnosed as having measles live in Utah. 
 
 Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times Patrons make their way around Disneyland in May 2014. Patrons make their way around Disneyland in May 2014. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 
 
 "We are working with the health department to provide any information and assistance we can, " said Dr. Pamela Hymel, the chief medical officer Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. 
 
 Two of the cases involve members of the same family from San Diego County, according to the county Health and Human Services Agency. 
 
 The two siblings may have later exposed additional people who were at the Parkway Plaza Mall in El Cajon on Dec. 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., especially those who were at the GameStop, the Sunglasses Hut or the carousel in the mall, the agency said. 
 
 Though measles had largely vanished in the United States, and was no longer considered to be a year-round threat, there has been an increase in confirmed cases. 
 
 In California, Orange County led the way last year with 22 of the 62 confirmed cases statewide. The outbreak came on the heels of a tough flu season. 
 
 County health officials expressed concern that the upswing in cases appeared to coincide with a growing anti-vaccine movement. Of the Orange County cases, many were in suburban neighborhoods where some schools showed an elevated rate of parents opting out of having their children vaccinated, or who had slowed down the vaccination process. 
 
 Though rare in the U.S., measles outbreaks continue to be reported in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and western Europe. 
 
 The vaccine, which also defends against mumps and rubella, is recommended to be administered in two doses, the first after a child turns 1, the second usually before kindergarten. 
 
 People can be infectious with measles for nine days. Measles typically begins with a fever, a cough, a runny nose and red eyes and within a few days a red rash appears, usually first on the face and then spreading downward to the rest of the body. 
 
 Measles is a highly infectious, airborne disease that is easily spread by coughing, sneezing or coming in contact with an infected person. 
 
 For more Orange County news, follow @emfoxhall on Twitter. 
 
 Read more: Plunge in kindergartners vaccination rates worries health officials ||||| SACRAMENTO -- Two state senators said Wednesday they will introduce legislation to eliminate a controversial "personal belief exemption" that allows California parents to refuse to vaccinate their children. 
 
 "We shouldn't wait for more children to sicken or die before we act," Sen. Richard Pan, a Sacramento Democrat who is also a pediatrician, said at a Wednesday news conference. "Parents are letting us know our current laws are insufficient to protect their kids." 
 
 Pan is sponsoring the legislation with Sen. Ben Allen, D-Redondo Beach. 
 
 In Washington, D.C., California's two Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, on Wednesday asked state health officials to go further and consider eliminating the "religious exemption." 
 
 Boxes of single-doses vials of the measles-mumps-rubella virus vaccine live and ProQuad vaccine are kept frozen inside a freezer at the practice of Dr. Charles Goodman in Northridge on Jan. 29, 2015. (Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press) 
 
 The clamor to repeal the state's permissive "opt out" vaccination policy appears to be overwhelming the state's anti-vaccine movement as the number of measles cases climbs. 
 
 Gov. Jerry Brown -- who pushed for more parental choice just two years ago -- quickly signaled that he was open to reform. "The governor believes that vaccinations are profoundly important and a major public health benefit and any bill that reaches his desk will be closely considered," said Evan Westrup, Brown's spokesman. 
 
 "This is an important tipping point ... when state governments consider badly needed reforms where exemptions have been far too easy to obtain," said bioethicist Jason Schwartz, who studies vaccine policy at the Princeton University Center for Human Values. 
 
 Advertisement 
 
 The political push comes at a time when the state is experiencing its worst measles outbreak in two decades. There are now at least 99 Californians infected with the extremely contagious measles virus. Of these, 39 were exposed while visiting Disneyland in December and another 23 contracted the virus from members of their household or close contacts. Three infections were acquired in the community, such as simply sharing space in a hospital emergency room. 
 
 Vaccine exemptions have been available since 1961, when California first required all public school teachers and students to be inoculated against polio. But there has been a surge in their popularity in recent years. From 2000 to 2014, the rate of parents seeking exemptions tripled, from 0.77 percent to 2.5 percent -- or one in every 40 kids. California is one of 19 states that allow exemptions based purely on parents' personal beliefs. 
 
 "An exemption is something we can only allow under the condition where it very rarely is exercised," said Stanford University's David Magnus, a professor of pediatrics who directs the Center for Biomedical Ethics. "The fact that there has been so much misuse means it is time to tighten things." 
 
 Politically, the well-to-do "all-natural" parents who have come to symbolize the anti-vaccination movement in California simply don't have many political supporters in Sacramento, said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a veteran political analyst at the University of Southern California. 
 
 Two potential Republican presidential candidates who have questioned forcing parents to get their children vaccinated -- such as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky -- are pandering to the sorts of anti-government primary voters who could torpedo their chances of reaching a general election, Jeffe said. 
 
 But in California, so far no state lawmakers have publicly opposed the proposed legislation -- and there's little reason to believe opposition will succeed in a solidly blue state like California, she said. 
 
 Still, state Republicans are treading carefully for now. 
 
 Bob Huff, the state Senate's Republican leader, said, "We look forward to reviewing the proposed legislation in detail and weighing what appropriate actions should be taken in the coming months. 
 
 "Many Californians are rightfully asking if this is because of California's 'exemption' clause, which has prompted a larger debate of our state's youth vaccination policies," Huff added. "While medical experts are overwhelmingly in agreement that vaccines are safe, preserving the freedom of choice has also emerged as part of this important discussion." 
 
 While both "personal belief" and "religious" exemptions are available, most parents use the "personal belief" option. 
 
 Vaccine experts cautioned that repeal of just that option could drive parents to choose the "religious" option instead. 
 
 Governments are reluctant to police religious objections because "they do not want to become guardians of people's conscience" -- and it's unclear whether the Constitution allows them to, said Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, a law professor at UC Hastings College of the Law. 
 
 California's vaccine policy was tightened in 2012 by then-Assemblyman Pan, who introduced a law that required parents seeking exemptions to receive counseling and signatures from health care professionals. 
 
 The move led to a 20 percent decrease in parents opting out of vaccinating their kindergartners. But despite this effort, many children remain unvaccinated. 
 
 One problem has been that vaccine conversations can be initiated by naturopaths, who practice alternative medicine and typically oppose vaccination. 
 
 Santa Cruz parent Amy Kelchner, who practices naturopathy and is authorized to write vaccine exemptions, supports the continued availabilty of exemptions because she believes vaccines should be given only to healthy children over age 3. 
 
 "Public health refuses to consider the possibility that the astronomical rates of allergies, autism, chronic disease -- all legitimate public health concerns -- might have something to do with the overuse of suppressive medication, including vaccines," she wrote in an email. 
 
 But many Bay Area parents and children traveled to Sacramento to urge a change in policy. 
 
 "My husband and I worry our son will get sick if we put him in day care," said Palo Alto mother Leah Russin, holding her 16-month-old son. "Many day cares in our area have vaccination rates well below what is necessary to protect the community." 
 
 Mountain View's Gina Lunde, also holding her toddler son, said, "The studies I've read show that it's impossible to change the minds" of opponents. 
 
 "We need this legislation to keep our kids safe," she said. ||||| California public health officials are warning parents against "measles parties," saying that intentionally exposing unvaccinated children to a person with measles could put them at grave risk. 
 
 "Measles is a serious illness that can have significant consequences," California state epidemiologist Dr. Gil Chavez said in a statement, adding that 30% of people who have been infected in the current outbreak have been hospitalized. 
 
 Also, he said, such exposure could contribute to further spread of the California-centered outbreak, which has infected more than 100 people in eight states and Mexico. 
 
 Chavez issued the statement after KQED reported that a Marin County mother had been invited to expose her two young children to a child who had contracted measles. The mother, Julie Schiffman, whose 6- and 8-year-olds are not vaccinated, told KQED that she declined the offer. 
 
 The Times was not able to reach Schiffman on Monday and has not been able to confirm that any measles parties have taken place. 
 
 Marin County Public Health Officer Matt Willis said that although his office has received no reports of such parties, officials have fielded several calls from parents asking about the benefits of "natural immunity," or the idea that immunity gained from contracting a disease is superior to immunity conferred through vaccination. That concept is ill-advised and dangerous, he said. 
 
 Measles is a serious illness that can cause brain swelling, long-term neurological effects and even death, Willis said. Plus, he added, there is no evidence that immunity gained through becoming sick with measles is any better than vaccine-imparted immunity. 
 
 "Any parents who are considering this, they should have a look at a child who’s really sick with measles, and I think they’d change their minds." 
 
 Marin County has one of the state's highest rates of unvaccinated children under California’s personal beliefs exemption, and has the highest such rate of any county in the Bay Area. The latest county data show that 6.5% of kindergartners in Marin don’t have up-to-date vaccination records, down from 7.6% in the 2012-13 school year. 
 
 Willis and other health officials suspect the concept of a measles party may have grown out of "pox parties," which were popular in the 1980s, before the chickenpox vaccine was widely available. Some parents, reports said, even arranged to pay strangers for licked lollipops, saliva or other items from infected children. 
 
 The thinking was that children who were deliberately exposed to the disease at a younger age would become less sick and as a result be safer than if they contracted chickenpox as adults. 
 
 Willis said he still hears reports of “pox parties” occurring in Marin today, even though a chickenpox vaccine has been available for more than two decades. 
 
 Taking that approach to measles makes little sense, said Dr. Art Reingold, head of epidemiology at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. 
 
 “The difference is we have a measles vaccine today, which is incredibly safe and highly effective,” Reingold told The Times. “It just doesn’t make sense to say I’d rather have my kids get the measles than the measles vaccine. That’s … based on misinformation that the measles is a benign childhood illness.” 
 
 In a statement, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said it does not recommend intentionally exposing a child to a person with measles. 
 
 For more breaking news, follow me @cmaiduc ||||| LOS ANGELES Nine cases of measles have been confirmed in people who visited Disneyland or its adjacent California Adventure park in late December, state health officials said on Wednesday, urging anyone who may have been exposed to contact a doctor. 
 
 All nine of the confirmed cases are in people who visited at least one of the two amusement parks in Anaheim between Dec. 15 and Dec. 20, said Ron Chapman, director of the California Department of Public Health. 
 
 Chapman said three more suspected cases in people who were at one of the parks during that time frame were under investigation. 
 
 "Based on information from current cases, it is likely that a person infectious with measles was at one of the theme parks on these dates," Chapman said, adding that patients infected with the virus could be infectious for nine days. 
 
 "If you have symptoms, and believe you may have been exposed, please contact your health care provider,” he said. "The best way to prevent measles and its spread is to get vaccinated." 
 
 He said the infected patients ranged in age from 8 months to 21 years and that six were unvaccinated for measles, two of them because they were too young. One of the patients had received the appropriate vaccination 
 
 Measles typically begins with fever, cough, runny nose and red eyes, followed by the appearance of a red rash that typically starts on the face and spreads downward. 
 
 Chapman said seven of the confirmed cases and three of the suspected cases were people living in California. The other two confirmed cases involved Utah residents who visited the amusement parks during the relevant time period. 
 
 Dr. Pamela Hymel, chief medical officer for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, said in a statement the company was working with the California health department to provide information and assistance. 
 
 Measles is a sometimes deadly viral disease that can spread very swiftly among unvaccinated children. 
 
 There is no specific treatment and most people recover within a few weeks. But in poor and malnourished children and people with reduced immunity, measles can cause serious complications including blindness, encephalitis, severe diarrhea, ear infection and pneumonia. 
 
 In 2013, more than 70 percent of global measles deaths were in six countries - India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. 
 
 (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Peter Cooney)
– From 1988 to 1990, California was slammed with a measles epidemic that affected at least 16,000 people, per the Western Journal of Medicine. Now public health officials are trying to avoid a similar scenario, encouraging people in the Golden State to a) get vaccinated, and b) stay away from Disney parks where the current outbreak started if they're not. Although a Disneyland spokeswoman tells the AP "it's absolutely safe to visit if you're vaccinated," a state epidemiologist warns that those who haven't received the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) shot should keep away for "the time being." Seventy people—the "vast majority" of them unvaccinated, notes the AP—have reportedly been infected so far in the outbreak. Measles has officially been eradicated since 2000 in the US; California officials speculate the current outbreak was caused by a foreign visitor or a resident who traveled overseas. The vaccination debate has been renewed, with many health officials lambasting those who refuse to get their shots due to fears about risks. "[These cases] wouldn't have happened otherwise. … There are some pretty dumb people out there," an infectious disease specialist tells the New York Times, while a deputy director at the California Center for Infectious Diseases urges "unvaccinated Californians to consider getting vaccinated against measles." Even Bill Gates, who has lobbied for vaccinations around the globe, tells Wired, "It will take cases like this Disneyland thing to remind people how irresponsible [not being vaccinated] is." The head of the National Vaccine Information Center, however, says it's all overblown. "Fifty-seven cases of measles coming out of Disneyland in a country with a population of 317 million people is not a lot ... . We should all take a deep breath," she says.