Measles Epidemic!

In third unit of the course Disease, we studied how virus spread. An example is Pandemic, Epidemic, Endemic and more. We also learned math, the R0 value and Graphing( slope, point-slope and y-intercept form). We used the R0 value in our project and it explains how the virus will spread in terms of people infecting others. For our action project, we chose an outbreak that happen some time ago and we did a script explaining the virus, what place the outbreak occur, how and why. I chose the Measles outbreak of 1875 in Fiji because Fiji seems like a beautiful place that someday I would like to visit and to present my information on Measles I did a newscast script. During this project I had a hard time trying not to put too much information in my script and making it entertaining. When I was doing this project I was surprised with what Measles can cause, how serious it is and how it affected Fijians in that time.



Breaking News!

Today is a terrible day, Its 1875 and there has been an outbreak. The virus that is spreading is Measles, it’s spreading all over Fiji. If you’re a Fijian be careful and stay safe. Measles was discovered by a Persian doctor in the 9th century. In 1757 Francis Home, a Scottish physician discovered that Measles is caused by an infectious agent in the blood. This virus was brought to Fiji when the King Cakobau sailed to Sydney, Australia in December because he and some other Fijian chiefs signed the Deed of Cession which handed Fiji to Great Britain. When he came back the virus was in his ship. The virus wasn’t brought by an animal, but the people on the ship already had it. Measles can be spread by caught, sneeze and by touching the people who have it. The symptoms of Measles doesn’t appear until 7 to 14 days after getting it, meaning that you can spread it without knowing because the virus can live on infected surfaces for up to 2 hours. The way you know you have it is by you having high fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes, watery eyes and skin rash. Measles became an epidemic because Fiji is made of 850 islands, but only 100 islands are inhabited and those islands trade resources to one another. Also since Fijians are isolated from the world, their immune system isn’t that strong as to someone who lives in the US or Europe. Also by the looks of it this epidemic lots Fijians are going to meet their deaths. Beside the cause of the trading ships carrying Measles, the MMR vaccines weren’t invented so Fiji didn’t have it. The MMR vaccine stands for Measles, Mumps and Rubella. This vaccine wasn’t invented until 1963 when there was so many Measles outbreaks happening all over the world. So what they did do to treat it was lots of bed rest, drinking fluids to prevent dehydration, taking ibuprofen to ease the fever and taking vitamin A supplement. Although this treatment didn’t work at least the people didn’t have a painful death. The R0 value is 12-18 meaning that one person can spread the virus between 12 people and 18 new people.

In the graph above you can see that Australia and Philippines are close to Fiji so these two country will represent Fiji. As you can see from 1995 to 2008 there is spikes of epidemic outbreaking. In Philippines there is lots of outbreaks so then there could be a possibility of viruses traveling to Fiji.

What you see is the latest updates of outbreaks of Measles. In 2008 there barely any outbreaks but starting in 2009 there has been more outbreaks. As you can see in 2009 and 2010 the outbreaks happens more in Africa. Then in 2011 it starts spreading to other countries. For example, France, Spain and the US.  

Ways to prevent the epidemic from spreading more is to first isolate the people who have the virus, use the home treatment and look for any other vaccines that can help get rid of Measles. By the looks of the epidemic spreading I would estimate one-third of the Fijian population will die.




Doucleff, Michaeleen. “How Vaccine Fears Fueled The Resurgence Of Preventable Diseases.” NPR. N.p. January 25, 2014. Web. March 19, 2015.

Gapminder World. Web. March 20, 2015.

“Measles History.” CDC. N.p. November 3, 2014. Web. March 22, 2015.

“Measles in Fiji, 1875.” Weebly. N.p. Web. March 19, 2015.