Nikki Sommer, a nurse with Key West Surgical Group, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5 FM for Medical Matters this morning.
With the state of Florida discussing possibly ending the requirement for vaccinations for school age children, it has caused a bit of a stir.
Sommer said, “Every week I put a video on all three social media platforms. I’ve been adding like graphs of information, and I posted information about measles. By no means am I telling you to vaccinate, not Vaccinate. I’m just here to give you the information about the disease that you can prevent with the vaccination, and I find for a parent that is on the fence of whether you want to vaccinate it or not, you need to have all the right information. So TikTok said I violated community, I don’t know what I did. I violated their community regulations.
Reports have shown that from 2024 to 2025 there has been a rise in measles cases in the US.
Sommer said, “Everybody thinks, oh, you get a fever and you get a rash with measles. So there are three C’s, the warning signs. And this is what I want to make people more aware of. Again, whether you choose to vaccinate or not, or your child’s not eligible for the vaccinating vaccination until 12 months of age. As these cases rise, there’s a concern that it’s just going to keep going up. So there are three Cs, cough, coryza, which is a fancy medical term for runny nose, which every little kid has, conjunctivitis and red watery eyes. So those symptoms usually start seven to 14 days after exposure. Then they’re joined by a high fever, and you can even have tiny white spots called Koplik spots inside your mouth, then the rash begins after. A person with the measles is contagious from about four days before the rash appears through four days about after the rash erupts.”
The virus can live up to two hours in the air or on surfaces.
Sommer said, “After somebody coughs or sneezes, it hangs around for a bit. High fevers and rash are only the beginning. About one in five people with measles will require hospitalization, and it’s mostly children under the age of five. Back when I was in nursing school, my nursing instructor said, the population that’s always afflicted by disease the most are the very young and the very old. So just keep that in mind. Pneumonia is the most common cause of measles related death in children. That is due from the inflammation that it causes in the body. It could cause it in the brain and in the lungs. Ear infections, one in every 10 children, and it can lead to permanent hearing loss. Diarrhea is a frequent complication that can lead to dehydration, especially in children. This is dangerous. So in the case that this starts to occur and the child is getting sicker as opposed to getting better, seeking immediate medical attention is necessary. Brain inflammation, acute encephalitis, this can occur in about one in every 1,000 measles cases. It can cause seizures, permanent brain damage or even death.”
It can also cause immune amnesia.
Sommer said, “This is crazy. I never heard of this before, but this is what happens when you go down the rabbit hole, and you’re trying to provide information. So measles actually, supposedly, can alter the immune system, and it could cause it to forget how to fight off other illnesses it once knew how to combat. So it basically weakens your immune system. It doesn’t mean just the time that you have the virus. This goes on for several weeks to months to years after you have the virus. A study showed children lost 11% to over 70% of their protective antibodies after measles. And like I said, this means for months or years after measles, people are more likely to catch other infections, like pneumonia, flu or ear infections, and also there is an increased risk of death from those because their immune system has been impaired.”
There’s also a complication here called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.
Sommer said, “This is rare, but it’s also deadly, and this is something that I don’t think I learned in my textbooks in school. So this rare condition is a disease of the brain, and it’s caused by a measles infection, but it can develop seven to 10 years after having the measles. So even in children who seem to fully recover, this can occur seven to 10 years later and it usually occurs if the child is under the age of two when they had the measles infection. The symptoms begin subtly, changes in personality, declining school performance or memory issues. Over time, it can progress to seizures, blindness, loss of speech and movement and ultimately, deaths. It is rare. Like I said, estimated four to 11 cases per 100,000 measles infections and the risk is much higher when infants are infected. Some studies have estimated that one in 600 infants who get measles may develop this condition. During infection, you have high fever, rash, cough, hospital. Remember hospitalization? One out of five, pneumonia, ear infections and diarrhea within weeks to months possible. Brain inflammation, seizures are permanent. Neurologic damage, months to years later, immune system amnesia, leaving people vulnerable to many other infections and years later, the sspe, the fatal brain condition that has no cure.”
Measles is a serious disease and the numbers are going up.
Sommer said, “It’s five times more this year than it was last year. So in 2024 there were 285 cases of measles, with no deaths. Right now, as we speak, they’re 1431 and I believe there are three deaths that occurred in Texas of children. It’s a growing, progressing concern. So like I said, I’m not here to tell you to vaccinate or not. It is your choice, but it’s also my job as a health care provider to give you the tools you need to make that decision. If I don’t go over all of this, because I know I’ve been in a room where a patient has said to me, well, what would you do if you were me? I can’t tell you what to do for you. You have to make that decision on your own, but if I left out that this is a rare condition, that you can have a brain disease seven to 10 years later, and that’s the one in a million person that gets it and then comes back and says, well, my provider never told me that, that’s why I’m telling it. That’s why I’m bringing this up.”
For more information, click here: https://www.keywestsurgicalgroup.com/