Families make the choice of not having their child vaccinated which puts their child at a greater risk of infection for any king of disease that could be life threatening for them and the people they are around. Health officials say 102 people in 14 countries have been reported seeing cases of the measles in January. It has also been linked to Disneyland in California in mid-December.

Fortunately there has been one known report of measles in Colorado. Jennifer Stone, a registered nurse at Smoky Hill High School, described measles as being a highly contagious viral infection that causes rash, cough, and sore throat.

The outbreak became apparent after people reported coming down with measles after visiting Disneyland in December 15-20. In southern California, a day care had been shut down after a child there had contracted the measles. Another case has been reported in Samohi Infant Toddler Center in Santa Monica High School, a facility for 24 young students of children and staff members.

“I dont think that we should be worried here at Smoky Hill because we have a 99 percent compliance rate with vaccinations, which means it is highly unlikely that we will get a measles outbreak in our student population,” Stone said.

Parents can refuse to have their children get vaccinated, but the choice to “opt out” is possibly going to be repealed according to an article by San Los Mercury News.”We have very few kids who are not vaccinated so if we were to have an outbreak, the health department in Arapahoe county could require kids who are not vaccinated to stay home for up to 21 days so they don’t get sick,” Stone said.