Gilbert pediatrician speaks out after kids' measles exposure

Sooner or later, anger comes knocking for the parent of a tiny cancer patient.

It came for Tim Jacks when a bacterial infection put his now-3-year-old daughter, Maggie, in the hospital for 10 days in October. That time, the Gilbert pediatrician said, he took to the family's blog and "ranted and raved" at the germs responsible until he felt better.

It returned Jan. 25, when a nurse called the family with a grim piece of news: Hours after Maggie, a leukemia patient, had finished her latest round of chemotherapy Jan. 21, she and 10-month-old brother Eli had possibly been exposed to measles during a routine blood draw at a Mesa urgent-care center.

Both children received shots of immunoglobulin to boost their immune systems but must be quarantined at home for 21 days. The quarantine meant the relative relaxation surrounding a break from chemo — as well as a family trip to Flagstaff to see the snow — was off.

Again, their father signed on to the family's online CaringBridge journal to vent his frustration, this time weaving in information about the history of measles and the populations left vulnerable when people choose not to vaccinate. Kids like Maggie, who has a compromised immune system, or Eli, who is too young to receive the vaccine, rely on "herd immunity" for protection against infectious diseases, Jacks explained in the post.

"I assume you love your child just like I love mine. I assume that you are trying to make good choices regarding their care," he wrote in an open letter to "the parent of the unvaccinated child who exposed my family to measles."

"Please realize that your child does not live in a bubble," he wrote. "When your child gets sick, other children are exposed. My children."

He hit "publish," expecting to get 60 or so views. He lost count after 7,000.

The column was picked up by local pediatrics site Kid Nurse on Wednesday. It quickly racked up nearly 6,000 comments from supporters and opponents alike. As of Monday, that version had been shared more than 870,000 times on Facebook, and national news outlets CNN and the Daily Beast had retold the family's story.

"I'm a nobody, so (the media attention) is kind of novel and interesting and a little bit scary," Jacks told The Republic. "But as a pediatrician, it provides me a temporary voice, so I plan to take advantage of it as long as my family and their health allows. As a father, my first priority is my family and taking care of them."

So far, both children have developed a bit of congestion -- a change that's tricky to interpret, since runny noses can precede measles' telltale rash but are ubiquitous during cold-and-flu season.

"My wife is a stay-at-home mom, but now she's a little more limited in what she can do," Jacks said. "Normally, she has people come over and visit and help, and obviously that can't happen now. In the past, our fear was everyone getting (Maggie) sick, because she was immunocompromised. Now the fear is: is she going to get the world sick?"

Eli and Maggie have more than a week remaining of quarantine. Jacks -- who was tested to make sure he couldn't spread the measles himself -- continues to see patients at Gilbert Pediatrics.

Each physician there recommends and encourages vaccination, Jacks said, but the office does not have a policy refusing service to children who haven't been immunized.

"The mission is to serve the community, rather than turn kids away," he said. "Even if you tell me at every well visit you don't want to vaccinate, I'm going to ask you, 'Why?' and try to answer your questions."

Jacks said he has applied a similar strategy with friends, family members and others who have written to him inquiring about the safety of vaccines in the wake of the media blitz surrounding his column. As long as the conversation doesn't devolve into vitriol and accusations of brainwashing, he said, he's happy to debate the topic.

"I'm doing what I can to increase awareness and get the word out," he added. "Right now, everybody is OK, but we are far from out of the woods."

Measles in Arizona

Health officials said a Phoenix-area woman exposed the Jacks youngsters and more than 190 others at the Phoenix Children's Hospital East Valley Center before doctors knew she had the disease. Officials connected her case to an outbreak that originated at Disneyland before Christmas. That case is believed to be responsible for at least 100 confirmed cases of measles in California, Arizona, Washington, Utah, Colorado and Oregon since.

To date, Arizona has seven confirmed cases of measles, which begins with symptoms including headache, runny nose, fever and watery eyes, followed by a rash that can cover the body.

Five of the cases involve residents of Pinal County; the other two are residents of Maricopa County. An estimated 1,000 people may have been exposed to measles through the Arizona cases.