Wednesday, January 14, 2015
4:30 PM-5:30 PM
Nesbitt Hall, Ruth Auditorium
3215 Market Street
Grand Rounds Title: "The Philadelphia Measles Epidemic of 1991: Lesson from the Past or Prologue to the Future"
The measles epidemic of 1991 in Philadelphia was one of the worst in the city's history: 1,400 people were infected and 9 died in a few months. The epidemic centered on two fundamentalist churches, Faith Tabernacle and First-Century Gospel, which refused vaccines as well as medical care for their children. We will discuss the response of the city's courts in trying to balance the rights of individuals to express their religious beliefs and the rights of the public to be free of potentially deadly diseases.