Contagious disease's spread highlights dilemma over unvaccinated kids
Parents who opt out of or delay getting their children immunized may run a higher risk of them catching and passing along diseases that once were nearly eradicated. An old childhood disease reared its head in Minnesota last year, infecting five young children and killing one of them, according to a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The outbreak, of a disease known as "Hib" for short, is the latest of several contagious diseases making encore appearances after having been all but vanquished through immunization. Although the Hib outbreak was small, public health officials worry that parents opting not to vaccinate their children -- or delaying until kids enter school -- may put more communities at risk for similar outbreaks in the future.