Power of vaccines: Used as directed, they prevent serious complications, even death.

Byline: Jennifer L. Boen

Aug. 12--Last year's measles outbreak in northwest Indiana, the nation's largest in nearly a decade, could have been avoided, health officials say, had home- schooled children been vaccinated against the disease. So could a mumps outbreak last year that affected more than 2,500 people.

The outbreak "shows you how powerful these vaccines can be," said Allen County Health Commissioner Dr. Deborah McMahan, who wants to remind parents, with school starting soon, "Anytime you're out and about, the viruses and bacteria are everywhere. If you don't have that immunity, you are vulnerable." Three of the people who contracted measles required hospitalization, including a hospital worker who developed serious respiratory complications. The total cost to investigate, screen for and contain the disease was almost $170,000. There is no room for complacency, said Dr. Charlene Graves, medical director of the Indiana State Department of Health's immunization program. "How quickly it can be spread in an unprotected population," she said of measles, which was declared no longer "endemic," or constantly present, in the United States in 2000. A detailed account of the measles outbreak was published in the Aug. 3 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. In the unnamed northwest Indiana community, 34 people contracted measles in May and June 2005 after a…