Measles is on the Rise
Posted on Thursday, December 25th, 2008 and is filed under Parenting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
The measles’ rate in the United States has more than doubled since 2006 according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Starting in January of 2008, 131 cases of the measles were reported, leaving 15 people hospitalized and four young children. “These cases and outbreaks serve as a reminder that measles can and still does occur in the United States,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD).
One hundred and twelve of the patients were not vaccinated or whose status was unknown. Sixty-three of the patients didn’t receive measles vaccinations because their parents’ religious or philosophical beliefs forbade them. Of the 131 cases, 99 of them showed evidence that the measles was contracted through means of importation, like from a foreign visitor; the CDC states that this way of contracting the measles was high among school-aged children.
U.S. areas like Illinois (32 cases), New York (27), Washington (19), Arizona (14) and California (14) have been affected. Other countries like Israel, Switzerland, Austria and Italy are also reporting outbreaks among populations that refuse vaccination.
Schuchat states that the measles vaccine is highly effective. It’s usually given in a dose combination with the mumps and rubella vaccines (MMR). Ninety-five percent of children who receive the vaccination will not get the measles virus.
The measles virus is a respiratory disease, with symptoms that can cause a rash, coughing, fever, runny nose and watery eyes. It is highly contagious and is spread by an infected person coughing or sneezing within the immediate area. The virus can remain contagious for up to two hours after it leaves its host. The window of opportunity for transmission is four days before and after a person has been exposed.
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