Even though measles was declared as eliminated nearly 20 years ago as a major public health threat across the United States, the latest outbreak has now had 79 cases reported to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention since the beginning of this year, according to The New York Times.
By Wednesday, there have been fifty cases of the disease alone in Washington state.
The highlight contagious outbreak has continued to spread after beginning in Clark County, Washington, on January 1.
Health officials said earlier this week there were another nine cases pending, including some in King County, which includes Seattle, and Multnomah County in Oregon, which includes Portland.
"Measles in Washington has spread and health officials urge immunization," the Washington State Department of Health said, noting how the outbreak in Clark County was affecting predominantly unvaccinated children.
The outbreak is spread across 10 states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.
The CDC said Washington and New York are the only two states with current outbreaks.
"These outbreaks are associated with travelers who brought measles back from Israel and Ukraine, where large measles outbreaks are occurring," the CDC said.
The outbreak in New York hit an Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn late last year after a child caught the virus on a visit to Israel.
But Clark County in Washington's outbreak is likely due to it having the lowest vaccination rates in Washington State, with state figures reporting only 78 percent of the kindergarten through high school population is vaccinated.
Portland also has a high rate of families opting not vaccinating their children for medical, philosophical, or religious reasons.
Epidemiologists consider a rate of 93 percent or higher necessary to help prevent public measles outbreaks.
“If you have a population that is unvaccinated, it’s like throwing a match into a can of gasoline,” said Dr. Alan Melnick, Clark County’s public health director, to the NYT. “Measles is exquisitely contagious and immunization rates have been dropping.”
So far, 34 of the cases in Clark County were children age 10 or younger, with 42 of the patients not having been immunized against the contagious virus.
"The measles vaccine isn't perfect, but one dose is 93 percent effective at preventing illness," Dr. Alan Melnick, Clark County's health officer, said in a statement. "The recommended two doses of the measles vaccine provide even greater protection – 97 percent."
Measles can lead to permanent neurological damage, deafness, and even death.
The virus can linger in the air for more than two hours after an infected person leaves the area.
Symptoms of the measles include fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes, and a red rash.
“I’m very worried that these measles epidemics are becoming a new normal,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, a co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Dr. Hotez said misinformation spread quickly about vaccines and state lawmakers have even allowed that to influence their legislation.
“The enablers are state legislators in those states, that have allowed themselves to be played,” he said.
-WN.com, Maureen Foody
Photo:
AP / Gillian Flaccus
