Worst U.S. measles outbreak in 20 years
By Tony Pugh, McClatchy Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — After declaring in 2000 that measles had been eliminated from the U.S. through a successful vaccination program, government officials now say the number of confirmed cases has reached a 20-year high as people who get the disease abroad bring it back to America.
Unvaccinated Americans and foreign visitors who traveled to the Philippines, Europe, Africa and Asia are the main culprits in a growing spike of U.S. measles cases that began several years ago and exploded this year.
As of last month, 288 cases have been reported in 18 states, the highest year-to-date total since 1994, when 963 cases were reported by year’s end. Ninety-seven percent – 280 – of the 2014 U.S. cases were imported from other countries.
A highly contagious viral respiratory disease that grows in cells at the back of the throat and lungs, measles is spread through the air by coughing, sneezing and even breathing. It can cause fever and coldlike symptoms, along with a stubborn rash.
Thanks Jenny McCarthy!
To know more about the horrors of diseases we have largely “conquered” go to Frontline.org and watch The Vaccination Wars. Many doctors have never seen whooping cough or measles thanks to vaccines and may not even recognize these illnesses. I hope well-meaning parents who have not vaccinated watch this report and then rush to get their precious children vaccinated before the bad thing happens. Think of how a parent would feel if they lost a beloved child to some illness that could have been prevented by a simple vaccine.
The outbreak of Measles is so unnecessary in the year 2014.