Biggest US Measles Outbreak in 10 Years
So far this year, 127 Americans have contracted measles (rubeola), say Federal health officials, creating the largest measles outbreak in the United States since 1997. The current outbreak is believed to be the result of unvaccinated Americans acquiring the viral disease during overseas travel.
States with measles cases now include Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Washington. The disease has also been reported in Washington, DC. Measles was acquired in Belgium, China, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, and Switzerland, according to the CDC.
The lack of vaccination among some American children is due to the increasing use of personal or religious exemptions by parents, owing to their unsubstantiated fears of the risk of autism. Reuters reports that, last month, measles was declared endemic in England for the first time since the mid-1990s, because parents declined vaccinations for their children.
Photo of child with measles rash from the CDC.
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Measles endemic in Britain. A first-world country! There is no excuse for this. If I were a medical researcher, this is the kind of thing that would make me want to throw up my petri dishes and stomp off. People are too dumb to use the good medicine that's available to them.