Measles outbreak powers on with 90 more cases reported
More than 550 confirmed cases of measles in the U.S. have been reported since January, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Most cases are among individuals living across 20 states who have not been vaccinated for the disease. CDC says it is the second-greatest number of cases reported since it was eliminated in 2000.
Measles still hits some countries in Europe, Asia, the Pacific, and Africa and those traveling from these areas are carrying the potentially fatal disease into the U.S., striking communities where populations of unvaccinated people live – Orthodox Jewish communities for example – the hardest.
The states that have reported cases to CDC are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.
Some New York City neighborhoods such as Williamsburg, where measles cases are increasing within one ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. Last week, government officials there were imposing fines of $1,000 among unvaccinated people who refuse to get immunized against the virus. A report in the New York Times said 20 city health inspectors were reviewing the vaccination records at yeshivas, and that “15 disease detectives started interviewing those who had potentially been exposed to the highly contagious virus.”
The World Health Organization says 89, 780 people died from measles in 2016 – mostly children under the age of five. The CDC says the MMR vaccine is 97 percent effective and strongly urges that all children get two doses of it.
