Worry: Soaring U.S. measles cases set record
“A significant factor contributing to the outbreaks in New York is misinformation in the communities about the safety of the measles/mumps/rubella vaccine,” the CDC said today in a statement. “Some organizations are deliberately targeting these communities with inaccurate and misleading information about vaccines.
“CDC continues to encourage parents to speak to their family’s healthcare provider about the importance of vaccination. CDC also encourages local leaders to provide accurate, scientific-based information to counter misinformation.”
“This current outbreak is deeply troubling and I call upon all healthcare providers to assure patients about the efficacy and safety of the measles vaccine,” said CDC Director Robert Redfield, MD. “And, I encourage all Americans to adhere to CDC vaccine guidelines in order to protect themselves, their families, and their communities from measles and other vaccine preventable diseases.”
In a Health and Human Services (HHS) Wednesday news release, HHS Secretary Alex Azar, MD, added, “With a safe and effective vaccine that protects against measles, the suffering we are seeing is avoidable. The CDC is ready to support public health departments in monitoring and responding to outbreaks, and will continue to receive, review, and compile the latest reports of measles cases.”
The CDC also noted that the recent outbreaks started through importation, when travelers became infected in the growing number of countries that are experiencing widespread measles transmission, then infected people in the United States. The World Health Organization reported this month that global measles infections have increased 300 percent compared with the first three months of 2018, and measles is one of the most contagious diseases known.
OnThursday, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) urged all Californians, especially those traveling internationally, to be fully vaccinated against the disease. It also confirmed 38 measles cases in the state, an increase of 15 over last week’s total and more than triple what state officials recorded at this point last year.
Travel to India, Cambodia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, and the Ukraine has been tied to the California cases, the CDPH said.
Missed opportunities worldwide
In a Wednesday press release, UNICEF said an estimated 169 million children from 2010 through 2017 have missed the first dose of measles vaccine, or 21.1 million per year on average.
“Widening pockets” of unvaccinated children have helped measles surge around the globe, the agency added. And the United States leads all high-income countries in children missing their first dose of measles vaccine, at 2.6 million over those 8 years. France was next, at 608,000, and Great Britain had 527,000.
“The ground for the global measles outbreaks we are witnessing today was laid years ago,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF executive director. “The measles virus will always find unvaccinated children. If we are serious about averting the spread of this dangerous but preventable disease, we need to vaccinate every child, in rich and poor countries alike.”
In addition to the surge in cases noted by the WHO, an estimated 110,000 people, most of them children, died from measles in 2017, a 22 percent increase from the year before, UNICEF said.
