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Surge of measles cases related to importations
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Measles cases have reached the highest reported number in the United States for the first 4 months of the year since 1996, according to this week’s MMWR.
“Today’s measles outbreaks are too often the result of people opting out,” Assistant Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service and Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Distress, Anne Schuchat, MD, said during a telebriefing. “Most of the people, or 84% of the US cases that are reported to have measles this year so far, were not vaccinated or didn’t know their vaccination status. Of the unvaccinated US residents, 68% had personal belief exemptions or essentially opted out of being vaccinated.”
Anne Schuchat
As of April 18, 2014, 129 cases have been reported and 34 have been from importations involving both US residents who traveled abroad and foreign visitors coming to the United States. Seventeen of those importations are from the Philippines, which is experiencing a very large outbreak with about 20,000 confirmed or suspected cases and 69 deaths through late February.
“Measles is still far too common in many parts of the world. Globally, an estimated 20 million people get measles and 122,000 of them die from the diseases each year, and with more global travel and trade diseases can spread faster than ever…Borders cannot stop diseases anymore, but vaccination can,” CDC Director, Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH, said.
Thomas Frieden
According to this week’s MMWR, from Jan. 1 to April 18, 2014, there have been 58 confirmed cases of measles in California alone. Most cases occurred in patients aged 20 years or older (55%), followed by those aged 5 to 19 years (29%), 1 to 4 years (10%), and younger than 12 months (5%). No deaths have been reported this year.
Thirteen of California’s cases were due to importations, eight of which are from the Philippines, followed by India (n=2), Singapore (n=1), Vietnam (n=1), and Western Europe (n=1).
“Health departments around the country are working hard to stamp out the chance of transmission from the imported cases,” Schuchat said. “Measles is making a lot of visits here (the United States) this year, but we don’t want it to take up residence.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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