Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Year : 2, Issue : 13
Measles cases in the US are rising, as major health organizations plead for increased vaccination rates and experts fear the virus will multiply among unvaccinated populations.
Most notably, this year’s tally of measles cases has now outpaced last year’s total.
On Thursday, there were 64 confirmed cases in 17 states, compared with 58 cases in the entirety of last year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). By Friday, the tally in Chicago grew by two to a total of 17.
Experts say that these incidents could approach the outbreak that spanned 31 states in 2019, when 1,274 patients were sickened and 128 were hospitalized in the worst US measles outbreak in decades.
Yet the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is extremely effective. Just one dose offers about 93% protection against infection, while the second dose is 97% effective – and the protection is often lifelong. Treatments, isolation and airborne precautions also stop the spread of the virus.
“Every measles outbreak can be entirely preventable,” said Dr Aniruddha Hazra, associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago.
93% by last Monday – had been linked to international travel and most cases have been among children old enough to be vaccinated, the CDC says.
Last month, there were 10 measles cases in south Florida, most of them linked to an outbreak at an elementary school, and doctors are still on the lookout for cases due to the long incubation period of the virus.
The Florida surgeon general, Dr Joseph Ladapo, controversially went against CDC recommendations and allowed unvaccinated children who had been exposed to measles to return to school without quarantining.
Ninety percent of unvaccinated people will become infected if they are exposed to measles. The virus can linger in the air for hours and infect people who never come into direct contact with a patient. Each patient can infect an average of 12 to 18 other people if the community is not protected by vaccines.
Source: The Guardian
