A measles outbreak in California traced to Disneyland has been declared to be over by health officials in Sacramento.
A total of 131 patients in the Golden State were diagnosed with the disease, and 19 were hospitalized, although no one perished from the illness. About 150 total cases were seen across the United States.
Measles cases were first detected in December 2014 among children who visited Disneyland in Anaheim and California Adventure theme parks. Health officials believe the cases started with a person or persons who contracted the disease overseas.
Vaccination programs have largely eliminated the disease from the United States, and health officials believe the most recent outbreak may have been avoided if a larger percentage of the public had obtained immunizations against the disease.
"We are absolutely confident that if we had higher levels of immunity in the community this outbreak would not have happened," Gil Chavez from the California Department of Public Health said.
Measles is a highly contagious disease that spreads from person to person through the air by tiny particles spread through sneezing or coughing. The illness is marked by a sore throat, coughing, red eyes, runny nose and the distinctive red rash that can cover large parts of the victim's body.
The disease can be prevented through inoculation with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
"Most people in the United States are protected against measles through vaccination, so measles cases in the U.S. are uncommon compared to the number of cases before a vaccine was available. Since 2000, when measles was declared eliminated from the U.S., the annual number of people reported to have measles ranged from a low of 37 people in 2004 to a high of 668 people in 2014," The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports.
Measles takes 21 days to incubate, and no reports of new cases have been seen in twice that length of time, leading California health officials to declare the outbreak finished.
Before the disease was largely eliminated from the U.S., between 3 million and 4 million cases were reported in the country each year. Of these victims, 48,000 required hospitalization, 4,000 developed encephalitis (brain swelling) and between 400 and 500 died each year.
Around 20 million people worldwide come down with measles annually, and an average of 146,000 people die from the illness.
"Government at all levels — federal, state and local — worked together to educate health care providers and the public about potential exposures and the risks of the disease. Prompt investigation of cases, interviewing hundreds of contacts of infected people, vaccinating hundreds of at-risk people, and increasing awareness among health care providers about measles, helped to control this outbreak," said Karen Smith, director of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).
Photo: UK Department for International Development | Flickr
