More Americans were infected with measles from January to April in 2014 than in the first four months of the last 18 years.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the increase of measles cases in the U.S. is at its most rapid pace since 1996 due to unvaccinated travelers bringing the disease back into the country, most in New York and California. Ohio also reported 13 Amish people who may have caught the infection. Some 189 measles cases were reported in 2013, while 220 people were infected in 2011.
Health officials report 129 measles cases were reported by the middle of April in 13 states. Most of them are in Washington state with 13, New York with 24 and California with 58. Many of the patients had traveled to the Philippines, where a epidemic-level measles outbreak recently reported 20,000 illnesses and 69 deaths as of February 2014.
"Measles is still far too common in many parts of the world," CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden said. "Globally, an estimated 20 million people get measles and 122,000 die from the disease each year." While these epidemics come from outside of the country, infection is spreading and measles resurfacing because of the lack of vaccinations in the United States. More than 250 people were infected with mumps in central Ohio over the last few months, while there are more reported cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, as well.
''It's a shock to younger physicians that their own waiting room or emergency room is where people can get measles,'' CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat said. New York City health authorities say two measles infections came from medical facilities.
Schuchat advised doctors to place patients who they suspect to have a measles case in an isolated room with adequate ventilation to keep the air from going around the facility. Health practitioners are also urged to wear respirators and surgical masks as protection against the infection. The infected patient should be asked to wear a mask as well. The measles virus is highly contagious and spreads through the air quite easily.
Over the past 20 years, vaccination prevented around 71 million illnesses and nearly 9 million hospitalizations. There were 3 million measles cases in the United States before a vaccine was made available in 1963. Dr. Paul Offit from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia noted that people had forgotten how bad the infection was before a vaccine was introduced and now, measles is reappearing. "It would cause 48,000 hospitalizations and about 500 deaths," he said. "Nobody had to be convinced to get a measles vaccine."
