May 03 2008
Another Old Scourge Rising
ABC News reports on another old childhood scourge that is rising again in the United States. A disease that should have been eliminated is back, just in time for summer camp season. Measles is back with a vengeance.
After someone with measles coughs or sneezes, the virus lingers for up to two hours after that person walks away.
"The thing about measles is that it's extremely contagious," said Anne Schuchat, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. "Somebody could get measles without ever having been in the office at the same time as the first child."
The CDC Thursday announced a series of measles outbreaks between January and April 25 that resulted in 64 measles cases in the United States — the highest number reported in the same time period since 2001. Officials blame a spike in the number of travelers bringing measles in from Israel and Europe. Once in the United States, measles has been able to take hold because more and more people are choosing not to get vaccinated, Schuchat said.
Eleven of the U.S. residents who contracted measles were between the ages of 5 and 19 years old.
"My suggestion would be that summer camps oblige all foreign students to be immunized," said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University's School of Medicine in Tennessee.
Several outbreaks of mumps have occurred in the past few years as well. This is a direct result of people refusing to have their children immunized. Measles is not a trivial disease. It is estimated that some 200 million people have died in the past 150 years as a result of complications from the disease. (It should be pointed out that the death rate in developed countries is low, however.) But complications are most common - and much worse - among adults who catch the disease.
By failing to vaccinate your children or yourself, you are endangering other people.





