According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, measles was declared eliminated in the U.S.in 2000.
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Researchers in the new study, presented at the annual conference of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, found that one in eight children – almost 9 million – is at risk of contracting measles because of gaps in vaccination.
Measles is a highly contagious disease that can lead to pneumonia, encephalitis, hospitalization and, occasionally, death.
Schaffner said the Virginia child’s case is typical, in that people with measles often expose many others when they go to a doctor’s office.
In addition, other kids are left unprotected due to delays in receiving the vaccine. The finding was based on data in a national study known as the National Immunization Survey-Teen. The outbreak sickened around 117 people. This ensures the number of people vulnerable to infection is small and helps protect those who can’t be vaccinated by preventing their exposure to the virus in the community. The child might have infected others also.
Lead author Robert Bednarczyk is an assistant professor of global health and epidemiology from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta. “We don’t have a very wide buffer before these population-immunity estimates start dipping” below the levels needed to prevent wide transmission of the virus, Bednarczyk said.
Since most of these outbreaks occur in clusters of unvaccinated people and aren’t regularly found in the general population, Bednarczyk says it’s an out of sight, out of mind mentality.
He noted the biggest concern is children who haven’t received any doses for a variety of reasons, including lack of access, being unaware of the need for vaccines and being opposed to vaccines. “And those were the kids who got measles”.
Rubella, mumps and measles is usually administered in two doses-one between the 12th and 15th birthday and second between the 4th and 6th birthdays.
As per the officials, the diagnosed child has received just the first of two vaccine doses on schedule.
The measles is a weakened live virus, and while it does not cause disease, it is not recommended for those whose immune systems are compromised. Only three states, most recently California, do not offer nonmedical exemptions.
Measles, pictiured, is caught through direct contact, and via droplets that can spread through the air.
The child was too young to be fully vaccinated against the measles and had only received one dose of the MMR vaccine. Among 17-year-olds, 4.6% had received no doses of MMR.
Number of children who didn’t get immunized increased in the recent times as the parents are anxious about the quality and safety issues.
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It includes not only unvaccinated children, but also accounts for delayed immunizations, which would leave kids vulnerable until their first dose of the MMR vaccine. In 2014, 668 cases of measles were reported there, and this year started off with a multi-state outbreak that originated in Disneyland.
