The last recorded USA death caused by measles, a vaccine-preventable disease, was in 2003.
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A woman in Washington state is the first person to die of measles in the United States in a dozen years, authorities said today. Clallam County had an outbreak of five cases this year. The woman was from Clallam Country, which is located in northwestern Washington.
Dr. Jeanette Stehr-Green, interim Clallam County health officer, said they were able to link the local cases through either family members, co-workers, and/or having been in the same medical center as a case that was infectious at that time.
The agency added that the woman was there at the same time as another person who turned out to have been contagious with the virus.
The last active case of measles in the state was reported in late April, and because no one has reported symptoms since then, it is believed there will be no further developments, Moyer said.
Officials said she did not manifest the usual hallmark symptoms of measles and hence the infection was not discovered until after her death, which occurred in the spring.
From January until May 29, 173 people in 21 states and the District of Columbia developed measles, and 117 of those cases were linked to Disneyland in Orange County, California, according to the CDC.
For Schleiss, the woman’s death isn’t that surprising given the recent anti-vaccine waves that splashed Washington state. In addition, he performs and writes poetry, and has won numerous contests. Other information such as her age was not released to protect her identity, but they did say that she was not elderly.
“This tragic situation illustrates the importance of immunizing as many people as possible to provide a high level of community protection against measles”, Moyer said.
The Disneyland outbreak stirred up debate over mandatory vaccinations.
According to a report by the USA Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 178 people who caught measles from January 1 to June 26 in 24 US states. Certainly, there’ll be young people who never saw Garcia play among the tens of thousands of fans, but they’ll likely be outnumbered Deadheads who display more than a touch of grey. Most of the parents listed personal reasons for not vaccinating their children. Opponents of the law already have mounted an effort to repeal the legislation, which was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown Tuesday.
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Measles is one of the most contagious viruses and spreads easily when infected people breathe, cough or sneeze.
