To Fear or Not to Fear? That Is the Measles Question

Almost everyone in the United States gets vaccinated against measles, and nearly every measles outbreak starts with an imported case, says a CDC expert.

In this photo taken Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015, Jane Szalkowski poses with her 6-month old granddaughter, Livia Simon, who is currently under a measles quarantine as a precaution in Oakland, Calif. The baby visited a doctor's office earlier this month where a child with measles was diagnosed. In a rash of cases that public health officials are rushing to contain, at least 70 people in six states and Mexico have fallen ill since mid-December, most of them from Calif. The vast majority of those who got sick had not gotten the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, vaccine. In this photo taken Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015, Jane Szalkowski poses with her 6-month old granddaughter, Livia Simon, who is currently under a measles quarantine as a precaution in Oakland, Calif. The baby visited a doctor's office earlier this month where a child with measles was diagnosed. In a rash of cases that public health officials are rushing to contain, at least 70 people in six states and Mexico have fallen ill since mid-December, most of them from Calif. The vast majority of those who got sick had not gotten the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, vaccine. (AP Photo/Dave Simon)AP Photo/Dave Simon

So far 17 states and the District of Columbia have had measles outbreaks in 2015, and we are on track to set another record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “It seems like everyone is talking about measles,” said Anne Schuchat, M.D.

In 2014, there were 644 measles cases in the United States, which is by far the most in 20 years. As of Feb. 20, 2015, there have been 133. Most of those are linked to the outbreak at Disneyland in California. 

“It’s unusual, but to put it in perspective, this is night and day compared to 50 years ago,” said Schuchat, who is Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She is also a Rear Admiral in the United States Public Health Service.

Measles has been eliminated from the Americas. This means there is no continuous circulation of the infectious disease for 12 months, according to Schuchat. Outbreaks in the United States are usually imported, including the one at Disneyland this year. An infected traveler was probably the source, and unvaccinated children represented most of the victims.

The chart-topping outbreak in 2014 was also imported, from the Phillipines, and spread among unvaccinated Amish people.

In 1963, when the measles vaccine was first licensed, 140,000 people got measles in the United States. From 1958-1962, an average of 503,282 measles cases and 432 measles-associated deaths were reported each year, according to the CDC.

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