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Contagious Comeback Measles cases continue to climb as ‘eliminated’ disease spreads
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arents may now have more to worry about when sending kids back to school. The resurgence of measles, which has been reported in 26 states this year, continues to affect more Americans. The majority of cases remain in New York City and its suburbs, including Rockland County, where in April unvaccinated minors were barred from public places for 30 days. In Washington state, where nearly 80 incidents have been reported, Gov. Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency through May 25 and signed a bill ending personal or philosophical measles vaccine exemptions for most
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parents whose kids will attend day care centers or schools. Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considered the disease eliminated in 2000, there have been more than 1,000 cases reported this year (as of June 13, 2019). That’s the largest annual total since more than 950 cases were reported in 1994. Measles is making a comeback, in part, because of a movement against vaccinations in the U.S. “A critical number of parents have chosen not to vaccinate their children,” says Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “If you get to a few
thousand cases, you’ll start to see children die of measles again.” Some vaccine opponents worry that the mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) vaccine causes autism. However, studies continue to disprove any link. Before the vaccine (which is sometimes combined with varicella, which protects against chickenpox) became available in the U.S. in 1963, about 450 to 500 people died from measles each year. By 2010, that number was down to 63. The two-dose MMR vaccine is 97 percent effective against the virus, according to the CDC. “The suffering we are seeing is avoidable,” says Secretary of Health >
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BY JOHN BACON AND JORGE L. ORTIZ