Statistics seem to back that up. Because of high United States vaccination rates, citizens were averaging about 60 cases per year as of 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of those cases originated outside the country.
But statistics can be deceiving. While United States citizens born in this country are largely vaccinated thanks to good health care and school admission requirements, those born outside the country have not been so fortunate. As a result, the CDC estimate that measles still causes the death of more than 100,000 people per year on a worldwide basis, most of them age 5 or younger.
Considering the high immigration rates to the first world, many unvaccinated children are starting to show up in schools, amusement parks and other areas where there are communal gatherings. And that can spell trouble for a world that may have relaxed too much against the threat of this often-deadly disease.
Disneyland Outbreak
In December 2014, a measles outbreak believed to have started at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., soon spread to an estimated 24 states, with approximately 117 people believed to have been infected. Many of the children who caught the disease had not received the vaccination as infants, thereby leaving them vulnerable.
That points to the major problem in battling measles. Measles remains one of the major causes of death among young children, particularly among the very young. In 2013, there were an estimated 145,700 deaths worldwide. But the good news is that vaccinations may have prevented an even larger toll – it's estimated that more than 15 million children around the world would have died from 2000-2013 without the measles vaccine.
During that same period, thanks to increased vaccination, the number of cases worldwide dropped an estimated 75 percent, with more than 80 percent of the world’s children getting a measles vaccine dose by their first birthday.
Measles is part of the paramyxovirus cluster and is typically passed through proximity. It is strictly a human affliction and does not occur in animals. Thus, it remains prevalent in large public spaces where children and other unvaccinated people may gather. Recently, a college in Queensland, Australia experienced a measles outbreak, and clusters of the disease keep cropping up unexpectedly.
Problematic Beliefs
Adding to the difficulty in eradicating measles is the problem of parents who believe that measles vaccinations themselves are the problem.
Most of the issues with vaccination can be tied to one particularly discredited bit of research that linked the measles vaccine to autism, causing some cautious parents to withhold their children from having the shots administered. Surprisingly, it’s not superstitious belief among the uneducated and poor that’s the lone camp with this belief. Wealthy Marin County near San Francisco, a bedroom community for the high-technology set, was found to be one of the leaders in the number of unvaccinated children applying for school admission.
Lingering anti-vaccination beliefs put their children at risk. A National Consumers League survey in 2010 found that approximately one-third of parents with children younger than age 18 believed that vaccinations for a variety of illnesses could cause autism. Of all adults surveyed, 29 percent of them believed that to be true.
Let’s repeat this clearly: There is no widely accepted scientific evidence that links vaccinations to autism or any other condition.
The CDC largely took control of the measles in the 1980s when they began a major education push to get more children immunized. Before that effort, it was estimated that measles caused more than 2.5 million deaths each year worldwide.
Working closely with lawmakers across the country, they managed to institute laws that required immunization proof for public school enrollment, with many private schools also adopting the measures. The impact was immediate, and measles cases slowly dropped to the point where it was believed to be largely eradicated among native-born Americans by 2000.
That’s gradually changing. In 2014, the CDC reported more than 600 cases of measles in the United States, its highest count since the disease was eradicated. The trend is growing year by year -- there were more cases discovered in January 2015 than in all of 2012.
Symptoms of Measles
Measles has one major tell-tale sign – red, freckled rashes all over the body, usually accompanied by classic cold symptoms – runny nose, cough, sore throat, fever and eye irritation.
The onset of measles usually begins with a high fever that arrives approximately 10 days to two weeks after first exposure. It lasts about a week, with the rash lingering on the skin for up to three weeks after symptoms subside.
Measles is a highly contagious disease that is easily spread through coughing and sneezing, which spread secretions through the air and on surfaces. It’s recommended that anyone suffering from measles be isolated and confined to bed rest as much as possible for the duration. The virus is hardy and can remain active for as long as two hours after hitting the surrounding areas. The infected are at their highest levels of contagion about four days before the rash surfaces and remain so four about four days after the rash is visible.
Unfortunately, once contracted, there is no real treatment other than getting plenty of rest, staying hydrated and taking over-the-counter medications to help with runny noses, headache and fever. If eye and ear infections occur as a result of measles, some doctors recommend antibiotic treatments to alleviate those side effects. Supplements of Vitamin A are also recommended once the outbreak occur to help reinforce the eye’s battle against the disease.
Unless and until more children, particularly new immigrants, get on the vaccination bandwagon, measles will continue to be a major health problem. The vaccination for it is often combined with rubella and mumps vaccines but can be administered on its own.
It is strongly suggested that parents make sure their children’s vaccination schedules for all major childhood diseases are up to date. It will speed admission to most schools and prevent major problems for your children’s health down the road.