Vaccine Times: US Measles Update

Did someone mention that only third world countries have outbreaks of these "unclean" diseases like measles?  Well, the US is rapidly gaining the reputation of a nation with a third rate health-care system, and it would seem that quite a bit of data does not help the cause for the US to tout itself ans first rate.  The main thing to note when looking at this data is the vaccination status of all the people getting measles.

The U.S. is experiencing the highest numbers of measles in 15 years, according to a recent report by the CDC. During 2001-2008 the median number of cases has been 56 per year. So far, through May 20, 2011 that number has more than doubled. Here is a summary of the latest numbers:

• 118 cases reported (105 lab confirmed), the highest number reported for this period since 1996
• 105 (89%) associated with importation from other countries
• 105 (89%) patients were unvaccinated
• 47  (40%) patients were hospitalized and nine had pneumonia, no one had encephalitis and no one died
• All but one hospitalized patients were unvaccinated
• Patients ranged in age from 3 months to 68 years
  • 18 (15%) were aged <12 months
  • 24 (20%) were aged 1–4 years
  • 23 (19%) were aged 5–19 years
  • 53 (45%) were aged ≥20 years

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