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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next >> Measles is highly contagious and requires high vaccination rates. In a room of 100 people, only one of whom actually has measles, another 90 to 95 people will become infected, Seward said. "We need very high levels of population immunity, approximately 95 percent," she said.
The first cases in the current outbreak appeared in April in Washington state. Eight children in one household fell ill, four of them after attending a church conference, which may have been the source of the outbreak. In all, 19 people contracted measles, 11 of them home-schooled children who were not required to be vaccinated. The particular strain identified had been circulating in Japan and Europe, officials said.
In May, four girls aged 10 to 14 contracted measles in Illinois. All had attended at least one event together; the events were also attended by a teenager who had just returned from Italy and reportedly had fever and rash. Officials were unable to get more information on the traveler, but the strain identified this time had been circulating in Italy. Through July, a total of 32 cases were identified in Illinois, 25 of them in home-schooled children.
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Other cases have been identified in New York (27), Arizona (14), California (14), Wisconsin (seven), Michigan (four), Hawaii (five), Arkansas (two), and Washington, D.C., and Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Virginia (one each), officials said.
Of the 131 people throughout the United States who contracted measles this year, 112 were unvaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown. Sixteen were under 1 year of age and too young to be vaccinated.
Ninety-five patients were eligible for the vaccination, but 63 were not vaccinated because of their parents' beliefs, officials said.
Seventeen of the total cases were "importations" -- three each from Switzerland and Italy; two each from Israel, Belgium and India; one each from Germany, China, Pakistan, Russia and the Philippines. Israel, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Great Britain are all reporting outbreaks among individuals who have refused vaccination. Britain and Italy are reporting endemic measles, officials said.
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