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FRIDAY, September 3 (HealthDay News) -- A 7-year-old San Diego boy brought back more than souvenirs and memories from a family trip to Switzerland a couple years ago.
While there, he became infected with measles, a disease his parents had chosen not to have him vaccinated against. Upon his return to the United States, the boy unknowingly exposed 839 people to measles.
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The story -- a true tale -- is the type of nightmare scenario that has spurred public health officials to campaign for the merits of vaccination in hopes that skeptical parents will understand the necessity of their children's shots.
And the outbreak wasn't even the only one of its kind that year.
"During 2008, there were literally dozens of small outbreaks where measles would be imported from another country," said Dr. Lance Rodewald, director of the immunization services at the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, which is part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Basically, measles is a plane ride away. That's one of the primary signs we need to remain vigilant."
Most parents, it seems, do have their children vaccinated. Immunization coverage has continued to remain high, Rodewald said, despite what he called unfounded fears and rumors that vaccines are somehow unsafe.
But the number of children being exempted from vaccination has increased and is now as high as 4.5 percent, he said.
"One of the concerns we have is that kids who are exempted tend to cluster in specific geographical areas," Rodewald said. "That's sort of a setup for vaccine-preventable diseases to spread."
This stems from what public health experts call "herd immunity," a basic principle of immunization policy: When enough children in a group have been vaccinated, they end up protecting everyone from the spread of disease.
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