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Measles, a vaccine-preventable infectious disease, was eliminated as an endemic disease from the United States in 2000. Now, 25 years later, it has spread from an outbreak in Texas to nine states across the country.
The measles outbreak that began in Texas has now spread at least 164 people, with one unvaccinated child dying from it. It was the first measles death in the U.S. since 2015.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that there have been three distinct measles outbreaks. The infection has now been reported and confirmed in New Mexico, Alaska, California, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island.
According to the CDC, 20 percent of the cases that have been reported have required hospitalization. Out of that number, twenty-nine percent of those under the age of five that have been infected have required hospitalization.
Dr. Jennifer Shuford, Commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, told the Texas House Committee on Public Health, “Measles is highly contagious. It’s probably the most contagious virus that we know of.”
She also reported that the Texas DSHS expects the number cases to continue to grow due to the low measles vaccination rates in the state. It already is the worst measles outbreak in the state of Texas in almost 30 years.
When asked by State Rep. John Bucy III asked why outbreaks like this are happening, “especially if we’ve eliminated this disease in 2000,” Dr. Shuford replied, “There has been just some decreased interest or distrust in vaccines, and that’s caused a decrease in vaccination rates.”
“If someone chooses not to get the vaccine, not because of health reasons, but they choose not to get it living in a denser population or community, they’re not just impacting their own safety. They could be impacting the safety of their neighbors and their communities, correct,” Bucy also asked Shuford, KXAN News reports.
“They’re allowing it to be able to spread to other people,” Dr. Shuford responded.
“I think some of the distrust is caused, I think, in some parts rightly or wrongly by perceived information, or sometimes actual misinformation coming from people in authority,” State Rep. James Frank said. “The measles vaccine seems a very clear case something we should do, and yet there are other things that are called vaccines that sometimes I don’t think operate like vaccines and don’t keep you from getting it.”
So in addition to a dysentery outbreak in Oregon (not a meme) and the spread of bird flu wreaking havoc, measles has become a significant health concern in the United States. And this is all happening as hundreds of staff members under the Department of Health and Human Services’ responsibility, including those with the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the CDC, were recently given termination notices by order of the Trump administration.