A surge in measles cases across the country has raised concerns that the United States is at risk of losing its measles-free status, which it has held since 2000.
As of last week, there were 41 confirmed measles cases in 15 states and New York City, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).With this, the country is already on track to surpassare doing A total of 58 cases detected in 2023.
“I don’t think this year is off to a great start. And I definitely think there’s concern that this trend will continue and we’ll see more cases. It’s early, but it’s something to be concerned about. I think so,” said Sarah Lim, an infectious disease physician and member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Much of the attention regarding measles cases has focused on Florida, where 10 cases have been detected in two counties so far.
However, cases have also been confirmed in states including Arizona, California, Georgia, Indiana and Maryland.
Asked for comment, the Florida Department of Health said in a statement: “Details of the epidemiological investigation are confidential, but many media outlets are reporting false information and politicizing this outbreak.”
The department emphasized that while vaccination rates are declining nationally, at least 97% of students at Manatee Bay Elementary School, which has had the most measles cases in Florida this year, have received at least one dose. did.
Florida’s concentration of cases in schools and Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo’s response to the outbreak have drawn intense scrutiny. In his letter to parents, Ladapo recommended, but did not mandate, that unvaccinated children be kept home for three weeks in line with CDC recommendations.
The CDC recommends that people who do not have immunity to measles quarantine for 21 days if they may have been exposed to measles. Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) cited Ladapo’s letter as the reason for her firing.
In his letter, Ladapo cited “high rates of community immunity” as part of the reason the state is not requiring unvaccinated students to stay home. This high vaccination rate has positioned the United States as a measles-free country, but experts worry that could change if outbreaks like the one in Florida continue.
“If we lose that status, it just means that the cases are locally transmitted, not imported. And we are already in that situation, with local transmission. is widespread, and if it continues to increase, we will have to say that it has not been eradicated,” said Monica Gandhi, an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Head of HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine.
Similar first world countries, such as the UK, have lost measles exclusion status in recent years, only regaining it in 2021 after losing it in 2018.
As the CDC points out, the World Health Organization (WHO) defines measles elimination as “a situation in which transmission of endemic measles virus occurs in a particular geographic area (such as a region or country) in the presence of a surveillance system.” has not existed for at least 12 months.” Good performance has been confirmed. ”
“If the measles outbreak continues for more than a year, the United States could lose measles-free status,” the agency notes on its website.
Federal health authorities maintain the Healthy People 2030 goal of achieving 95 percent MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccination coverage. This percentage of children has declined slightly since 2019, dropping from the ideal 95% of kindergarteners nationwide to 93.1% in the 2022-2023 school year.
The CDC estimated that this vaccination rate would put approximately 250,000 kindergarten children at risk of measles infection. Unlike influenza and COVID-19 vaccines, the full measles vaccine schedule is almost completely effective at preventing infection.
Lim emphasized that “elimination” does not mean “eradication.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has been blamed for hampering vaccination rates among children, but Mr Lim said “travel is catching up” as travelers return from countries where measles has not been eradicated. He pointed out that the increase in the number of people may also be causing an increase in the number of infected people.
Paul Offit, director of the Center for Vaccine Education at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said two major events in the United States after measles eradication had a major impact on vaccination rates. A study linking vaccines, autism and the coronavirus pandemic has been debunked. Offit argues that these have created sentiments that are detrimental to public health.
“We’ve gone into this liberal left hook and seen hundreds of bills introduced to basically abolish vaccine mandates. Masking mandates, quarantine mandates, quarantine mandates, etc. This. “It’s kind of a backlash against the public health arsenal, which is vaccination and isolation in the case of measles. And I think Florida is emblematic of that in some ways,” Offit said.
Offit suggests that the reason people are less worried about measles infection is because they don’t really understand what it means, especially for children.
“I think we’ve not only largely eliminated measles, but we’ve also eliminated the memory of measles. I don’t think people remember how sick measles can be,” Offit said.
Measles infections usually present with cold-like symptoms and a characteristic rash that forms several days after symptoms begin. Offit stressed that measles is highly contagious and poses a threat to immunocompromised patients, so “it’s not a disease you want in the hospital.”
“If you let your guard down, the measles will come back. I have the scars of the 1991 measles outbreak in Philadelphia,” Offit said, noting that the measles outbreak, which originated in a local religious community, quickly spread to the surrounding area. He recalled how the virus spread throughout the area and ultimately killed nine children.
When asked what public health measures he would advise in light of the recent outbreak, Offit, who recently wrote a book on COVID-19 misinformation titled “Tell Me When It’s Over,” was candid. “Vaccination” was the answer.
With a coverage rate of 93%, the United States continues to enjoy strong public protection against widespread measles outbreaks. But for people like Gandhi, the development of vaccine-preventable diseases is a cause for concern. Gandhi points to last year’s polio paralysis outbreak in New York, which is also considered eradicated in the United States, as an example of why strong mass immunization is so important.
“The concern is that these are vaccine-preventable diseases. It could help increase mortality rates, especially in children, but there is no reason for that,” Gandhi said. “I think people with infectious diseases get really fed up and scared when they see old diseases resurfacing when they should not be getting any infections at all.”
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
