Health & Fitness

Measles Outbreak Confirmed In Maryland, 26 Other States

Measles is on the rise in the US and globally due to travel by Americans to countries with poor vaccination rates and domestic anti-vaxxers.

Measles, a childhood disease that was all but wiped out by 2000 due to widespread vaccination, is making a comeback worldwide, including in Maryland. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week that 220 cases of measles have been confirmed in 26 states and the District of Columbia.

The other states are Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.

The public health agency’s report covered 220 cases reported with local and state health departments as of Nov. 3, and compares to 120 cases in the United States in all of last year. At least 15 measles outbreaks — three or more linked cases — have been reported so far in 2018. Health authorities have not specified where the cases have been confirmed.

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The CDC said the rise in measles in the United States can be traced to outbreaks in countries to which Americans often travel — including England, France, Germany, India, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Also, the agency said, measles is spreading in the United States in communities with unvaccinated people. For example: In 2017, 75 people were sickened in a Somali-American community in Minneapolis with poor vaccination coverage. A multi-state measles outbreak in 2015 — 147 cases — was tracked to an amusement park in California and further back to a large measles outbreak in the Philippines in 2014. Unvaccinated Amish communities in Ohio were disproportionately sickened in a 2014 outbreak associated with the outbreak traced to the Philippines.

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Related: Measles Outbreak: 88 Cases In Rockland, 34 In Brooklyn

Measles can be prevented with vaccination. A 1978 goal by the CDC to eliminate measles from the country by 1982 fell short, widespread vaccination programs caused the agency to declare measles eliminated in the United States by 2000.

Some parents refuse to vaccinate their children amid incorrect claims around the world linking the vaccines to autism, but the CDC and global health agencies like the World Health Organization recommend that children receive two doses of measles-rubella or measles-mumps rubella.

To get an idea of how highly contagious the measles virus is, an unvaccinated or immune person who shares close space with an infected person who sneezes or coughs has a 90 percent chance of contracting the illness. The measles virus lives in the nose and throat mucous of an infected person.

The virus is hearty, and can live for up to two hours in an airspace where an infected person coughed or sneezed. And people who have measles can spread it from four days before a rash appears to four days after it has cleared.

Globally, measles cases saw a 30 percent uptick in 2017 and killed an estimated 110,000 people, according to the WHO. The main reason for the increase in Europe, where 41,000 people were infected in the first six months of 2018, was the refusal by parents to have their children vaccinated, the global health agency said.

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The Maryland Department of Health has info to know about the disease:

Measles is a highly contagious rash illness caused by a virus.

Though measles is relatively rare in the United States, it remains a leading cause of death among young children worldwide. Measles is usually thought of as a childhood disease, but people of any age can get it. Complications of measles include diarrhea, otitis media (inflammation of the middle ear), pneumonia (lung infection), encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), seizures, and death. Complications are most common in children younger than 5 years of age and adults 20 years of age and older

Measles is spread from person-to-person by airborne droplets and direct contact with infected respiratory secretions.

The highly contagious virus can be found in the air after someone who is infected with measles coughs or sneezes. The virus can also be spread by direct contact with infected nasal or throat secretions. The virus can remain contagious on surfaces for up to 2 hours. A person can spread measles from four days before to four days after the rash develops. Anyone with measles should not attend childcare, school, work, or other public places until they are no longer contagious.

Symptoms to look for include:

  • Rash that starts on the face and neck and then spreads. The rash fades in the order in which it appears.
  • High fever
  • Runny nose
  • Red, watery eyes
  • Cough (sometimes like Croup)
  • Small red spots, with blue and white centers inside the mouth (Koplik spots)

Symptoms such as fever, cough, and watery eyes may occur within 8 to 12 days after exposure. It usually takes 14 days (range 7-18 days) after exposure to develop a rash.

There is no specific treatment for measles.

Care of patients with measles consists mainly of providing good nutrition and fluids. Antibiotics may be prescribed for treating eye or ear infections, and acetaminophen (Tylenol) for fever.

A person in close contact with someone who has measles should be notified of the exposure to determine if they are susceptible to getting measles, and treated if necessary. Vaccine given within 72 hours of measles exposure may provide protection from developing measles in some cases. Treatment with a product called Immune Globulin may prevent measles if given within six days of exposure. Check with your doctor or local health department for advice.

Measles can be prevented with a measles vaccine.

Two doses of measles vaccine are recommended for children starting at 12 to 15 months of age. The vaccine is given as part of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. A second dose of measles vaccine, usually given as MMR vaccine, is now required for all Maryland school children in kindergarten through Grade 12. The second dose may be given at any age at least 4 weeks after the first dose. Women should not get the vaccine if they are pregnant or plan to get pregnant within four weeks after getting the vaccine.

Photo via Shutterstock


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