US Measles Outbreaks Threaten 26-Year Elimination Status as Vaccination Rates Fall
Updated
Updated · Bloomberg · Nov 10
US Measles Outbreaks Threaten 26-Year Elimination Status as Vaccination Rates Fall
3 articles · Updated · Bloomberg · Nov 10
Summary
Multiple U.S. measles outbreaks are now putting the country’s 26-year elimination status at risk, a reversal from years when many pediatricians never encountered a case.
Salt Lake City pediatrician Trahern W. Jones said he saw several measles cases in a single week this spring after never seeing one in person before.
One toddler patient arrived with a fading rash and fever but severe breathing trouble from a swollen airway, showing croup — a common measles complication.
Falling vaccination rates are driving the resurgence, raising the risk that outbreaks become sustained enough for the U.S. to lose the elimination status it has held since 2000.