With Measles Outbreak, Disease is Alive and Well in the United States

These days we have many modern miracles of medicine available to keep us and our families healthy. Those of us who live in wealthier countries have ready access to vaccines which have nearly wiped out many dangerous diseases in our countries, while others in the world continue to die for lack of such care. Specifically, the measles vaccine, has virtually removed the threat of this disease that once claimed thousands of children a year in the United States. The Center For Disease Control (CDC) reports that in 2005, over 300,000 children under the age of five, died from measles around the world. Over 20 million people globally will be infected with measles every year. Measles is a very real and present threat to your family if your children are not vaccinated.

How Measles Spreads in a Community

Global travel is more and more common; it's not at all unusual for adults and children to travel to places where they may be exposed to measles. Recent cases in the US have been traced to countries such as Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, India, Russia, Italy and others. Even Great Britain has recently declared that they can no longer declare Britain to be free of endemic measles. All it takes is for an unimmunized person to come into contact with a recently returned travelers from one of these or dozens more countries to cause a local outbreak in the United States. Can you vouch for the past whereabouts and contacts of every person who has been near your child in just the last 30 days?

Once measles gets into a community, every unvaccinated child is at risk as it passes easily from person to person. Authorities have been warning that the growing trend of refusing vaccines for children is putting our children at ever increasing risk of new measles epidemics within our country. So far this year, the CDC reports 127 cases of measles in the US in 2008. 63 of them, nearly half, have occurred since the end of April. In order for measles to take hold in an area, it requires a significant portion of the population to be unvaccinated so it can spread among that group. Refusing to vaccinate your child not only endangers his or her health and life, but that of other members of the community as well.

Measles: A Killer Loose in the Community

We all react strongly, and rightly so, to prevent terrorist actions that may injure or kill even one person in this country. Measles kills 300,000 children under the age of five every year. Measles is one terrorist that we can stop dead in its tracks with a simple vaccine. It is the duty of each one of us to protect the children of this country against threats to their health and safety. None of us would allow a terrorist killer to remain at large in our society, but many choose to let the threat of measles walk freely in their community. Stop measles; make sure your family is properly vaccinated.

Children should receive two doses of the MMR vaccine, one between 12 and 15 months old and the second between the ages of 4 and 6 years old. The CDC recommends that adults born after 1957 make sure they have had at least one vaccination, and any infant traveling abroad should be vaccinated prior to travel.