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Europe Facing Measles Epidemic, U.S. Is Next

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Contributed by: Ralph Dosser on 7/8/2008

Fourteen years ago, measles had been stamped out in the United Kingdom through comprehensive vaccination. But anti-vaccination hysteria has dropped immunization rates to the point where local outbreaks are increasing in scope and severity, and the disease will soon become epidemic, according to the Health Protection Agency (HPA), the public health body of England and Wales.

A July 3 article in Eurosurveillance, published by European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, reports that after almost 10 years of low mumps-measles-rubella (MMR) vaccination coverage across the UK, "the number of children susceptible to measles is now sufficient to support the continuous spread of measles."

The total number of confirmed measles cases in England and Wales so far this year is 461, with another 68 cases reported in Scotland, the report said. All of the Scottish victims were either unvaccinated or of unknown status - there have been no cases in which an immunized person was stricken. There are also large ongoing outbreaks in Switzerland, Austria and Italy, which also have have low immunization rates.

Ongoing outbreaks in the US have been linked to carriers returning from countries with low vaccination rates.

The first 20 years of licensed measles vaccination in the U.S. prevented an estimated 52 million cases of the disease, 17,400 cases of mental retardation, and 5,200 deaths. During 1999-2004, a strategy led by the World Health Organization and UNICEF led to improvements in measles vaccination coverage that averted an estimated 1.4 million measles deaths worldwide.

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Submitted By: Duane Leise

posted on 7/16/2008 @ 4:59:33 PM

Rated Story

How can someone give this facts only article a one star rating? Thanks Ralph.

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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Ralph Dosser

Longmont , CO

Ralph Dosser has posted 33 stories and 206 comments since joining on 5/16/2007. Ralph Dosser 's average story rating is 2.5.

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