The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday urged people planning to visit China and the US to get vaccinated for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) to avoid infection during the peak season.
In a press release issued yesterday, the centers said measles cases usually rise in January and February and peak in spring in China, where more than 56,000 measles cases were reported last year.
“The situation this year is particularly worrisome in Beijing, where 142 people have been diagnosed with the highly contagious respiratory disease since the beginning of this month — three times the number recorded during the same period last year,” the centers said.
In North America, the centers said that at least 84 cases of measles have been confirmed, in several regions including Mexico and California in a Disneyland-linked outbreak, with most of those infected not having received or completed a two-dose MMR vaccination course.
The CDC said that of the 26 measles cases reported in Taiwan last year, 18 — or 69.2 percent — came from overseas, including nine toddlers.
“Currently, there are approximately 800,000 Taiwanese businessmen based in China, while about 320,000 to 330,000 Chinese people visit Taiwan per month. Frequent cross-strait personnel contact and exchanges may further fuel spread of a contagious disease,” the centers said.
The CDC urged parents to have their children immunized immediately and refrain from taking babies younger than one year old to measles-affected areas.
Measles is a highly infectious viral disease that is transmitted via respiration. It often manifests in a skin rash that occurs seven to 18 days after infection, with other symptoms and complications including fever, coughing, ear inflammation, pneumonia and meningitis.
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