More people had measles infections in the first seven months of this year than during any comparable period since 1996 and public health officials blamed growing numbers of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children.
Many of these parents say they believe vaccines cause autism, even though multiple studies have found no reputable evidence to support these claims. In Britain, Switzerland, Israel and Italy, measles outbreaks have soared, sickening thousands and causing at least two deaths.
From January through last month, 131 measles cases were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 15 states and Washington. Fifteen people were hospitalized, including four infants. There were no deaths. Nearly all the cases resulted when people traveling abroad or visiting from a foreign country spread the illness to others.
In Illinois, 30 people were sickened in one outbreak.
Most of those who were sickened were unvaccinated or had an unknown vaccination status. Sixteen were younger than a year old, too young to have been vaccinated. But two-thirds of the rest — or 63 people — were unvaccinated because of their parents’ beliefs.
Public health advocates have become alarmed in recent years by a growing number of people who contend that vaccines cause illnesses, particularly autism. The number of parents who claim a philosophical exemption to mandatory vaccine laws has grown.
But vaccination rates have remained relatively high in the US. In 2006, 95 percent of school-age children received at least one shot of the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, the CDC said. But such surveys are often years behind vaccination trends and government officials say the growing number of measles outbreaks suggests that overall vaccination rates may be on the decline.
Because it is virulently contagious, measles is often the first vaccine-preventable disease to reappear when vaccination rates decline. In the decade before the measles vaccination program began, each year nearly 4 million people in the US were infected, 48,000 were hospitalized, 1,000 were chronically disabled and nearly 500 died.
Autism and anti-vaccine advocates are unapologetic about the return of measles.
“Most parents I know will take measles over autism,” said J.B. Handley, cofounder of Generation Rescue, a parent-led organization that contends that autism is a treatable condition caused by vaccines.
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