A measles outbreak centered around Disneyland in California has spread to six more US states and Mexico, and an international visitor to the theme park likely sparked the health alert, officials said on Friday.
So far, 51 confirmed cases of measles have been reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) since late December last year, the agency said in a statement.
Most have been in California, but others are as far afield as Nebraska and Washington states.
The CDC said that those who had fallen ill were aged from 10 months to 57 years and only a tiny fraction were vaccinated against the disease, amid an antivaccination trend that has emerged in recent years, particularly in North America.
Opponents think that the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine causes autism, even though a wide array of studies have ruled out any link and the academic paper that alleged the connection was determined to be fraudulent.
Measles had been officially eradicated from the US since 2000, while remaining widespread in other regions, including Europe, Africa and Asia.
“In addition to the US cases, one case was reported from Mexico in an unvaccinated child who visited Disneyland Resort Theme Parks on Dec. 17 and Dec. 20, 2014,” the CDC said.
While health officials have yet to isolate the source of the outbreak: “It is likely that a traveler (or more than one traveler) who was infected with measles overseas visited one or both of the Disney parks in December during their infectious period,” the CDC added.
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