33%< of Measles Victims < 5 Years Old

Measles is back. Children are disproportionately impacted. The situation is almost entirely preventable.

Less than 2 decades ago this immensely contagious disease was declared eliminated in the U.S. Today, however, the CDC has announced that we are seeing the highest number of measles cases reported in 25 years. 94% of these are attributable to 13 outbreaks (3 or more cases = 1 outbreak). Travel, close-knit communities with low vaccination rates and misinformation all play a role. As I write this blog, over 340 students and employees at the University of California, Los Angeles are under quarantine after a student in the infectious stage of the disease attended classes for three days.

Babies, children under the age of five and the elderly are the most vulnerable to complications from the disease leading to fatalities. 1 in 20 children affected come down with the pneumonia, the leading cause of death in children diagnosed with measles.

According to an article reported today in the Washington Post, “The virus lives in the nose and throat of an infected person. It can spread by direct contact with infectious droplets or through the air when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes. The measles virus can remain infectious in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves an area. If other people breathe the contaminated air or touch the infected surface, then touch their eyes, noses or mouths, they can become infected. Measles is so contagious that if one person has it, up to 90 percent of the people who are close to that person or who walk through the same area and are not immune may become infected.”