Doctors Are Miffed About Measles

Although Still Rare in the U.S., Virus Spreads Among Unvaccinated

The number of measles cases in the United States is at its highest level since 1997, and nearly half of those involve children whose parents rejected vaccination, government health officials reported last week.

The number of cases is still small, just 131, but that's for the first seven months of the year. There were only 42 cases for all of last year.

"We're seeing a lot more spread," said Jane Seward of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pediatricians are frustrated, saying they are having to spend more time convincing parents the shot is safe.

"This year, we certainly have had parents asking more questions," said Ari Brown, an Austin physician who is a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The CDC's review found that a number of cases involved home-schooled children not required to have the vaccines.

Measles, known for a red skin rash, is a highly infectious virus that spreads through contact with a sneezing, coughing, infected person. There once were hundreds of thousands of measles cases in the nation each year and hundreds of deaths.

It is no longer endemic to the United States, but every year some Americans pick it up while traveling abroad and bring it home. Measles epidemics have exploded in Israel, Switzerland and other countries. Here, childhood vaccination rates, which exceed 92 percent, have been credited with preventing such outbreaks. But outbreak pockets seem to be forming, health officials said.

In a typical year, only one outbreak occurs in the United States, infecting perhaps 10 to 20 people. So far this year the country has had seven outbreaks, including one in Illinois with 30 cases, said Seward, deputy director of the CDC's Division of Viral Diseases.

None of the 131 patients died, but 15 were hospitalized.

Of this year's total, 122 were unvaccinated or had unknown vaccination status. Some were unvaccinated because the children were younger than 1, making them too young to get their first measles shot.

In 63 cases the patient or their parents refused vaccination, the CDC reported.