By Brendan Scanland
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WZMQ 19 News) — A troubling rise in measles cases across the U.S. is raising concerns among health officials, as the country experiences its worst outbreak of the disease since it was declared eliminated nearly 25 years ago.
As of April 10, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed 712 measles cases across 24 states — including Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York, and Ohio.
This year alone, 79 patients have been hospitalized with severe complications. Two deaths have been confirmed and a third death is currently under investigation.
“The susceptibility of the current crowd of folks are kids and people that are immune weakened. We’re seeing more complications and more hospitalizations now,” said Dr. Mark Loafman, Chair of Family Medicine at Cook County Health in Chicago.
“Almost 1-in-30 are being hospitalized. In some areas, even higher. And I think part of it is children are the ones that are getting sick and we worry a lot more. They’re much higher risk,” Dr. Loafman added.
Dr. Loafman also emphasized that areas with low vaccination coverage are particularly vulnerable.
“You have areas and communities where the unvaccinated rate is fairly high. That’s where these outbreaks are going to take off,” he said.
Measles is one of the most contagious viruses in the world. It spreads through the air and can linger for hours. According to the CDC, community immunity, or herd immunity — when over 95% of a population is vaccinated — is key to stopping outbreaks.
However, that 95% threshold is slipping. Vaccination rates among U.S. kindergartners dropped from 95% to under 93% in recent years.
When asked if school children are more vulnerable to measles now than they were five years ago, Loafman said the data is clear.
“100%,” said Loafman. “I mean, more vulnerable now than ever in modern times, really.”
Loafman also addressed growing skepticism about vaccines and the trend of individuals conducting their own research.
“I think we just want to remind people, unless you have a virology lab and you study vaccines in a lab, you can’t do your own research,” he said. “We compare this all the time to our iOS update that Apple or Android sends you. I can try to do my own research and decide if that update is a good idea or not. But I know smart people who want to protect my data are on top of it and I trust them and I automatically update immediately.”
“For the majority of people, that’s really where they should be with public health recommendations,” he continued. “These are smart people who are looking out for your best interests, have the best available data, and are doing what’s best for them — what they’re doing for their own families. And while not perfect, it’s better than trying to figure out every individual vaccine: should I take it, should I not take it. I would just suggest people do what we all do with our phones — just kind of accept this, that people have our back,” he added.
Loafman and other health experts warn that public health only works when the public participates.
“Public health just doesn’t work very well that way. People opt out — it wasn’t such a big deal when there wasn’t any outbreaks. But now that it’s here, there is a big consequence,” said Loafman.
Health officials are urging families to check vaccination records and schedule any missed immunizations, warning that even a single exposure could lead to dozens of new infections.
Experts say the recent outbreaks are a wake-up call — not just for families, but for the entire country.
“It is a wake-up call. It’s one that we all saw coming. I mean, it’s a perfect storm of things that you can see,” said Loafman. “We have a disease, it was eliminated in the U.S. and highly contagious. And now we see vaccine rates fall, and it’s a mobile world. People come and go — not just through border-crossing migration, but people coming in the airport legally, may very well be infected and have it, coming from countries where it’s endemic.”
According to the CDC, there have been five reported measles cases across Michigan, but no deaths have been reported.
