The measles outbreak that has swept the country is not having much of an impact on the U.S. at all, despite officials frantically trying to track down people who recently caught the virus and diagnosed more than 90 percent of its victims.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the vast majority of the cases have been in Washington state, though there have been the largest outbreaks in California and Texas. In the U.S., there have been 60 cases of measles since the start of April, and the CDC estimates that about 1 million people still have the disease, particularly in Asia, Europe and Africa.
Measles is one of the most serious childhood illnesses. Roughly 90 percent of those with the disease die within six weeks, the CDC said. When the virus is sneezed or infected by a bird, its DNA gets copied into a gene and the proteins become the bodies’ antibodies.
After measles was declared eradicated from the U.S. in 2000, there was a 60 percent decline in U.S. measles infections due to a virus vaccine against measles and the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.
However, the CDC said the spread of the virus throughout the world remains a threat.
What is vaccinating?
Vaccines protect people from illness, typically caused by several viruses in a single shot, but a small percentage of people still haven’t received a vaccination. To spread the risk of spreading disease, “effective vaccinations require that at least a third of a population — usually between 90 and 95 percent — have received the needed doses.”
That said, only 10 percent of the population has been vaccinated in the United States.
Here is a breakdown of some of the most common vaccinations in the U.S.:
• Vaccination: Any single vaccination: (In the context of MMR), hepatitis A, tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, polio, or for the Spanish MMR virus.)
• Measles:
• MMR vaccine: (In the context of MMR), hepatitis A, hepatitis B and rinderpest
• Chickenpox: (In the context of chickenpox, one dose for children and two doses for adolescents.)
• Influenza:
• Diarrhea:
• Meningitis:
• Polio:
• Tetanus:
• TB:
• Viral Haemophilus Influenzae B:
• Influenza:
• Measles:
• Meningitis:
• Polio:
• Tetanus:
• TB:
• Measles-mumps-rubella:
• Influenza:
• Chickenpox:
• Meningitis:
• Polio:
• Tetanus:
• TB:
• Measles:
• Influenza:
• Tetanus:
• TB:
