The measles outbreak that started in California’s Disneyland most likely began with a person who had been in another country, a top health official said Thursday, Jan. 29, NBC News reported.
To date, the outbreak has spread to more than 80 people in eight states, more than health officials usually see per year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday. More than 65 of these cases are linked to Disneyland, California health officials say.
“We don’t know exactly how this outbreak started but we do think it was likely a person infected with measles overseas,” Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters.
“We assume that someone got infected with measles overseas, visited Disneyland park, and spread the disease to others.”
An ongoing outbreak of measles has been reported in the Philippines, but Schuchat said no imported cases have been linked to that country this year, according to NBC News.
In France, cases spiked from 40 per year to more than 10,000, Schuchat said.
Tests show that the strains of the virus are more similar to those seen in Azerbaijan, Dubai, Indonesia and Qatar.
It is likely that the individual who caused the outbreak is long gone and unaware that he or she triggered it, Schuchat told NBC.
“This is a wake-up call to make sure that we keep measles from regaining a foothold in our country,” Schuchat said.
In Los Angeles County, at least 700 residents have been in contact with someone infected with the disease, Los Angeles Daily News reported. Of those, 35 have not been vaccinated, and of those individuals, 20 have voluntarily isolated themselves.
Nineteen people in the county have come down with the measles, according to the Daily News.
“I think we’re going to get ongoing illness in the country,” Dr. Jeffrey Gunzenhauser, interim health director for the county Department of Public Health, told the Daily News. “We haven’t gotten ahead of this yet.”
Measles is a highly contagious illness that can be passed along when an infected individual coughs or sneezes. An unvaccinated person can contract the disease by inhaling the air even hours after a person with the measles has left a room.
Early symptoms include high fever, followed by a cough, runny nose and red watery eyes. A few days afterward, a rash breaks out, typically starting on the face and then spreads throughout the rest of the body.
Although the measles has been absent in the United States since 2000, the disease can still enter the country through an infected traveler.
Schuchat said the reason for the spread of the disease is because people have not gotten vaccinated.
Most Americans are vaccinated against the measles, but some are unable to due to medical reasons, such as a compromised immune system.
“This is not a problem of the measles vaccine not working. It’s a problem of the measles vaccine being used,” she told NBC News. “Measles can be a very serious disease and people need to be vaccinated.”
But Schuchat said the biggest problem is with those who choose to skip vaccines for philosophical reasons.
She also said people who are unsure if they have had the vaccine or not should check with their doctor or nurse, and that it doesn’t hurt to get another measles vaccine.
(With reports from Los Angeles Daily News, NBC News and The Washington Post)
