June 13, 2014 – Measles

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ANCHOR LEAD: IS THE RECENT MEASLES OUTBREAK REALLY A CONCERN? ELIZABETH TRACEY REPORTS

Measles is making a strong comeback in the US after being declared eradicated just over a decade ago when no cases were reported in a 12 month period.  Redonda Miller, an internal medicine expert at Johns Hopkins, agrees with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that we must all be vigilant about vaccination.

MILLER: Most of these infected patients were not vaccinated, and measles is still common in other countries, and when we don’t receive our vaccines we put ourselves at risk. One could say, well measles.  You get a fever, cough, a rash, is it really that serious? We know that one out of a thousand children develop encephalitis with subsequent brain damage. One to two out of a thousand will die from respiratory or neurological complications. So this is a disease with significant long term morbidity and mortality.  We need to take it seriously.   :32

Miller says so far, no recommendation on boosters in adults has been made.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.