Newswise — BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Prior to the use of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccination, hundreds of those infected with the measles would die yearly, tens of thousands would be hospitalized and around 1,000 cases would result in chronic disability. Decades later, after believing that endemic transmission of this highly contagious illness was eradicated in the United States in 2000, cases are on the rise again, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It is heartbreaking to watch something happen that is completely preventable,” said David Kimberlin, M.D., University of Alabama at Birmingham professor of pediatrics and the American Academy of Pediatrics’ liaison to the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
“This would not be happening if people trusted us and got their measles vaccinations,” said Kimberlin, who sees patients at Children's of Alabama. “Someone eventually will die from measles, leaving many asking why it couldn't have been prevented, but it can be.”
Kimberlin said measles cases are making it into the United States through international travelers, but it is finding fertile ground in communities because of the percentage of people in those communities who are not vaccinated against measles.
The CDC reports 159 cases between Jan. 1 and Aug. 24, 2013, with 82 percent of the cases in unvaccinated persons, and 9 percent with unknown vaccination status. Ninety-nine percent of the cases were import-related.
“It is like tossing a lit match on dry grass,” Kimberlin said. “The message to take home from this is quite simple: get vaccinated against all vaccine-preventable diseases and be protected from them, or do not get vaccinated and run the very-real risk of getting those diseases and possibly dying.”
About UABKnown for its innovative and interdisciplinary approach to education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is an internationally renowned research university and academic medical center and the state of Alabama’s largest employer with some 23,000 employees and an economic impact exceeding $5 billion annually on the state. The five pillars of UAB’s mission deliver knowledge that will change your world: the education of students, who are exposed to multidisciplinary learning and a new world of diversity; research, the creation of new knowledge; patient care, the outcome of ‘bench-to-bedside’ translational knowledge; service to the community at home and around the globe, from free clinics in local neighborhoods to the transformational experience of the arts; and the economic development of Birmingham and Alabama. Learn more at www.uab.edu.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a separate, independent institution from the University of Alabama, which is located in Tuscaloosa. Please use University of Alabama at Birmingham on first reference and UAB on all consecutive references.
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