Measles has been in the news a lot this week in Houston, as an 11-month-old infant in Houston and two adults in Tarrant County were infected in the Orlando area returned to Texas with the illness.
Florida, Massachusetts and Minnesota have ongoing measles infections as a result of imported cases from other countries, and within the past few years, this scenario has played out in California as well.
Measles, a disease once eradicated in Europe and most of the developed world, has made a resurgence in England and elsewhere due to unwarranted fear about vaccinations.
Countries and continents where there had been no measles cases for years (other than imported cases) are now experiencing ongoing transmission among citizens with no foreign travel. It could happen here as well.
Every community has pockets of unimmunized individuals who either lack access to basic immunizations for financial and social reasons, or who refuse vaccinations due to unproven and non-scientific beliefs about vaccine ingredients or side-effects.
A community has to be about 90 percent immunized for measles to prevent ongoing transmission and provide “herd immunity,” meaning that it is unlikely an infected person will pass the disease on to others because most people exposed are immunized.
Measles is contagious. The virus can remain in the air for hours after an infected person has been in a room and those with infection are contagious for several days before they break out in the classic rash.
About 90 percent of unimmunized individuals will catch measles if exposed. Anyone born after 1957 is recommended to have two lifetime doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, and children as young as 6 months can be immunized if travel abroad is planned.
Those at highest risk of importing measles into the United States are immigrants and first-generation descendents of immigrants who go home to their native country to visit friends and relatives without updating their vaccines for travel.
They are also most likely to become ill with typhoid fever or malaria on their trip, because they have lost the resistance that was built up from years of exposure, and are less likely to take precautions against food, drink and mosquito exposure.
Casual tourists to Mexico and Switzerland have also imported measles cases into the United States, however. One case was even caught by a child in the terminal of an international airport, although the country he visited had no cases.
Anyone traveling out of the U.S. should check the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website for information on disease risks in their foreign travel destinations.
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