CDC Issues Alert After Measles Cases Increase Fivefold Ahead of Travel Season

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., in a file image. Tami Chappell via Reuters

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a new health advisory this week regarding measles infections for international travelers ahead of the summer travel season.

The agency issued its latest health advisory on Wednesday urging Americans to “be on alert for cases of measles” and advising parents to make sure their families are up-to-date on the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

New data for the first five months of 2023 has shown there are five times more measles cases across 11 jurisdictions in the United States, the CDC said, noting that 88 percent of those cases have been linked to international travel.

“The United States has seen an increase in measles cases during the first five months of 2023, with 16 reported cases compared with 3 in 2022 during the same period,” the agency said, adding that most of these cases were among children who had not received the MMR vaccine.

“Based on current estimates, twice as many Americans are planning to travel internationally in 2023 compared with 2022,” the CDC added. “Many countries and popular travel destinations, such as London, England, have experienced measles outbreaks in recent years.”

According to CDC recommendations, all U.S. residents who are six months old or older “without evidence of immunity” should receive the MMR vaccine prior to traveling internationally. The vaccine can be administered in one or two doses. A single dose provides 93 percent protection against the virus, while two doses provide 97 percent protection, the agency said.

Global Vaccination Decline

Most children receive the MMR vaccine when they are young. The first dose is typically administered between the ages of 12 months and 15 months. The second dose is typically given when a child is between the ages of 4 and 7.

In recent years, childhood vaccination rates have been declining, including rates of MMR vaccination. Some experts attribute the decline to a drop in public trust in health agencies and officials due in part to how they’ve promoted leaky COVID-19 vaccines.

In a joint report released in November, the CDC and World Health Organization (WHO) found that a record high of nearly 40 million children missed a measles vaccine dose in 2021 due to hurdles created by COVID-19 vaccines.

“The record number of children under-immunized and susceptible to measles shows the profound damage immunization systems have sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who will leave her post as CDC director later this month, said in the report.

The report also underlined that the world is at risk of major measles outbreaks due to tens of millions of infants missing their vaccination. A combination of factors like lingering social distancing measures and the cyclical nature of measles may explain why there has not yet been an explosion of cases despite the widening immunity gaps, WHO measles lead Patrick O'Connor told Reuters.

“We are at a crossroads,” O'Connor said in November. “It is going to be a very challenging 12-24 months trying to mitigate this.”

Measles

The CDC, meanwhile, urged healthcare professionals in its latest health advisory to recommend the MMR vaccine to all patients who are unvaccinated—or not fully vaccinated—prior to departure.

Before embarking on your next international trip, the CDC said Americans could check the Global Measles Travel Health Notice for essential health advice, including where measles outbreaks have been reported.

Measles is a highly contagious disease with symptoms usually appearing seven to 14 days after infection. Symptoms can include high fever, red and watery eyes, white spots inside the mouth, and a rash that usually appears within three to five days of illness, according to the CDC.

The virus is so contagious that if one person has been infected, “up to 9 out of 10 people around him or her will also become infected if they are not protected,” according to the CDC’s website. It is possible for an individual to get infected “just by being in a room where a person with measles has been, even up to two hours after that person has left,” it added.

“An infected person can spread measles to others even before knowing he/she has the disease—from four days before developing the measles rash through four days afterward,” the advisory reads.

A total of 16 U.S. cases have been recorded so far in 2023, according to the CDC. In 2022, there were 121 cases, up from 49 in 2021 and 13 in 2020.

In 2019, many outbreaks were reported across 31 states, with more than 1,200 confirmed cases. This was the highest level of cases seen in the United States since 1992.

From NTD News