The Measles Outbreak Is Twice As Big As You Thought

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2015/03/12/the-measles-outbreak-is-twice-as-big-as-you-thought/

Tara Haelle Contributor

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The number of U.S. measles cases has continued climbing toward 200, with 173 cases noted in the CDC’s most recent report March 6 — but that’s only half the story. If you add in the cases multiplying north of the border, the outbreak nearly doubles in size.

Canada is also facing a major outbreak of the viral illness with more than 100 cases in the Lanaudière region of Quebec, all tracing back to two families who visited Disneyland in December, according to the CBC, Canada’s state broadcast news station. At a press conference Feb. 21, Quebec public health officials announced 21 measles cases. Less than three weeks later, the cases have climbed to 119 – all in unvaccinated individuals.

“The reason it’s spreading so rapidly is that that’s the nature of the virus,” said Mark Schleiss, director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Minnesota Medical School. “Measles is believed to be one of the most contagious infectious viruses known in human history.”

The viral particles of measles can infect someone when they’re inhaled or when they encounter your skin or mucous membrane, Schleiss said, and they remain infectious in the air and on surfaces and objects for several hours after an infected person has left the room. Nine out of every ten non-immune individuals who encounter those particles will develop the illness.

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