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Experts point to one of the reasons for this year's big outbreak: the power of the anti-vaccination movement.
"It is terribly sad that American children are suffering from measles, which should not happen," said Dr. William Schaffner, Medical Director of the National Infectious Disease Foundation and CDC Advisor on Vaccines. "We had previously eliminated this disease not only in the United States, but throughout the Western Hemisphere, and it seems like we have now gone deeply and sadly backtracked."
The 20 states reporting measles this year are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas and Washington. .
Most cases occurred in New York City, place of an epidemic of ultra-Orthodox Jews that began in the fall.
Dr. Nancy Messonier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said the New York epidemic had been particularly difficult to control. "Most of the measles outbreaks in the United States stop earlier than that," she said.
Health officials announced last week that in neighborhoods affected by the epidemic, anyone who has not been vaccinated against measles or can not prove immunity could be fined 1 $ 000.
On Monday, the New York City Department of Health announced the closure of a child care program for repeatedly failing to provide access to medical records and records 39, assistance, in violation of an order of the health commissioner in response to the current measles epidemic ". Schools and day care programs are required to keep records on site, and unvaccinated students and staff are prohibited from attending.
In addition, the ministry said: "23 yeshivas and daycare programs have received notices of violation for not following the school exclusion order".
Health officials in Rockland County, NY, have attempted to ban unvaccinated children from going to public places, but a judge has banned the county from enforcing the rule.
Messonier said it was "correcting the myths" about vaccination. The health authorities worked with the rabbis to explain that vaccination was safe, but that still has not turned the tide.
"You just have to approach people where they are and answer their questions," said Messonier. "It is the slow work of building trust."
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