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WASHINGTON – The number of measles cases in the United States this year reached 1,001, public health officials said Wednesday, pledging to end misinformation about vaccines.
The announcement came days after US authorities said the US was at risk of losing its "elimination status" of the contagious respiratory disease if current outbreaks continued.
"The thousandth case of a preventable disease such as measles is a disturbing reminder of the importance" of ensuring that people understand that vaccines are safe, said the Secretary of Health and Social Services (HHS), Alex Azar, in a statement.
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Azar pledged to "continue its efforts to help local health departments and health care providers cope with this situation, with the ultimate goal of ending the epidemic and spreading the disease." erroneous information about vaccines ".
"We can not say it enough: vaccines are a safe and extremely effective public health tool, able to prevent this disease and put an end to the current epidemic."
The record number of cases was recorded in 1992, when 963 cases were reported during the year – a figure now exceeded in less than six months in 2019.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provide health care providers with guidelines for measles recognition and prevention, and develop a toolkit to help doctors fight misinformation, Azar said .
The authorities said measles was eliminated in the United States in 2000, a goal set in 1966 with the introduction of the vaccine.
According to the CDC, measles is considered eliminated in the absence of continued transmission of the disease for 12 months or more in a specific geographical area.
An outbreak in New York and the surrounding area, which broke out last fall, threatens the country's "elimination status". If it stays four months longer, the country will no longer be able to say that it has eliminated measles.
Although New York City officials began demanding that people in heavily affected areas, including large Orthodox Jewish communities, be vaccinated by April, the city still had 173 cases and 60 in May.
A sign warns people of measles in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community of Williamsburg on April 10, 2019 in New York. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images / AFP)
The United States has never counted zero cases of measles.
Since 2000, the number has fluctuated between a few tens and a few hundred cases per year, with 667 cases recorded during an outbreak in 2014 in Ohio, particularly in the Amish communities.
The upsurge of the disease is mainly due to travelers with little or no vaccinations who have brought the infection back from abroad – this is what happened last year when cases were reported throughout the country , from the Philippines, Israel and Ukraine.
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