ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Pan-American Health Organization is meeting in Washington, D.C. to discuss whether the United States should lose its measles elimination status.
News10NBC’s Garrett Chan reported live from Rochester General Hospital about what this could mean for the country and the local region. The measles elimination status is set by the World Health Organization and means the country has gone through 12 months without transmission of the virus. With outbreaks across the country for more than a year, that status is now in question.
Data from the CDC released last week showed more than 5,000 confirmed measles cases in the United States. In the local region, News10NBC has reported on dozens of measles cases, including a recent exposure in Wayne County when someone with measles visited three stores in Newark and Lyons last week.
Dr. Anja Bottler, chief of infectious disease at Rochester Regional Health, said the country falls below the 95% vaccination threshold when transmission breaks through. She said while the potential loss of elimination status was not unexpected, there is cause for concern.
“I have not seen that in 25 years. And as many people have never seen measles that are even that completely foreign to them. So now that we see this more and potentially also know how dangerous that is, maybe we can bring it back to the forefront and maybe people can understand again that the vaccination is so important to keep that back, to keep that illness under control,” Bottler said.
Bottler said people who do not or cannot get vaccinated, or have not gotten their two required shots of the MMR vaccine, are most at risk.
The United States declared measles eliminated in 2000 after no further transmission was identified. If the country loses its elimination status, it would join Canada, which lost its elimination status last November.
For the latest national measles outbreak numbers, visit the CDC website here. To see the latest confirmed measles cases in New York State, click here.
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