December 6, 2013
USA Today (12/6, Szabo) reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced the US faces a spike in measles, with nine outbreaks and 175 confirmed cases to date in 2013, which roughly triples the yearly average, according to Director Thomas Frieden, MD. He added, “This isn’t the failure of a vaccine; it’s the failure to vaccinate,” as over 98% of patients failed to receive vaccinations. The paper notes that, while the disease has been virtually eliminated throughout the West, the US still sees an average of 60 “imported” cases each year, primarily among visitors from abroad. The article also attributes the spike to parents who refuse vaccinations, however, acknowledging that many of them live in the same communities.

Reuters (12/6, Beasley) reports the CDC acknowledges at least 172 of this year’s 175 US cases involved patients infected overseas or who caught the disease from somebody who traveled internationally, while the sources of the other three infections are yet to be determined.
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