GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Michigan health officials are closely watching the outbreak of a virus many thought was long gone in the U.S.
But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says thenumber of measles casesis up in parts the country.
“It's probably one of the most contagious diseases that we know of,” explained Dr. Nirali Bora, medical director of Kent County.
Older generations of Americans know why measles is a public health concern. Until the early 1960s, nearly every child in America got measles by the time they were 15 years old, the CDC says. At that time, 3 million to 4 million people in the U.S. were infected every year by the highly contagious virus.
It’s also a very serious illness. An estimated 400 to 500 people died from measles in the years before the vaccine, with another 48,000 ending up in the hospital.
“Some of the more serious complications are pneumonia, or a brain infection called encephalitis. And those can lead to hospitalization, and they can also be fatal,” Bora warned.
The invention of the vaccine in the early 1960s eliminated measles, mumps and rubella to the point that it no longer had a constant presence in the nation by 2000.
But themeasles comebackis now evident,especially in the Detroit areawhere the case count climbed to 30 Monday.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says 29 of those cases are in Oakland County and one is in Wayne County. The patients are between a year old and 63 years old.
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