BALTIMORE — Most of us get a vaccine for it when we're very young, and don't look back for the rest of our lives.
But the US could be looking at a 175 percent increase in measles cases this year, according to Johns Hopkins.
"What we're worried about is that we're going to see more and more cases of measles," explained Dr. William Moss, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the executive director of its International Vaccine Access Center.
"When I started my work in Zambia, there was an entire ward at the hospital, just full of measles cases, 30, 40 cases. Here in the United States, we don't see that anymore because of vaccines," Moss explained.
But now, cases appear to be on the upswing in America. It's an extremely contagious respiratory disease, Moss explained; it's most severe in young children, who can get a fever, rash, and in the worst cases, can develop pneumonia, neurological issues, and die from the complications it causes.
We know of more than 20 reported cases in the United States in just the first month and a half of the year. In Maryland, doctors diagnosed someone in Montgomery County with it earlier this month, and at a Florida elementary school: six cases.
"It's unfortunate because measles is a vaccine-preventable disease. We really shouldn't be seeing any cases. But when we have susceptible children, who are not properly vaccinated and then we start seeing a resurgence of measles elsewhere, we're seeing it all around the globe," Moss added.
According to the CDC, more than 61 million measles-preventing vaccine doses were postponed or missed due to COVID-related delays, which might partially be the culprit.
"If your child's not properly vaccinated against measles," Moss continued, "your child is at risk of getting it themselves and spreading it to others."
The World Health Organization says more than half the globe is at risk of outbreaks. Travelers may unwittingly bring the disease to the US - it takes about two weeks for an infected person to start getting sick, Moss explained.
"It tells us we've got gaps in our immunization system, our immunization coverage,and we really need to try to fill those especially as we're seeing more cases globally."
You can schedule a measles vaccine for your child at a local pharmacy. According to the CDC - two doses are 97 percent effective against measles.
