Health officials on Thursday confirmed the country's first measles death since 2003, and they believe the victim was most likely exposed to the virus in a health facility in Washington state during an outbreak there. The woman died in the spring; a later autopsy confirmed that she had an undetected measles infection, the Washington State Department of Health said in a statement. The official cause of death was announced as "pneumonia due to measles."
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 178 people from 24 states and the District were reported to have measles from Jan. 1 through June 26 of this year. Two-thirds of the cases, the CDC noted, were "part of a large multi-state outbreak linked to an amusement park in California."
Measles were effectively eliminated in the United States in 2000, according to the CDC. Health officials have said that the disease made a comeback recently, in part because of a growing number of adults deciding to delay or abstain from vaccinating their children. Last year brought the highest number of recorded measles cases since 2000, according to the CDC. Earlier this year, President Obama acknowledged the concerns some have about effects of vaccines but said: "The science is pretty indisputable." "You should get your kids vaccinated — it's good for them," Obama said. "We should be able to get back to the point where measles effectively is not existing in this country."
takyon: Celebrity critics recently denounced California's new mandatory vaccine law.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by dusty monkey on Sunday July 05 2015, @11:22AM
I was going to basically say the same thing, but with the addition that a small lab could start producing that vaccine the grandparent says isn't in production anymore, and assuming there is some demand for it then it could easily be set up as a profitable addition to the business.
- when you vote for the lesser of two evils, you are still voting for evil - stop supporting evil -
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Monday July 06 2015, @12:22AM
Because the FDA has made things difficult. Go look up the death of Combiotic. 70 year safe track record, but hadn't been tested the way currently required, and not enough profit in it to cover the ~$1million it would have cost. So it is no more.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.