San Diego Union -Tribune editorial:
In 2000, the U.S. public health community finally realized the goal set in 1978 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: The nation went a full year without a documented case of measles.
This was a staggering achievement. Before 1963, when a vaccination to treat measles became broadly available in the U.S., the highly infectious disease was so widespread that it was practically a rite of childhood. Until then, measles routinely killed hundreds of Americans each year and afflicted thousands with encephalitis.
Now each day brings fresh reminders that measles is again part of American life. The CDC’s website says that as of Jan. 30, 102 people in 14 states had contracted measles in an outbreak traced to an infected person’s visit to Disneyland. The outbreak’s epicenter is in California, where state health officials reported an ominous 68 percent surge in cases over the past two weeks.
