Jump in measles outbreaks worries health officials

August 21, 2008 By MIKE STOBBE , AP Medical Writer

(AP) -- The number of measles cases in the U.S. is at its highest level since 1997, and nearly half of those involve children whose parents rejected vaccination, government health officials reported Thursday.



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Aug 21, 2008

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Measles, mumps and rubella has no known reservoir outside of humans. It is possible to eradicate these disease forever, just like we did with small pox, by isolating the sick and handing out MMR vaccines to areas where herd immunity is not yet achieved.

It cost just $300 million to eradicate small pox.
Every 26 days since the eradication of smallpox the US has saved as much as it contributed to the program by not having to vaccinate for smallpox; it has payed itself back ~420 times over and counting. The sooner we get rid of mumps, measles and rubella the sooner we can stop vaccinating and save oodles of money; as a bonus we get to claim we did it to help the poor even though that's just a happy coincidence.
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