ATLANTA, May 2 (UPI) -- Federal health officials have received a total of 64 reports of confirmed measles cases in the United States this year -- the most since 2001.
Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said measles was reported from Jan. 1 to April 25 in nine states -- with outbreaks ongoing in Wisconsin, Arizona, Michigan and New York.
"Many of the cases that we're seeing this year have been in children who are too young to have been immunized with measles vaccine, children who are under 12 months of age," Schuchat said in a telephone news conference. "Two-thirds of children who are old enough to be immunized but are not turned out to not be immunized because of personal belief or religious exemption."
Unvaccinated people are at risk for acquiring measles and also of transmitting it to others, including children too young to be vaccinated, Schuchat said.
"At least one of those children acquired measles in the doctor's office, in the waiting room," she said.
Because measles can be severe, most people do seek medical care and it's in those medical settings where they can transmit the infection, Schuchat said.
