A female tourist from France has been diagnosed with measles, and she may have exposed others to the highly infectious disease during a weeklong visit to northern Arizona and Utah.
The 21-year-old woman is believed to have been contagious between July 21 and Wednesday, public-health officials said Thursday.
During that time she traveled to Page, Tusayan, the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley, as well as a handful of other locations in Utah.
Arizona Republic (July 31, 2009)
From the World Health Organization
Key facts
* Measles is a leading cause of death among young children even though a safe and cost-effective vaccine is available to prevent the disease.
* In 2007, there were 197 000 measles deaths globally - nearly 540 deaths every day or 22 deaths every hour.
* More than 95% of measles deaths occur in low-income countries with weak health infrastructure.
* Measles vaccination efforts have reaped major public health gains, resulting in a 74% drop in measles deaths between 2000 and 2007 worldwide - a drop of about 90% in the eastern Mediterranean and Africa regions.
* In 2007, about 82% of the world's children received one dose of measles vaccine by their first birthday through routine health services, up from 72% in 2000. (Two doses of the vaccine are recommended to ensure immunity, as about 15% of vaccinated children fail to develop immunity from the first dose.)
The mortality rate for measles is about 1 in 1000.
During 1971-75, an average of 35.4 measles-related deaths were recorded each year; one death for every 1,000 measles cases reported. Measles mortality rate was highest in children under 1 year of age, as was the death-to-case ratio. Mortality rates were higher in non-metropolitan than in metropolitan counties. Measles mortality rates were inversely related to median family income.
And finally, The Centers for Disease Control estimate rate of transmission is about 90%.
The disease is highly contagious, and can be transmitted from 4 days prior to the onset of the rash to 4 days after the onset. If one person has it, 90% of their susceptible close contacts will also become infected with the measles virus.
If you have not had your children vaccinated for measles, you are risking your children's lives. No kidding, no bullshit. Measles really kills children, and yours could be one of them.
Please stop the insanity.
In February 2008, a Swiss tourist launched a measles outbreak in Pima County after seeking medical treatment for the disease at a Tucson hospital.
The disease was ultimately confirmed in 13 other individuals, but state and county health officials spent $400,000 administering 9,000-plus vaccinations, and evaluating more than 500 suspect cases before finally announcing that they had contained the outbreak.