13 Numbers That Explain The Resurgence Of Measles In The U.S.

Along with vaccines for polio and mumps, the measles vaccine was a triumph of investigative research and public health when it debuted in 1968. It quickly became part of the lineup of childhood injections that would inoculate the child and protect society from the scourge of the sometimes fatal and always painful disease and led to the elimination of measles in the U.S. in 2000 and the Americas (North, Central and South) in 2002.

But a series of stumbling blocks — notably, a fraudulent and discredited 1998 study linking vaccinations to the onset of autism — set vaccination rates back in certain communities in the U.S. The backsliding has resulted in several measles outbreaks in the past year in a country that declared measles defeated in 2000. Read on to see why the U.S. should be concerned about this unprecedented measles resurgence.

Miami Children’s Hospital pediatrician Dr. Amanda Porro administers a measles vaccination to Sophie Barquin, 4, as her mother, Gabrielle Barquin, and Miami Children’s Hospital RN Diane Lichtman (right) hold her during a visit to the hospital on January 28, 2015 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The number of 2015 measles cases linked to a Dec. 2014 visit to the Disneyland theme park in Southern California. Eleven cases linked to Disneyland were caught last year, and thus are part of 2014’s measles figures.

The number of children with measles who will get an ear infection. These complications can sometimes result in permanent hearing loss, according to the CDC.

The number of children who get measles who will also develop encephalitis, or swelling of the brain. This complication can leave children deaf or mentally impaired.

The number of children who get measles who will die from the disease. So no, the measles isn’t a harmless childhood disease, especially since there are…

…antiviral therapies that exist for measles. Unlike viruses like flu or HIV, there is currently no antiviral treatment for measles. Clinicians’ only option is to support the patient as much as possible as the virus runs its course.

The Huffington Post