Huge spike in measles cases in the US prompt immunization warning

With the introduction of a childhood vaccination program in 1994, measles was all but wiped out in the United States.

But thanks to what some immunologist Jennifer Shih at Emory University calls "uninformed celebrities and discredited research," the disease is making a comeback, and from an average of sixty cases a year, 2014 has seen about 600.

Most of the measles patients have been among communities which discourage immunization, and there have been nearly 400 cases in Ohio alone.

Before the vaccinations were available, 500,000 people a year in the U.S. contracted the disease, and about 500 of them died.

The CDC estimates vaccinations prevented 322 million illnesses and 732,000 deaths, and saved nearly $300 billion.

But a trend away from immunizations is reversing that progress, and that has the CDC concerned.

Dr. Jane Seward is Deputy Director of the Division of Viral Diseases at CDC.

She tells KRMG measles is extremely virulent, and one in ten Oklahoma children are not immunized.

"That means one child in ten is not vaccinated on time," she said, "(and) if that child walks into a room with someone with measles, they've got a ninety percent chance of getting measles. That's how contagious measles is."

Globally, it's estimated that 14,000 people an hour die from measles.