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US measles outbreak not linked to illegal immigration, health official says
Source: The Guardian
US measles outbreak not linked to illegal immigration, health official says
Lauren Gambino in New York
Monday 23 February 2015 20.29 GMT
A top US health official on Monday once again quashed claims of a link between a recent measles outbreak and illegal immigration into the US.
Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said there was no evidence to support claims made by conservative hardliners that measles is being imported to the US by undocumented immigrants. Most commonly, she said, measles reaches the US through unvaccinated Americans who travel to Europe or Asia.
“I know that immigration is a complicated issue and people have strong feelings about (it),” Schuchat said, speaking in an online conversation hosted by the National Press Foundation. “The thing to say is that the region of the Americas was the first region to actually eliminate measles.”
Schuchat explained that prior to 2000 there was a high importation of measles cases from Latin America, but since then countries in the region have promoted a rigorous public health campaign. Now, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador have higher rates of measles coverage than the US, according to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO).
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Lauren Gambino in New York
Monday 23 February 2015 20.29 GMT
A top US health official on Monday once again quashed claims of a link between a recent measles outbreak and illegal immigration into the US.
Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said there was no evidence to support claims made by conservative hardliners that measles is being imported to the US by undocumented immigrants. Most commonly, she said, measles reaches the US through unvaccinated Americans who travel to Europe or Asia.
“I know that immigration is a complicated issue and people have strong feelings about (it),” Schuchat said, speaking in an online conversation hosted by the National Press Foundation. “The thing to say is that the region of the Americas was the first region to actually eliminate measles.”
Schuchat explained that prior to 2000 there was a high importation of measles cases from Latin America, but since then countries in the region have promoted a rigorous public health campaign. Now, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador have higher rates of measles coverage than the US, according to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO).
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/23/health-official-quashes-measles-link-illegal-immigration
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
That's what I thought. 