Measles in Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, with outbreaks in California and possible spread to Alabama

Measles has spread to Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee, with more cases reported in California and health officials braced for the virus in Alabama.

The virus is reaching levels not seen in years, with 626 cases recorded in the last four months alone – nearly eclipsing the 667 recorded in all of 2014.

Tennessee officials have contacted 600 people who might have come into contact with a person with measles who traveled across the state earlier this month. Three people have been diagnosed in Georgia, and one in Florida. 

The new cases prompted officials in Alabama – neighboring Tennessee and Georgia – to hold a press conference on Monday, calling on citizens to get vaccinated. 

The resurgence of the virus, which was all but eliminated in 2000, follows a years-long rise in the number of Americans shunning the vaccine, which is the only treatment against measles.

‘It’s really been a very sophisticated and widespread campaign of misinformation,’ Dr Jeanne Mazzarro, division director of infectious disease at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told DailyMail.com.

Dr Jeanne Mazzarro director of infectious disease at the University of Alabama Birmingham, told Daily Mail the campaigns against vaccines have taken on a life of their own

Measles is an infectious disease, which starts as a fever and a rash. It can develop into inflammation inside the body and brain, and it hampers the immune system, making sufferers more susceptible to pneumonia. 

But there is no treatment.

‘There’s unfortunately now a bit of a culture of, “of course we can fix everything, we’ve got an antibiotic for anything,”‘ Dr Mazzarro says.  

Disregarding the fact that antibiotic resistance is the next big threat to public health, so we should use the drugs sparingly, antibiotics don’t actually do anything for measles because it’s a virus – something, Dr Mazzarro says, people often forget.

And combating a virus has never been humans’ strong suit. 

‘With antivirals, we have never been ahead of the game, there aren’t many we can treat. A good example is herpes, we have excellent treatment for that, and CMV [closely related to chickenpox]. But that’s really about it.’

‘The vaccine is the only thing we have’ to fight measles, she says, and its success essentially put to bed any programs that might have developed post-measles treatment. 

‘There wasn’t a real urgency to treat it because we were on the verge of eliminating it. People were like “wow this works great, why would you have a research and development program?”‘

With the unusual and impressive exception of Ebola, for which researchers have developed a seemingly effective vaccine in a couple of years, most other virus projects take decades to combat. 

‘We are already behind the eight-ball [with measles],’ Dr Mazzarro says. ‘Drug development is so expensive and so time-consuming.’

According to the latest CDC report, released on Monday, measles has been reported in 22 states this year. 

This week, officials in Southern California warned they expect more measles cases to come after confirming five in Los Angeles. And officials in Northern California warned of a potentially large outbreak after a man with measles went to the cinema in Redding, just north of Sacramento. 

The current surge in rates is mainly driven by outbreaks in New York, where hundreds have been diagnosed in the last month or so, bringing the current total to 329. 

New York’s outbreak, largely confined to the Orthodox Jewish community, put a spotlight on religious exemptions. 

But Dr Mazzarro says that’s slightly off.  

She believes misinformation campaigns about what vaccines contain have driven vaccine skepticism in all of the affected communities, including religious ones, which have historically been targeted and/or maligned by the medical establishment.

‘When you look at the data across the US for why people request exemptions, religion is not always the most common. A lot of it has to do with products,’ Dr Mazzarro explains.

‘Religious exemption was clearly what was driving the outbreak in New York. But on the other hand, the campaign of misinformation had a lot to do with products in the vaccines.’

Indeed, in Brooklyn, there was a pamphlet called PEACH being handed out by an anti-vaccination group alleging that vaccines contained things it didn’t, with alarming cartoons that made a shot look terrifying. 

‘There’s always going to be mistrust when you have got hierarchical challenges with access to information. People have to trust that medical authorities have their best interest in mind.

‘Has medicine always had their best interests in mind? There are examples where people have been preyed upon. Tuskegee is the clearest example.

‘So at every stage there’s still this residual of this lack of trust and unfortunately social media has given that a platform. It’s just taken on a life of its own.’ 

As for curbing the spread? 

Dr Mazzarro says she thinks it’s never a bad idea to invest in research and development of antivirals in the event of an anti-vaccine wave like the one we are currently experiencing. 

For now, doctors need to do their best to connect with communities to discuss their concerns and what medicine can do. 

Many, though, are increasingly reluctant to dip their toe into the tumultuous ocean of debate about vaccines, where the discourse quickly turns personal and vicious.

‘In science, in medicine, we like to think we have the best interests in mind so a lot of medical people have been taken aback by the reaction and personal attacks, which makes it difficult,’ Dr Mazzarro said.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk