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Measles incidence swoops to record low

Physician Practice Advisor, August 17, 2004

The number of measles cases reported in the United States is at an all-time low since the government began tracking the disease in 1912, according to a report issued by the Centers for Disease Control August 13. The report analyzed measles epidemiology for reported cases from 2001-2003. Additionally, the incidence of measles since 1997 is only one case per million people.

The low incidence of the disease and the high percentage of import-related cases means that the disease is most likely not endemic to the United States, the CDC says. Some cases are of unknown origin and cannot be linked to an imported source, but these don't occur in any geographic or temporal patterns that imply an endemic source of the disease.

Most imported cases are from China and Japan, the CDC says. Infants are most susceptible to the highly contagious disease.

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