CDC: Disneyland Measles likely from Philippines, Could have been brought back to US by Missionaries
So much for that derpy talking point that CCJ and Ben Carson were making about the measles outbreak originating with “Mexican illegals.” CDC officials have linked a number of the cases genetically to a recent outbreak in the Philippines. There’s a strong possibility that missionaries brought the disease back with them to the US, as happened in Ohio last May. Or maybe not, but seems likely that an unvaccinated American brought measles back.
Disney measles outbreak may have originated in the Philippines
by Jessica Firger, CBS News
In the month and a half since public health officials in California confirmed the first case of measles linked to Disneyland, the measles outbreak has grown to at least 182 cases in 18 states and the District of Columbia, according to the latest count by CBS News. But state and federal health officials are still uncertain of the exact source of the outbreak.
However, investigators from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now say there is new-found evidence that links the growing number of incidences in the U.S. to a sizable measles outbreak that recently occurred in the Philippines. The CDC reports that specimens from 30 California patients are a direct genetic match to the strain of the virus in the Philippines. Both are classified as measles genotype B3.
“It’s basically a fingerprint of the virus,” Melissa Stockwell, an assistant professor of pediatrics and population family health at Columbia University Medical Center, told CBS News.
This is not the first time the Philippines has been linked to diagnosed cases of measles in the U.S. Last May, one of the largest U.S. outbreaks in decades spread through Ohio, mostly among Amish communities, where childhood immunization is relatively uncommon. That outbreak began after several missionaries contracted the virus while volunteering in the Philippines, where the disease is still widespread, and then returned to the U.S.
“It was a perfect storm for having a logical outbreak,” Stockwell said of that outbreak.
However, this new information about the Disneyland cases is not the end of the investigation. The same virus genotype has also been identified in at least 14 countries and six U.S. states in the last 6 months.