Atlanta, GA – Government health officials reported today that the number of measles cases in the U.S. is at its highest level since 1997, and nearly half of those involve children whose parents rejected vaccination.
The number of cases is still small, just 131, but that's just for the first seven months of the year and doctors are troubled by the trend. There were only 42 cases for all of last year.
Dr. Jane Seward of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the agency is concerned that there is ``a lot more spread.''
Pediatricians are frustrated, saying they are having to spend more time convincing parents the shot is safe.
The CDC's review found that a number of cases involved home-schooled children not required to have the vaccines.
Measles, best known for a red skin rash, is a potentially deadly, highly infectious virus that spreads through contact with a sneezing, coughing, infected person.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)