Doctors and health experts across the country are warning summer travelers to take precautions with the measles outbreak at a 25-year high in the U.S.
More than 700 people in 22 states have contracted measles, the most cases in 25 years according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, but outbreaks overseas have brought them to America. New York has been especially hit hard with 200 cases.
Doctor George Han of the Santa Clara (Calif.) County Public Health Department says travelers planning international trips should think about the vaccination if they did not receive the traditional two doses that most U.S. children receive.
"It is true there are measles outbreaks in this country," he said. "We are not recommending necessarily that you should get that second shot if you're going, but it's a conversation you should have with your doctor if you're going to other places in the country."
New York City, one of the most popular summer travel destinations in the country, has imposed a mandatory vaccination order on the Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn, an Orthodox Jewish community in which many of the residents are not vaccinated.
And in Rockland County, a suburb of New York City, officials are fighting a court-ordered halt to an emergency order that would have banned children from public places unless they've been immunized.
Last week a cruise ship was quarantined in St. Lucia due to a measles outbreak and a flight was delayed at JFK because of a measles scare. Earlier this month, a flight attendant was hospitalized with measles.
With barely three weeks to go until Memorial Day and the start of the summer travel season, the CDC is recommending the following:
- Infants six to 11 months old should get one dose of the MMR vaccine before international travel
- Children 12 months and older need two doses, separated by at least 28 days
- Adolescents and adults who have not had measles or been vaccinated also should get two doses, at least 28 days apart.
- Adults in high-risk groups, including those who are traveling internationally, health-care workers and those in communities with ongoing outbreaks should check with their health-care providers.
- It's best to be fully vaccinated at least two weeks before travel. If that is not possible, travelers should still get one dose before departing.
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