Non-immunised kids cause MASSIVE MEASLES Outbreak

I can't believe in this day and age there are people too stupid to take
advantage of the obvious benefit (and social responsibility) to
immunise their kids.

Immunisation should NOT be optional - parents too kooky and stupid to
have their children immunised should be taken to court for child abuse
and their children should be removed from them and given to people who
can actually apply the best interests of the children.

ATLANTA - The biggest U.S. measles outbreak in a decade - 34 people
stricken in Indiana and Illinois last year - was traced back to a
17-year-old girl who had traveled to Romania without first getting
vaccinated, government health officials said Thursday.

The outbreak accounted for more than half of the 66 measles cases in
the United States in 2005. Widespread use of the measles vaccine has
dramatically reduced the incidence of the disease over the past four
decades; in 2004, there were just 37 cases, the smallest number in
nearly 90 years of record-keeping.

The Indiana girl became infected after visiting a Romanian orphanage
while on a church-mission trip, health investigators said. The others
became infected after they attended a church gathering with her the day
after her return.

Thirty-three people in Indiana and one from Illinois became infected.
Three people were hospitalized, but no one died.

"The outbreak occurred because measles was imported into a population
of children whose parents had chosen not to vaccinate their children
because of safety concerns, despite evidence that measles-containing
vaccine is safe and effective," the
CDC said.

In the decade before a vaccine became available in 1963, about 450,000
measles cases and about 450 measles deaths were recorded in the U.S.
each year. The disease - often characterized by a rash that begins on
the face and spreads - can cause ear infections, diarrhea and
pneumonia. It kills about one in 1,000 patients, according to the CDC.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061222/...asles_traveler