Measles jumps borders in North America with outbreaks in Canada, Mexico and U.S.
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Highways connect his border city with the epicenter of Texas' massive outbreak, which is up to 663 cases. They're the same roads used by thousands of families and commercial truckers who cross into Mexico and back each day.
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'Diseases know no borders,' said Ocaranza, El Paso's top public health doctor, 'so as people are mobile, they're going to be coming and receiving medical attention in El Paso but they may be living in Juarez.' It took a couple of months, but El Paso now has the highest measles case count in the state outside of West Texas with 38. Neighboring Ciudad Juarez has 14 cases as of Monday.
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North America's three biggest measles outbreaks continue to balloon, with more than 2,500 known cases; three people have died in the U.S. and one in Mexico. It started in the fall in Ontario, Canada; then took off in late January in Texas and New Mexico; and has rapidly spread in Chihuahua state, which is up to 786 cases since mid-February.
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These outbreaks are in areas with a notable population of certain Mennonite Christian communities who trace their migration over generations from Canada to Mexico to Seminole, Texas. Chihuahua health officials trace their first case to an 8-year-old Mennonite child who visited family in Seminole, got sick and spread the virus at school. And Ontario officials say their outbreak started at a large gathering in New Brunswick involving Mennonite communities.
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'This virus was imported, traveling country to country,' said Leticia Ruiz, director of prevention and disease control in Chihuahua.
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North and South American countries have struggled to maintain the 95% measles vaccination rate needed to prevent outbreaks, said Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, director of the Pan American Health Organization. And a recent World Health Organization report said measles activity in the Americas region is up elevenfold from the same time last year and that the risk level is 'high' compared to the rest of the world's 'moderate' level.
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Measles cases have been confirmed in six of the region's countries — Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Canada, the United States and Mexico — and investigating the disease's spread is labor-intensive and pricey. The response to each measles case in the U.S. costs an estimated $30,000 to $50,000, according to Dr. David Sugerman, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientist.
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